railroad

The Baños del Inca (Inca Baths) at Coyoctor

Several important Inca-era ruins are in the Cuenca area.  Two Who Trek took a bus trip to see one of these, the Baños del Inca (Inca Baths) at Coyoctor.  The Baños del Inca is a smaller but no less  historically significant archeological site, compared to others in this part of Ecuador.

The name is a bit misleading.  The site was actually created by the Cañari people, who settled in the area over one thousand years ago.  In the early 15th century, the Incas conquered the Cañaris and absorbed them and their way of life into the Incan culture.  The Incas then modified the Coyoctor site to meet the Inca ritual of water purification.  Collectively, the site includes worship of the moon deity of the Cañari and the sun deity of the Inca. Continue reading

Categories: andean, archeological, blog, Cuenca, ecuador, photos, railroad, travel | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Riding the Ecuadorian Railroad

Two Who Trek likes all forms of transportation, with railroads being a favorite.  So when we had an opportunity to ride an Ecuadorian train, we jumped at the chance.

Ecuador has a national railroad system called “Ferrocarriles de Ecuador”. There are ten train routes in Ecuador, primarily from Quito, and running up and down the western coastal area.  The longest route is 98 kilometers long (about 60 miles).  Two Who Trek had the opportunity to ride the shortest one roundtrip (3.5 kilometers or about 2.2 miles each way) from El Tambo to the pre-Incan ruins at Coyoctor.  We will be posting more on the ruins later, but because Joe likes trains, this post is focusing on the rail travel part.

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Categories: Cuenca, ecuador, photos, railroad, travel, Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , | Leave a comment

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