What's in a hat?

 One of my goals while I'm down here is to learn the entire process from raw materials to woven hats. I went with Felix to a town called Barcelona about 20 minutes down the road and then further inland. We hoped on the back of his motorcycle, with helmets on, and cruised down the well maintained Ruta del Sol ( Route of the Sun). He veered off the road and took a rutted out path through the farmlands. Plants were smacking us left and right as we passed through all the rain invigorated vegetation. It was a shortcut, after passing through a creek, and many tomato fields we reached the road leading to Barcelona. We went to the house of a woman named Teresita, the head of a paja toquilla cooperative. I explained what I am doing and my desire to understand the process of the palm. We than took a tour of the village learning about the many steps along the way.

                                   Teresita Esperanza pulling the leaves into individual fibers

The toquilla palm arrives in the village in large trucks delivering the palm from the farms further inland and in the hills. The palm is harvested just before the leaves open completely, the leaves are contained in a sheath, and the first process is to remove the hard outer leaves. 

                     The bundles of Toquilla Palm above, and removing the outer sheath below.

Then the leaves are cooked in boiling water, and hung up to dry slowly in the shade. As they are drying the leaves are pulled apart into the fibers that will become our future hats. As the palm dries the leaves twist and become round. Once the leaves are dry and pulled into individual fibers they are put out in the sun to dry for a few days. The last process, is the bleaching of the palm for certain uses, the palm is hung in a wooden box and sulfur is lit in the bottom and it is left in the smoke for an hour.

                                      Lining all the roads in the village are drying palm leaves

Felix comes to this village to get his raw materials. We bought a couple bundles, strapped them on the back of the motorcycle and took off back the way we came. As we came around a corner on the overgrown single track we almost hit an old man. He was using his cane to pull down branches of a tree, called Cereza Chilena ( Chilean Cherry) we didn't even get off the motorcycle, the man pulled the branches down further and we plucked the small red fruits off the tree. After eating a handful of the delightful fruits we sped back onto the highway and back to San Antonio.