When I decided to come to Cuenca (Ecuador) for an extended stay, there were two places I wanted to visit—Parque Cajas and Ingapirca. I went to Cajas last Saturday, so I knew what I had to do today.

Ingapirca is the largest and best Inca site in Ecuador, though it doesn’t compare to the sites in Peru. To call it an Inca site is not quite correct, because most of the site was constucted by the Cañari culture, which was conquered by the Incas shortly before the conquistadores arrived.

The ruin is located about 80 kilometers north of Cuenca. The tour operators sponsor trips to the ruins, and I had read that there were occasionally direct buses, but my plan for the day was to take a bus to Cañar, which is the town on the Panamerican Highway closest to the ruins, and then to find my way the last eight or nine miles once I was there. I had passed through Cañar on my way to Cuenca and had scoped out the two roads that led to the site, so I had an idea of the lay of the land before I started out.

I joined my friend Julia in an 8 a.m. cab to the bus station. She was heading to Vilcabamba, about five hours to the south, where I will see her on Sunday. She already had her reservations for Saturday night, and though I tried to talk her into joining me, the ruins didn’t much interest her, so we got on separate buses at the terminal.

I got a window seat on my bus, but the window was too dirty on the outside to see out of. The bus quickly filled up, and I was seated next to an older woman in traditional dress, which includes at hat that until I started spending time in Ecuador I would have called a man’s hat from a couple of generations ago. We talked a little bit in Spanish, and when the bus stopped at the first town on the way north and I opened the window and reached out to rub the dust off, she gave me a Kleenex to use.

I was the only person on my bus who was going to the ruins, but I had made it clear to the attendant that I wanted to get off at the best place to go to the ruins. When we got to Cañar about 90 minutes after leaving Cuenca, there was a local bus there that I was told go get on to go to the ruins. This was a lucky break. I was prepared to pay several dollars for a cab from Cañar to the ruins, but as it turned out I got there for a fifty-cent bus ride.

The ruins were really interesting, and I took my time walking around the site. Most of the ruins predate the arrival of the Incas, but the elliptical wall that is the highest structure in the complex is obviously Inca. The stonework near the stairway to the top of the platform is mortarless and tight-fitting. I was interested to notice that on the backside, the stonework is not nearly as well-finished. There the stones are not as flat and some have mortar where they don’t fit as well. Here’s a shot of some of the tight-fitting stones.

I was fairly happy with my photos (for a change), so I’m posting more than usual. As usual, you can click on any photo for a higher-resolution view.

In addition to the site, there is a half-mile trail that loops around a hill north of the site where there are some interesting things to see. The photos in this second block are from this trail and include a a natural circle in a rock called the Face of the Sun that the sun-worshipping Incas thought was special (and apparently enhanced) and a natural cliff formation that looks something like an the face of an Inca man (also apparently enhanced).

On the half mile trail, I was taking my time and was caught up by a middle-school group visiting from Guayaquil. I talked to some of the kids, but two boys with a video camera seemed particularly interested in me. It turned out that they were making a video for school about the trip, and they begged me to allow an interview. So standing in front of the Face of the Inca, I was interviewed in Spanish about my impressions of the site. I didn’t do a great job, but I could have done much worse.

When I got back to the parking lot, there was a bus sitting there with its motor running looking for passengers to Cuenca. It cost me fifty-cents more than my two-bus trip of the morning, but I jumped at the chance for a direct bus to the city. I was planning to get some lunch between buses in Cañar, but I was glad to do without (I had had a snack upon arriving at the site, and I had another small snack on the bus ride back).

Ingapirca is famous for its changeable weather. Some of my photos show that the sun was shining part of the time I was there, but other shots show some ominous clouds. Within ten minutes of leaving the site, we were in fairly heavy rain, which we eventually drove out of but which as it turned out followed us to Cuenca. So I was particularly lucky to have caught the direct bus, because I would probably have been waiting in the rain had I had to transfer from one bus to another.