Adventures in the Dream: Tour of Inca Site

Becky wrote...

The trip to Ingapirca Tuesday was long on the bus, but satisfying at the site! A guide walked us along the winding paths of the "ruins" of the Inca civilization, telling the story in both English and Spanish. The site was reconstructed in recent years, 1970 and 80´s, although much of the foundation is original using no mortar of any kind, but rather cut to size and shape with a method of fire and water, and then stacked row by row. A small modern village faces the Inca village site, steep hillsides and llamas grazing, cool breezes in the 60's and the bluest of skies.

After the tour, the group was invited to shop handmade crafts and textiles, or have a lunch break at the Inca site restaurant. The beef stew consisted of a full plate of fresh beef, white rice with soft cooked eggs on top, and a delicious vegetable salad inside a lettuce leaf. Also included were potato fries and a small Pilsener beer. The beef stew was definitely not Dinty Moore.

This trip was a 6-hour total trip and we were wiped out once home. The photos do not give a clue as to the ancient beauty of the lines of the Inca community site. Most times, you just have to be there, right?

Tour Group approaching the Temple of the Sun

Inca Site Llamas

Walls around the Temple of the Sun

Allan Wrote...

As Becky said, Tuesday was Ingapirca, a Canari and Incan ruins north of Cuenca. According to those who know, the Canari people were the first to settle there, calling their establishment "Cashaloma" which means "place where the stars pour from the heavens." I wish we could be there at night to see what must be a phenomenal sky.

Becky peeking around the corner as we got underway for Ingapirca

Becky and I got up early, caught a cab to the bus station, and hopped on board a tourista bus headed for Ingapirca. We had debated a little yesterday whether we wanted to take a 2 hour bus ride, each way, for an attraction that one could see in just two hours. But we decided to make it happen. And I'm glad we did.

The countryside was wondrous to me. Most of the 2 hour ride was a climb uphill through the Andes. We left Cuenca with maybe 20 people on the bus, but as we traveled farther, people began to get on board at every little country-side bus stop. Pretty soon we had people standing in the aisles...some young folks, and many women dressed in the traditional garb: a shawl, often used to carry a baby, a bunch of vegetables or some other load. I noticed time and again that the women who came on board, often with little kids, almost always had a smile on. These are country people from small villages and towns. Such a difference from what we see on MARTA and other US public transportation! We also saw a few Canadians on-board, college age students who had been here for the past eight months studying International Relations in Quito.

The ride actually did last even a bit more than 2 hours, and here's a video of the last few minutes before we reached the archeological site of the Ingapirca ruins. As you can see, there isn't much to keep the bus from falling off the road and into a gigantic rollover. But the driver has probably been navigating this particular dirt road for years, so while you can let your "helpless passenger's" imagination run into a fearsome place, it's probably very safe in spite of appearances.

It seems the Canari people built Ingapirca as an observatory, a temple, or [see what the web says]. Sometime in the late 1400's the Inca's from Peru came through the area and, as our guide seemed to suggest, took over the area and subdued the Canari people. Well, we didn't feel too subdued when we saw the rather friendly and curious llamas who let Becky get up close and personal.

The whole area of Ingapirca ruins sits atop a mountain the gives clear visibility to every point of the compass. Our guide explained that this location gave its inhabitants a clear view of any potential invaders. Here are a few pictures and a video that show you our first glimpse of the site. [vids and pics]

The "walls" that appear in these pics were actually 6-9 feet high, and roofs were covered with straw. Today the walls are gone and you see only the base, or foundation, where the walls were erected. [pics]

Calendar Stones

The stones with holes in them are interesting. The large one has 28 holes, one for each day of the lunar month. Another has 13 holes, one for each of the 13 lunar months, while yet another had seven holes representing the days of the week. Incas lived 13 months of 28 days each. While the guide didn't explain quite how these were used, she did indicate the Incas used them as a calendar to help them time their planting and harvesting each year.

The "Temple of the Sun" was a sacred place. It housed the top priests, top soldiers and, of course, the "Virgins of the Sun." These women were required to live in the Temple for three to six years and to perform various activities -- weaving, cooking and other chores. They were also chosen by those "most important men" to be wives. Here's a video showing all 360-degrees of Ingapirca taken from the Temple of the Sun vantage point.

With just about 40 minutes left to have a quick lunch, we boldly walked into the only restaurant on site...and found it full of school children, probably early teens. I stopped to look around, and every single table was filled, with no place left to sit. I probably had a confused look on my face and just stopped to look around. All at once the kids started laughing and a couple of them called out in English, "good afternoon" with lots of laughing. It was a kind and warm welcome, I thought, and shouted out to them "good afternoon" as well as "buenas tardes." I asked a lady outside if we could eat here and she said "claro" (of course) -- just sit at the table outside. Soon we had a menu in Spanish and English, and moments later a couple of cervezas and two gigantic lunches. Becky already described hers above; mine was called a "mote" or, in English, "corn scramble." Delicious, but so much we couldn't eat it all. And just about $4 each.

