Day 8
Cuenca
Very good economy. About 11000 retirees. One of the best places in the world to retire to. Mezicos main people in the city,from Panama.
Panama hat from person in charge of making Panama canal, gave these hats to everyone working on the canal.
Eucalyptus trees becoming problem in Andes. Use up a lot of water, fallen leaves change pH of soil, no birds nesting in it. Introduced for Inca to use to make paper for the economy, ended up spreading everywhere.
500,000 people in Cuenca. Everything very close, fast to get to.
River runs into downtown. About 3 hours to get to most places in Ecuador. No big buildings allowed, only big buildings is in "gringo land".
Natural hot springs at head of "puma".
Most pollution from diesel using busses. In 10months they will be replaced by electric trains.
Lots of professional people here. Having a master degree is like having a high school degree. Best of doctors in Ecuador in here. One of first cities to make campaigns for recycling. Big campaigns for water. Lots of renewable energy. Promote using bikes. Use gasoline made out of sugar and alcohol. Can report busses. Not a dirty city, everyone tries to keep city as clean as possible. Saw people picking up trash while we were standing. Must have green lights, even to build house, needs to be approved by municipality.
No one wants to conduct crime here because easy to stop people.
Everyone is relaxed. Everyone is fairly healthy. Most food is very carby. Need the carbohydrates in the highlands.
Conquistadors call Cuenca because it's like the Cuenca in Spain.
Guinea pig traditional dish, when first people were here was only food to eat besides vegetation. Lots of ham in cuisine. Best way to eat cuiy is hot.
Reforestation with native trees.
Houses very deep inside.
Saint Peter is medicinal plant, cactus. Used for energy. Lots of medicinal plants, very cheap.
Traditional clothing normally worn by women.
One road that connects inca part, south to North.
Old churches and houses made with inca stones. Old Town was destroyed in Civil War. Rebuilt with inca stones.
1835 process of Panama hat making started. Taught indigenous people how to make hats. Design originally from Greece. Original Ecuadorian hats look differently. Toquillas is process of making hats. Long time ago used crushed animal bone and glue to cover hats to make it rigid. Tradition to pass rigid hats down from generation to generation, rigidness let's them do this.
Hats are inspected. If accepted, sold here, if not sold cheap in market. Bleach hats with water that has lots of oxygen.
Hats made with super fine fibers are more expensive. Hats were very famous for a while from exporting to foreign countries.
The hat place is called omera Ortega.
Process of hat starts at top.
Cathedral made in 1890. Many of the bricks were donated. Other structures donated from Germany. Seminary is now part of bishop office, used to train men to be priests.
Saw exotic birds that were rescued. When constructing a high school in a remains were found, but those constructing didn't say anything. 3 levels to represent 3 energies: the heavens, the world we live on, and the world of the dead.
Very good economy. About 11000 retirees. One of the best places in the world to retire to. Mezicos main people in the city,from Panama.
Panama hat from person in charge of making Panama canal, gave these hats to everyone working on the canal.
Eucalyptus trees becoming problem in Andes. Use up a lot of water, fallen leaves change pH of soil, no birds nesting in it. Introduced for Inca to use to make paper for the economy, ended up spreading everywhere.
500,000 people in Cuenca. Everything very close, fast to get to.
River runs into downtown. About 3 hours to get to most places in Ecuador. No big buildings allowed, only big buildings is in "gringo land".
Natural hot springs at head of "puma".
Most pollution from diesel using busses. In 10months they will be replaced by electric trains.
Lots of professional people here. Having a master degree is like having a high school degree. Best of doctors in Ecuador in here. One of first cities to make campaigns for recycling. Big campaigns for water. Lots of renewable energy. Promote using bikes. Use gasoline made out of sugar and alcohol. Can report busses. Not a dirty city, everyone tries to keep city as clean as possible. Saw people picking up trash while we were standing. Must have green lights, even to build house, needs to be approved by municipality.
No one wants to conduct crime here because easy to stop people.
Everyone is relaxed. Everyone is fairly healthy. Most food is very carby. Need the carbohydrates in the highlands.
Conquistadors call Cuenca because it's like the Cuenca in Spain.
Guinea pig traditional dish, when first people were here was only food to eat besides vegetation. Lots of ham in cuisine. Best way to eat cuiy is hot.
Reforestation with native trees.
Houses very deep inside.
Saint Peter is medicinal plant, cactus. Used for energy. Lots of medicinal plants, very cheap.
Traditional clothing normally worn by women.
One road that connects inca part, south to North.
Old churches and houses made with inca stones. Old Town was destroyed in Civil War. Rebuilt with inca stones.
