Day 22: Hanging Around in Ecuador. Around the World in 80 Days.

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Day 22: Hanging Around in Ecuador.

While we're in Ecuador, we decided to do a layover and go visit the beautiful Pacific Coast and learn about Tagua nuts.

Destination: Manabi, Ecuador

Manabi, Ecuador is located along the central part of Ecuador's Pacific Coast and is known for its beautiful beaches, quaint fishing villages and Machalilla National Park, with its rich vegetation, rain forest and varied species of fauna. Manabi also produces many handicrafts and is known worldwide for its pottery and panama hats.

Fun Facts:

Panama Hats are and always have been from Ecuador and not from Panama! These finely woven hats were first shipped to Panama and acquired the name that reflects their point of international sale rather than their place of domestic origin.

Art Form: Tagua Nut Jewelry

How Organic Tagua Jewelry Started

The founder and creative director of Organic Tagua Jewelry, Soraya Cedeno, was born in Manabi, Ecuador, a small coastal village renowned as a haven for gifted artisans specializing in a relatively unknown raw material: Tagua.

Before starting her company, Soraya worked with local and national autism foundations to raise funds, increase awareness and improve the lives of persons with autism and their families. This combination provided an opportunity to bring together her two passions: giving back to her village in Ecuador and helping those affected by autism. She met this goal by creating a puzzle piece bracelet from Tagua and its success enabled Soraya to expand Organic Tagua Jewelry and share the beauty and creativity of her people's work with the world.

How Tagua Jewelry is Made

All Tagua jewelry is made from a palm tree nut native to the lush tropical rainforests of Ecuador.

Also referred to as the Ecuadorean Ivory Palm, the Tagua tree produces several bushels of seed pods a year with up to 100 Tagua nuts per pod.

These nuts are then harvested, dried, and crafted into a wide range of products like beautiful Tagua jewelry.

All Organic Tagua Jewelry is handmade and dyed using high-grade certified organic vegetable dyes.

No two pieces are exactly the same.

Watch how Tagua nuts are harvested, dried and made into lovely jewelry. . .

How our Tagua Jewelry is Made

Organic Tagua Jewelry is eco-friendly, 100% sustainable and the palm tree provides shelter and nourishment for rainforest animals. Also known as Vegetable Ivory, Tagua has the same appearance, density, and feel of animal ivory without doing any harm to animals or the rainforests where it is gathered. This jewelry is a humane and beautiful alternative to illegal ivory from elephants, whales and walruses.

The Company

Organic Tagua Jewelry is family owned and operated. The artisans in Manabi, Ecuador are their friends and neighbors, and they are proud to promote their work. Through direct equitable trade, the company is able to provide reliable employment and a decent living wage to their artisans. This enables artisan families to eat better, keep their children in school, and invest in their futures while keeping their traditions alive and vibrant.

Sustaining the rainforest!

Shopping . . .

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Don't forget to stamp your Passport!

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We keep track of your stamps for you!

"Collect" at least 12 different "country" stamps during the second 20 days of our around-the-world trip to be entered into the drawing for a $25 gift card. At the end of our 80-day Around the World excursion, all eligible travelers (minimum of 48 country stamps) will be entered into a drawing for . . .

a Grand Prize $100 shopping spree gift card!

Thanks for traveling with us today.

Where to next? Stay tuned!

As I watched the video, I was reminded how I love the joyful panpipe music of Ecuador. I hope you have enjoyed our little 2-day stay. For many of our "folk art" friends who started their businesses in the 70's, Ecuador was their focus, bringing wool sweaters, woven textiles and indigenous crafts to sell on college campuses. There is a long history of connection with the people and the magical landscape of Ecuador. Whenever our paths cross with these friends, invariably stories of Ecuador are a part of our conversation.

We are planning the re-opening of World's Window in Brookside and to welcome you back. A few staff will be joining us today as we orient to "life as it is now." We plan to open Friday, May 15th with limited hours of 11 am to 5 pm. There will be hand sanitizer and masks to be worn by both staff and customers. We are continuing to prepare World's Window for re-opening in a welcoming and safe manner for all.

We THANK YOU for your continued online shopping support. YOU are an important part of what makes World's Window so special!

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P.S. We are glad to be on this around-the-world virtual journey with you and delighted that you are traveling with us. We hope you are learning some new information as we travel along. If you haven't already done so, invite some friends to come along! There's still room on this journey! Send an invite

P.P.S. We're keeping our trip "log" up to date. If you think you've missed a day or are new to our journey, click here to review where we've visited the last 21 days.

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CLOSED right now as we "Stay At Home"

"Soft" Opening Date: Friday, May 15 from 11 am to 5 pm

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As always we are "sharing the world" through clothing, jewelry, folk art, textiles and hand-selected gifts -

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