The Panama Hat Trail: A Journey from South America

by Tom Miller, Tony Hillerman (Foreword)

This exploration of the countries and cultures of South America examines how different cultures view one another, assesses the mythic appeal of the United States, and looks at the economics of world trade. Reprint.

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction, History, Business

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1986

About the author

Tom Miller has been writing about the American Southwest and Latin America for more than three decades. His ten books include The Panama Hat Trail, which follows the making and marketing of one Panama hat, and Trading with the Enemy, which Lonely Planet says "may be the best travel book about Cuba ever written." Miller began his journalism career in the underground press of the late '60s and early '70s, and has written articles for The New York Times, The Washington Post, The New Yorker, Smithsonian Magazine, Natural History, and Rolling Stone. He lives in Tucson, Arizona, with his wife, Regla.

Reviews

[Kristīne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Travel writing at its best.

[Glen · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book about the history and meaning of the Panama Hat, worn by people from all over the world, but made in Ecuador, where it is thought to be for peasants.

The author follows the trail the hats make from Ecuador to the US, and gives us a lot of history along the way. Pretty interesting.

[theliterateleprechaun · Rating 4 out of 5]

“It’s a travel classic!” my friend told me. “Even National Geographic thinks it’s a winner.”

I’d never heard of Tom MIller, didn’t know what a Panama hat was, and wasn’t sure about downloading a $16 book on wifi at sea….but I’m glad I did.

✔️ Tom Miller is a travel writer, lecturer and tour guide.
✔️ A Panama hat (sombreros de paja toquilla) is made in Ecuador but so named by the workers who wore them while working on the Panama Canal.
✔️ The ease of purchasing/downloading ebooks at sea is fabulous! I can’t imagine bringing enough printed books for this trip in my suitcase. I’d have to cut back on my shoes!!!!

This book follows the making and marketing of a Panama hat. It sounds like it should be a dry topic, but I was pleasantly surprised. I knew we were visiting Montecristi today and that it was the birthplace of the Panama hat, so I wanted to learn more about it and get in the mindset of Ecuador. What I wasn’t prepared for was the humor and anecdotes from Miller’s journeys to Ecuador throughout the 1980s. It added to the enjoyment of this book.

Miller takes his reader from the planting of the Ecuadorian straw, to cutting it, to the weekly straw market, to the process of drying it, weaving it, and selling it to a middleman, to it being finished for sale in a factory, getting it ready to export and then to where it’s sold as a luxury hat.

The sad reality of this journey is that readers are made aware of how little the weavers are paid in comparison to how much the buyer is willing to pay for it. I came away from this experience wanting to purchase directly from a weaver or, at least, purchasing from a ‘fair trade’ authenticated store.

I learned that the Montecristi hats are known for their soft, airtight weave and clean, honey smooth surface. I noted that the ‘real McCoy’ will have an official ‘Denomination of Origin (D.O) Montecristi Hat label, and I smirked when I read that although they are notably debonair in the Northern Hemisphere, only the lower class in Ecuador wear them!

If you choose to read this book you’ll discover how long it takes to grow the straw, why the straw is soaked and dried twice prior to weaving, why they are woven at night, why they are bought with the outer rim incomplete, how they are cleaned and softened, why you shouldn’t drink coffee in Ecuador, the number of vueltas to look for in buying a hat, why you need to be careful of a group of cholas, how the ‘cuy’ got its name, and what to look for before you board Ecuadorian transit.

[Jonathan Forisha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Next week I leave for a trip to Ecuador, so naturally I wanted to read something to put me in the mindset of a country I've never visited.

This book, while perhaps a bit dated by 2017 (we'll see once I get there), does a great job of exploring every step in the long process of turning Ecuadoran straw in the 3rd world into luxury hats in the 1st world.

There are plenty of interesting asides along the way, and Miller was always willing to stop and put things in perspective, whether it was currency exchange rates or relations from one Ecuadoran city to another.

[Giovanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of the few books I've found about Ecuador...the book is nominally about the manufacture and distribution of Panama hats, but more a window to the Ecuadorean culture and people. And you get a description of what cuy (guinea pig) actually tastes like. And a chapter about Bemelmans--who wrote a travel book (The Donkey Inside), a kids' book (Quito Express), and a novel (Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep)taking place in Ecuador.

