Ingapirca

Up the road a piece from here (well up the road, over some mountains, around a roadblock, through some mud, around a town that was having a road race through the middle of it, back out over a mountain - did I mention that driving around Ecuador can pose some obstacles?) lies the best kept Incan ruins in Ecuador, called Ingapirca.  With our trusty guides and friends, Marielena and Henry, two gringo families set off for a weekend adventure and some camping.  We saw an interesting slice of life in "el campo" and more than just a pile of old rocks at Ingapirca.  

Marielena and Henry were our tour guides on this weekend camping adventure.  Our family was joined by Jeannine, Emily and Felix (sans Dad, Eric). The first day February 7 was a beautiful Saturday and we stopped near the capital of the Canar province, Azogues, less than an hour from Cuenca.  We stopped at a stone cutter's workshop to learn about how they cut stone for columns, animal sculptures, and fountains.  We then moved on to San Miguel to learn about the making of traditional ceramic pots.  This turned out to take up much of the day because the artisans had puppies and the children wanted to spend lots of time with them.  We had lunch, a nice hike, and a somewhat accidental first taste of Zhumir (sugar liquor) for Julian.  He claims to hate the stuff.  

Late in the afternoon we moved on to a beautiful lake to set up camp.  It cooled down at night and there wasn't much firewood to be had, so we worked the fire with the charcoal that was brought on the trip.  The view was beautiful and the night was clear enough to see the full moon.  It was so bright that you didn't need a flashlight for those middle of the night trips to the bushes.  The police decided to check on us a few times, first to make sure we weren't thugs of some sort, and then to make sure we were safe.  Again, safety did not seem like a factor until somebody brought it up.

The next day we had too leisurely of a breakfast and a some short walks.  This made our trip to Ingapirca, the Incan ruins, take longer than it should have.  Apparently, a road race can shut down whole towns and paths through it for many hours.  We finally made it too the ruins and were treated to a lovely lunch.  The tour of the ruins was very interesting, especially when the whole thing was translated into English by our wordsmith son for the German couple who joined our tour.  According to our tour guide, the Incans and Canari lived side by side peacefully for many years until the Spanish Conquest.  It has inspired me to find a good book on the subject.

Next post, Carnaval in Banos!