*  My Mom….my dad died in February and my mom is now alone and lonely in the US.    My residency visa in Ecuador gives me only 90 days each year, for 2 years, out of the country.   My first year ends November of 2009 and way before that I ran out of days that would allow me to be with her.   I decided it wouldn’t be good to stand over her grave and say “Well, I would have spent more time with mom in her older years, but I had to get that residency visa in Ecuador”.   She is way too important to me, and she needs me with her more often now.  So I will spend 3 months in Florida to be with her through the holidays, another month in the summer and will bring her back to Boquete for a long visit with me there beginning July 1st.

Mom chilling out

*   The Weather…..I am a Florida girl and the lush tropical rain forest of Boquete suits me better than the chilly upper Andes climes of Cuenca.   I found myself growing weary of the weather at 8,000 ft above sea level although my lungs really loved the dry air.   Although there are sunny, warm days, the vast amount of cloudy grey sky days and very cold nights just aren’t for me.   While it is more humid in Boquete, the close up verdant green mountains and beautiful flowers…and the ability to wear lighter clothes and most of all…sit out on my terrace at night with friends, was a biggie for me.  Boots and jackets are fun, but not all the time.

*   The Community…..Boquete is a very rare place…and the people there are also very special.   There are dozens of things to get involved with to help the local community, and Boquete’s ExPats are always cooking up something fun to do together.    Cuenca is a very special place, but the ExPat community  is VERY different from that in Boquete.   Maybe it is because Cuenca is a big city and people live mostly in condos and farther apart than in the small village of Boquete.   Whatever the reason for the difference, I much prefer the ExPat community in Boquete.

*   The Politics….Rafael Correa is an educated and exciting president with great ideas on how to improve life for the people of Ecuador.   He is, however, in complete power and is very close to the political ideas of Chavez of Venezuela.    His recent placing of a 43% tax on everything that comes in from any foreign country, combined with the 12% sales tax, means that none of the US brands we find easily in Panama can be found in Ecuador….the 55% tax just makes them unavailable.   There is a tax of 1% (soon to be 2%) on any money that leaves the country….meaning the wire transfer of funds to Panama or the US are subject to VERY big fees.     Recently, despite Correa’s claims of transparency and putting away corruption, his sister was recorded soliciting a bribe to make a law suit against Chevron Oil go away….Correa’s response was to set about to close down the private television station that aired the recordings.    When a recent rumor circulated that he was going to abandon the US dollar in favor of a new SA currency, he announced that anyone found circulating this rumor would be jailed.    These minor issues can grow to larger issues.   Finally, the growing scorn of the government toward the US is cause to pause and consider what would happen should the 5 new bases in Colombia really become a thorn in his side.  Chavez has recently invited both the Chinese and the Russians to become more involved in his politics, and the recent photo of him embracing Mohamar Khadafi was just scarey.   Again, this is not Correa, but as they say…you can judge a man by the company he keeps.   So far these are only shadows in the background, but they added to the decision against having a major investment in Ecuador at this time.

The Culture…..one reason I moved to Cuenca was to enjoy the vast cultural life and one of my main loves was the Symphony Orchestra.   Also, there was a very good Cultural Calendar published each month, allowing me to know where things were going on (concerts, art exhibits, museums, etc.).   The government declared that the economy required they cut funding for the Symphony and the Ensemble orchestras, and they stopped printing the Cultural Calendar….they even stopped publishing the online version.   Many locals say that this is really because Correa does not attend to the needs of the rich…only the poor…and that the poor don’t go to the symphony, concerts, art exhibitions, etc.   It is said they plan to reinstate this vital organ in the future, but for now it is defunct.  Whatever the reason….one of my main reasons for wanting to be there was removed from my life.

So……here is the last report I will file as a permanent resident of Cuenca.  I’ll return from time to time for a visit, but at last I am free of the restrictions of permanent residency.   Below are photos taken just before I left…including some views of the capital city Quito, the visit by ex-husband David Ripple (to spend our would-be 30th wedding anniversary together), and some celebrations just prior to my departure.

