Author Archives: Melissa

Ten Things to Know Before You Go

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It’s time for the New Year’s reflection post.  2017 was the year we made the break from our comfortable middle class home and moved onto our sailboat. It was the year we cut the dock lines and began cruising full time. Many of our readers are gearing up for their own shift to a cruising lifestyle. They pour over the Yachtworld listings, going down the rabbit hole of finding that ‘perfect for them’ boat. They are reading and following all the cruising blogs and vlogs out there, wondering when they, too, will be sitting in the cockpit with sundowners and friends, a warm and gentle breeze ruffling water. If you recognize yourself in this description, read on. What things have challenged our fun/suck ratio? Because you know we are only going to be doing this as long as it’s fun.

How I loved seeing these Elephant Seals and listening to them grunt at night from the starry-skyed cockpit.

I’ve made a list of what I consider ‘reality checks’ just for those of you who are in that position now. Some of these are not big things and, frankly, I had trouble coming up with 10 of them, but when you are cruising even small things can matter a lot.  I don’t want to burst any bubbles, but it’s useful to know some of the realities so you won’t be disappointed by your own fun/suck ratio.  Recognize, as you read this, that if your cruising grounds are different than ours, your mileage will vary. Cruising down the west coast of the United States is much different than doing the ICW, or cruising to the Bahamas from Florida. Many of these points will be moot for cruisers in other locations.

  1. You’re going to get really physically/mentally/psychologically tired. Reflect, if you will, on the idea of visiting 27 different ports and anchorages in 3 months.  In each of those places we had to figure out the logistics of being there: where it was safe to anchor, how to get ashore safely and securely, where to leave the dinghy, where we were in relation to things like stores and fuel, or even places to walk, what sights we might want to take in, whether it would be safe to leave our boat unattended.  This is part of the fun of cruising, it’s said. It’s part of the “adventure”. What is less said that I’m going to say right now is that this is bloody exhausting. There’s such a thing as ‘too much fun’ and after about the 20th place, the fun starts wearing thin. It’s important to note this if you are planning to cruise, especially if you are going to cruise down the west coast of the United States. This is probably why some people just zip down the coast in one or two passages. We wanted to see what California had to offer. We don’t regret the choice at all because we had a ton of fun and saw wondrous things.  But it’s important to note that you need to allow time for rest and recovery or people are going to start to get cranky. That leads to…

    Such great bird watching at Pebble Beach.

  2. Take breaks from the boat. Just go ahead and plan them in advance because the need for a break sneaks up on you. By the time we got on the plane to Ecuador, we really needed a break from boat travel but were just beginning to realize that was what was wrong. Tempers were getting shorter than in any time in our marriage. Communication skills were being challenged in ways it’s impossible to predict when living a shore based life. People will tell you that cruising will challenge your relationship, but the ‘how’s’ of that challenge are so intangible that it’s hard to put them into words. Certainly being together 24/7 would challenge anyone, but it’s more than that. Frustrations are more poignant and unless you want to fight a lot, you better learn to handle your frustrations yourself. Decisions are more important and carry more emotional weight, not to mention physical safety weight.  Weather is always on the front burner, as is boat movement. Both of those things will take precedence over your irritation or hurt feelings. There are physical and psychological demands that require physical, psychological and emotional energy to deal with on a constant basis. If the power structure of your relationship is a fairly egalitarian one at home (which ours is), that’s going to change some because there is only one captain on a boat at any one time, especially when the chips are down. So that creates a lot of opportunity for you to become humble and question the wisdom of what you have chosen. Put your breaks on the calender, just like you do your vacations back home.

    Monterey Bay was a favorite place.

