Canari land

It was gorgeous today. Bright sunshine, billowy white clouds, and blue sky over the Andes. And so....Seth and I decided to do a road trip. We headed North into Canar province following the carreterra to the little town of el Tambo (that means waystaton in Kichwa) to visit the ruins of Ingapirca. I came here with the group last semester last semester but then we took the bus. This time we drove with the trucks along the high altitude highways hugging the mountain ridges. Past little derelict towns with meager churches, furry pigs rooting tethered by the roadside, lonely horses in potato fields, and innumerable little kids off from school showering one another in water fights for carnival across the sierra. We even got doused some ourselves, most notably when I pulled over to ask directions and an adorable little girl doused Ryan full in the face with water giggling hysterically. No mercy :)

Seth and I translated the history of the Canari and the Inca around the ruins and after we stopped in a field nearby under the shadow of eucalyptus trees for a picnic of PBJ sandwiches and fresh fruit we picked up on the road. Snoozing just briefly enough in the sunshine after to field fuzzy headed but happy. An excellent day and it was good to be back, especially to watch the resident llamas all giddy gallop and prance around goofily. I snapped this shot of the llamas (aka, grass mowers) idling over the ruins. I snapped this shot with an option I have on my camera that brightens up photos like pop art hence the bright surreal green. The whole site was huge and I cannot imagine what it must have been like some 600 years ago. A great spiritual tower atop the ridgetop looking West over a bustle of humanity below.

On the way home we even stopped for tamales. Ricisimo!