2550m
Well, there are ways to start your day with cereal and toast. There are ways to start your day with eggs and bacon. There are even ways to start your day with air dried muesli with organic fruits and herbal tea (not sure why, but some do). And then there is the way of starting your day in Cuenca. With a colonel of the Ecuadorean army walking around with a nice new Glock at his hip, three police vehicles in front of your hotel with soldiers on the street with M4s and 2 police motor cycles.
The Vice President of Ecuador, Alfredo Borrero was staying at the hotel overnight and the security force out the front was for him. It was a quiet breakfast this morning, and we exited the hotel to meet our guide, walking past a substantial contingent of security, who didn’t seem too interested in 3 gringos.
Our first stop this morning was to visit a Panama hat factory, to see the full process involved in making one of these hats. Why would we be looking in Ecuador? Glad you asked. Panama hats are made in Ecuador, not Panama. They consist of straw being brought up from the coast and then large numbers of predominantly women will weave the straw together to form a hat. This is then steamed with an iron (charcoal filled, not electric!) and a mould to give it the basic shape. The hat is then soaked in a bleach pool for 15 days, being rotated to ensure consistency, to end up with a white hat. They can be dyed at this point. Further pressing can give unique shapes to the basic hat design and then a room full of ladies add ribbons and what-not for further character. So why Panama hat? Well, Ecuador exported huge numbers of these to other Central American countries, but also to Panama when the canal was being built. A certain Roosevelt just happened to visit and obtain one of these hats and photographers immortalised the moment with the moniker of ‘Panama Hats’. So there you are.
From here we took a leisurely drive through Cuenca with the guide giving us descriptions of the history and geography of the city, including driving past the big BBQ section of the city where many roast pigs and Guinea pigs were on display. We ended up at a viewpoint overlooking the city and saw how the 4 rivers helped to design the city’s plan.
Back down onto the centre we stopped at the main cathedral for Cuenca, mostly made from travertine, with a largish amount of marble coming all the way from Italy. It was a nice cathedral, better than Cusco, and not nearly as garish. Lunch was next on the agenda and our guide dropped us off at the Victoria Hotel, told us we would be picked up tomorrow at 8am and then said goodbye. Ever so slightly brief farewell. Lunch had a great view, but the worst steak I have had since boarding school.
The afternoon was left to our own devices so after a break we walked back around the city square and paid to go to the top of the cathedral for the view. By now the weather was threatening so we moved off the roof and into a coffee shop. Dinner was at a local restaurant recommended by our guide, and for the 3 of us to have dinner, and 2 beers each, the total came to $50US.