The attractions of Cuenca's
Canar Province should keep you in the area for a few days, using the city as a base. The region boasts beautiful natural scenery in the
Cajas National Park, Ecuador's most important Inca ruins and small market and craft towns tucked up in the hills.
Cabogana Peak
Here you can
see several
waterfalls and
interesting
rock formations.
Banos
Banos,
with its unique
setting, is
a few kilometres
from Cuenca.
It is famous
for its hot
springs, colonial
architecture
and the Sanctuary
of the Virgen
de Guadaloupe.
Mazan Forest
Rich in flora and fauna, this forest is protected by the ecological group Friends of Mazan and the water company. Located along the road from Cuenca to Cajas, this cool area is home to thousand-year old trees.
Chopsi Ruins
The Chopsi Ruins
are a collection
of rock engravings
inside a cave.
They consist
of large quadrangular
buildings surrounded
by smaller ones,
enclosed in
a stone wall.
Yunguilla Valley
This valley is home to many citrus plantations. The beauty of the scenery gives the visitor a chance to relax and enjoy the peaceful setting. Those with more energy can climb Francesurco Peak and visit the Monument of the Battle of Tarqui.
North of Cuenca
Driving north
from Cuenca
on the Pan-American
Highway you
soon arrive
in
Canar
Province.
You'll notice
that the hats
of the local
indigenas
here are
no longer the
straw panamas
favoured by
the
Cholas
Cuencanas.
Instead, the
Canari
Indians
wear white felt
hats with a
wide, turned-up
brim or plain
old felt
trilbies
with a
narrow brim
and an indented
crown.
Nothing to do with hats, of course, but on the whole the
Canaris are a proud but rather sad community. In spite of fierce resistance they were subjugated by the
Incas, many of them being forced to move south as
mitmakuna. Then, after they fought on the side of the Spanish, they were sent to work in gold and silver mines by their colonial masters. Six hundred years ago the
Canaris dominated what is now southern Ecuador. Today they are reduced to some 40,000 people scratching a subsistence herding cattle in the highlands of
Canar Province.
Continuing north,
one of the best
highways in
the country
passes through
the old colonial
town of
Azogues,
the provincial
capital, named
after the Spanish
word for mercury
which was mined
in the area.
A few kilometres
further is the
mountain village
of
Biblian,
which is overlooked
by a vertiginous
church,
La
Madona del Rocio,
built high into
the cliffs above
the village.
Coming by car
it's a further
20 km [
12 miles]
or more along
the road, which
here hardly
merits the designation
of highway,
before you turn
off to the right
into a patchwork
quilt of pastel
greens, browns
and yellows
spread over
wide, sweeping
valleys and
smooth round
hills. This
is the approach
to the ruins
of
Ingapirca,
an
Inca
fort, temple,
or observatory,
or perhaps all
three. In spite
of extensive
archaeological
research, nobody
has quite been
able to work
out the function
of this massive
stone complex
that commands
the brow of
a hill and dominates
the valleys
for miles around.
East of Cuenca
Many of the
villages around
Cuenca excel
in the crafts
and are well-known
for their markets.
The small village
of
Chordeleg,
which can be
reached in about
two hours by
bus from Cuenca,
changing at
Gualaceo
[
a
good stop for
lunch and a
stroll along
the river],
is well-known
for its filigree
jewelry. As
well as jewellery
stores and a
busy Sunday
market, the
village boasts
a small ethnographic
museum with
information
about local
handicrafts,
including explanations
of how the
ikat
process
works. Not far
away are the
villages of
Bulcay
and
Bulzhun,
known for backstrap
weaving of
macanas
[
ikat
shawls].
South
from Cuenca
The Pan-American
highway splits
once again
about 20km
[12-and-a-half
miles]
south of Cuenca.
The southwesterly
route coils
down the mountain
to the tropical
coast, banana
plantations
multiplying
as you pass
through the
towns of Giron,
Santa
Isabel,
Pasaje and
eventually
Machala
on the coast.
The southern
route passes
through spectacular
scenery as
it climbs
to the Tinajilla
Pass
at 3,527 m
[11,755 ft],
and through
the paramo
of Ganadel.
There are
no trees,
nor houses
— just scrub,
grassland
and barren,
desolate,
empty mountains.
With virtually
no other vehicles
on this bumpy,
potholed highway
the driver
swings the
bus around
bends at hair-raising
speeds, with
cliffs to
one side and
steep precipices
to the other.
The state
of the Panamericana
from Cuenca
to Loja
leaves plenty
to be desired.
Last
updated 12th
July 2006
| |Article contributed by Dominic Hamilton||| |
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