So….my friends Mary Ann & Greg decided to tie the knot back in Vermont, and then returned to Cuenca to begin their residency.   Mary Ann (you may recall) threw me a birthday bash this year and hosted a Christmas dinner for friends last year (see previous posts).   So…it seemed a good idea to toss them a wedding reception as a farewell event in my condo.  Even the guy who bought my condo came….here are some photos of the event.

Turn about is fair play….Mary Ann decided to throw a SURPRISE going away party for me…..and was I surprised!!!   I have never had a surprise party before…..

As I came into the room to see all the smiling faces shouting SURPRISE!

Shock at seeing someone I had just hung up with on the phone 2 minutes earlier....SHE was already at the party when we talked!!!

Gathering of surprise friends

So….I’ll be going to Argentina and Uruguay in January and then returning to beautiful Boquete.   It will be good to be back home.

The saddest part of the new year is that, on February 13 at 3:45 pm my step-dad, the marvelous Leon Wilson, transitioned to the other side of the veil.   He has been very ill for the last 3 years, and since November when I visited, he had gone further downhill.  I took the first plane I could get out of Ecuador and arrived in The Villages, FL 24 hours later.    Mother only had 9 years with Leon, but they were the best 9 years of her life.   She loved him dearly and he worshipped her.   Now she is alone once again.    Leon’s daughter, son, niece and nephew flew down for the funeral.   As he wished, he was cremated and there was a beautiful ceremony at the National Military Cemetery in Bushnell, Florida.   Leon was a retired Naval Commander, having trained pilots in WW2, so both he and mother have the right to be buried there.  The ceremony was followed by a 21 gun salute, and presentation of the American flag to my mother.

Leon's Urn with Military Guard

daughter Chris, mother, son Vernon, me, nephew Dan & his wife Paula, niece Toni

Here’s the last photo I took of Leon, on his birthday December 5, 2007.    After that his health was so poor that he didn’t want any more photos taken of him.    He will ALWAYS be in our deepest heart!

Leon's 83rd birthday, 15 months before his passing

Back in Cuenca, the Easter holidays brought much celebration.    There have been concerts in all the cathedrals, art shows and dancing in the streets.

Art show in the park

Friend Natalie & me at crafts faire

Cuenca Ensemble and 25 voice chorus performed Mozart's Requiem in the city's oldest cathedral

People in the US and in Panama are always asking me about the food here…..so here are some of my favorite restaurants and their food!

Akelarre Bistro

Akelarre Courtyard

Villa Rosa

Villa Rosa Interior

Corvel in Paute

Mediterraneo

Patio at Vino y Olivo

El Rey del Mariscos

And food…..you wanna see the food in Cuenca?   Well here is some.

Salad and Salmon

Trout with Seafood Sauce

Mexican Food

Filet Mignon with Mushroom and Wine Sauce

Chicken Dish (notice the popcorn....this is common here)

And still more seafood...

So, as you can see….we don’t starve here!

My very best friend in High Springs, FL is Judi Kearney…..she gave me the MOST fantastic 60th birthday 6 years ago and this April 26th was her 60th.   I decided it was an event I just couldn’t miss, but since I had assured her I was unable to attend (since I had just been there in February/March).   Our friend Joan Ashley kept the secret and I flew to Miami, rented a car and drove up for Judi’s party.   She almost fell over when I walked up to the fire circle where our women friends were celebrating with her, especially since I emailed her from Joan’s house that morning telling Judi how sorry I was I couldn’t be with her.   LIAR!!!  she called out to me and then threw a big hug around me.

Judi was REALLY surprised!

My wonderful circle of women friends celebrate Judi's 60th

The next night we bbq'd at Judi's house...here she is with Joyce

Then, I drove down to my mom’s house and spent a night with her.

Mother and me....

