Ingapirca Ruins and May Highlights

I have a deep appreciation for all the bloggers out there who faithfully keep their blogs up to date.  I'm afraid I haven't been very good at doing that.  However, recently I promised myself that I would make an effort to update my blog at least once a month, and since it is already the 27th of May, I thought I better get this posted quick before it's June.  May has been a quiet month here in Cuenca.  Most of our day to day life revolves around the garden for Lance and school for me.  Lately, I have been meeting on Sunday afternoons with a group of gringos and two Ecuadorian friends to practice conversational Spanish.  Although it's a challenge to speak, it's enjoyable to spend the afternoon with these new friends.  Check below for some of the other activities we've been involved in this past month.

These are pictures from Ingapirca.  Ingapirca is the name of the Inca ruins located in the Canar Province of Ecuador.  These are the largest known Inca ruins in Ecuador.  We actually took this trip on April 16th, but I never got around to posting the pictures, so I thought I would include these photos in todays post.  

The photo above shows the Temple of the Sun.  According to our guide, the building is constructed in the Inca way without mortar.  Instead, the stones are chiseled and made to fit perfectly together.  The Temple of the Sun was positioned so that on the solstices, the sunlight would fall through the center of the doorway of the small chamber at the top of the temple.

Below is a photo of a rock formation that is suppose to look like the profile of an Inca person.  The tree or bush sticking out looks like eye lashes and below that you can see a rock that looks like the persons nose.  On the grounds of the ruins they are building a museum that is expected to open some time in May.  Inside they will house many different artifacts that have been found on this site.  We hope to return someday soon to visit the museum.

After leaving the ruins we traveled to Biblian to see the Inglesia de Biblian, which is a unique church built into the side of a mountain.  The church was built in 1895.  The entire trip was a lot of fun and we are grateful to our friends Charlean and Greg for inviting us to join the tour.   

May 1st was Labor Day in Cuenca.  Several groups demonstrated on this day.  One group that marched were supporters of the president and a different group demonstrated against some of his policies.  There was a huge police presence in case things got out of hand...but everything appeared to remain calm.  

May 4th Lance celebrated his 62nd birthday.  The two of us enjoyed a nice meal at the Wunderbar.

On May 6th, we visited the opening of an art exhibit by Alberto Soriano.  He is an artist working in Cuenca whose paintings include several cityscapes of Cuenca, as well as paintings of the jungle.  Lance and I really enjoyed looking at his work.  His wife is also an artist, and she also had several of her paintings on display.   

Later in May, we were walking home one night when we happened to see a celebration at one of the churches in El Centro.  We were not sure what they were celebrating, but part of it involved lighting paper lanterns and letting them sail away.   What fun!  I've always seen pictures of this, so I was delighted to experience it in person.    

Look at the huge flame used to light the paper lantern.  It's amazing the whole thing doesn't go up in flames.

They lit one after another, and when you looked up at the sky you could see many lanterns of different sizes floating away.

At the end of the celebration fireworks filled the sky.

During May, we also attended a play that had no words...which is perfect for two gringos with limited Spanish.  We also enjoyed an English spoken movie, The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, at the cinema.   In addition, we saw a talented guitar player from Argentina at Republica Sur, and a lovely, young jazz singer at the Sucre Sale Cafe.  As you can see, there is no limit to the things you can do here in our fair city.    

Finally, about a week ago, we were invited for dinner at David and Claudia's house.  There were two other Ecuadorian couples there and we were delighted and surprised when one of the young men proposed to his girl friend right before we were preparing to sit down and eat.  How sweet is that?!?

That about does it for May.  I hope all my family and friends back in Wisconsin are enjoying the beautiful spring weather.   Here, it feels like eternal spring...with little change in temperature and sunshine at least part of every day.