  3. If you love anchoring out like we do, that’s going to add to your stress in some ways. Until we pulled into Cruiseport Marina in Ensenada, we had stayed 8 nights at a dock since September 1. That’s less than 10% of the time. We consider the idea that maybe we are too avoidant of marinas. Perhaps we aren’t doing ourselves any favors by being the stolid anchor-outers that we are. We’ve considered that we might stay in a marina one or two nights per month as we cruise in Mexico, just to have regular breaks and easy access to land. We’ll see how that plays out. We’re kind of stubborn about wanting to be independent of land as much as possible, and marinas eat through our money faster than anything else. Want to know how to save money while you are cruising? Don’t stay in marinas.

    Entering San Fransisco Bay after our first multi-day passage was surreal. Still is.

  4. Don’t quibble about buying a water maker like we did. Regardless of your tankage, just get one while you are employed and bringing money in regularly. We carry 300 gallons of water, which sounds like it should be plenty. And it is! But I am constantly aware of how much water we use, even though we are really good at conserving it. It’s a constant nagging stress for both of us that impacts the enjoyment of this life we’ve chosen. Here’s why this snuck up on us: if you are in the United States you are used to being able to pull up to the dock, put a hose in your tank, and fill up. We have good clean water for the most part in our country. So we assume that when a marina advertises that they have ‘water at the dock’, they are referring to POTABLE water at the dock. And this is where that assumption is incorrect. Even though we read a lot about cruising in Mexico and water being available, we didn’t connect the dots that MARINA water is not necessarily potable. So that means that you have to pay someone to bring water to the boat and pour it into your tank. Or you have to lug the jerry cans yourselves to do that. Here’s the rub: we don’t actually want to live that way. Sure, we are capable of it. But it’s not how we want to spend our time. And it doesn’t make us feel like we are able to spend long weeks away from infrastructure where we can get potable water. So at some point, if this cruising thing goes on for more than a year, which I’m guessing it will, there will be a water maker on board. And it will be the kind that is easy to get parts for.

    We came back to the boat one day surrounded by hundreds of these Lions Mane jellies. Monterey Bay.

  5. The common wisdom among boat cruisers is that this life is filled with highs and lows. Hmm. Okay. Fair enough. But here’s a thought: in day to day life on a boat, it’s actually the differential between perceived danger and relative safety that create most of these highs and lows. On a boat the differential between safety and potential danger can happen regularly, sometimes more than once in a day.  For instance as we traveled in the Channel Islands in California, we were often met with high winds and the accompanying gnarly seas that were not only uncomfortable, but took all of our skills to navigate safely. During those times there is acute focus. All the senses are on fire in order to keep the boat, and us,  out of danger. Those were lows. (Although for some folks they may have been highs.Those people probably enjoy things like bungy jumping and sky diving, too.) After we’d negotiated those conditions successfully and found a safe haven, we got such a feeling of relief that the differential between the two states could have been perceived as a high. But in reality we had just returned to a normal, average state of being.  It wasn’t like dolphins swimming off the bow, or seeing night creatures in the water, or swimming with a sea turtle.  It was just relief. Maybe this is what people are referring to as a series of ‘highs and lows’. For me, the true highs are those things that do not happen every day. By their nature, life’s ‘highs’ are rare things. Unless you are going to sit in a marina most of the time, your’re going to start understanding this part of my post pretty quick once you are away from the dock all the time.  Your adrenal glands will get a workout in this way of life. And that leads to more need to rest. Don’t begrudge those sailors who sit in the cockpit and drink their sundowners after a hard sail. They’ve earned it.

