Cuenca

Picture I took from the plane of a volcano and the sunset

A month or so ago, my roommate Sharon and I found cheap flights to a city in southern Ecuador. Since her sister was coming to visit and my friend Sarah is visiting, we decided to go on a mini trip to Cuenca. It is a beautiful colonial city, and it is the third largest city in Ecuador. All the buildings are different colors and there are cobblestone streets. It’s considered the gem of Ecuador. This is also where the Panama hat originated from. The Panama hat was misnamed when the Panama Canal was being built. People from all over Central and South America were contracted to work on the canal. Ecuadorians (specifically from Cuenca) made and distributed hats to protect themselves from the intense sun. The name Panama hat caught on as these types of hats were spotted all over Panama.

We went to a factory that makes the hats and got a nice personal tour from one of the workers. It is a very interesting process and it takes about 15 days to make one of the basic hats. These hats are then sold for between $13 and $15. There are more elaborate hats that take months to make and they are sold for about $1500. Besides the hat factory, we went to an orchid garden where we were showed many different species of orchids. We also went to a nearby town for the day to some hot springs. For $6 we swam, went in the steam run, and soaked up the sun. It was a most relaxing day. The ice cream in Cuenca is great and we went to the same ice cream shop each day that we were there. We saw beautiful churches, a museum, walked by the river, and enjoyed exploring this beautiful city.