Ingapirca

Ingapirca is a town in Cañar Province, Ecuador and the name of an Incan ruin site just outside the town itself.

The ruins are the largest Incan ruins in Ecuador. The most significant building is the temple of the sun, an elliptical shaped building constructed around a large rock. The building is constructed in the Incan way without mortar. The stones were simply chiseled and fashioned to fit together perfectly. The temple of the sun was positioned so that on the solstices, at exactly the right time of day, sunlight would fall through the center of the doorway of the small chamber at the top of the temple. Most of this chamber has fallen down.

The Incans were not the first inhabitants to Ingapirca. After the King of the Incans died in Peru the oldest son took over the kingdom. The younger brother decided to find a place and kingdom of his own. He took his family and his followers and went down the mountains to the coast of Peru and followed the coastline north to Ecuador. He found his way back up the Andes to Ingapirca which was already inhabited. After much fighting and killing the two groups decided to settle their differences and live together peacefully but they still kept most of their individual customs separate. Even though the Incans were more numerous, they did not demand that the other group give up their autonomy. Eventually they merged into one group. On his trip from Macchu Picchu to Ingapirca the younger son developed a taste for fresh fish from the coastal towns that he passed through. He liked it so much that he had relay runners bring him fresh fish on a daily basis from the coast. They also had a very developed underground aqueduct system. This system provided water to the entire compound. They also had celebrations for everything. Gallons of a local fermented drink were used in these festivals. As sun and moon worshippers they tried to be as close to their gods as possible. The weather changes there are usually within minutes of each other, calm and sunny one minute and within fifteen minutes rainy, windy and cold. This extreme climate changing is year round. They felt strongly that this was the place that the gods led them to be, regardless of the climate.

To visit Ingapirca travelers can either take a day tour up from the city of Cuenca or spend the night in the towns of El Tambo or Cañar.