And there's more...
Day nine started early as we were expecting the guys from Freedom Bike Rental with a replacement bike. True to his word Court had sent two of his mechanics with a freshly prepped BMW F800 GS to replace Chip's dead Suzuki V-Strom. The two lads had driven the mountain roads all night from Quito to arrive in Cuenca at about 4:00 AM. The gentlemen were up at 7:00 AM to unload the GS and load the Suzuki. Stellar performance from Freedom Bike Rental!
Our first stop of the day was at the Igapirca Ruins (Inca).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ingapirca
Our entry fee included an English speaking guide who was excellent.
By the way, the roads from Cuenca to Ingapirca were another myriad of curves. Court had promised us that we would find roads with so many curves we would be sick of riding curves...we never found those roads. Fun times!
The rough section in the middle is a portion of the original Inca Trail according to the docent. The Temple of the Sun is in the background.
The path to the Temple of the Sun.
Over the centuries various peoples took advantage of what appeared to be easily accessible building materials and raided the Ingapirca Ruins for the stones. Our guide said that once the significance was the site was realized the military was commissioned to recover the stones and return them to the site. This pile is some of the recovered materials.
Our guide leading the way to the Temple of the Sun. Notice the walls in the foreground. I noticed this construction was unlike anything I had seen in Peru. The stones in the walls in the ruins Machu Picchu, the Sacred Valley, and even in Cusco were all close fitted without mortar. The walls at Ingapirca were held together with a mortar made of mud, straw, and llama dung. There were some exceptions!
The walls of the Temple of the Sun were closely fitted stones as those we had seen in Peru. Interesting.
Our guide explained to us that light would shine through the doorway in front of Sten and at specific times of the year would illuminate golden artifacts in the four cubicles in the wall he is pointing to. These occurrences would coincides with the four temperate seasons, Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter! In case you're wondering, the sign asks people not to climb the walls.
As usual the mountain scenery was always worth a stop and a look. Oh, and there a lot of curves to ride to get to this spot. Lots of curves! Beautiful country!
We ended the day a Hotel posada del Arte in Baños de Agua Santa. This is the view from the balcony outside my room. The waterfall ends at a hot spring within easy walking distance to the hotel. Again, the food and service at the hotel was excellent!
Day nine started early as we were expecting the guys from Freedom Bike Rental with a replacement bike. True to his word Court had sent two of his mechanics with a freshly prepped BMW F800 GS to replace Chip's dead Suzuki V-Strom. The two lads had driven the mountain roads all night from Quito to arrive in Cuenca at about 4:00 AM. The gentlemen were up at 7:00 AM to unload the GS and load the Suzuki. Stellar performance from Freedom Bike Rental!
Our first stop of the day was at the Igapirca Ruins (Inca).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ingapirca
Our entry fee included an English speaking guide who was excellent.
By the way, the roads from Cuenca to Ingapirca were another myriad of curves. Court had promised us that we would find roads with so many curves we would be sick of riding curves...we never found those roads. Fun times!
The rough section in the middle is a portion of the original Inca Trail according to the docent. The Temple of the Sun is in the background.
The path to the Temple of the Sun.
Over the centuries various peoples took advantage of what appeared to be easily accessible building materials and raided the Ingapirca Ruins for the stones. Our guide said that once the significance was the site was realized the military was commissioned to recover the stones and return them to the site. This pile is some of the recovered materials.
Our guide leading the way to the Temple of the Sun. Notice the walls in the foreground. I noticed this construction was unlike anything I had seen in Peru. The stones in the walls in the ruins Machu Picchu, the Sacred Valley, and even in Cusco were all close fitted without mortar. The walls at Ingapirca were held together with a mortar made of mud, straw, and llama dung. There were some exceptions!
The walls of the Temple of the Sun were closely fitted stones as those we had seen in Peru. Interesting.
Our guide explained to us that light would shine through the doorway in front of Sten and at specific times of the year would illuminate golden artifacts in the four cubicles in the wall he is pointing to. These occurrences would coincides with the four temperate seasons, Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter! In case you're wondering, the sign asks people not to climb the walls.
As usual the mountain scenery was always worth a stop and a look. Oh, and there a lot of curves to ride to get to this spot. Lots of curves! Beautiful country!
We ended the day a Hotel posada del Arte in Baños de Agua Santa. This is the view from the balcony outside my room. The waterfall ends at a hot spring within easy walking distance to the hotel. Again, the food and service at the hotel was excellent!
