INGAPIRCA & BIBLIAN

Last week we took a little trip to see the Inca Ruins at Ingapirca (Wall of the Inca) about 2 hours north of Cuenca, and I remembered the camera!   It was a gorgeous day and the trip was wonderful.  At 10,367 ft. it can be very windy and cold, but we lucked out with only a very light breeze and sun.  Patricio is a licensed guide for the whole country, so we got our own private tour.  The wheelchair made things interesting at times, and I couldn’t get all the way up to the Temple (lots and lots of steps), but Steve took great pictures of it and I got to see plenty. 

We are planning a trip next week to a town that specializes in guitar making.  Steve sold  both of his guitars before we made the move down here as he was concerned they would get trashed – probably rightly so.  I would like to get him playing again.  

Pictures of Ingapirca:

If you look close, you can see the temple just in front of the trees.  The area in between the temple and us is the 'Great Field" where the faithful gathered.

The round structures were storage for Andean cereals when there was surplus.  The walls behind were probably  rooms used for military purposes

Some of the many blocks which had fallen.  Note the holes.

Patricio pushing my wheelchair

Steve was trying to figure out how they got that headstone up there.

Chamber of the "house of virgins".

Top of the temple

Drainage?

 

After the visit to the ancients, we stopped at a beautiful old cathredral built high on - or actually in the mountain.  

The wall in back is the mountain!

The town of Biblian below

Again, the rock wall.  I found a great link to another blog (also using Culture Shock in the name) about this cathedral: http://cuencacultureshock.com/biblian-ecuadors-school-of-wizardry/.