Heads and Hats

We flew down to Cuenca yesterday afternoon after leaving Bellavista and dropping off the hire car. It was a short 40 minute flight with TAME, Ecuador´s national carrier. We checked into a lovely and reasonably priced hotel - Posado del Angel and had an excellent meal at the Eucalyptus Cafe.

This morning we had a little lie in and then went to the historic centre. We visited the newly renovated Catedral Vieja which was unusual as it didn´t have any pews. Opposite this church was Parque Calderon, which we really liked and think is the most beautiful square we have seen in Ecuador. Before heading into Cuenca´s most notable Church we had icecream and frozen yogurt at a little cafe. Then we went to Catedral Nueva. The outside has distinctive, large, sky blue domes and the inside is beautiful but so large it feels rather empty. Afterwards we walked across the road to the small but highly perfumed flower market.

We walked down by the river, taking photos of the blue domes, and headed to the Museo del Banco Central. The exhibit on shrunken human heads was particularly interesting, although we were disappointed not to learn how the heads were shrunk. This custom was performed as punishment for murder and is now illegal in Ecuador.

After pizza for lunch we got a taxi to Homero Ortega & Hijos factory, famed for its Panama Hats. We had a tour around the factory and learnt how the hats are made. We knew that Panama hats originated in Ecuador and we learnt that the name stems from the fact that the men building the Panama Canal wore these hats. Hence the name! Some were priced at $500!

After another cafe stop at Hotel Santa Lucia we did a bit of window shopping and visited the Museo de Esqueletologia, which had a collection of skeletons. The tiny hummingbird frame was particularly interesting.