Thursday, February 9, 2017, Ingapirca

Our first stop on the way to Ingapirca was a scenic overlook on the south side of town from which we could see almost all of Cuenca. A short distance away is the workshop, gallery and home of Eduardo Vega, a distinguished Ecuadorean ceramic artist. I could use “pottery” to describe his work, but that word does not do it justice; his work involves a high level of skill and artistic design. We purchased a beautiful fish-shaped serving dish in orange and white for the cabin, and a couple of wine-bottle coasters with limes and a sea turtle portrayed on them. Beth and Sarah/Mark each bought something, also.

Then we drove to a Panama hat factory named after its founder, Homero Ortega. Panama hats are so named because they were ship

ped to Panama during the construction of the canal and popularized by Teddy Roosevelt, who had his picture taken in one. The people laboring on the canal wore them for protection from the tropical sun. However, the hats originate from, and still are made in, Ecuador, where they are known as toquilla straw hats.

When Spaniards arrived in the 16^th century, they found the indigenous people covering their heads in woven hats that the Spanish called “vampire wings.” In 1630, Francisco Delgado persuaded them to convert their headgear into brimless hats known as toquillas that eventually morphed into the Panama hat that we know today.

Jaime then drove us the hour or so that it takes to Ingapirca. We went past the archaeological site to an inn and restaurant called Posada Ingapirca. We could see the walls of Ingapirca from the windows of our dining room. We were first served shot glasses of a pink drink made from flowers we had seen at the Cuenca market and cane liquor. The local hot sauce was quite a bit hotter than anything we had had in Quito, Cuenca or the Galapagos.

The entrance to Ingapirca was labeled in Spanish, English and Quichua, the language of most indigenous people in Ecuador – entrada, entrance and yaikuna. We would find the exit to be analogously labeled. Brown llamas grazed just outside the f

ence. The site was originally developed by the Canaris, the local indigenous people. Eventually the Canaris became part of the Inca empire, and the Incas built a Temple of the Sun at the site. The precise Inca joinery in the temple is in noticeable contrast to the masonry in the rest of the site, which has Canari origins. The temple was laid out so that, at the solstices, sunlight would shine through the doorway in the small building on top of the temple ellipse.

One of the most interesting features of the site is a tomb marked by a large megalith and smaller stones laid out on the ground. The remains of a woman of high social status was found with 10 other bodies buried at this spot. A large open area in the center would have been where people assembled for important religious ceremonies. Various structures were labeled as storehouses, ritual baths, and rooms for Inca women who supervised local workers within the compound.

Jaime and Alejandra then took us to a site about half the distance back to Cuenca known as Cojitambo, a Canari site that dates to 500 B.C., although the visible ruins probably date to a period just before the Incas arrived. Jaime drove the van up a very steep and unpaved hill to the site. There is a large open area, analogous to the one at Ingapirca, where people would have assembled for important events or religious ceremonies. A two-room stone building, almost complete except for its roof, stood near the top of the site. Inside were stone niches similar to those found in Inca buildings, except that these were rectangular rather than trapezoidal. Azogues, the capital of the Canar province, was visible from the overlook at the top of the site.

We got back to Cuenca at about 6:30 p.m. We had drinks in Mansion Alcazar’s beautiful garden, and then dinner at the hotel restaurant. We would go to bed early because of an early flight to Quito the next morning.