After Baños we headed to Cuenca, the most charming city yet! To be honest it looks a little bit like Quito but in a smaller version.

Cuenca (Ecuador)

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After Baños we headed to Cuenca, the most charming city yet! To be honest it looks a little bit like Quito but in a smaller version.
We left Baños early in the morning and we had once again a super long bus ride but so beautiful. Ecuador reminded me a lot of Rwanda and its beautiful scenery, hours upon hours of green hills and mountains, everything full of vegetation and amazing landscapes.



After about 8 hours in windy roads we finally made it to Cuenca!

  As I walked the streets of Cuenca I saw beautiful colonial houses in many different colors with beautiful balconies, many of them decorated with colorful flowers.

Doesn't it look like Quito?







It reminded me a little bit of Europe! Totally loved all the white buildings!



Of course people shinning shoes were everywhere!

Also everywhere... people on their phones! Do we even talk to people face to face anymore?


The streets of Cuenca are also full of churches, in the center alone there are 12 churches and it felt like it didn’t matter where I turned I could see a church’s spiral or dome. 

Church at the entrance of town

Church on the other side of Town!


Pretty church!

Domes!






The most famous of them all is the cathedral of the Immaculada Concepcion (aka the new cathedral.) It sits across the street from the park and has beautiful blue domes!












 

Saints, candles, rosaries, and anything you might need!!!

Cuenca is famous for its “sombrero de paja Toquilla” aka the Panama hat, and one can find stores selling those hats for as slow as $20 and as high as a couple of thousands!!!!

One day as I walked along Calle Larga I stumbled upon a really cute hat store and I decided to go in. There I met Andres, a 6th generation hat maker. His family had been making hats for decades so after his grandfather died he decided to open a store in Cuenca (his grandfather refused to open a store.) Andres told me that he was from Guayaquil but during his break every year as a kid he would travel to Cuenca where he learned more about the hat making process.

Long story short I stayed at the shop for two hours and learned A LOT about the hat making process  including the dying and shaping of hats, and all the things we need to look at when buying an authentic "Panama hat." 
He shared that in 2012 UNESCO recognised the weaving of "the sombreros de paja Toquilla" as a world heritage.

 He also explained to me the different processes for making the hats, how one can distinguish a hand made hat from the cheap machine made hats, how the rim of a well made hat should never have stitches, instead the straw should be cut by hand. 

 In addition he showed me the top of the hats and to count the number of legs the "arañita" (the little spider) had in order to know the quality. 
La arañita
These rings show when hay was added!

 He talked about grades of quality and the difference between a cheap and a super expensive hat! He said that some people buy hats that cost thousands of dollars and the difference is in the straw and how fine it is. I had a lot of questions about that and  he answered all of them. I asked: who buys such expensive hats? He said "A lot of people, mostly rich people from Italy, Japan, and China!" One super duper expensive hat can take longer than a year to make and the lady weaving it has to have the doors closed because the paja Toquilla is so fine that the wind alone could break the straw! Crazy!

 My favourite part of the conversation was when he explained why the sombreros de paja Toquilla are called Panama Hats. I found it really strange because Palma Toquilla only grows in Ecuador and for a "Panama hat" to be authentic it HAS to be made in Ecuador. He seemed very happy with my question and proceeded to tell me the whole story (at least the one the thinks is the best out of all theories) which pretty much goes like this:
When Panama was building the Panama canal a lot of the workers came from Ecuador and Colombia, the heat was so strong that most of the Ecuadorian workers were wearing their sombreros de paja toquilla because they are lightweight and breathable so pretty much perfect for that job. By the time the canal was finished it was very common to see the workers wearing the hats and on inauguration day President Roosevelt went to the opening and his gift was a sombrero de paja Toquilla. I think he took many pictures with it and in the newspaper it read something like "President Roosevelt wearing his Panama hat" and the name stuck forever!

Andres' shop!



I spent so much time there and Andres never tried to sell me a hat, in fact he said I should look around town and find the perfect hat if I wanted one. He even said that I now was an informed customer to make the best decision! By then I wanted to buy him a hat so I had a story to tell to all the people who complimented my hat (not that anybody would! ha!) so I asked for his opinion and chose one. I wanted to add a black band to make it traditional so he said "We'll make it tonight and just come pick it tomorrow." The next day I showed up and he had just stepped out of the shop and although I waited I didn't wait enough; I had laundry to pick up before the laundromat closed and to be honest I could leave Cuenca without a Panama Hat but not without all my laundry! I left disappointed without my hat but so glad to have stumbled upon this little shop with an amazing guy who happily shared about such an important tradition for Ecuadorians!

 The day after visiting Andres I went to check out the stores and museums of Paja Toquilla that he recommended:

hats, hats, and more hats!
How all hats look like before they are shaped.

The green machines are the ones that shape the hats.


Sombreros are painted even on the walls of Cuenca!!!

Mural depicting the weavers making hats.
I went to another museum that didn't look like a museum but more like a shop and had ladies weaving. It was the perfect time to see how the hats are made!





It does not look easy!
After visiting the sombreros stores and museums I started noticing all the people wearing hats... they were everywhere!











I really enjoyed walking the streets of Cuenca, so much fun to see what people sell in the baskets or what they are pushing in the carts!
snacks?

Plantain chips cart!



Banana carts also get stuck in traffic!

Fruit baskets!

Chifle seller!


Such an amazing flower market right next to the cathedral!

 

Candy shop!
And the food was also delicious...

Something like a tortilla de verde! So yummy!

Coconut cookie Anna brought me! Delish!

One day I decided to go a little bit out of town and get on a bus to go to "Mirador de Turi." This viewpoint was about a 20 minute bus ride and dropped me off right in front of an amazing view of all of Cuenca! (the pictures do not make it justice!)


Once back in town I went for a nice walk by the river...


And then quickly visited the (free) Museo Pumapungo which had great information and displays of the local culture!









I loved Cuenca! From the food, to the hats and the architecture! I would definitely come back! 💖




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About Post Author

Hi! It's me... Andrea! In 2016 I decided to drop everything and take a year to enrich my life and travel around the world. It turns out the world is just too big for 12 months! Still on the road and sharing my experience as a solo female traveler around the globe!

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Hi! It's me... Andrea!

In this blog you can live vicariously through my journey around the world!

Please feel free to share tips or places to go!
Contact me: andreaheartstraveling@gmail.com