Down from Riobamba

From Riobamba we drove South to the ruins of Ingapirca. The local culture is Cañari, and in the old times they used this site to worship the moon. They also used it as an observatory and developed a lunar calendar. However, by the mid 1400's the Incas started expanding North and South, and invaded Ecuador after some tough battles. At this point, the Ingapirca site was transformed into an Inca temple dedicated to worship the sun. The victory didn't last long, only some 70 years, because then came the Spaniards and destroyed and pillaged everything they could. Fortunately, the Inca temple was well constructed and survived in very good shape.

 

Intermezzo.

Everything in this world is relative.

For example, if you are asked which is the tallest mountain the automatic reply is "Mount Everest". However, this is only true when using sea level as a reference. If we use the center of the Earth as a reference, then the tallest mountain is Mount Chimborazo in Ecuador. It happens to be the tallest because of the bulge of the Earth at the ecuator.

On the same vein, we were put to shame by local indians using modern cell phones to talk about their business. This reminded us that we are still unable to properly use a cell phone, and not even mention a 'text message'. Once again, we might consider ourselves 'modern' but it is only true if we compare ourselves with an Australopithecus. In all other cases we will have to think twice.

 

To end our visit to Ecuador we went to El Cajas, a National Park some 40 minutes away from Cuenca. The road climbs to some 13000 feet and the scenery is radically different. Here the mountains are dry and rocky, therefore all agriculture is limited to the valleys. However, the mountains trap the humidity coming from the Pacific and the water forms many small lakes and ponds (more than 200 of them). This support a variety of plants and animals adapted to that altitude, many of them unique to this park.

There are many tracks ideal for trekking but the place requires special gear due to the rain and cold, so we couldn't explore much further.

 

Out last trip was from Cuenca, Ecuador, to Piura, Peru. The lanscape changes dramatically, as Peru is much drier, with a vegetation proper of a hot desert. Peru's northern part is also significantly poorer, and I wonder whether the current laws regulating land ownership might have something to do with this situation. In contrast with Ecuador, the few cultivated areas are very extensive, which indicates that there is no room for small farmers, and this might explain the low standard of living.

 

 

A typical Ecuatorian peasant.

 

A view of Ingapirca showing the layout of the ceremonial areas and living quarters.

 

The Temple of the Sun, erected by the Incas over the previous Cañari's buildings. The Incas had superior building skills, which can be noticed not only on the layout of the building but also on details such as the shape and finish of each block. The out face of each block is rounded, and the contact faces are perfectly plane, so they didn't need to use any cement to old the stones together.

 

This picture shows the difference between the three lower walls constructed originally by the Cañaris, and the building on the top constructed by the Incas.

The Incas used a softer volcanic rocks without any cement, while the Cañaris used a harder sedimentary rock glued together.

 

A partial view of the small lakes at the top of El Cajas National Park. At this altitude the weather is cold and humid therefore you cannot move into the park unless you are properly equipped.

 

Another view of El Cajas.