Tour of Craft Villages Part 1

Last Thursday, Feb. 9, Southland Tours provided an all-day tour of five craft villages near Cuenca.  The tour leader, Carlos, was excellent -- he has been a tour guide for 18 years, and had studied in England, so his knowledge of the area and his English language were superb.  By the end of the day, I was on information/beauty overload and I feel the same way today as I try to select pictures for the blog.  My process today was also interrupted by a terrific thunder/lightning/rain storm where we lost electricity for awhile.  So I didn't complete the series of villages with all pictures, but this is a start.  First stop was the weavers.  The woman in the center is the expert in ikat weaving which includes hand-tying the threads at the ends of the shawl.  She has traveled world-wide to talk about/exhibit her weavings.  Her children help her now, but this is probably the last generation who will learn/practice this art. 

She uses all natural fibers and colors.  The pictures show how the gray color is derived from coal (which is found on her property) and the red is an insect that is captured and used for red and variations of red.  She uses things like baking soda to change the variation of colors.  When she is hand-tying, her hands move so fast, it's hard to see what she is doing.  The white shawl is a historical piece which is museum-quality and is valued at $1,200.  The cotton and silk shawls that she had for sale were $30 & $40 respectively. 

Another village was Sigsig which is known for the women's cooperative that makes Panama hats. Did you think Panama hats were made in Panama?  Think again, they are made in Ecuador (in many, many factories).  In the entrance of this coop, this hat really gets your attention--it's huge.   

This coop has a combination of many women who do a lot of manual labor--the women below are washing hats and dying the straw--and heavy equipment that forms the hats.  

These were hats and baskets/fibers that show the colors and processes of the weaving. 

These are two of the women who were weaving the hats/baskets. The woman in front is wearing a typical hat for her village.  Each village has a particular color and shape of hat that designates the village where they reside. The women's skirts also "tell" their village. 

These are just a few of the finished hats for women (and men have just as many choices).

I'm going to close part 1 with some of the scenery that I took from the bus window.  I hope you can get a sense of the beauty of the countryside.  The top two show a sample of the flower greenhouses that are so common.  Ecuador exports a huge amount of roses and other flowers. 

There is green everywhere!  And on Thursday, sunshine.

I'll be back later in the week for the continuation of the tour.