Meeting some friendly - and some not so friendly - animals of ancient times!

As you probably know, I love ancient history so what do you think I felt when I heard that we were passing close to the largest ancient Inca ruins in the whole of ECUADOR? Excitement of course!

This was the Ingapirca archaeological site. Ingapirca isn't just any old ruin; it is the site that symbolised the meeting point between two of the most important ancient cultures in Ecuador: the Incas and the Canari. Who are the Canari I hear you ask? The Canari were a pre-Inca culture that lived in a matriarchical society (which means the women were in charge) and their main goddess was Mother Moon! The Canari were conquered in the reign of Inca Huayna Capac but were treated better than the other conquered tribes (I think this is because they cooperated rather than fought the Incas).  Nonetheless, they were swept into the massive Incan empire. The Incans respected the customs, cultures and religions of the tribes they conquered, and though they lived in a patriarchy, their most important goddess was the moon. So instead of destroying the Canaris' temple to Mother Moon, they added to the site other temples of their own. 

However, the reason this is the most important archaeological site in Ecuador is the Incan temple of the Sun. This was the only oval Incan temple ever to have existed (inspired by the Canaris' oval structures). Its length was 40m and its width 16m, and it was ten meters tall constructed of square stones fitting perfectly on top of each other with no mortar (as mortar was for lesser temples) to hold them in place. 

Ingapirca must have been important for the Incas because it was joint to their great Capac Nan (Incan great road). This slice of the ancient motorway could still be seen as a cobbled path running through the different structures and buildings, then onto a paved decent, down the hill and into the gloomy valley.

I really enjoyed our visit to Ingapirca, not only because of the importance of the site but also because of the atmosphere on the day we visited. The moody, dark clouds hanging in the air above the site and the rain thundering down on the structure felt very dramatic, almost like a photo you would see on a postcard! We also had a very nice guide explaining things to us who was very theatrical and passionate in the way he talked about the Canari and the Incas. He was fun but also a bit funny!

Ingapirca was only a stop though to our true destination which was Guamote, a big town with a huge Thursday market. South American markets are nothing I've ever seen in Europe. You can find everything you need, and even things you didn't even know you needed: from food to clothes, things for your house and even animals! Absolutely EVERYTHING! And I love that everyone is dressed up with their best clothes and there is hustle and bustle in the air.

In Guamote, we stayed at Santa Ana, a nice farm with many animals. When we arrived, and I opened the gate to the car park, three dogs came up to me excited and bursting with energy! Our room had a back door leading into the garden where we were met by some friendly llamas [correction: alpacas! Ed] which would be petted. It was nice to meet up the animals that carried the Incan army's food and drinks straight after visiting Ingapirca. But then, there was the not-so-friendly llama who spat in Dan's face!🦙:) What a prankster! But maybe Dan should have been a bit less... 'zoocurious'. Lesson of the day: never pull silly faces at a llama :)

And finally, a big surprise for me: for an early birthday present, I got a new camera !👍Let me explain: when we were in Argentina (the second time), I accidently broke our camera:( All the photos on the blog since then were Dan's (thanks Dan for being my official photographer). But now I've got a new one and so I hope I will resume using my photos for the blog.