    Challenging and beautiful Santa Cruz Island, with good friends on S/V Blue

  6. Here’s one for the people who just do not LOVE cooking:  When you are planning a cruise, a lot of fuss can be made about how one cooks in a galley. I was guilty of getting into the drama of worrying about cooking in a galley, even though I had already cooked a lot of meals on our summer cruises. Why is this? I think it has something to do with wanting to be as prepared as possible. And also I needed something to feel like I had control over when Mike had control over most of the boat systems. But here’s what galley cooking boils down to: it’s pretty much the same as cooking anywhere else. That’s it. Sure, there are special items like a solar oven (which we do not have) that some people use really nicely on their boats. And there is stuff like making beans or rice in a thermos, which works pretty well. If you are really into cooking you might want to explore those kinds of things.  But at the end of the day, ask yourself how you cook at home. Because that’s probably how you are going to cook on a boat. If you are worried about conserving propane, get additional tanks and keep the extras filled. Propane is the cheapest thing you’ll be buying on a boat. Give yourself a way to cook outside the cabin if you are going to be in hot places, like having a grill on the rail. If you are the kind that makes full meals in a pressure cooker, you’ll probably use it on the boat as well. If not, well so far, mine has looked lovely sitting in the cabinet by the sink. Same with my thermal cooker. I’ve used it only a couple of times.  The one-stop-shopping resource you should have is The Boat Galley Cookbook. There are recipes, but mostly there is information about different ways to do things for those of you who like to tinker in the kitchen.

    I never get tired of snorkeling.

  7.  Every single penny you spend on making the interior of your boat comfortable and attractive is worth it. Just do it, if you can. I remember feeling somewhat guilty that we would spend money on things like paint or colorful, comfortable pillows for the boat interior when we needed to be spending money on engine parts and the like. Safety first, right? As I sit here, however, I do not regret one penny we spent on those things because this is not a vacation, this is our lives. This is how we live, at least for now. And referencing my comments above about the ‘highs and lows’ of cruising, having comfortable berths to tumble into, or an attractive salon that feels welcoming goes a long way after a long day of working with the sea.

    Galapagos is WAY down there. Catalina Island.

  8. If you are planning a trip down the west coast of the United States, go ahead and join the cheapest yacht club you can find that has reciprocal privileges. We didn’t do this and it would have made a big difference in our trip. Friends of ours pulled onto docks regularly because of those reciprocal privileges. Especially if you are not a consummate anchor-outer, join a yacht club.  California is all about yacht clubs in a way we did not predict.

    When you spend time in the salt water, you also use more fresh water because you must rinse everything off.

  9. You might be very bored. Yes. There. I’ve said it out loud. Cruising has long periods of time where you might have nothing to do unless you really, truly want to get out the sandpaper and get to that greying teak or take up guitar or bake something that you don’t really need to be eating.  We read. A lot. It takes a long time to get used to all the downtime and figure out what to do with it. I’m so used to having a focus; a goal, a project.   Mike always has some kind of boat project he’s working on, but I do not. I have my art supplies on board but have yet to get them out. They make such a mess when I do and I hate it when the boat is a mess. The things I used to fill my time with at home (called HOBBIES) are not things that translate well to the boat so far. But I’ll find my groove with it eventually and I’m not complaining that I have so much time to read. I’m remaining open to discovering new interests at some point. Just don’t be surprised if you get bored. I think of the boredom as an opening for inspiration that just hasn’t hit me yet.

    I wonder if this sea lion deals with boredom. Likely not.

  10. Going south from Washington has meant that we have sunny days, but the sun sets early, a rhythm we have not quite got accustomed to. After 31 years in Washington State, our bodies do not understand how the sun comes up so late and goes down so early, and yet the days are sunny and warm. Isn’t it summer? Isn’t the sun still up at 9:00 pm? No?  Go ahead and buy those cockpit lights and make sure you have good lighting in your salon. We should have invested more in cockpit lighting.  You may not need them up north, but as you move south you will. And while you’re at it, get an anchor light that comes on automatically when the sun goes down; maybe some reflective tape for your mast. You’ll never need them up north, but you will down here. The nights are long all year round closer to the equator. That’s not a bad thing, but it’s worth noting. Along with this you can expect your biorhythm to change if you are accustomed to a more northern latitude. We go to bed so early it’s kind of eerie. I probably haven’t had this much sleep since I was 5 years old and forced to take naps. It goes something like this: “I’m so tired. Time for bed. What? It’s only 7:30? Damn! Now what? ”  I’m starting to think this is why some sailors drink a lot.

