Following the Inca Trail in Ingapirca

Today we wanted to visit the Inca site of Ingapirca. Since this site is about 75 km away from Cuenca, we booked a tour. It included a downhill mountain bike ride, a guided tour of Ingapirca, and lunch. Andres, our guide, was not the most punctual person, but that didn't matter. We were both still tired. He finally arrived around 8:45 am to pick us up. Andres was a great guide, he spoke excellent English and he bombarded us with information about Ingapirca on the way there, it was impressive. He told us a lot about the local mountain dwellers and suggested buying our fruits from them instead of a supermarket. I asked him if people actually had to do everything by hand in their fields. Yes, in some regions there were machines, but here they still worked traditionally. At some point the car stopped and Andres prepared the bikes for our tour. The bikes were adjusted accordingly, the equipment was put on, and then we were supposed to follow him for 20 minutes. The route would only go downhill and we would make several stops where he wanted to tell us something. Oh, did I mention that today was the first day it almost only rained? NO?! Well, it rained really badly and Andres said to our driver: Take a picture at the start where we are still clean and another one at the finish for comparison...

And off we went down the dirt road with the bikes and within 60 seconds we looked like 🐖🐖🐖! The path consisted of mud and a lot of puddles and even more mud, really awful. As a glasses wearer, I had to stop many times because I couldn't see anything🙈, there was so much dirt on the lenses. We took it with humor, we had no other choice... 🥴 grinning. The rain didn't bother Andres, he stopped at several places and enthusiastically told us a thousand things, like why the cows 🐄 are always tied in a row on the pasture - so that they always eat the grass uniformly. At every stop and every time we got off the saddle, I could feel the water 💦 running down my body everywhere. There was no place that wasn't wet. I also got a little cold and I was really happy when the driver finally picked us up. We were actually supposed to get in the car, as dirty as we were. Okay, and here too, it didn't take a minute and everything was so dirty 🙈 inside the car, unbelievable.

The drive now took about another 5 minutes and at the entrance Andres said that we should go to the museum first to warm up. Good idea, but I could hardly feel my feet 👣 anymore and then I saw a souvenir shop. The woman was actually selling hand-knit socks. Ooooooh, I bought two pairs for us and that was a pleasant feeling. If she had had hand-knitted pants or a onesie, I would have put them on as well. So we had to be content with the socks and went into the museum. Here we learned very interesting things about the Incas.

Actually, we had hoped that it would stop raining when we went out to the excavation site. But it rained and rained. We had an umbrella with us. Unfortunately, it didn't really protect us from the rain as it was blowing sideways 🥴. Everything was wet again, including our 👣! Because of the rain, I couldn't really enjoy the excavation site. But Andres didn't let the rain stop him from explaining everything to us. He reported with so much joy 😊 and also drew diagrams on the dirty ground, yes, that was a great 👍 attitude.

Afterwards, we had lunch with locals and it was cool. We had a table by the open fireplace. Daniela and I rushed straight there. I took off my shoes and put my feet with the new, wet socks in the oven. I had put my shoes on a stone to dry. The locals found us funny, but we didn't care. We just wanted to get dry and warm! After a delicious meal, we started our journey back to Cuenca. On the way back, I asked Andres about the street dogs. He said it was a huge problem in Ecuador. People would buy the puppies very cheaply and then throw them out when they got bigger. I found it really sad. When we drove through a small village, Andres pointed out a roasted pig to us. In this village it is tradition for people to roast whole pigs. First, they would eat the upper skin because it cooks first, and then they would eat the rest. I was allowed to take photos of the pig and the people. They also had a lot of fun with us.

After our tour, Daniela and I walked around Cuenca a bit - of course, it started raining heavily again. We had to take shelter, the shower was so strong. A stray dog also wanted to find shelter with us, but the children kept chasing it away. I found that really sad, especially since the dog 🐕 was soaking wet and looked so sweet. There was a hot dog stand across the street. I ran over and bought a hot dog 🌭. We stood a little away from the kids and when the dog came, I fed it the hot dog. It felt good for a brief moment, but when you see the many other street dogs again, you quickly become depressed.

At this point, we wish our Littlefoot a happy 🎂 birthday. She turns 9 years old today. We miss you so much. Be glad that you are currently the princess of Witten 👑.

Sending you all lots of love, we are dry again... smile.

Best regards, Anke & Daniela