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Cuenca, Ecuador is where the Panama Hat is made, not Panama.  They were imported to protect the Panama Canal workers from the blistering sun.  We bought them to protect us the same for our trip to the Galapagos Islands.  Ours were inexpensive native market place hats which served our purposes well.

 
             In Cuenca we visited a store – Rafael Paredes y Hijos Cia Ltd, where the fine hats are finished and sold.  A young employee walked us through the process- from plant fiber thickness which determines whether the hat will be less or more expensive  (the finer the fiber, the more expensive, ranging from $15 to $150 for extra fine and each hat could take more than a month to finish) to the dying, shaping, styling, trimming and adding the band both inside and out.  All of the hats are hand woven by the native women, whose villages surround Cuenca.

  
            The local natives either wear the Panama hat or the white felt hat which is hard as a helmet!

Panama Hats

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Cuenca is one of my new favorite cities – charm, beauty, history, diversity.  It sits in the southern Andes of Ecuador – my latest favorite country!  We stayed an extra day to purchase and send some family and friend Panama hats, to make some needed adjustments to the bike and most importantly, to photograph the city.

 
             Balconies with metal balustrades reminiscent of New Orleans line the second floor above the modern cobblestone-like street.  Cathedral are so plentiful, there is usually one at the end of each street or vista.  There is an undeniable cosmopolitan flavor in the dress of the bustling shoppers and many of the shops are decidedly upscale.  And mixed into this are the indigenous Andeans, in their swingy, knee-length skirts of brilliant colors rimmed with intricate hand-sewn floral borders, all topped with a smart felt hat or Panama straw.

 
             Flower markets, scented with tub-roses, lilies highlighted one of Ecuador’s most popular exports:  roses in amazing colors and perfect, small to huge blooms. 

   
           This is a city on the re-visit list, with its close access to many other Ecuadorian delights and locations.

Cuenca, Ecuador

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Today we got off early, after a good breakfast we headed to the predicted climbs out of Cuenca.  SURPRISE!  The valley fell away to the southwest, meandering gently beside the river and through inhabited farm land.  We turned off the main road toward the Pacific and still coasted or lightly peddled.  Of course, there were ups and many stretches of bad road due to landslides - a common occurrence in the Andes – but out of 75k about 55k was gentle or easy downhill!  At 2ish we stopped at a clean hostel, restaurant and called it a day!  There is 100 plus km to the next town.  We'll tackle that tomorrow.  Can there be that much more downhill?

1. Top of the Andes 2. Arid Andes 3. Cloud Forest - west side of Andes

6-6 

Yesterday – out of 100km, probably 50km downhill!  WOW – two days in a row!  There were many slow sections of landslides and poor road conditions on the downhill portions – but slow and downhill is better than uphill under any conditions.  We left the high cool Andes and rode into the jungle – bananas, sub-tropical plants, bromeliads grouped in trees.  We ended our ride in a nice little hotel in Santa Rosa.

              Today, we started early, since there were no restaurants open for breakfast.  We pounded down the road, out into the countryside wondering if we were headed in the right direction…we asked several times…yes, straight ahead in a small village we asked again….nope, turn around and head that way … yes, you are right the roads were not well marked.  We finally wound our way to the Pan American and on toward the border crossing into Peru.  Hungry and getting saddle weary, we stopped at a roadside market-food stand at a police check point and ordered eggs scrambled and got eggs soft boiled and chopped in a bowl.  We put some cheese slices in with hot sauce and it tasted pretty good washed down with two cokes.  We had heard and read some pretty scary things about this boarder crossing, so we approached it with a good deal of apprehension.  Judee took care of it easily at both exit and entrance places while Bici drew crowds of on-lookers.

Tumbes, Peru 1. Tuk-tuks 2. Judee listening to the Gods

             Peru – in dusty, hot and dry…face dripping, road without a shoulder and lots and lots of Tuk-tuks (3 wheel motorcycles with a covered passenger compartment) raced us 27k to Tumbes – a large city of 100,000 population.  The Rough Guide had a few problems here with hotels and so did we.  The Casa de Sol was $80 and the Hotel Roma refused us – rude women at the desk dismissed Judee and Bici … it looked good at $20.  We wandered up and down streets and hills looking for an honest hotel and finally settled into the Hostal Amazonia for $10 with ho9t water and a fan!° 

Next after our showers we tuk-tuked it to find a laundry who could do our clothes today.  At 3:45pm, no laundry today, tomorrow in the afternoon.  We found out later there is only one laundry in town and unless the sun is out at noon there is no one day service – no dryers!  We washed our clothes in the hotel laundry room and hung them on the roof.  One way or another we will wear some tomorrow as we push on down the coast on the dessert.  Distances will start to get much larger between supply stops so this part of our journey will become more challenging.

6-7 

We started about 9 after a pleasant breakfast on the square and locked into a smooth rhythm on the level road, first passing fields of rice and then along the beach.  Cruising easily at about 20plus kph into a gently ocean breeze we clicked of 100km without much effort.  I can’t say we weren’t tired when we began the obligatory looking for a hostel.  It took a good hour to find the right place.  We ride around, we poke, we fight and then we settle for the best for us both.  After showers, beer and peanuts we are civil and ready for the next thing: dinner – hopefully not rice and chicken!

 
             The seaside of northern Peru is pristine, fairly clean--where there is no civilization.  The poverty of the fishing villages contrast sharply with the demonstratively more prosperous highland communities of Ecuador.  The land is dessert – supplying little to the populace.  The sea is their livelihood.  In addition to fishing we saw miles of shrimp ponds and divers searching for lobster and possibly some of the black clams, a noted delicacy of this area. 

1. Drying Rice 2. northern beach of Peru 3.  Lawrence of Peru

             The Peruvian are warm, welcoming, and supportive of our riding: always honking, thumbs up, etc.  We’ll need a lot of that as we head for the deserts and not a lot of support.

Note: When we named our bike Biciburro, we didn’t intend for him-it-she to take up habits…but he brays.  Starting in Costa Rica, Bici began a grinding sound on the right leg power stroke on extremely difficult climbs.  Now…even after several replaced parts, Bici grinds, chirps, sings through the steel tubes ….ALL THE TIME!  We keep looking at the bottom brackets, pulleys, chains, thinking there would be shinny parts, ground ways by the constant rub that is creating the cacophony of sound – but alas, we must wait until whatever IT is breaks!  On a stand in a repair shop, Bici make no sounds at all!  Sneaky bike!

6-8 

Mancora, Peru.  Observations over breakfast at 8:30 am the street scene across from our restaurant was empty…a few tables and shells of stands or stalls.  By 10am many tuk-tuks loaded to the tops had disgorged huge piles of boxes, tables, boards and merchandise.  The vendors and young families with children ran about assembling the piles into a coherent mass to sell to the passerby’s.  Each night this process happens in reverse and the tuck-tuks disappear into the night.  This the the ebb and flow of this surfer town with new tourists arriving daily.

Mancora, Peru