[Douglas · Rating 3 out of 5]

"The Panama Hat Trail" is a travelogue tracing the production of the famous "Panama Hat," from its straw origins to its finishing processes. The hat, by the way, is chiefly made in Ecuador, but was used extensively in Panama, thus the latter term defines the hat. As a resident of Ecuador, where most of the book's adventures takes place, I was amused by author Tom Miller's accounts of places, people, and culture in Ecuador, and I can attest to its truth.

The story line moves along quickly, themes change rapidly, names of places and names of people come and go with no warning, so for this reason sometimes my mind was just a bit weary of trying to understand what was happening. Nonetheless, if you see the chapters in the book as a sort of loosely-connected chronological series of "pictures in a photo album" you can appreciate it much better. One unfortunate theme that becomes apparent is that the indigenous peoples of Ecuador make very, very little income on each of their hats, yet when the hats are retailed at hat shops abroad the price is formidable. This type of injustice has brought about the "fair trade" movement of the 21st century, and the book effectively serves as a literary (and amusing) reminder to always buy "fair trade" items when you can!

[Jocelyn Leigh · Rating 3 out of 5]

"'The man who doesn't like clouds has no business coming to Ecuador.'" - Henri Michaux, 1928.

"In the not-too-distant past the country was a genuine banana republic, dependent upon that fruit and cacao as its major exports."

"The income from [oil production] accounts for two thirds of the country's total export earnings."

"The salary here is insufficient and the climate incompatible with good health." - Alexander McLean, May 1880.

"Cuenca's municipal motto: Primero Dios, Después Vos. First God, Then You."

"There are Mormons, Seventh Day Adventists, Jehovah's Witnesses - and Catholics! This country is ninety-eight percent Catholic and still they send missionaries. Are they trying to capture the other two percent?"

"Guayaquil, whose industries produce most of the goods bought and process most of the food consumed in the country, is Ecuador's breadwinner. Most of the bread, however, winds up in the government coffers in the capital city, and Guayaquil sees little benefit from its industrial output... The Guayaquil attitude toward Quiteños: 'We live in the tropics; we work. They live in the mountains; they don't.'"

On bus trips in Latin America: "The driver's sobriety isn't a factor. The presence of his wife or girlfriend is...He will want to impress her with his daring at the wheel, but he will also go to great lengths not to injure her. If he has no girlfriend or wife, the chances of gorge-dive increase."

"Distance and time are two of life's limitations that take on surreal qualities in Latin America. Dimensions mean little. Soon? It could mean today, tonight, tomorrow, by next week, or I'm not sure. Soon could be fifteen minutes or fifteen miles. The difference between soon and forever might be negligible."

"This custom of making high sounding promises, which are not intended to be kept, is universal among Ecuadorians of the Sierra." - Frederick Hassaurek, 1860s

"'It's too bad you weren't here during our last coup. They're really a lot of fun. While the palacio was being attacked, everyone else was over at the big soccer game at the stadium. Our coups, they're so - they're so - they're so folkloric.'"

"We have a revolution here every Thursday afternoon at half-past two, and our government is run like a nightclub." - Ludwig Bemelmans, 1941

On international volunteers: "Overall our experience has been good, but since each one stays only a couple of weeks, as soon as that one starts to work well with us he's gone and we have to start all over with a new one. The money they bring in is enormously helpful though. None of them knows it, of course, but they could work for the same period of time just by writing to me."

"We were for the poor, against the rich; for justice, against the United States."

"'But the Americans? They corrupt the language. They are los monos de inglés.'"

"We want to know about the decline of American morals. Is it true? That you have no values left in the States?"

[Bookguide · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dit boek heb ik voor haast niets bij de HEMA gekocht omdat het over Panama ging, dacht ik, een land waar bijna geen boeken over te vinden zijn. Perfect voor mijn landen leesuitdaging. Blijkt niet helemaal te kloppen, want heel veel van het boek gaat over Ecuador, maar dat was ook heel interessant en ook een land waar ik nog niets over wist. Helaas heb ik het boek al in 2015 bijna uitgelezen maar geen review geschreven omdat ik het laatste hoofdstuk niet gelezen had. Nu ben ik mijn notities kwijt, maar weet nog dat het een boeiend manier is om over andere landen te lezen door een product te kiezen en het hele productieproces te volgen waardoor je ook op boerderijen, bij mensen thuis, in werkplaatsen en winkels komt.

[Cathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book follows the trail of Panama hats from their origin on the coast of Ecuador to the small towns around Cuenca to their ultimate destination to western markets, especially in the U.S. Tom Miller is a great observer of culture and portrays an Ecuador where impoverished people weave the famous hats for subsistence pay and layers of middlemen reap all the profits. Miller unveils Ecuador prior to 1986, the year this book was published. As I am preparing to go to Ecuador, the book has given me a great immersion into the culture of this South American country. I look forward to finding my own Panama hat, and immersing myself into the Andes culture, as we make our way from Cuenca to Quito.

[The Bamboo Traveler · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm traveling through Ecuador and I've been looking for a book on the country. There aren't that many out there in English. Miller's is a rarity.

Miller traces the origins of the Panama Hat (it's never been made in Panama) from its weavers to its middlemen to the exports to the American hat company in Texas. While he follows the trail of the Panama Hat, he explore the people, culture, and history of Ecuador.

I learned a lot about Ecuador. But the book was written in the 1980s, so I'm not sure how much the Ecuador described in the book resembles today's Ecuador.

[Michael Dutchak · Rating 4 out of 5]

Miller’s personal journey though all phases of the making of a Panama Hat was very interesting, taking the reader into the homes and lives of the Ecuadorian people who struggle to make a living at each step along the way.

[Pat · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very interesting premise: Panama hat production and merchandising as a basis for analyzing Ecuadoran society, politics and history.

[Nancy Crane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this while I was in Ecuador. Loved being in the places it talked about.

[Krista · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book brought back fond memories of my travels in Ecuador.

[Mark Walker · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a dynamic travelogue revealing much about Ecuador and its people as well as a study in global economics from the making of the Panama Hat. As a shaggy hat body from the Andes for $.65, it would become part of mainstream American commerce at a wholesale cost of $18.75. The author’s travels reveal both the history of the making of the hats as well as the process they use to produce them. From “Straw Hats—Their History and Manufacture,” by Harry Inwards, London, 1922: “Claims are made that in the Province of Manabi, a native named Francisco Delgado first made a Panama hat about 300 years ago….then he goes on to reveal that “making of`` grass fiber hats in the Western Hemisphere was…of the most remote antiquity.”
I first traveled through Ecuador in the late 1970s, fresh out of Peace Corps Guatemala and returned with various donor groups over a twenty-year period. I found Miller’s journey revealing and informative, as well as relaxing. I also appreciated his dry wit as well as the obvious empathy for the people he encountered along the way.
Those of us who have backpacked through Latin America could only chuckle at Miller’s checklist prior to boarding one of the local buses:
1. Look at the tires….Visible threads on the tires means a blowout is imminent.”
2. Does the bus have at least one windshield wiper?
3. You can’t check the bus for brakes. Once I asked a driver in Guatemala about the brakes on his bus. “Look,” he said, “the bus is stopped isn’t it?”
One chapter provides insights into some of the historic nuances of the country. “When you mention Guayaquil, the people of Quito snicker. Monos, monkeys, live there. Uncouth sacrilegious, lazy, no modesty or commitment to family or God. They lack ambition, culture, and spirituality….Quito and Guayaquil have so little in common they appear as if on different planets…”
During his trek, the author makes some interesting side trips, including a trip into the jungle area in search of the impact of the growing oil industry, which is dominated by foreign corporations. He quotes the French sociologist, Claude Levi Strauss, who observed, “A continent barely touched by man lay exposed to men whose greed could no longer be satisfied by their own continent.” The Ecuadorian native Indians who live in the central highlands of the Andes make most of the hats, but according to the author, are at the bottom of the “social heap,” planting corn, harvesting potatoes.
A story within a story emerges when the author veered from his Panama hat trail to check out the border to the north with Colombia. He came across several towns in this relatively isolated part of the country that reflected a new level of prosperity due at least partially to an “overflow from some of the world’s most productive coca cultivation and processing operations nearby.” In one raid in 1984 northeast of Puerto Colon, almost fourteen tons of cocaine were discovered! According to Miller, “The sleepy stretch of the San Miguel between the two countries, so friendly and easy to travel, turned out to be one of South America’s major drug highways.”
Like many “Travel” authors, Miller provides some insights into the countries they pass through. He identified a “loss of national identify” not limited to tourist literature or straw hats and refers to the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Olympics, when ABC anchorman Peter Jennings briefly praised each country as its standard-bearer entered the Memorial Coliseum. When Ecuador’s flag came on, he summed up this lack of identity with, “The conquistadores stopped in Ecuador. They didn’t find enough riches, so they moved on.”
He also highlights Moritz Thomsen, author of the “best English-language books about Ecuadorans coping with life at the bottom,” entitled, “Living Poor.” He went on to say that Moritz would agree with Robert Byron in defending traveling writers whose books insult their hosts: “Somebody must trespass on the taboos of modern nationalism, in the interest of human reason. Business can’t. Diplomacy won’t. It has to be people like us.” Miller ended this pithy segment of his book with, “To me, Ecuador had been a country with its head in the clouds, its heart on its sleeve, and its groin to the ground.”
I’ve been fortunate enough to meet the author, and learned where our paths exploring the magical country of Ecuador had crossed over the years. I also became aware of, and recommend, his acclaimed adventure books including this one, as well as “On the Border” about his travels along the U.S.-Mexico border; “Trading with the Enemy,” which takes place in his favorite country, Cuba, and “Revenge of the Saguaro,” which takes place in the American Southwest.
Miller has appeared in The New Yorker, LIFE, The New York Times, Natural History, and many other publications. He wrote the introduction to Best Travel Writing – 2005, and has led educational tours through Cuba for the National Geographic Society and other organizations. I’d agree with the National Geographic Traveler that this book is “among the best travel books ever written.”

