Half-awake, we bumped and roiled in our small van. Five rows of seats, a driver and a tour guide were all we had. The road zig-zagged up along the moutainside. We passed a pickup truck who's only cargo was 3 energetic golden retrievers. Some of us worked on homework despite the state of the road, some listened to music, and still more improbably others were able to sleep. As we rose higher and higher our surroundings and the road itself became cloaked in the gray clouds.
We emerged from the clouds to find ourselves on a steep incline in the middle of a small town. Our tour guide said we'd be getting out for a short tour of the market. They had everything from giant gourds to tree tomatoes(good for juice) to a man peddling ladles. At one point there was a full pig roasting on a spit. Our tour guide pointed out all the most interesting aspects of the market, then it was back to the van.
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| Hillside town's market |
We took another bumpy, pot-hole filled road for ten minutes 'til we reached the Incan ruins of Ingapirca. The site of Ingapirca isn't as immense as the royal refuge of Machu Picchu, but it is still a breathaking sight to behold especially since its high up in the mountains overlooking everything. There's a pack of 10-12 llamas that graze in the overgrown grass of the ruins. The guide said the llamas essentially function as the lawnmowers of the ruins. Ingapirca has about 8 different important sites to stop and gaze at. There's a recreated habitation, an ampitheater, rocks with holes drilled in to fulfill astronomical purposes, and a large circular structure toward the end of the cliff with stones that looked green from their ancient copper coating.
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| Our ever knowledgeable tour guide filling our mind with facts |
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| The Lawnmowers at work |
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| Green copper stones and agave plants on the hillside |
We saw the entirety of the premises then commenced a hike down and up a valley with a river running through it. Before we got too far into the hike our guide stopped us to show us a cliff face that looks quite like an actual face. At another point during the hike Sarah and I were a bit behind the group since we had stopped to take silly pictures with the scenery(one of which is now my banner). We were walking briskly to catch up with the group and accidentally startled a cow. The cow began to charge us, my life flashed before my eyes in that instant, but the cow was on a rope and we were far enough out of its range to be okay. We waited for a few moments for our hearts to start beating at regular paces again then inched passed the cow bit by bit. As soon as we were past the cow we giddily laughed at the situation and also at the ridiculous amount of distance we still had to cover to catch up.
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| Face in the rock |
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| Sarah and the river |
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| Me and the river |
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| Sarah and the cow that charged |
Up and up we climbed, stopping every once in awhile to catch our breath and take in the amazing environment. Up on an enourmous boulder we found our companions cheerfully eating lunch so we joined them. Man-oh-man, food has rarely tasted so good as after that hike and charge from the cow. The food was cold, but I didn't mind one iota, mmm those papas fritas: yum, that cut of steak, and om-nom those stir-fried rice and vegetables.
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Our guide said there would be one more stop before our return home. The stop was a beautiful church. The only problem with the beautiful church was that whatever jerk had planned the construction decided a wonderful place for a church would be the side of a cliff. The stairs seemed to have been designed by a drunken MC Escher, winding up and up, and coming to odd junctures. I'm mostly so jaded because I was very tired at this point and not ready for scaling more buildings and such. Jaded and tired I still made it up to the church's entrance and even further. It was a sight to see for sure and instant vertigo to beholden. It was another adventure filled day.
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| The Church on the cliff |
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| The awesome yet vertigo inducing vista from the cliff-church |
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