And finally, here is some breathtaking scenery of the Andes taken on the ride back home.

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Tuesday night we went to Tiestos, reputedly the best restaurant in Cuenca. Wow! At the close of the meal the head chef delivered our incredible dessert to the table, beautifully presented. I searched for a few words to express how much I enjoyed the dinner and started out saying, "Your food is the best meal I have had...." - and I was going to say "in the last 20 years" or something like that. But what came out was a tribute that brought a big smile to his face and a warm handshake: "Your food is the best meal I've had in my life." And it was just incredible. For example, the expected bowl of bread came with not just a pat of butter, but instead with eight different condiments ranging from minced pears to aji sauce to several unidentifiable little dishes of veggies, fruits and spices. Then, the macadamia chicken for two was presented with another eight side dishes ranging from fingerling potatoes to cous cous to rice and a wonderful diced cucumber garnish. Wow and wow again. Here's what we faced at the Tiestos dinner table. And BTW the little flowers on the chocolate dessert plate were made with fruit compote - they're not part of the pattern of the dish! All of this: just $22.

Dessert

Thursday we dine at el Jardin** for our 16th anniversary dinner. That should be another fine dining experience in a romantic, beautiful setting.

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Wednesday began with an adventure with new friends Doug and Diana from Vancouver. They're on an exploratory trip here in advance of moving to Cuenca next year. They learned of a gigantic local market called Fiere Libre that brings together everything one could want at a market a couple times each week -- with the largest gathering of vendors and customers on Wednesdays. So we hopped the #7 bus and in minutes got off at the market.

If you walked every aisle you would walk for several linear miles. I find it amazing that one small town in one small South American country can have so much food and clothing together in one place. Uncountable stalls with people selling fish, chickens (dead and alive), fruit, vegetables and quite a few things I couldn't definitely classify or identify. When you say to a person, "Que es eso?" (what is that?) you of course get an answer in Spanish. So as for the plants I asked about that look like tiny daisies, I can only say they are boiled in water and used to flavor other foods. The tiny "moyas" turn out to be some kind of blackberry. The "sapoto" is a fruit with a slightly sweet flavor and with several very large seeds inside.

No matter what you want, you can buy as little as you want -- say just enough to make tonight's meal -- or as much as a 50-75 pound bag -- of beets, corn, grain, etc. A filet of fish, or an entire tuna fish over 3-feet long. The scope and size of the market is truly staggering. I made a minute or so of video but it can't begin to show the diversity and size of this wonderful place. For me, Kroger, Publix and all the rest will forevermore be totally lacking, second rate places to buy food. LOL. But of course food is not the whole story. You can buy remote-control outdoor TV antennas with rotators to let you watch TV stations no matter whether they're North, South, East or West from your home. You can buy shoes -- Diana found a pair for $5 (after haggling from $20) and Doug found some Levi jeans for $20 (before haggling). Fun fun fun and more fun.

Guinea pigs (cuy, as they are called) are typical food here

Chicken eggs & one ostrich egg - something for everyone

The market

Fresh fish - sure was smelly!

And more fish...

Gigantic bags of veggies

A pet begging at the market - Not to be eaten!!

After the monster market, we went to the local market on Calle Larga for lunch. We all had to find the bathroom and of course, being a public bathroom, had to buy the necessary paper product (maybe a few feet of it) for 10-cents each. LOL. Seems what we take for granted in a public facility isn't quite the same here.

But at the local market, I finally had a meal made from one of those pigs that are roasted whole and served along with corn, veggies, potatoes and a nice glass of blackberry juice. It was juicy and delicious, especially after adding a splash of spicy aji sauce. We noticed that the local market has some visitors who come through a couple times each day, just to see if anyone has left them anything good to eat. Here's a pic of one of them -- the four-footed variety. So OK. Health laws are different here too. LOL. It's interesting though: pet dogs for sale at various outlets are almost all very small breeds. However, dogs running loose on the street are all mongrels more in the 30-pound range, and most all of them are pretty scruffy. They don't take to human attempts to pet or admire them. They're creatures of the streets and people are not among their friends, except as providers of an occasional snack.

Finally, to wrap up the day, we met with new friend Gerard, a very thoughtful, kind and iformative expat living here in Cuenca - and also A Course in Miracles student. Gerard took us on a grand tour of Cuenca as seen from the high mountaintop near his country property West of the city.