It was actually Tom who spotted this jacket and suggested I try it on.  The sleeves were a tiny bit short but with a bit of chatting the lady at the shop managed to get the sleeves lengthened in 24 hours.  And I came away with a custom tailored, 100% wool jacket and a couple of skeins of lovely Ecuadorian yarn for $60 USD.

We wandered the cute streets and came across more than a few Panama Hat shops.  I know…isn’t the Panama Hat from Panama?

Actually, the Panama Hat is and has always been from Ecuador.  Here it is known as a sombrero de paja toquilla to Ecuadorians. This rather large misnomer all started back in the 1800s when the Spanish realized the exceptional quality of these hats and started exporting them via Panama. Then, in the early 19th century the workers on the Panama Canal started to use the same hats as protection from the powerful sun and, lo and behold, the hat quickly became known as the “Panama Hat”.

The Panama Hat can take anywhere from a week to three months to make depending on the quality.  Hats are graded into four categories depending on their weave: standard, superior, fino (fine) and superfino (superfine).  You can buy a standard hat between $10 to $15USD but if you are in the market for a superfino expect to pay upwards of $400 USD.  The best quality hats can hold water and be rolled up to fit through a man’s wedding ring, bouncing back to their original shape!

Even cooler, the locals get their hats cleaned and repaired at shops around the city and seeing walls of white hats, each with a name tag attached, it was easy to see how important the Panama Hat is to the Ecuadorian community.

Unfortunately for us, this was the wave situation:

So we just kept on driving…

Quito’s old city is probably one of the best kept colonial towns you will find.  With cobbled streets, tiny alleyways and a bustling vibe it is hard to resist this old town’s charms.  It also has about a million churches!  Ok, maybe not a million but it has more than its fair share of holy homes.  We are not the type of travellers who have to see everything there is to see (otherwise we wouldn’t need to come back) so we decided to take in just a few of the churches.

Started in 1605, La Compañía de Jesús, Ecuador’s most ornate church was built over 160 years by the Jesuits and is decorated with some great works of art.  Oh yeah and supposedly 7 tonnes of 23 k gold was used to gild the entire inside of this house of God. Known as the most beautiful church in Ecuador, we felt that of all the churches you can visit in Quito, this is the one to see.

The huge paintings on the pillars inside depict the Prophets (whose eyes eerily follow you as you walk away) while the entry way showcases a massive painting of Hell and the Last Judgment which is sure to scare most people into confessing their sins and then some. And, like many churches, La Compañía de Jesús has its very own patron saint, Mariana de Jesus. She devoted herself to God and claimed this church as her home – to this day her remains are venerated in the main altarpiece and lots of religious paraphernalia with her image can be conveniently purchased at the gift shop.

We were properly awed and walked around the church in a bit of a daze, 7 tonnes is a huge amount of gold and seeing it all over the walls, altarpieces even part of the ceiling was quite a sight.  Unfortunately we weren’t able to take photos… or so we were told. Deciding that this rule did not apply to us, Tom managed to snap a few sneaky photos though they don’t really do the church justice.

Senor José Franco began the topiary sculpting in 1936, when the cemetery was started, and his five sons have continued the tradition today.  It was well worth the stop.

After our wander through the Tulcan cemetery we made our way to Otavalo, a smallish town about two hours north of Quito, to catch their massive Saturday market.  We headed out early Saturday morning to find every square inch of the town covered in stands with loads of goods to be unpacked and sold that day. The market is chock full of embroidered blouses, beads, textiles, woolen products and, of course, a whole cheesy assembly of tourist paraphernalia.

One of the benefits of being up early for any market is the chance to be a vendor’s “first sale of the day”.  Most tourists and tour groups have not arrived yet and we managed to get some pretty decent deals as we wandered through the market streets.  And, of course, we had Andres’ Aunt Marta with us who was quick to tell us if someone was asking way too much or whether a price was fair.