Backpacking South America

While in Ecuador, we stopped in to visit an old friend from college. It was a good stop over. A little bit longer than expected, but that was a good thing. It was just what we needed, some home baked cookies, home-cooked food and quality time with friends. The question at hand is, when did we all grow up?

One of the things we miss most while traveling is the one-on-one time we get hanging out with friends and catching up on life. We miss the long-term relationships we have with other people. Don’t get me wrong, we’ve met some wonderful and interesting people along the way, but often times those relationships are short lived – a few days or weeks, then only via email and facebook. So, we spent most of our time just visiting and helping out where we could. It felt really good.

We had a wonderful time being able to see their home, meet their friends and just be a part of their life for a short while. Since we saw them last, they have had a baby, who is quickly growing into an active little boy.

Sometimes the best trips are the ones that you didn’t plan thoroughly. We were set on visiting Banos, Ecuador, but at the last minute, we changed our plans and headed to Latacunga, the start/end of the Quilotoa Circuit. Latacunga was a fine enough city whose views of the surrounding mountains are supposed to be incredible on a clear day – unfortunately it was damp and dreary the entire time.

We made our arrangements and set out Thursday morning to Sasquisili for the market. The market is based in the town’s squares. We were only able to squeeze two squares in, but our book said that there are seven squares in all. Our goal of the day was to try/buy any fruit that was sweet and that we hadn’t tried yet… We also found a pretty awesome felt hat with two pretty feathers.

From Sasquisili, we headed up into the mountains. Interestingly, an older man bought a sheep at the market and it was decided that the best way to transport it was to tie it to the top of the bus. Eventually the road changed from paved to gravel to mud with lots of ruts.

So, it needs to be said, not all of our experiences have been “hoops and glitter.” We have been traveling now for 8 months. We have seen big cities and remote towns. We have survived crazy bus rides and avoided countless dangerous situations. But, no matter how cautious you are or how “on” you are, traveling can be tiring and sometimes you feel as if you can never be “off.” Sometimes you feel like you need to sleep with your eyes open.

We have had such a positive traveling experience. We have met wonderful locals and fellow travelers. In comparison, it is a relatively rare occasion that we meet legitimately unfriendly, unhelpful people. But, while the majority of people are friendly and often eager to help, one Sunday morning we happened upon a bad apple in a good area of town.

We had arrived in Cuenca the night before. It was late and we were tired, so we didn’t venture too far from the hostel into town. Sunday morning we woke up to a dreary, rainy and quiet town (nothing too far out of the ordinary for a Sunday in South America).

Our first stop in Ecuador was Cuenca, Ecuador – one of the hubs of the Panama hat industry. Interestingly, Panama hats are not actually made in Panama, but Ecuador. The name Panama Hats was a result of the hats departure point being from the Panama Canal, so once they reached their destination, they were called Panama hats because of the origin of the shipment.

After a lazy Sunday in Cuenca, we set out Monday to learn more about the Panama hat industry and made stops at Homer Ortega and Serrano Hats to view their process and collection of hats. Ortega was the only factory that was offering tours on the day we visited. So we were shuttled through the history and process of making the hats.

The hats are made from the plaited leaves of the paja toquilla straw plant. The finer you are able to peel the leaf, the finer the weave of the hat. There are two main processes to making these hats: weaving and blocking. The more weaves per block in one square inch, the finer the weave and the better quality the hat.