[Andrew Hecht · Rating 4 out of 5]

My brother, his wife, who is from Quito, and my mom are headed down to Ecaudor in the next few weeks. For my mom and my brother, it will be their first trip to South America. I'm very excited for them, and, well, a little jealous, because I've never been to Ecuador.

I can't make it on this trip, but I will make it some day. Instead I took a virtual trip courtesy of Tom Miller's, The Panama Hat Trail, one the hundreds of unread travel narratives on my bookshelves.

The premise of the book is that Miller is going to follow the supply chain of the famous Panama Hat (made in Ecuador much to his surprise) from the source, the weavers and even the straw (toquilla) all the way to haberdashers in the US. Miller deftly uses this narrative arc to explore the country through it's landscape, literature, culture, religion. history, migration patterns and cuisine.

It's a thoroughly enjoyable ride despite the clear exploitation and deplorable conditions of the indigenous weavers. As the hats pass through the supply chain from toquiila to the weavers to the buyers, finishers, exporters and finally the hat shops, they become increasingly more valuable. At the bottom end, the weavers are earning next to nothing for their herculean efforts. Some of the finest hats, the Monecristi Finos, sell for hundreds of dollars, with the weavers seeing very little of that largess.

Miller seems to me to be very even handed and fair to his hosts. However, he doesn't pull many punches and reveals many of the country's warts, including the relationship with the Indians, as I mentioned before, but also the deplorable state of the infrastructure, the poor quality of the health care system, the feud between the residents of Quito, the capital, and Quayaquil, the economic engine of the country, the manaña culture, the raping of natural resources by Texaco, it's defenseless in the face of it's more powerful neighbors, Peru and Columbia and so on.

The end result is that you start to feel a little sorry for poor downtrodden Ecuador. It doesn't make we want to go there any less. In fact, I'm all the more curious having read Miller's account.

[Judy · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story of a panama hat, part travelogue, well mostly travelogue but travel writing at its best. You learn about Equador's (yes, that's where all Panama hats are made)culture and history. There's something about the tone of the book, a certain leisurelyness and trust, that made it clear it was written a few years old (originally published 1988) I can't imagine someone having the same experience today, post 911. While the "mysterious trail" angle is unnecessary and annoying (no one is preventing him from finding out anything) the writing is smooth and competent.

