17/08/13 Stage 7 Ingapirca - Cuenca by malcandmarjetpatterson at Garmin Connect - Details

17/08/13 Stage 7 Ingapierca - Cuenca
17/08/13 Stage 7 Ingapirca - Cuenca by malcandmarjetpatterson at Garmin Connect - Details

17/08/13 Stage 7 Ingapirca-Quenca

First thing in the morning we visited the Incapirca ruins and realised how ignorant we are about this ancient culture. 

I suspect we'll see and learn a lot more as we go along .

For the first time we had some rain. The lack of sun meant that is was significantly colder so I donned my long trousers, warm top and gloves. We had a monumental long down hill on basically good surfaced roads. The traffic became heavier and heavier as we got nearer Cuenca. Malcolm's Open Street Maps (free mapping for cyclists readily available for just about any where in the world) on his phone proved invaluable in finding our way to the hostal. It is hard to believe that Quenca is in the same country as where we have been the last few days. The contrast is just so stark. This is a very modern city with big supermarkets, bars, loads of tourists and could just as easily be in Europe.(particularly in Spain because of the colonial influence)I think that the beauty of cycling is that it forces you to move slowly through the country. You can't just quickly move from one big tourist spot to another and in the meantime miss the real country in between.