Cuenca

It rained again on Thursday in Ecuador and if the crops need all this rain there’s something wrong with them, and I’m damned sure  I don’t need it.

But on Wednesday evening we drove in occasional sunshine from the Inca ruins at Ingapirca south toward Cuenca the largest city in Ecuador bear the border with Peru. 

The countryside was quite lovely making our way back to the freeway through farmland and rolling countryside. 

We had plans to rent an apartment for a few days in Cuenca to enjoy the historic city and ignore the rain. But first we spent one night in a campground listed in iOverlander with many positive reviews. Aside from the junked cars and abandoned projects lying around the owners have two aggressive German shepherds so we have to park with the big truck away from the shower and toilet.

Caroline and Jean Joseph are from Belgium wrapping up a long drive through the Americas. They started in Canada and Covid forced them home. After the pandemic they shipped to Uruguay and are now going to Colombia to ship home again and see their grandkids, sell the huge truck and buy a small van like ours to tour Europe. They had lots of hints about our road ahead. 

Thursday morning Rusty and I wandered around a bit. He can’t go through the arch to the small vehicle parking area owing to the angry dogs. The hot showers are down there too but we are safe supposedly from the dogs.  

We went out to get some shopping done so Rusty and I went for a walk while Layne perused the aisles at the Super Maxi supermarket. Those are roasted guinea pigs up there and that’s how they serve them to you on the plate. It grosses me out but you may have a different cultural background. Roasting is more normal a food across many cultures. But in any event it was ten in the morning and I didn’t need this kind of breakfast. 

Lots of overlanders are vegetarian and vegan even which requires some investigation if you are going to worry if the bright orange potatoes have been cooked in animal fat. Food is culture and around here animal protein is culture. I’ve tried “cuy” ( guinea pig) but it’s not to my taste. It’s not gamey, it just tastes like dry pork. 

We went to the vet, Rusty got a thermometer up his bum and he also got a hepatitis vaccine now required by Peruvian border authorities. His border paperwork should be ready by Tuesday. Our plan is to cross into Peru on Thursday. 

I hope these maps help to understand where we are. The red line is the Peruvian border, a country about 2,000 miles long down the Pacific Coast. More on that later. Swiss Wassi is a campground in Peru on the beach that enjoys an excellent reputation and care ready to go swimming. 

We took a quick spin through Cuenca and didn’t see much of note. 

There is a camping spot in town in a homeowners cement yard and we went to check it out but she too has angry dogs with nowhere for Rusty to hang out. That wasn’t going to work. 

Our plan is to rent an apartment in town and check out the city. The idea was to be in old town but despite searching high and low Layne couldn’t find anything suitable. Some have no heat, some don’t have spaces good for Rusty and some have weird spaces not suitable for us. 

Finally we found a granny unit with parking gear WiFi and a garden for Rusty to sunbathe in and safe parking for GANNET2. We’ve reserved it until Thursday morning. Then we’ll drive to the border four hours away. 

“Free yourself from that which won’t let you fly,”

Taking your goats for a walk as you do. 

Non bus vehicles are allowed in the right lane, buses only, to turn right. Pedal tricycles get an exemption I guess. 

Parking in Ecuador has gone back to the same style in Mexico and Central America. In Colombia they don’t put roofs over the entrances but here if you drive a 9 foot tall van you are out of luck. 

This one we fit. If we are looking for paid parking we always use Google street view to check the entrance and get an idea of the clearance. 

Cuenca: our home for a week. 

Cuenca: where children work the streets. 

Incas In Ecuador

We didn’t set off from our campground at eight o’clock, not even close. The French couple whose names we didn’t get, turned out to be lovely to hang out and talk to so we did. 

Too bad they are going north but they had some good pointers about Peru. Victor the campground owner came by and sold us eggs and homemade kahlua.

We got into gear at the crack of 9:30 and drive up through the town of Alasui, until Layne spotted a roadside breakfast joint. We ordered Tigrillo which is a mashed plantain dish from the coast of Ecuador. It was crispy and salty and there’s was sunny side up and the yolk flowed. 

The show did get on the road and back we were to roads going up and down, 10,000 feet, 11,500, 8,000 and back up again. On and on. 

It really felt like the Andes of my imagination, winding along the side of a mountain, with a deep valley to the side. 

Small villages and towns littered the road. 

That will be us down there in a minute. 

And the clouds rolled in making it look like winter then they rolled back and summer sun illuminated the road. 

The goal of all this mountain driving is the southern city of Cuenca by way of Ingapirca, home to the northernmost Inca ruins in South America.

We sort of drifted into Ingapirca and found ourselves driving around a rather uninspired town wondering where the ruins were. We did figure it out without help, doubled back and found our way to the temple of the sun clearly visible on a knoll. 

It turned out getting a ticket took some knowledge. At first we hung out by the entrance waiting for the next tour. When it left we were told to go buy tickets. Oh. We got the tickets and got in the two o’clovk tour. The day was passing. There was an alpaca in the parking lot ready to give kids rides. Rusty was fascinated. 

There was a field full of llamas (“yaa-mas”) too. I found out from our tour guide what the difference is. Alpacas have white fur and it’s softer. Llamas have brown fur which turns to black as they age and it’s a rougher texture. Now you know. 

Rusty was fascinated by the llamas and petted through the fence at them. He came back when I called but he was ready to go under the barbed wire to investigate these aliens. 

They were fearless and just as curious about him. 

Rusty kept them under observation walking to the entrance gate and back like a sentinel on duty.  

Then we got to visit our first Inca ruins.

The Cañar people were here before the Incas who conquered them and made this their northern frontier. The Inca Empire stretched to Argentina and encompassed 10 million people. 

There was a grave marker showing where a group of women were found buried. Who or why unknown. 

This was selfie country for locals. 

The temple was built on a knoll in a basin surrounded by taller hills. I wondered why that was and our guide explained the taller hills funneled water as well as providing protection. 

There was a kitchen area and gardens and channels for irrigation. 

Most interesting to me was the remains of the Inca road. A message could cross the empire and get back to the Emperor in three weeks, thanks to relays of runners on these roads. 

Being sun worshippers, there was a calendar  too as shown below. Make of that what you will, all I saw was dimples in rocks. 

Check out the curves on the terrace. As Layne pointed out you don’t see that in Aztec temples in Mexico. 

Perfectly tight rocks in the main temple with no gaps.

Some rocks had a green tint as they were mined in a nearby copper mine. 

Modern buildings aren’t necessarily better built. 

The exit:

Home sweet home with Rusty sleeping aboard as he wasn’t allowed in as this isn’t Colombia. 

The town of Ingapirca, picturesque from afar. 

From here to the southern city of Cuenca which is just four hours from Peru. We’ve headed a lot about Peru and not much of it is good.

On a personal note Happy Fourth of July to all.  We miss being in the States today. 

This is also the day Giovanni is being buried in Italy. He died on the second do I had no chance to get back there for the funeral. 

Also today my sister in Scotland is running for Member of Parliament in Britains largest constituency in the far north of Scotland. It’s a tight race so I will be checking returns this afternoon.