And finally, I ended up in Miami to fly back to Ecuador….spent time with my ex-husband, David Ripple.   It was great seeing him again!

David Ripple on his 65th birthday last year

I leave for Panama and will stay in beautiful home in Boquete for 6 weeks, turning the house over to a new tenant for another year.   It will be great to see my home, my friends and yes….if I can work up the courage to see the world’s most fabulous dog….Ms. Zap, I will do so.   I just don’t know if I can stand again having the broken heart I get when I leave her behind.  But her new parents love her and she is well cared for.

My friend Wanda Stoll has finally received word that her Residency Visa in Panama is ready to be picked up….she got in just under the wire last June when she visited.   We’ll meet in Panama City and fly together to David and then drive up to Boquete…she’ll spend a week with me and then return to the US….she still has a few years to work before retirement.  She is a good friend, and drove up from Miami for Leon’s funeral….

Wanda and me at Leon's funeral

I hope you all enjoy this posting, and remember…..COME ON DOWN!!

Thanksgiving is a uniquely American tradition, and in both Panama and Ecuador, the ExPat community welcomes this opportunity to share a meal together and be with friends.   This year I was included in a big Pot Luck Thanksgiving dinner, complete with turkey, stuffing and all the trimmings.   Here are a few friends and I at this event, held in a fruit orchard in a town called Paute, about 45 minutes outside of Cuenca.

L to R...Bill, Patricia, Christa (one of my favorite new friends), me and in back David and Alan

Me, Chela (a fabulous Ecuadorian friend) and Bill Bushnell (we call him Bush)

WOW…..what an outstanding holiday Christmas is here in the Andes…..Cuenca celebrates Christmas in a big way.  The Christmas Eve Children’s Parade is televised throughout the entire country and I got to see it in person!!   Since a picture is worth a thousand words, here are a few thousand words in picture form.

Children are dressed in costume….angels, gauchos, wise men, spanish grandees, bullfighters, etc.

Tiny Chica

Tiniest Nino

Some of these have been in the family for generations

Notice all the umbrellas…..no, it’s not raining.   In the rain these are called ParaJuvias and when used to protect from the Ecuadorian sun here on the Equator they are called ParaSols.   The word “Para” means “for”, and the word “Juvia” means “rain” and “Sol” means “sun”….so they are “for the rain” or “for the sun”.

These umbrellas are for the sun here on the Ecuator

They ride for hours in this parade

And these little ones are so patient!!

Balcony dwellers have the best view (can you pick out the gringos?)

Floats of all kinds…..this would be the Egyptian contingent below….

The real “eye candy” comes in the form of giant blankets on the horses….candy, cookies, fruits, peppers and every imaginable type of food decorates the horses….this is a tribute to the abundance of Ecuador.

Even the little bitty kids get their vehicles decorated

You gotta love the one below….if you don’t have the money to buy all the stuff…you can just open up your kitchen cabinet, take out the jello, canned peaches, Coke, etc. and decorate a shopping cart.

And, if you’re a dog….just hang a couple of your chew toys on your little coat, get your hat and boots and join the parade….

Cuenca’s mounted police were in evidence during the holidays….to maneuver around the crowds.

I went to the parade with my Spanish teacher….a young Ecuadorian woman who lived in San Diego for 2 years.   Her name is FABIOLA TOLEDO!    Say it yourself and let it roll off your tongue…Fabiola Toledo!!!

Fabiola with one of her MANY admirers!

Christmas Day, a small group shared a cozy dinner….our hostess, Mary Ann isn’t in the photo

L to R...Patricia (Seattle), Mark and dog Happy (Montreal), Greg (Vermont), Marie Claire (France), me and David (Tallahassee)

Topping off our holiday celebration was New Year’s Eve at my house…..a tradition here in Latin America is to create an effijy to burn at midnight.

Last year, in Panama, I showed you my neighbor’s effijy of Osama Bin Laden sitting on the hood of his car and explained the Latin custom of burning in effijy a life-sized doll representing a person you’d like to get rid of.

