Backpacking South America

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.