ingapirca and a funky car ride

had an interesting day. got my fourth shot - the guy at the clinic was all - why didn't you get it yesterday, just seconds after i explained that i had tried to get it but failed... nice to know he was listening. also told me that no hospital (after i went to the two in riobamba) have the vaccine - only health centres, and riobamba's was only open between 8 and 10 yesterday... a.m....

so i got on the cuenca bus bound for el tambo where the turn off to incapirca is. when i got off i met this couple - ecuadorian - who were also going there so we shared a bus ride through the countryside - says it's only 8 clicks but it took 20 minutes to get there. then we arrive and they run off to get some food. i make my way to the ruins and let me tell you - wow. not that the ruins are very impressive, they've mostly been ferried off by the spanish and all that remains is a central square and a bunch of foundations. but, and this is the kicker, the whole community is sitting on the remains and that just shows you how little has really been unearthed... i mean, they still rely on the same irrigation systems as 500 years ago (the incas were only around for a little over a hundred years), and you can see it slithering about the fields there. and there is this path that takes you around to see some of the more interesting features such as this rock formation that looks like an indigenous man in profile... it's pretty cool. but the surroundings are surreal... it's a mountain valley with the requisite meandering river and waterfall, and people out tilling their fields... very cool. the paths that we follow are incan paths and the foundations of some of the houses in the area look incan as well... the whole place is a living testament to the architecture.

then... i walk back to the small town where i look for a bus back to the highway and the road to cuenca. i'm told in the restaurant where i stop for juice and a tostada (grilled cheese) that there are buses every 15 minutes or so. um, apparently not during semana santa cause i waited around at least a half hour before asking a few bus drivers what was the dealio... they told me that there were no more buses - it was too late and that there may be more on monday. i could, however, rent the services of one of the drivers for a mere 6 bucks to get back to tambo (normally it's a 40 cent trip). i declined and took to flagging down cars that were leaving ingapirca... luckily this one truck stopped and allowed me to jump in back. it was loaded down with a bunch of teenagers - twenty-somethings and they seemed to be having a grand old time. a native woman joined me as far as cañar, near the main road, and we chatted a bit about what i was doing here and all.

then we hit the highway and after a bit i get cold and it starts to rain... well, the kids ask me if i would like to squeeze in... i say ok and hop in back where i find out that they're a bunch of friends from guayaquil and quito meeting up in cuenca to have some fun. we keep driving and see this church at the top of this hill in the city of babilán... they decide it'd be cool to drive up, so we do... and let me tell you, it was pretty cool. it's at the top of the hill but built into the hill so the altar is actually half rock jutting out. it's very ornate with a cemetery built into the bottom two floors. cool.

anyway, it's raining cats and dogs here right now - perhaps it just stopped actually... hmm.... maybe i'll go grab a club café.