Latitude Zero: Day Trip to Ingapirca

This week, we went on a day trip to Ingapirca. It is Ecuador's largest set of ancient remains. Here is a Wikipedia link to read more about it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ingapirca

Ingapirca is about 2 hours north/north east of Cuenca. It is in the neighboring province (state) of Canar, and is at about 10,000 feet.

We met our small (16 people) private tour group at one of Cuenca's many neighborhood squares. All but 1 of our fellow passengers currently live in Cuenca - the other was visiting a friend who lives in Cuenca. From there, we boarded a bus for the drive to Ingapirca. The roads were in great shape (albeit a bit winding and quite steep) and it was a nice drive.

The weather at 10,000 feet ranged from nice to cold to hot - all within a few minutes!

There's a lot of history at Ingapirca. The new museum is scheduled to open next month. The museum will house artifacts as well as 11 mummies found at the site. Cool and creepy! The main mummy was a high ranking female, surrounded by 10 of her servants (who were drugged, then buried alive!) Their burial spot is shown below.

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Our tour bus (and Tom with fellow passengers) I resisted the urge to write "WASH ME" on the back of the dirty bus!

The nice Welcome Center.

A reconstructed house using both Canari and Inca design elements. Notice the slanted/angled doorway. It was an Inca-inspired design to withstand earthquakes.

The inner half circle represented the moon. The outer half circle represented the sun. They worshipped both the sun and moon.

Our guide pointing out where the 11 mummies were buried. The upright stone is a sundial.

This is part of the Inca Road, a long stretch of roadway connecting much of South America. Notice the small aqueduct on the left hand side. Imagine the work it took to pave a road through South America centuries ago!

More of the Inca Road.

On the way to the Sun Temple.

This rock was used as a lunar calendar. Each hole represents a phase of the moon. 28 holes represented 1 month in the Inca calendar.

The Sun Temple. No mortar was used - only precisely cut and stacked stones. Oddly, the greenish shade of the stones is something that happened when a university in Quito (capital city) tried to "clean" the stones in 2009! 21st Century stupidity met with 15th Century artistry.

Look how tight the joints are!

In the Sun Temple. Our tour guide is explaining how the sun came in through a door (in front of him) and lit up one of the 4 "windows" behind him. Each solstice lined up perfectly with one of the windows, thus, everyone knew when the season started.

On the other side of the 4 seasons windows are these 3 windows. Sunlight coming through the doorway on this side hit one of the 3 windows, thereby indicating when crops should be planted or harvested. The middle window was the summer solstice.

Another shot of the perfectly stacked stones of the Sun Temple.

Looking back at the ruins from a walking trail. The trail led to the Inca face below...

Notice the "face" in the rocks? The Incas did! HINT: He's looking to the right. His eyelashes are palm plants. Spooky!

A very old adobe building along the walking trail. Some locals living along this trail are (illegally) selling ancient artifacts they dig up in the area - arrowheads, clay pots, etc.

On our return trip to Cuenca, we stopped at a small town named Biblian (named after the Bible.) Most of the town's residents live in the US or Spain. High above the town sits a church built into the mountainside. Our bus struggled to make the climb!