September 5th through September 11th, Part 2

 September 5th through September 11th, Part 2

Thursday:  We started the day with a trip to the Pumapungo Museum. Pumapungo is an archaeological park, located in the historic center of the city of Cuenca.  Pumapungo was part of the city Tomebamba, one of the most beautiful and imposing cities of the Inca empire in the late fifteenth century. Inside the ancient city were the Temple of the Sun and the Convent of the Virgins of the Sun, as well as political and admininstrative buildings.   The city was destroyed by the Inca leaders before the arrival of the Spanish.  In the museum are collections of the money of Ecuador, pottery, and ethnographic collections that include traditional costumes, objects representative of the beliefs and rites of the peoples of Ecuador.

Main plaza of the ruins.

Spanish coins.

When we were missionaries in 1971-1973, the Sucre was the official currency of Ecuador.  In 2000, the country adopted the US dollar as the offical currency of Ecuador.

Old Sucre coins.

Place where the Spainish minted coins.

Colorado people live in the jungle in the east.

Canari from the mountians in the south.

Oatavalians from the mountains in the north.

We next visited one of the main markets, 10 de Augusto, in Cuenca.  I decided to try hornado, a typical pork dish. A whole pig is cooked overnight. The plate includes mote (hominy), potato, salad, pork meat and some skin.  I really liked it. 

Head of the pig.

Back end of the pig.

The skin was especially delicious.

We walked around a bit visiting a cathloic church where they have mass in English for some of the 11,000 expats who have retired in Cuenca.  

This is one of the old market buildings.

This is where Chris had lunch.

We then decided we were tired and needed  some rest and relaxation, so we went to a Spa.

We started of with a red clay wash.

Then a white clay wash.

We then did a hot pool and a really cold pool and then steam boxes.

Then it was realaxing in hot pools. 

We finished up with a massage.

We had some fruit and soup in the restaurant at the spa.  They called us a taxi and we called it a day.  Friday:  We got picked up at 8:00am by Sebastian, our guide to Ingapirca.  He stopped and picked up a young man from Switzerland whose mother was from Ecuador on the way out of town.  Our first stop was a church built on the face of a mountain side in the small town of Biblian.

It is quite amazing that they could build this right on the face of a cliff.

The bottom two floors are crypts.

The inside of the church is only about 30 feet wide on each end.

On either side of the altar is the cliff face as the back of the building.

Chris is looking good today.

Looking down on the town of Biblian.

We then stopped to try some cascaritas.

They cook the pig skin with a blow torch.

The skin is different from hornado and very tasty, Chris even tried it.

We then went to Ingaprica. Ingapirca, which means “Inca wall” in Kichwa, is Ecuador's most important set of pre-Columbian ruins, located 80 kilometers (50 mi) north of Cuenca. The sight of the Inca sun temple standing on a hill with panoramic views over the surrounding countryside is impressive.  The Incas fought with the Canari people, but they became allies.  There are examples of both kinds of their architecture.

Trapezoid inca door and wall.

Canari wall.

These Incan ruins are nothing like Cusco or Machupichu, but they are still impressive.

This was a Canari temple to the moon.

They think this was part of a calendar.

The two square holes were ritual baths.

This is the back side of the oliptical building.

No cement and you can't get a piece of paper between the blocks.

Beautiful views in all directions.

We are enjoying Ingapirca.

Many of the blocks have a greenish blue hue.  They have some copper in them and they came from about 2 miles away.

It is also built on the top of a cliff.

I have never looked better, still quite buff.

We got back to Cuenca about 5:00pm, found dinner, and called it a day.

There are always interesting buildings to check out.

Inside the Judical building from the above picture.

Still smiling after a long day fo walking.

Don't you just love the doors?

So many cool buildings.

This post took 3 hours to do.  I am going to have to post part 3 of our Cuenca visit in a day or two.