This year, the group here decided to burn, well…..at the risk of offending my NeoCon friends….guess who we chose?????

Here he is in my place before midnight.....can you guess now who it is?

We watch on…..hoping for a better New Year.

The finale to the holiday season was my birthday….January 20th….they threw a BIG party on my birthday in Washington, D. C…….but I was here in Cuenca, where my friends Mary Ann and Marie Claire threw me a little birthday party…..Feliz Cumplianos means Happy Birthday (the banner above our heads).

Do I look 66????? I sure don't feel it!!

Love and Blessings, and hope you enjoy this post!

Penny

I returned to the US to visit my family;   my dad back in the hospital, my mom taking care of him and my son and his family where we watched the first night launch of the Space Shuttle since the tragic Challenger which exploded shortly after takeoff.    My son works at Cape Canaveral and lives nearby, and we viewed the launch from just across a lake on the edge of the Cape.   Here are photos of the Shuttle lift off and first few minutes

Space Shuttle just after liftoff, 11/07/08

Up, up and away!!!

From this point on, the Shuttle became a rapidly diminishing light in the sky…..amazing to see so close up.

The shuttle is going straight up, but the earth is rotating, so it looks as if the shuttle is curving

Of course, I also went back to my home town of High Springs, north of Gainesville, in North Central Florida (GO GATORS!!).    My friend Judi Kearney gave a big Obama Victory Party at her horsefarm, where I got to see all my old buddies…..here we are dancing to the music of John and Raven Smith’s band, Quartermoon!

L to R: Me, Sharon, Linda and Joan (Judi was taking the photo)

Quartermoon Band (John on left, Raven in the middle, Mike on the right)

Judi’s husband Mike (collector of antique cars) wasn’t at the party because he was driving this roadster in the drag races that night.

Mike Kearney on the way to the drag race in his roadster!

The next morning, Judi fixed breakfast for the girls, and we watched the video I created of my new condo and new city, Cuenca, Ecuador…..these smiling faces make me miss High Springs from time to time….

L to R: Valerie, Pat, Sharon & Joan. Judi in the background with one of her dogs

Mike & Judi live on the beautiful Santa Fe River…..here’s an afternoon shot of the river from their backyard.  Just as the sun was going down, and the water was as smooth as glass…the reflection on the water looks real.

Crystal clear reflection in the waters of the Santa Fe River

I left the US with sadness in my heart at leaving my friends and family…..but eager to return to beautiful Cuenca and my life there.    The exciting news was…..my new residency visa had been approved and was waiting for me upon my return.   I now begin the 9 months each year for 2 years, required residency within Ecuador.

I have donated many pieces to chartiy auctions in Boquete, and am pleased to see how excited people are in bidding for my one of a kind pieces.    Below are some of my creations….

My exhibit at the Boquete Art Expo

My booth was busy all the time, and I worked on pieces right in front of the visitors

The beautiful Lola bead in the center is hand blown glass

Torquoise features a Reprosa of a real orchid in silver lost wax process

PreColumbian frog bell and tubes with fuschia crystals and art glass

String of Hearts...sterling silver and fused glass

Hopi overlay silver eagle with red and blue torquoise

Eyeglass holder of sterling silver and multi colored crystals

Handblown glass face with multi colored stones and silver dangles

Black freshwater pearls with sterling silver points

Hand carved Tagua nut frog with pearls and fused glass

Carved bone strung with chocolate tiger eyes

PreColumbian figure and tubes with black lava rock

Sterling silver cat strung on oval and round torquoise

Black fused glass with silver and glass beads

Fresh water pearls set in sterling silver with glass beads and pearls

In Ecuador, I live in the dry foothills of the Andes…..not as many birds or plants, but still a beautiful place.

Below are the plants and animals (and insects) I have encountered…..

