We have now driven quite a bit further south. Accordingly, we are now in the south of Ecuador in the third largest city, Cuenca. This city has a noticeably different character to most cities in Ecuador. In terms of appearance alone, the prosperity is much higher and in many places in the old town of Cuenca we are reminded of old Spanish towns, for example. We feel right at home here and decide to stay a few nights to recover from the altitude after visiting the Cotopaxi and Chimborazo national parks.

Thermal bath in Cuenca

As soon as we arrive in Cuenca, we are surprised by our hostess. We arrive on a Monday and on Mondays, entry to the best spa in the whole of Cuenca is halved for foreigners. So, without further ado, we join a Canadian couple on a spa tour with red and blue mud and various hot and cold water pools. And we try out another novelty for ourselves. We’ve seen it a few times before but were always a little skeptical: a steam bath in a wooden box. That’s how it’s advertised and we translated the Spanish term literally. The steam bath is a little strange. In a seated position, the wooden flaps at the front and top are closed. Only our heads protrude outwards through a hole. This has two advantages. Firstly, we can breathe freely and take in cool air. And secondly, every guest in the thermal bath can set their own steam bath temperature using a regulator inside the box. In the long run, however, the restricted freedom of movement is not quite so relaxing. We are glad to have tried the steam bath in the wooden box, but we are also not averse to being released from the box after 15 minutes.

The whole spa is beautifully designed and after the guided spa tour we spend quite a while in the outdoor pools and in the Turkish steam bath – in the classic way without a wooden box. And enjoy chatting with the two Canadians who are accompanying us this afternoon.
This surprise visit to the spa leaves us feeling really relaxed when we arrive back in Cuenca.

Panama Hat Museum

Cuenca is particularly well known for its various crafts. The most outstanding craft is certainly hat-making. The world-famous Panama hats are made throughout the province around Cuenca. It is a particularly fine type of straw hat and is produced in different grades. The price categories also vary depending on the fineness of the straw weave, as it takes a substantial amount of time to weave the finest Panama hats. The special toquilla straw is used, which makes the Panama hat with its original Ecuadorian origin even more unique.
In Cuenca, we visit a hat-making workshop with a specially set up hat museum, where we can see the various stages of production. The blanks for the hats look quite unspectacular at first. Only with the many finishing steps, such as bleaching, closing the edges, pressing and finally attaching the hat band, are individual pieces of traditional craftsmanship created piece by piece. And of course, there are plenty of finished hats to try on and buy. We try on a few, but the seller is a little surprised when we ask if we can fold the hat. We simply don’t have a free hat rack in Ben’s campervan so that we can drive the precious hat through the Andes properly. We understood from the polite gentleman that folding the hat would damage it; and subliminally it would probably be a slight insult to the craftsmanship of folding a magnificent Panama hat.

Corpus Christi festival with sweets

The next surprise that Cuenca has in store for us is the celebration of the Christian holiday of Corpus Christi. In Cuenca, not only Corpus Christi is celebrated at that day, but for a whole week. This goes hand in hand with the huge sweets market around Cuenca’s main square. Traditionally, the church festival is closely interwoven with sweets of all kinds – preferably sweets and sweet pastries. So, we get to enjoy a real sweet spectacle. The stalls form a single sugar tsunami that fills the streets and alleyways around the cathedral and the main square. However, we don’t really trust the whole story, we mainly taste with our eyes and less with our mouths. It’s a real paradise for those with a sweet tooth!
Fireworks are also set off every evening. Again, much to our surprise. Without any safety distance to the festival visitors, the fireworks are set off on a special stand in the middle of the crowd. At least there is a fire engine somewhere in a side alley, but why not? Latinos are just a bit more relaxed and fun-loving than Europeans.

It’s also nice to meet some travelers here in Cuenca that we’ve already met in other places in Ecuador. And we even meet a German couple again, whom we last met at the border with Honduras (remember our 6-hour wait at the border crossing to Honduras?). The two of them are traveling on motorcycles and have flown their bikes from Panama to Chile and then driven north again. And by chance, we meet up again here in Cuenca.

With these experiences under our belts, we soon set off for our next destination in Ecuador. As is so often the case with our travel plans: after the city, it’s back to nature. We are delighted, the nature of the Andes and here in Ecuador is simply impressive.