Hats off in Ecuador
January 21, 2012 Category: Albino Bowler No Comments »
Kimberly and I took the bowler with us on a brief trip to Ecuador. Most of our time was spent in a town called Cuenca. It is the third largest city in Ecuador and rated #1 for the last three years by International Living as a retirement haven. It’s also been premiered on two episodes of House Hunters international. Although a fairly large city of over 500,000 Cuenca feels very small town. It is a Spanish colonial town built in the 16th century. It has great architecture, and since it’s on the equator at just under 9,000 ft above sea level, it also has great weather.
We arrived via plan in Guayaquil, Ecuador and drove to Cuenca the next day. It’s a 3 hour drive to Cuenca which takes you over the Andes Mountain range and thru El Cajas National Park which is breathtaking at over 12,000 ft above sea level. We stayed at a bed and breakfast in down town Cuenca that has been in 
the same family for over 150 years called Casa de Ordenez.
Our first brief outing took us to the village of Cojitambo including Cojitambo Mountain and Incan Ruins from 500b.c. The view from the top of the village below is great and the ruins were very interesting.
We also took the bowler to a small village nearby Cuenca where the "Panama" hat was first created. Strangely, it’s only called a Panama hat because the first Europeans to get them were told they came from Panama because that’s where they were loaded onto their boats. We watched ladies hand make these hats, bought several 
and even saw the worlds largest panama hat according to the Guinness Book of World Records.
Ecuador is nearly 100% Catholic and there are plenty of beautiful Cathedrals to prove it. However, there are also so weird pictures and statues of Christ. Like the picture we took of Christ holding up a machete and the one of baby Jesus and Mary wearing Panama hats.
We really loved the area and the people, so much so that we plan to go back in the next month.
–Chad Quesenberry
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