ATMA, the women's hat collective outside cuenca

We had a great trip out through the beautiful countryside surrounding Cuenca to get to an all female owner hatmakers.  These women could use some publicity:  their factory is just outside the beautiful small town of Sig Sig.  The women at the tourist office in town didn't know about it and I had just read about it in passing,  hoping to support a much more sustainable kind of business that the other hat factory we had been in previously.  

As we arrived in the town, you could see local women casually weaving hats and the knowledgeable indigenous women at the factory helped us with every step, including sizing hats to my own hard-to-fit, gigantic head.  the prices here were much better than places in town - Quin's custom fit fino was only $40 and mine was less.  We got very individual attention and a quick tour of yhe factory.   More important to us wasbthe fact that the money from the sale went directly to these ladies.  

The pretty city of cuenca

We've been enjoying cuenca a lot in the past few days.  It's a good city, calm and yet vibrant at the same time.  Locals have some sense of style,  streets are very clean, architecture is very interesting and there seems to be enough locally and culturally happening to keep it vibrant.  

There are some interesting museums here, like the Inca ruins in town and and a very good small museum of native peoples, with nearly 5000 pieces from many of the civilizations before the Spanish conquest.   I would have liked to have a bit more information about the pieces,  but it's one of the more impressive collections I've ever seen.  Well worth a visit to understand the diversity of the cultures that existed here before the conquest first by the Inca and, within a century,  by the Spanish.

The fine weather,  the scenic city and the overall very amenable place to be here has been drawing many expats down here.  Americans in particular,  are settling here in large numbers,  but many are simply not being good neighbors.

Really, it is ecuador, they do speak Spanish here.

  

Bus travel

It's 10:30pm, our overnight bus has just left the south terminal of Quito and I have the second GI Joe movie blasting in Spanish past what my noise cancelling headphones could possibly neutralize. 

The moment the bus leaves the terminal,  the bootleg DVD is on and blasting.   It's hospitality here, it seems.   We've walked into several quiet restaurants only to have the TV turned on the moment we sit down.   

At least the bus arrived,  while late, in the wrong slot and with 2 other buses trying to use the same slot, causing a good amount of general chaos.   people bumped around, there was various shouting of destinations,   The only calm center of which was a young woman and her rooster, who both looked extremely self-posessed in the moment.   it looked very well-kempt, The bird's shiny feet took a light grip on top of a mattress and box spring someone was moving by bus, i take it.  It wasn't in a cage, a bag or a box, whatever you are supposed to use to transport roosters in, just hanging out with the lady, waiting for a night bus.

People jostled about,  got their bags on, and we scrambled about and onto the bus.  The woman,  her rooster and the mattress remained perfectly still as we rolled out of the station.

I envied that chicken in that moment.