“Panama” Hats (they’re actually Ecuadorian) for Delta Sky
Panama hats are really from Ecuador, where the indigenous people have been weaving them for hundreds of years. They got the misnomer because so many of them were shipped via Panama and worn by canal workers there. Today, making the hats is a major industry in the Andean city of Cuenca, Ecuador. Weavers in tiny, poor mountain communities weave the hats by hand, then sell them to a middleman who takes them to the big hat finishing and exporting centers. Eventually, many hats for which the weavers were paid $3-$7 sell for over $100 in Europe and the states.
This is a small selection of photos that I made in and around Cuenca, Ecuador between July 12 and July 19, 2009. Please click on a photo to bring up a larger version. Thanks for taking a look and comments are very appreciated. For comments about a specific picture, please include the file name or number of the cell.
If you would prefer to see a self-running slideshow of images, click: HERE