Well that's it. I'm leaving Cuenca in a few hours, at 6 p.m. on a flight bound for Quito. To all my new friends, it has been a pleasure getting to know you these past few weeks. Hopefully we will cross paths in this crazy world. The gig bummer for me today is that the first regular season game for Club Deportivo Cuenca is the day I leave. What a shame.
L and I went to Ingapirca yesterday. They are the biggest Incan ruins in Ecuador. It took us through one rainy day, two confusing bus rides, and three hours to reach it. We took a taxi to the bus terminal in Cuenca, then took a two hour (packed) bus ride to Tambo, and finally took a second bus ride to the top of a hill and arrived at Ingapirca. There are a few restaurants, hostels and artisan shops near the site too.
The ruins at Ingapirca mainly consist of stone foundations and the remains of a sun temple, where light would shine through during the solstices. We didn't have a whole lot of time to visit the ruins because the last bus left at 4:30 p.m., and I wasn't too excited about camping out at there -- though it would be pretty cool to do for the experience! Running to the last bus, exhausted, we slept through the return trip.
I spent the evening with my family watching Apocalypto (bloody man, I mean really bloody!) and then started getting ready to leave. L went to a cafe to say goodbye to a friend she had made.
By the way, the pancakes on Friday night were delicious. The evening turned into a rendezvous of old and new friends, camped outside on the patio, together smearing our homemade pancakes with jam, butter, and homemade chocolate sauce. Another French guy moved into Flor's hostel, and by now I'm convinced that all French people can cook like crazy! Flor's first pancake was a perfect circle, and who do you think made the chocolate sauce? It wasn't me. I just bought the ingredients from a bakery at 9 p.m., then enjoyed zhumir and rum watching everyone else. Welcome to the good life!
I'm skeptical of there being internet access in the jungle, so we'll see if you hear from me in the next week. But don't worry, I'm taking malaria pills!
