Reflections

Well the trip is coming to an end. We fly to Bogata today then home on the 11th. I'll most likely do only one post from Bogata. The rest of the posts will probably be just interesting facts or things that I found interiguing.

Here is one.
In both Ecuador and Columbia, they do not want you to flush your toilet paper. Instead you need to put it in the waiste basket that is lined with a plastic bag. Then the plastic bag is taken to a land fill where it never decomposes........seems counter productive to me.

Interesting fact.

The day we went to Cotocachi, we stopped at a place that swears they make the REAL Panama hats. They gave the history of the hat.

When the Panama Canal was being built, many thousands of Ecuadorians went to help build the canal. The president of Ecuador felt badly for his country men sweating in the hot sun, so he sent thousands of the white hats made in Ecuador. When Teddy Roosevelt went to visit the canal and see how the work was going, he got very hot in the Panama sun. Someone gave him a white hat to shade him. The US press reported " look at Teddy's new Panama hat" and the name stayed. 

Off course after hearing this tale and how the salesman touted the quality and authenticity of his hats.....I had to by one. Don't know how I'll get it home , or if I'll ever wear it at home. But the REAL Panama hats come from Ecuador...............this information cost me $25.