November 26, 2016
Today we woke up, ate breakfast, loaded up Manuel’s burros, and started hiking towards Ingapirca, Ecuador’s most preserved archeological site.
Manuel had an 8 or 9 hour walk home today to Achupallas with his horse and burros, so he left our stuff with a camioneta (truck for hire) about an hour into the walk and we said our goodbyes.
Raul led us the rest of the way, past the tiny village of San Jose, little farms with chickens and cows, children begging for gifts, and fields of potatoes and corn.
We arrived at Ingapirca at 10:45 or so, bought tickets to Ingapirca, used the banos (running water, with soap!), and waited for an English language tour guide.
The tour lasted about an hour as our guide explained about how the area was important to the Canari people first, then the Incas, how the buildings were made, and what they were used for. This was the sun temple, and the notches above Nathan’s head helped them know what time of year it was. On each solstice, the sun will align and shine into one of the three notches, telling the Incas when to plant, harvest, etc.
After the tour, we met back up with Raul and had a nice lunch at a local restaurant. Spinach soup, chicken or fish with rice and steamed veggies, and a sweet juice that tasted like pear, but they said was tomato.
Again, I think Raul lies to make friends. Our luggage from Riobamba arrived, and we hauled that and our dirty, stinky selves aboard a bus bound for Cuenca.
We arrived in Cuenca with a few items on the to-do list. It being Saturday afternoon/evening, I had little hope we’d get anything accomplished before Monday.
That said, Cuenca is a beautiful little gem of a city and within 2 hours of being here, we’d gotten Nathan’s beard trimmed ($1) and dropped off our laundry at a lavanderia.
All 11 kilos of it will be ready by 10 am tomorrow and will cost $7.70. Not bad. Add to that our cute little hotel with (hot!) water and we are feeling very blessed indeed.