Huge Moth on my BBQ grill cover in Boquete

Strange bug also on my BBQ grill cover....I

My neighbors in Boquete move their cows from up the road to graze across the river

We had a dog show in Boquete, where my sweet little girl dog Zap made her debut

This is the dog who won the Halloween costume contest at the dog show

These Panamanian young men had trained their dog to jump over them all

Howler Monkeys live free in the trees at La Playita in the Azuaro of Panama

Free flying Macaws live at LaPlayita too

This Emu lives at LaPlayita too

Baby Howler Monkies are often left as orphans when their moms are electrocuted on electric wires that run through the jungles. My friends in Boquete's Paradise Gardens rescue them and release them into a new tribe.

Boquete is located in the Chiriqui Province in Panama, which is known as the Texas of Panama. Rodeos and calf roping are common

Paso Fino (dancing) horses are the breed common in Panama...they are beautiful to watch

Sloths have the lowest metabolism of any animal....there are 2 toed and 3 toed sloths..we came across this one on the road in Panama

Back to the subject of the world

Here is Zap when she very first arrived to live with me

Little Zap sleeping like a baby with her toys

Zap grows big, but still loves her toys

Zap and her friend Rocky play and kiss

She's a big girl now

Now for some photos of my beautiful orchids in my garden in Panama

This is really a Lady Slipper that grows all over my garden in Panama

These aren't plants or animals, of course, but are shells from the Pacific in Panama

The Provinces of Ecuador

The main feature for tourist visits to Guayaquil is the 2000 Millenium Riverwalk.   This beautiful collection of attractions includes artesan market, yacht club, observation towers, clock tower, freedom monument, riverside restaurant, botanical garden, IMAX theater and Museum of Contemporary art.

Me standing on the Riverwalk

Clocktower on the Riverwalk

Coloinial period government building

On the busy boulevard running alongside the Riverwalk, Colonia government buildings can be seen.

The old citry was built on a hill at the mouth of the river leading into the bay.   A monument to the fort that protected this crucial waterway sits atop the hill.   Pastel colored houses line narrow streets in the Viejo (old) city.

Viejo Guayaquil with Museum of Contemporary Art and IMAX theater in foreground

Monument honoring Simon Bolivar who freed Latin America from Spain

Ecuador has a Navy, Army and Air Force.    They own a Tall Ship on which all Navy cadets must take training to learn the traditional ways of the sea.   When not at sea, this ship is moored at the Riverwalk in Guayaquil.

Ecuador

Current day indigino woman

Inca can be spelled Inka and was known as Tiwantinsuya.

As ancient civilizations sprang up across the planet thousands of years ago, so too the Inca civilization evolved. As with all ancient civilizations, its exact origins are unknown. Their historic record, as with all other tribes evolving on the planet at that time, would be recorded through oral tradition, stone, pottery, gold and silver jewelry, and woven in the tapestry of the people.

The Inca of Peru have long held a mystical fascination for people of the western world. Four hundred years ago the fabulous wealth in gold and silver possessed by these people was discovered, then systematically pillaged and plundered by Spanish conquistadors. The booty they carried home altered the whole European economic system. And in their wake, they left a highly developed civilization in tatters. That a single government could control many diverse tribes, many of which were secreted in the most obscure of mountain hideaways, was simply remarkable.

No one really knows where the Incas came from that historic record left in stone for archaeologists to unravel through the centuries that followed.

The Inca Empire was quite short-lived. It lasted just shy of 100 years, from ca.1438 AD, when the Inca ruler Pachacuti and his army began conquering lands surrounding the Inca heartland of Cuzco, until the coming of the Spaniards in 1532.

In 1438 the Inca set out from their base in Cuzco on a career of conquest that, during the next 50 years, brought under their control the area of present-day Peru, Bolivia, northern Argentina, Chile, and Ecuador. Within this area, the Inca established a totalitarian state that enabled the tribal ruler and a small minority of nobles to dominate the population.

Map of Inca Civilization

Most of the accounts agree on thirteen emperors. The Inca emperors were known by various titles, including “Sapa Inca,” “Capac Apu,” and “Intip Cori.” Often, an emperor was simply referred to as The Inca.

