PANAMA HATS COME FROM ECUADOR, ONE OF LIFE'S LITTLE IRONIES

Vessels under repair and construction
lolling on the shoreline

Manta is Ecuador’s second port after Guayaquil with its primary industry vested in fishing, tuna canning and processing. BC Packers has a sizable plant in Manta.

One of Manta's beachfront markets

The town has an impressive esplanade that provides great views over the harbour and ocean beyond.  Colourful fishing boats bobbed in the water.

It created a festive ambiance, locals were out shopping, returning to the fish plants for the next shift, working on beached fishing boats or simply enjoying the beautiful day in the open air cafes.

Cancebi Museum window

The restored Cancebi Museum in Manta's town centre was remarkable, not so much for its eclectic exhibits but for its construction.

It ain't half hot Mum!

Richly polished squeaky floors flanked by elegant shuttered windows, solid mahogany ceiling beams that supported large bladed fans.  The blades whooped languidly in what seemed like a half-hearted attempt to move the oppressive air. Even the iguana on the sidewalks below looked exhausted. 

The sun was directly above, reminding us of our equatorial position.

The production line!

Cabuya weaving 

A drive out of town took us to the Cabuya weaving factory where natural fiber is stripped from the Fique plant, Furcrea Macrophylla, and processed into woven bags.

The gloomy collection of rooms with their dank whitewashed walls and uneven concrete floors seemed set in another century as workers laboured away on the ancient equipment that clacked and hissed in protest.

The facility is the last remaining one in the region and produces 200 woven bags a week for the coffee industry, the roasting aromas from the surrounding processing plants a subtle reminder of one of the drivers of the local economy.

Another discovery that day was an unusual palm tree, Phytelephas Aequatorialis, commonly known as Ecuadorian ivory palm and the main source of vegetable ivory or Tagua, the botanical alternative to ivory. Growing in the tropical rainforests of Ecuador, the palm has a woody trunk with very long pinnate leaves and can grow to a height of sixty feet.

Tagua nuts were originally used in the production of buttons because of their hard, white consistency. While button manufacturing still provides the main source of income for the local cottage industry, realizing its touristic value the locals have fashioned the nut into all sorts of carvings, jewelry and of course bags of buttons.

The parking area outside the workshop was awash with Tagua nuts drying in the sun.

The nearby town of Montecristi was buzzing with activity, the local market doing a fine trade. 

Montecristi is known for the artisans who fashion straw from the leaves of the indigenous Carludovica Palmata plant into Panama hats. 

The steps that go into the creation of an original Montecristi Panama hat is a sight to behold. From leaf preparation to weaving to the finished product, there are different grades of hat.

One can spend $20 on a coarsely made product and as much as $200 for a well-fashioned, intricately woven hat. As luck would have it we had purchased our Panama Hats in Quito eleven years ago, a must have from this part of the world!