1835 process of Panama hat making started. Taught indigenous people how to make hats. Design originally from Greece. Original Ecuadorian hats look differently. Toquillas is process of making hats. Long time ago used crushed animal bone and glue to cover hats to make it rigid. Tradition to pass rigid hats down from generation to generation, rigidness let's them do this.
Hats are inspected. If accepted, sold here, if not sold cheap in market. Bleach hats with water that has lots of oxygen.
Hats made with super fine fibers are more expensive. Hats were very famous for a while from exporting to foreign countries.
The hat place is called omera Ortega.
Process of hat starts at top.
Cathedral made in 1890. Many of the bricks were donated. Other structures donated from Germany. Seminary is now part of bishop office, used to train men to be priests.
Saw exotic birds that were rescued. When constructing a high school in a remains were found, but those constructing didn't say anything. 3 levels to represent 3 energies: the heavens, the world we live on, and the world of the dead.
Day 9
Inca ruins-
Very special because ellipse temple, to look like moon but also see sun best. Inca do everything by sun. Structure made to look like a puma. Incas only lived there for 34 years so never finished puma structure, missing a leg. Every part of the structure serves a similar function to the puma (i.e. temple in the brain).
Incas discovered how to keep food. Circular holes in ground where they keep food. Dry out red potatoes and llama meat into jerky. Canaries shared the space with Incas.
About 100 to 120 people here.
Agave fibers second strongest vegetation fibers in the world, next to hemp. Used fibers for ropes, clothes, sandals, etc. Can use every part of the agave, it also has a function.
Trapezoid shape doorway to stay strong during earthquakes. When an earthquake hits, the safest place was the doorway.
Mortar is soil mixed with llama excrement.
Believe the woman in the cemetery was a canary princess or other very important person. 12 meters deep. Woman was in a special suit. Inca and canaries had same calendar. Inca made a carving in outside stone to represent what day they buried her, October 20. Believe when you die go to another life, bury people with what they need in afterlife (seeds, potatoes, pottery). When burying woman, a group of people were put into tomb with hallucinogens, died there.
Incas killed all canary men. Conquistadors became "allies" with canaries, but eventually sold them as slaves in Spain. Thus we don't know much about their culture.
Line of pressure as a way to avoid structures being destroyed from landslides. Small stones placed to receive pressure, they will break, the rest lf the wall will be fine.
The Incas have a complicated structure system for the temple based in the alignment of the solar system throughout the year.
First catholic church of Ecuador. Built in 1534. When conquistadors first came they saw indigenous people all around him. He thought he was going to die there (even though they were just coming to talk). When he realized, he thought it was the virgin Mary who was looking after him. Big, eery looking indigenous princess at front of church in a throne. Used her to convince indigenous people. Balvanera was a doll at the far left, indigenous virgin who was a Saint.
Very special because ellipse temple, to look like moon but also see sun best. Inca do everything by sun. Structure made to look like a puma. Incas only lived there for 34 years so never finished puma structure, missing a leg. Every part of the structure serves a similar function to the puma (i.e. temple in the brain).
Incas discovered how to keep food. Circular holes in ground where they keep food. Dry out red potatoes and llama meat into jerky. Canaries shared the space with Incas.
About 100 to 120 people here.
Agave fibers second strongest vegetation fibers in the world, next to hemp. Used fibers for ropes, clothes, sandals, etc. Can use every part of the agave, it also has a function.
Trapezoid shape doorway to stay strong during earthquakes. When an earthquake hits, the safest place was the doorway.
Mortar is soil mixed with llama excrement.
Believe the woman in the cemetery was a canary princess or other very important person. 12 meters deep. Woman was in a special suit. Inca and canaries had same calendar. Inca made a carving in outside stone to represent what day they buried her, October 20. Believe when you die go to another life, bury people with what they need in afterlife (seeds, potatoes, pottery). When burying woman, a group of people were put into tomb with hallucinogens, died there.
Incas killed all canary men. Conquistadors became "allies" with canaries, but eventually sold them as slaves in Spain. Thus we don't know much about their culture.
Line of pressure as a way to avoid structures being destroyed from landslides. Small stones placed to receive pressure, they will break, the rest lf the wall will be fine.
The Incas have a complicated structure system for the temple based in the alignment of the solar system throughout the year.
First catholic church of Ecuador. Built in 1534. When conquistadors first came they saw indigenous people all around him. He thought he was going to die there (even though they were just coming to talk). When he realized, he thought it was the virgin Mary who was looking after him. Big, eery looking indigenous princess at front of church in a throne. Used her to convince indigenous people. Balvanera was a doll at the far left, indigenous virgin who was a Saint.