The first seven were legendary, local, and of slight importance. During this period the Inca were a small tribe, one of many, whose domain did not extend many miles around their capital city, Cuzco. They were warriors, almost constantly at war with neighboring tribes. Ritual sacrifices were common, evidence of which is found by archaeologists to this very day.

Cusco was the center of the Inca Empire, with its advanced hydraulic engineering, agricultural techniques, marvelous architecture, textiles, ceramics and ironworks.

Current day descendant...blind man who plays flute for tourists.

THE EMPORERS / KINGS

1. Manco Capac – Sun God

2. Sinchi Roca

3. Lloque Yupanqui

4. Maita Capac

5. Capac Yupanqui

6. Inca Roca

7. Yahuar Huacac

8. Inca Viracocha

9. Pachacuti-Inca-Yupanqui

10. Topa Inca Yupanqui

11. Huayna Capac

12. Huascar

13. Atahuallpa

The first Inca king, Maco Capac

The incredibly rapid expansion of the Inca Empire began with Viracocha’s son Pachacuti, who was one of the great conquerors, and one of the great men in the history of the Americas. With his accession in 1438 AD reliable history began, almost all the chroniclers being in practical agreement.

Pachacuti was called considered the greatest man that the aboriginal race of America has produced. He and his son Topa Inca were powerful rulers conquering many lands as they built ther kingdom.

Pachacuti was a great civic planner as well. Tradition ascribes to him the city plan of Cuzco as well as the erection of many of the massive masonry buildings that still awe visitors at this this ancient capital.

Plan of attack

The Aymara-speaking rivals in the region of Lake Titicaca, the Colla and Lupaca, were defeated first, and then the Chanca to the west. The latter attacked and nearly captured Cuzco. After that, there was little effective resistance. First the peoples to the north were subjugated as far as Quito, Ecuador, including the powerful and cultured kingdom of Chim� on the northern coast of Peru. Topa Inca then took over his father’s role and turned southward, conquering all of northern Chile as far as the Maule River, the southernmost limit of the empire. His son, Huayna Capac, continued conquests in Ecuador to the Ancasmayo River, the present border between Ecuador and Colombia.

GEOGRAPHY

The Incans gave their empire the name, ‘Land of the Four Quarters’ or the Tahuantinsuyu Empire. It stretched north to south some 2,500 miles along the high mountainous Andean range from Colombia to Chile and reached west to east from the dry coastal desert called Atacama to the steamy Amazonian rain forest.

The Incas ruled the Andean Cordillera, second in height and harshness to the Himalayas. Daily life was spent at altitudes up to 15,000 feet and ritual life extended up to 22,057 feet to Llullaillaco in Chile, the highest Inca sacrificial site known today. Mountain roads and sacrificial platforms were built, which means a great amount of time was spent hauling loads of soil, rocks, and grass up to these inhospitable heights. Even with our advanced mountaineering clothing and equipment of today, it is hard for us to acclimatize and cope with the cold and dehydration experienced at the high altitudes frequented by the Inca. This ability of the sandal-clad Inca to thrive at extremely high elevations continues to perplex scientists today.

At the height of its existence the Inca Empire was the largest nation on Earth and remains the largest native state to have existed in the western hemisphere. The wealth and sophistication of the legendary Inca people lured many anthropologists and archaeologists to the Andean nations in a quest to understand the Inca’s advanced ways and what led to their ultimate demise.

The Incas had an incredible system of roads. One road ran almost the entire length of the South American Pacific coast! Since the Incas lived in the Andes Mountains, the roads took great engineering and architectural skill to build. On the coast, the roads were not surfaced and were marked only by tree trunks The Incas paved their highland roads with flat stones and built stone walls to prevent travelers from falling off cliffs.

