Feb 4th sunday destination Cuenca

 Our day will be eventful as always.  Our first stop was to the market.  The first market had all kinds of meats and vegetables . People were on the outside doing bargaining.  

                                                                    Brown sugar

Our next stoop was to the animal market. This was fascination seeing all the different kinds of things being sold.. what you might expect in this country. 

                                                               45 day old the vendor wanted $150

Then onto the oldest church in the country in a small town of Colta. The Iglesia de Balbanera. Built by the Spanish in 1534. - made out of stone and adobe.

Onto Celso favorite pastry place for homemade empanadas and favabean tea.  Homemade and cooked in a brick oven.  They made it from grinding their own grain to the end.

                                                     Grain that is being dried before grinding

Our lunch was a stop at Plstishi Tolte , the poorest community in Ecuador. Here we had dancers showing us their native dance. This place was also famous for the Devil’s Nose Train.  A train that had been built from Quito to Guayaquial   and a branch off through the mountains. This was stopped being used after 2000 people had died making this.  The locals decided it was due to the curse of the Devil and all train activity has stopped since 2015.

                              The rock formation is said to show the Devil and his nose.

We drive through some amazing landscape with crops extending up the step cliffs and cows dotting the country side. We were up almost 11,000 feet. 

                                                                         Cemetery

We make a quick stop at a local bull fight. Not the professional one but a just for fun.. not killing the bull but seeing who can last the longest in the ring being chased !

                        The videos didn’t come over.  This guy did a flip over the bull as he was charging.

Our last stop was to Ingapirca ruins which is an Inca temple from 500 years ago. The largest known Inca ruins in Ecuador.  The most significant building of the sun. The temple was placed exactly so that on the solstices sunlight would fall through the center of the doorway of the small chamber at the top of the temple.  This temple is so perfectly straight and so tight that you can’t fit a razor through.  The complex had many rooms showing from where food was stored and cooked to the sacrifices of the people. The house of the virgins was thought to have about 18 virgins that were offered to kings or important people that traveled through. If the virgin got pregnant then she was allowed to go home and raise the king’s child. The Inca trail goes from Argentina to Columbia.

                                             This is suppose to represent their calendar.

These stones are from many miles away -from Machu Pichu is what they think because of the color and shape.

                                               Had a gold statue in here for the Gods

                                      One side of the temple and exactly like the other.

These little guys have rain coats on.  It was pouring out.

We have landed for 3 nights here in Cuenca- hotel Santa Lucia Hotel. A very full day as you can see from 8AM to 6PM at night.