Quote (walking in the jungle toward a village:)
Domingo said, "We should be there soon." Soon? What does soon mean to someone who walks barefoot 3 hrs to work in the morning and back again at night. For all I knew he went home for lunch, too. Soon? Distance and time are 2 of life's limitations that take on surreal qualities in Latin America. Dimension means little. Soon? It could mean today, tonight, tomorrow, by next week or I'm not sure. Soon could be 15 minutes or 15 miles. The difference between soon and forever might be negligible."

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have found that there are relatively few books about Ecuador, the fourth smallest country in South America. One that is worth reading is The Panama Hat Trail: A Journey from South America by Tom Miller.

For over a century, the fine straw hats woven in Ecuador have come to be known as Panamas, probably because the construction workers building the Panama Canal demanded them for their comfort. Actually, they are manufactured in Ecuador, around the city of Cuenca, using straw that is harvested by hand near the coast between Guayaquil and Esmeraldas.

I am particularly gratified by the four-page bibliography at the end of the book, which gives me a good starting point in planning my trip to the land of volcanoes and Panama hats later this year.

[Brooke Everett · Rating 3 out of 5]

Full of interesting tidbits about Ecuador and South America's culture. At times the tone could be a little flat, but overall this is a book that goes quickly and is a worthwhile armchair adventure. His descriptions of places, particularly Quito, were fantastic.

"'The man who doesn't like clouds has no business coming to Ecuador," wrote the Belgian Henri Michaux in 1928. 'They're the faithful dogs of the mountains."" p. 9

"Indians were 'reduced to the most abject state of servitude and bondage,' observed the Frenchman Laurent Saint-Criq when he traveled through the Andes in the 1870s. 'These unfortunate beings, robbed of their country, are merely allowed to exist in it.'" p. 127

"At times it seems as if the Indians carry the Andes themselves on their backs." p. 129

[Jon · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think this book would work better if, as a reader, I'd dipped into it every now and again...as opposed to reading it straight through. The book has charm, but not much of a narrative propulsion. I was slightly disappointed by the weak frame of the narrative (i.e. following the a panama hat from creation the storefront...I think the idea is a solid one, but the execution was too meandering. The whole third part of the book leaves the trail and just meanders around Ecuador and Colombia. Overall an OK read...you don't find many books about Ecuador, so it was interesting to get see that part of the world in book form.

[Mark Jamison · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not sure this book would resonate much with someone who hasn't been or isn't planning to go to Ecuador, but I read most of it in a sleepy little town in the Andes mountains in Ecuador where I'll be moving in less than a year, so the anecdotes and the bits of historical and cultural information were particularly interesting. There aren't many travel books about Ecuador, so if you're planning a visit (or a move), read this. Otherwise, maybe not.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the best travel books ever written. While the main current of the book is the story of where Panama hats come from (hint: Ecuador), Miller explains a lot of Latin American history and culture. While often funny, the book never makes fun of Latin America. An excellent interweaving of a lot of information into a captivating and well-written narrative.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable book about Panama hats (which are actually from Ecuador!). I read most of this book before I went to Ecuador this past summer, and I enjoyed the travelogue about places I was about to visit. The writing is fine and the storyline so-so. It wasn't outstanding in its own right but somewhat fun because of my personal connection with the places.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you ever wanted to find out how and where the famous straw hats were made, this is the book for you. Witty, funny, and sensitively told journey of the author's search for the Panama Hat and its origins.

[Deb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cool book especially if you plan on traveling to ecuador, peru etc in the near future.

[anjali · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not the best, but it is an OK story about the Panama hat from Ecuador.

[Riley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ah, the Panama hat: Ecuador's most famous export.

[Laurel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book on the mis-named Ecuadorian hats... good for folks who would like to come visit! (wink wink, nudge nudge!)

[Halle Butvin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book - a fascinating look at Ecuador through the Panama Hat supply chain (Panama Hats are actually made in Ecuador)

[David Vanness]

library copy paper