Panama hat was not invented in Panama! Instead this beloved fashion icon was created by Ecuadorians working the fields around Cuenca. Then along came the Spanish and looted everything they set their eyes upon, including the straw hat. It was shipped via Panama to Europe for great profits. Now, the Panamanians realised that not only it’s a brilliant head garment, but they could manufacture it themselves, instead of being merely the middle man. And Panama hat is how we know it now. But Cuenca is where it’s at.

Quito and Cuenca are the two standout cities in Ecuador. Whilst the capital was highly energised, messy and exhilarating, then its southern counterpart seems to be the refined, polished and sophisticated option. They’re both equally great places to visit for different reasons.

At first we couldn’t find much to do in Cuenca. None of the sights were particularly impressive or perhaps they were more for the history-keen people. But having walked and walked around aimlessly we discovered a very charming thing about the place.

Wherever you walked, impressive colonial style doors mixed with rusty shutters or rollers would reveal a view straight into work and living spaces like little portals into pockets of private life. An abundance of tiny repair shops for, clothes, leather and electronic devices opened up straight from the busy streets and revealed stacks of cookers, saddles, hats, engines as well as the master at work amongst it all. Our voyeuristic temptations were aroused at once.  We had a fun session of ‘Better Call Saul’ as we took cheeky glances into endless lawyer’s offices as they were discussing the latest case or signing confidential documents amongst their precarious columns of paperwork and precise rows of wise manuscripts.

But equally there is a shop after shop of plastic supplies, plastic gifts, pound stores, baby shops stacked floor to ceiling in plastic products. All of them are so ugly compared to their crafted and maintained counterparts often available next door. And so the two different worlds coexisted, door after door, we walked and wondered what will we see behind the next one…

Cuenca was our last destination on mainland Ecuador. As far as our challenges were concerned, not much happened in Cuenca on the potato front. Loren found vintage metal sunnies to avoid plastic and Frida started exploring chairs as objects to help her get onto her feet. More about that in special issue posts, but currently Loren is in the lead, with Frida chasing after her furiously and Hendrik trailing in the background with about 15 different varieties of potatoes out of 4000.

Posted from Bolivia’s only public beach in Copacabana on 12th of Feb.