Ancient Inca Road System

Referred to as an ‘all-weather highway system’, the over 14,000 miles of Inca roads were an astonishing and reliable precursor to the advent of the automobile. Communication and transport was efficient and speedy, linking the mountain peoples and lowland desert dwellers with Cuzco. Building materials and ceremonial processions traveled thousands of miles along the roads that still exist in remarkably good condition today. They were built to last and to withstand the extreme natural forces of wind, floods, ice, and drought.

This central nervous system of Inca transport and communication rivaled that of Rome. A high road crossed the higher regions of the Cordillera from north to south and another lower north-south road crossed the coastal plains. Shorter crossroads linked the two main highways together in several places.

The terrain, according to Ciezo de Leon, an early chronicler of Inca culture, was formidable. The road system ran through deep valleys and over mountains, through piles of snow, quagmires, living rock, along turbulent rivers; in some places it ran smooth and paved, carefully laid out; in others over sierras, cut through the rock, with walls skirting the rivers, and steps and rests through the snow; everywhere it was clean swept and kept free of rubbish, with lodgings, storehouses, temples to the sun, and posts along the way.

The Incas did not discover the wheel, so all travel was done on foot. To help travelers on their way, rest houses were built every few kilometers. In these rest houses, they could spend a night, cook a meal and feed their llamas.

Their bridges were the only way to cross rivers on foot. If only one of their hundreds of bridges was damaged, a major road could not fully function; every time one broke, the locals would repair it as quickly as possible.

SOCIETY

Inca society was made up of ayllus, which were clans of families who lived and worked together. Each allyu was supervised by a curaca or chief. Families lived in thatched-roof houses built of stone and mud. Furnishings were unkown with families sitting and sleeping on the floor. Potatoes were a basic Inca food. The Imperial Incas clothed themselves in garments made from Alpaca and many of their religious ceremonies involved the animal. They wore sandals on their feet.

In Inca social structure, the ruler, Sapa Inca, and his wives, the Coyas, had supreme control over the empire. The High Priest and the Army Commander in Chief were next. Then came the Four Apus, the regional army commanders. Next were temple priests, architects, administrators and army generals. Next were artisans, musicians, army captains and the quipucamayoc, the Incan accountants. At the bottom were sorcerers, farmers, herding families and conscripts.

Solar Clock of the Incas

Incan Sundial Clock

Inca society continued uninterrupted in this way for hundreds of years. The appearance of light-skinned strangers during the rule of Atahuallpa, however, was to forever change things for the Inca. Deadly plague would soon sweep through the Inca empire. Those that survived had to face the swords and cannons of the invading Spanish. After leading the Spanish to more gold than they had ever before seen, even Lord Atahuallpa was strangled by his Spanish captors.

Spanish Conqueror Pizarro

Artist depiction of Pizarro and the Inca King

Every style of hand-weaving was practiced by the Incas. They used this instead of writing in some cases. They also made very artistic pottery.

Early Inca Temple

My trip to the Inca ruins near Cuenca

Wearing my new Alpaca Poncho-Cost $12

The "Castle" at the Incapirca ruins...Can you identify the American in the photo?

Incapirca Ruins with Home of Princess

Ruin at Intihuatana

MUSIC

Music was part of ceremony. Incas knew how to smelt and cast metals so they made many different types of instruments such as trumpets and bells out of materials such as brass or stone.

Musical instruments of the Incas displayed at Incapirca

POPULATION

At its peak, Ican society had more than six million people. As the tribe expanded and conquered other tribes, like the Paracas, the Incans began to consolidate their empire by integrating not only the ruling classes of each conquered tribe but also developing a universal language, calling it Quechua (pronounced KECH-WUN).

This ubiquitous integration encompassed the histories, myths and legends of each subject tribe; stories being intentionally combined, adopted or obliterated, or just accidentally confused. This practice was characteristic of the Incans quest for organization and structure. The Amautas, a special class of wise men who perpetuated traditions of the people, history and legend, redefined myths where and when necessary to establish miracles of faith or precedent or sanctions.

Current day descendant couple