Vegetable Ivory, Hats, and Tuna?

Quite a title isn't it?  Vegetable Ivory is actually a tagua nut that comes from this area as well as Panama and Columbia.  A remarkable thing that can be carved into jewelry, small statues, chess sets, and many other beautiful pieces of work.  We met some of the best carvers in Ecuador during a shopping excursion in a small town called Sosote.

tagua nut casing
usually found at base of tree

seeds used for carving

Miquel and his camera shy friend are the best carvers in the area

each monkey is separate nut then glued together

The Panama Hat is a story Ecuador has never quite gotten credit for.  The following is the story from the cab driver:  During the building of the Panama Canal an exiled Ecuadorian president noticed the men were not wearing hats.  He contacted his friends in Montecristi and had them send what they had.  He made a lot of money selling hats to the workers.  When President Roosevelt came to Panama for a visit he noticed the hats and had to have one.  One was given to him as a gift and when he returned to New York, a picture was taken of him with his Panama Hat.  The End.  The hats however have always been made in Ecuador out of toquilla straw, supposedly the finest straw on earth right here in Montecriste.  They range from fine to super fino, the tighter the weave the better quality hat and the more expensive.  They can take a week to several months of daily work for just one hat.  I believe I read that Queen Elizabeth even has a Panama Hat as well as several celebrities. While on our shopping excursion, Captain Don was on his own quest to find his very own Panama Hat.

Lonely Planet's suggested place of purchase "Jose Chavez Franco"

The Hat!  They come with a special hat bag and a balsa box that you can literally roll your hat into. (the weave is so fine that when it's rolled and unrolled there are no creases)

TUNA:  We have now seen where "Bumble Bee" and host of other tuna companies have packing houses.  Manta is known as the tuna capital of the world.  Wooden tuna boats are still built on the beaches and as far as I could see, there were boats.  All of them after the same fish!  Amazing, no wonder it's such an expensive fish!

That was quite a day of shopping,  (How often do you think he'll wear the hat?)