We hired a car to take us on a day trip to Ingapirca and Alausi today. Ingapirca is the most significant and complete Inca ruin in Ecuador and it's located 1.5h drive north of Cuenca. Although it's not a huge site and definitely not on the scale of Machu Pichu, its setting on a hill overlooking the small town of Ingapirca is still stunning. This Inca ruin is also significant in the sense that it is the only Inca structure that is curved elliptically as Inca temples are all rectangular and straight-lined. This change in building style can be attributed to the influence of the local Canari people. Canari were fierce warriors themselves and had successfully resisted the Inca's northern advance from Peru for years. It's only through political marriage that the Inca was successful to make peace with the Canari and continue their conquest north. Part of the famous Inca trail runs through Ingapirca. The temple structure made of perfectly fitted stones without the use of mortar again reminded us of the advance building techniques of the Inca people.
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| Original Inca Trail - Hwy of Inca! |
The town of Alausi is located a further 2.5h drive north of Ingapirca. We came here to ride what is claimed to be the world's most dangerous train track up and down the mountain known as Nariz del Diablo (Devil's Nose). Here, in order to reach the top of the mountain, the train had to switched tracks in a zig-zag way several times up the very steep mountain, going forward and backward. This train track is actually part of the Ecuadorian train network connecting the Pacific coast Guayaquil to Cuenca before the highways were built. It is now developed as a tourist attraction to draw tourists to the back countries to spread the economic benefits. Our seats were unfortunately on the wrong side of the train so we did not experience fully the experience but the few glimpses that we had showed it's quite scary and very scenic. There was only one stop for this train ride to the small village town of Sibambe. We were treated to local dance show and some explanations of local history and farming. Good exercise to participate in their dance!
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| Switch back train tracks below cliff |
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| Train starting to switch track |
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| Nariz del Diablo - You can see train tracks cut into the mountain |
Our driver is Eucadorian who had lived in the US for 12 years before returning home. He left for New York in 2000 during Ecuador's last currency storm when their local currency, Sucre, lost 260X their original value against the US dollar. To stem the crisis, the Ecuador government decided to abandon the Sucre and adopt the US dollar as their official currency at the prevailing exchange rate. So instead of 1000:1 Sucre to USD, people had to exchange their Sucre at 26000:1 rate. Millions of people lost their lifesavings and decided to leave the country to protect what amount they were left with. Our driver told us that 2 million Ecuadorians (out of 13 million total population) left the country. That's 15% of their population! This could explain the numerous US tourists we met on our journey here who have Ecuador relatives or connections.
Our dinner was eaten at Tiesto's Cafe recommended by our driver to try their specialty grilled pork ribs. We were really surprised to be served many many pickled veggies (onion, eggplant, potato, pepper) and salsa sauces made with mango, passion fruit, pineapple, etc. It reminded us of eating in Korean restaurants where they served you varieties of kimchi and pickled veggies. Their local white corn is gigantic and tasty.
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