Thursday, Feb 28th, Cuenca, Ecuador

Greetings!

First, thanks for all of your birthday wishes.  Celebrating my 65th by going to see Ingapirca was the perfect present.  On the way, we stopped by El Rocio, a church built on the site of yet another miracle and vaguely reminding us of a small European castle.  The views of the town of Biblian from the walkway around the base made you understand why so many early empires cherished these valleys.

Ingapirca has been called the largest Inca ruin in Ecuador.  To call it Incan is not the whole truth, however.  Though the stones which finished the Temple of the Sun are mostly of Incan design, the site was made by an earlier civilization known as the Canaris.

For almost a thousand years before the Inca, these stone temples served as the home of the Canaris leadership, and were used to chart astronomical movements and guide agricultural decisions.

But the Incans were good at incorporating their foes cultures into theirs, and it didn't hurt their PR to be defeated by the Spanish in so grand a style.  So we branded everything found as Incan.  But if you ask any local who built most of what is in Ecuador and Peru, you'll get very proud responses which reveal the complexity of these early advanced building communities.

To see all of the photos taken today, click on: Thursday, Feb 28th, Cuenca, Ecuador