We arrived in Cuenca in the early evening, and took a short walk, then returned to the hotel for dinner. The hotel was lovely--an old mansion that has been converted. Even though my Blackberry seemed fried, the hotel had wireless access, so I was still in the office business with the laptop.
The meetings that morning had gone very well. Of course, the Ministry has an agenda too, but they were wonderfully supportive of the project. Overall, I will say that I am very pleased with the foundation that we have in Ecuador, and I am very much looking forward to seeing how this project progresses.
Inside the Hotel Santa Lucía.
The next morning we were met by our local contact, and headed to the Museo del Banco Central. (The Central Bank of Ecuador actually owns and operates sixteen museums throughout the country.) Today, we had meetings with archaeologists and viewed the archaeological collections, including the Pumapungo ruins in the back.
Incan Emperor Huayna Capac had a palace in Cuenca, the second city of the Inca Empire. These stones are what remains, although additional stones can be found in building foundations throughout the city.
We then collected our car and driver and headed south. The road is twisty as it climbs and descends the mountains. The view is stunning. Unfortunately, the road is under construction and not well maintained, and our two hour trip took three hours each way and was quite bumpy. This wasn't so bad on the way down, with only two of us in the backseat, but after collecting an anthropologist in Saraguro for the ride back, the trip became somewhat uncomfortable. But we had a great driver and it was good company. Our destination was Saraguro, home to an indigenous community of the same name, and a stop on the Inca Road.
These little loros (parrots) were outside the place we stopped for lunch, called Tres Señoritas. The three sisters were in their seventies, I would guess, and each of them had a name that began with Maria. It was wonderful.
It turns out that Saraguro does have some Incan ruins. The dark grey stones here in the foundation of the church columns are Incan.
While my colleague hiked to the Inca site, I wandered. Eventually, these sheep came around the corner. They were soon followed by a cow and a family. They clearly knew where home lay, and took the path right in front of me.
As the others came back down the hill, I turned to head for the car, and was rewarded by this lovely rainbow. We saw several on the ride back, including one where we could see both ends! The only other time I've ever seen that was in Hawai'i, and my friends there say it's a good luck sign.
A VERY long day. This was made better, for me anyway, by the stars. I know that they are always there, but being a city girl, I seldom see very many of them. So whenever I'm someplace were they are more visible, it always seems as though that location must just have more. One of those galactic paradoxes, I suppose. In the end, we didn't get back to Cuenca until after 9. By that point, I wasn't interested in dinner, just in a bathroom. I knew I had work still to do for the office, and we had a breakfast meeting the next morning at 8. I also had to finish prepping for my meeting with the community folks in Cañar the next day. Field work is wonderful, but not the glamorous job some think. Still, I wouldn't trade it.
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