Dec.22- Trip around the countryside outside Cuenca

On Thursday we hired Angel to take us to see  some sights outside Cuenca. We first travelling northeast up the Pan-American highway through Azogues past Canar to the Inca ruins called Ingapirca. It was about a 80 kilometer trip through some wonderful pastoral countryside.
                           Here we are high up overlooking wonderful scenery.

                      We had to drive the last few kilometers along a narrow potholed road

                                     And even there we saw some beautiful scenery

We finally got to Ingapirca, an Inca ruin dating back to the 1400's. Uwe and I walked for quite awhile admiring the old artifacts builts by the very talented mysterious Incas.

The whole complex from a distance.

Closer views of left over building walls

And one building left

And yet again, more great views from the site

When we left, the nearby village was having it's Christmas party in the school yard.

Little girls doing some traditional dances.

And proud parents watching

Next we went back south towards Cuenca stopping for lunch along the way. We had always wanted to try Cuy- guinea pig- a local favourite. Angel found a roadside stand where a cuy was on the barbecue and we ordered it for lunch.
                                      Here is the cuy turning on the barbecue

And here it is ready to eat on our plates.

We found it very difficult to get at any meat. I peeled off the skin though Angel ate his. Then you basically had to pick it up and eat with your hands. It tasted pretty good, like very dark duck or chicken meat. Just a lot of work for very little meat. Now obviously Uwe and I were not experienced in this at all as Angel ate every little bit- all he had left were bones!

After lunch we continued on, turning off the main highway towards the town of Gualaceo. We stopped at a place where local artesans still did natural weaving and dyeing of threads used.

Here are some of the weavers.

And it was explained to us how natural dyes were used to achieve the varied colours of thread.

We also saw how beautiful patterns of scarves, shawls etc were produced and we bought a beautiful cotton/silk very colourful shawl to use to decorate our new condo.

Next we drove to the  Ecuagenera Orchid farm- www.ecuagenera.com  Here a guide took us through the complex to explain how they farmed orchids.

First using mother plants, they fertilize and place tiny orchid plants in recycled bottles all labelled with type of orchid and date planted.

Many many bottles and the tiny plants stay in there for up to 2 years.

Then they get replanted into trays where in very humid conditions, they mature.

Into these magnificent colourful Orchids- many many variations. All the colourful ones were hybrids.

All with different scents- this one smelled like chocolate!

So many varieties- some with very large blossoms

And others with many many tiny blossoms

This was a very special educational and scenic stop- we both loved it.

Next we continued south through Chordeleg to the village if Sigsig where Panama hats are still made by hand. Yes, Panama hats are actually made in Ecuador.

Here is the world's biggest Panama hat

And the women who make them by hand.

Uwe and I definitly have to buy one before we leave Cuenca.