Cuenca

We have been in Cuenca for two days now. I love the city. It is very quaint and colonial. You can almost hear the horses of colonial times trotting down the narrow streets of the city. We visited an art museum, a huge cathedral and plaza, as well as a local market. Today we traveled to the ruins of Ingapirca. The Canare were the first people in the area and eventually were conquered by the Incas. I was amazed at their building techniques, stone cut and fitted together perfectly. They site was also built to be aligned with the solstice and equinox, or four seasons of the year. In the town of Biblea, we took the bus high into the Andes to visit a church of the virgen of the morning dew. The area is an agricultural region. Long ago they needed water. A man found an image of the virgen in the mountains. He shared that with the village and from that time they received the morning dew.
The church commemorating the event is built into the mountain. We are staying at the Hotel Carvallo which is a renovated colonial home, complete with courtyards within.