On Saturday morning I woke up and had a nice full Ecuadorian breakfast, consisting of a bowl of fruit covered with yogurt, bread, eggs, fresh juice and coffee, and learned that the pipes in the house had exploded roughly two weeks before I arrived so there was no hot water. Luckily, due to the fact that all the families live in little compounds, I was able to go over to Mercy's house and get a nice warm shower before we left for the ruins. Once Pablo, Catarina's brother, arrived we all packed into two cars and headed out. I was under the impression that the ruins were roughly a half and hour away. About and hour and a half into our drive we stopped next to a little restaurant that was known for its delicious chancho, or pig. As you can see in the picture they use a blow torch to sear the skin, called cuero, of the chancho into a delicious fried food. Along with the cuero the family ordered everything they had that was traditional Ecuadorian food (mote, toastada, salchicha). While I had eaten all of these foods before I had no reservations about diving in because they are all apart of my favorite foods here. Back in the car and satisfied from our meal, we drove the final hour. So after two and a half hours of total driving time through the beautiful countryside and mountains, on the half finished new highway financed by the Ecuadorian government, we arrived at Ingapirca.
The weather was a little bit drizzly but nothing so bad as to delay our self-guided tour. The size and complexity of the city they built was extremely impressive. Just walking around all I could imagine was the amount of time and human labor it took to erect the city. In the center was the temple of the sun, which also acted as a large sundial. On the hillside they had a bathroom area set up along a stream that ran out of the town and the irrigation canals were nothing short of astounding. Despite the large amount of time that has past it is still amazing, to me at least, how advanced they were for their time period.
After walking around for a bit we went to the super tiny history museum of the Inca's in this area. Seeing pictures and designs of what the city actually looked like was very cool, but somewhat sad. During the 50's through the 70's many people took the stones of structures to either keep in their homes or the build homes out of them. It appeared as if complete structures that were present a half a century ago, had no remnants whatsoever. The government did step in a made it a protected national site, but it is unfortunate the amount of damage that was done.
We ate lunch at a little shack next door and then got in our cars and drove back. Saturday night was relaxing. Juan and I watched the Cuenca soccer team on tv and ate some bread. What is amazing yet again was how they kept asking me if everything was ok and if I was having a good time. I had a free place to stay, they didn't let me pay for one thing the entire weekend, and I had amazing company to talk to and explore the city with and they were worried I was bored! Before I went to bed, Monica wheeled in a tv on a little stand and spent 10 minutes trying to get the antenna to work despite my continual reassurance that everything was perfect just the way it was.
My second day and last night in Cuenca was a success and just as fun as the first day. So much had happened and I never even stepped foot in the city center or any of the main tourist sites in town.
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