rpics: Cuenca, Cañar, Ingapirca etc.

Busy day today. First some shots from Cuenca, a nice colonial city.
Our hotel is up that hill - good conditioning after dinner at 6000 feet.

The domes are nice on the 17th century cathedral, but the architect screwed up - too much stress load on the steeples to support the tops, so they remain squared off. No word on the amount of A and E Insurance recovery.
Area known as The Cliff. They´ve made a lovely park along the river, great for a stroll.
D had a relapse of something this morning, and insisted I make the day trip today alone. Good chance for me to practice my Spanish, which I did, to some positive effect, but she has rallied and I´m delighted to dependent again.

Mercado grande in Cañar (pronounced ¨Conyar¨ - very proud to have found the ñ key) -center for the Cañyari people, whose women love hats and pleated skirts, the latter with hem trim denoting their village.

I cannot grasp the appeal of the Boston Blackie hats, however.

The white ones are an improvement. Note the insignia on the leggings.

A white hat family.

The guys don´t go for the costuming much but the black hat suits them better, especially at this age...

...and somehow the teenage girls manage to make anything look cool.

I made a quick side trip to Ingapirca, an Inca ruin with a real Temple of the Sun, complete with llamas (which we´ve seen nowhere else in Ecuador except for the lonely one in the Otavalo market - makes for good photos).

The guide in the gringo tour I followed said this tightly fit greenish stone was brought from Cusco in Peru (pre-wheel), but ....

...he may have been a bit creative. Said the stones on the right are a tomb of a Cañari queen (they were matriarchal) who had sixteen husbands.

On the way back to Cuenca I snapped this shot (from the bus) of a Catedral and Santuario in Azogues, which we will not visit.