Before coming to Ecuador when we thought about the Incas, the image that sprang to mind was rolling mist, towering mountains and the vast archaeological complex of Machu Picchu. Now, we know that while Peru’s famous landmark is the most well-known symbol of Incan civilization, it is not the only one in South America.

Cuenca was originally a Cañari settlement called “Land as Big as Heaven” founded around 500 AD.  Later the Incas attempted to conquer the Cañari people and claimed the site for a northern Incan capital in addition to the southern Incan capital of Machu Pichu in Peru. The Inca emperor constructed a grand city at the Cuencan site called “Pumapungo,” Door of the Puma.

When Spain occupied South America in 1557, they occupied Pumapungo and renamed the city “Santa Ana de Cuenca”, named after the city of Cuenca in Spain.

The Ruins of Pumapungo

A few days ago we walked to the peaceful site of the Inca ruins of Pumapungo, located on the banks of the Tomebamba River in Cuenca, to explore the ruins.  While much has been destroyed, the building foundations are still visible.

Next to the site, is an excellent museum housing many of the excavated artifacts and depicting the lives of the Cañariand Inca people.

The Inca Trail

The Great Inca Trail is part of a larger Andean road network called the Qhapaq Ñan, the largest and one of the newest UNESCO World Heritage sites. Over 2,000 miles of stone-paved roads link the former Inca Empire from Pasto, Colombia to Santiago, Chile. The trail connects the two capitals of the Inca Empire: Tumebamba (in Cuenca) and Cusco (in Peru).

The Temple of the Sun

An hour north of Cuenca, along the Inca Trail is the Inca site of Ingapirca and the Temple of the Sun. Ingapirca means Inca Wall in Quechua (the language of indigenous people in Ecuador). We explored the site with a tour guide and two friends from our Spanish language school.

The site was settled by the Cañari people. As the Inca empire expanded, it sought to conquer the Cañaris but failed. When the Incas realized they could not conquer the Cañaris, they decided to live cooperatively with them, sharing the land and culture.

The Temple of the Sun observatory was built by the Incas but unlike other Inca sites, the Incas left architectural designs from the Cañaris. The complex was used as a fortress and storehouse from which to resupply Inca troops en route to northern Ecuador. The Temple of the Sun is positioned so that on the solstices, sunlight falls through the center of the doorway of a small chamber at the top of the temple. Ingapirca is considered an engineering tour de force because a pin cannot pierce the carved stone joints 500 years later.

The Inca and Cañari people had numerous ritual celebrations at the complex during which they drank gallons of a fermented alcoholic drink. As sun and moon worshipers who settled as close to their gods as possible, they built their monuments high in the mountains.

A complex underground aqueduct system provides water to the entire compound.

Archeologists have discovered that human sacrifices of men, women, and children were performed at this site to satisfy the Gods.  There is a museum next to the site displaying the items uncovered during the archeological digs at the site.

We ate lunch at a traditional restaurant just up the hill from Ingapirca. The restaurant was warm, the food was good and there was a wood fire which warmed us after the Ingapirca cold winds. We drank warm Canelazo, a traditional Ecuadorian alcoholic drink made from sugarcane.

We enjoyed our visits to both of these Incan sites and look forward to seeing more sites in Peru.