Panama Hats

On the way to Campeche the other day, we stopped in a little town called Becal, known for making Panama Hats. We visited a weaver who makes the hats by hand. The itpyhopi plant is dried and used to make the hats. But because the fiber has to be damp to work with, they weavers have a cave right in the yard where they go underground to weave the hats. A fine Panama hat takes about two weeks to make. Who knew!

On the way from Becal, we stopped again on the street and bought a drink made from pitaya. Pitaya is a fruit, similar to dragonfruit or kiwi. I had eaten some on the buffet in Merida. It was very good. It looks like a cone though. In the Walmart, we saw a whole bin of pitayas and a bin of limones. Limas and limons are lemons & limes used in a soup we like--sopa de lima (chicken, broth & lima ).

We had to leave for Palenque yesterday. We went to Xpicod, a sea turtle conservation, run by Miguel Medina. We held large and small sea turtles, then our group went out on a boat to the sea and set him free! The water was wonderful. I got in, it was only waist deep, but felt so good. I could float. We all stood around in the water, eating fresh sweet watermelon and pumpkin seed hummus!
We had seafood in Sabancuy but there was a storm so we could not get in the water. The ride to Palenque was long.....rainy and bumpy!