Cuenca

Last Weekend, October 3rd-5th, I made my way south to Cuenca. I also made it to Ingapirca, Sigsig, and Chordeleg. We left on Thursday night from Quito and arrived in Cuenca around 7 am after a 9.5 hour bus ride. However, we arrived early than expected, so we headed straight to Ingapirca first. It i about a 1 hour bus ride from Cuenca. Ingapirca (Inga, meaning Inca and Pirca meaning wall), is the largest Inca Ruins in Ecuador and before being taken over by the Incas, the sight belonged to the Cañari. The Inca ruins were built for the Inca Huayna Capac, who I have learned tons of information about in school. It was really cool to see the difference in their structures. I was lucky to get there early because there were no other tourists at the sight. We were given a tour around the sight and the large Sun Temple. After the tour of the archaeological sight I went on a hike outside of the sight and saw different Inca structures such as the The Inca Face and other small historical sights. On Saturday, I woke up early and explored around Cuenca and saw many of the beautiful churches that Cuenca is well known for. I went to the Cultural Museum. It had an interesting exhibit on all of the indigenous tribes in Ecuador, their clothing, and their traditions. After, my friend, Jalese, and I caught a bus to Sigsig and small village about an hour from Cuenca known for being the birthplace of Panama hats. However, when we got there we found many ladies making Panama hats and nobody selling them. Many ladies told us that they would not be sold until Sunday, but after about 2 hours of walking around, we finally found a small shop that sold them. After Sigsig, we caught a bus to Chordeleg about 20 min away. Chordeleg is well know for its silver jewelry shops and many Ecuadorians go there to buy their jewelry. It was another small town very similar to Sigsig. After that, we headed back to Cuenca exhausted and starving, because without the guys around needing to eat ever 30 minutes, we forgot to eat! On Sunday, I woke up to the first actual sunrise I had ever experienced in Ecuador (there is barely any sunrise or sunset this close to the equator), so I got up and hiked up to the Viewpoint at Turi, a chapel high up on a hill overlooking Cuenca about 2 km out of town. It was amazing. It was the first time since we had gotten to Cuenca that there were no clouds or rain. It was gorgeous and definitely worth the hike. When I returned everyone was awake and about ready to head back to Quito. We wandered around Cuenca for a bit and caught the 1 pm bus home.

Cara del Inca- Can you see his face? 

Sun Temple

View of the sunrise from our window.

Turi

Cuenca