    A favorite view of the full moon taken from our view on the sea.

Taking these things and others into consideration, the fun/suck ration for us is definitely on the side of ‘fun’ so far.  We are happy doing what we are doing for now. We would never in our wildest dreams have encountered Elephant Seals on the beach, or a sea turtle swimming just beneath us, or any of a hundred other things we’ve experienced had we not been traveling by boat. We’re even glad to have had some of experiences of the ‘low’ times, because we’ve mastered those and know we can handle them now.  But with so many blogs and magazines making this lifestyle look like an unending vacation, you can count on Little Cunning Plan to give you the rest of the scoop. It’s not a vacation. When you go on a vacation, you leave a lot of the everyday concerns of your life behind for awhile. When you go cruising, you take them with you and have to deal with them in a completely different way, plus some. Being mentally prepared for some of the challenges this lifestyle brings with it will go a long way toward making your cruising life a success for you.

 

 

 

 

Paseo del Niño

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If there were ever a day that will live in infamy in our memories, it’s December 24 here in Cuenca, Ecuador: the day of the Paseo del Niño parade. It is said that Cuenca is host to the largest Paseo del Niño parade in all of Latin America. I don’t know if that’s the literal truth, but for a smallish city, they do it big. If ever photos did a better job than words, it’s now. These are some of the best, but I admit it was hard to choose.

An Amazon warrior carrying a tiny Amazon warrior Jesus.

Easily the most astounding vehicle in the parade. You cannot see it, but there is a little kid riding underneath the carriage, completely invisible in the photo.

A detail from the side of that carriage. I don’t know who the little girl was supposed to be, but ‘queen for the day’ seems accurate.

Tiny legs hanging off the back.

Paseo del Niño is a tradition of celebrating the Christ Child and giving thanks for all the good things of living here on earth. The tradition was brought to Ecuador over 500 years ago by the Spanish. In Cuenca, the star of the parade is a lovely polychrome statue of the Baby Jesus, waving his chubby arm in blessing. This statue, sculpted in 1823 here in Cuenca, came into the possession of one Monsignor Miguel Cordero Crespo of Cuenca about a century later. He traveled through the Holy Land and to Rome with the statue where it was blessed by Pope John XXIII in 1961.  Since then, this traveling Jesus has been featured in the parade.

This is the statue that stars in the parade. “Heavily Guarded” does not begin to describe the sheer number of armed guards that surrounded this statue.

Pretty sure she is dressed as the Angel of the Annunciation. Her carriage was just before the Jesus statue.

The celebration is a combination of the Catholic values and traditions and indigenous cultural traditions. There are people from all parts of Ecuador dressed in their traditional clothing and some doing traditional dances, but also carrying their own Baby Jesus with them. In fact that is one of the aspects of the parade that I found to be most, well, charming, actually. People of all ages: men, women, boys, girls, carried their own statue of the infant Jesus through the parade. These statues were done in the polychrome tradition, and some were dressed in finery made of velvet, sequins, and other sparkly things. This was not only a celebration of the child, but an unabashed celebration of parenthood.

This couple dressed as Mary and Joseph. There were a lot of these.

Cars in the parade were decked out with Jesus statues and flowers on the hood, and sometimes with babies. This mom got to the infant  angel before she started crying.

Horses dressed in decked out saddle blankets filled the streets, carrying children dressed up as characters from the Christmas story or simply dressed in sequined finery. There were a few Santas, which is a recent phenomenon here. The blankets are covered with all kinds of food and drink, and often there will be a basket attached to the back of the saddle carrying a roasted pig and roasted guinea pigs. (Culturally, that one was a bit hard. I used to have those as pets.)

Mike decides to just get his water bottle filled with chicha. This batch was not particularly alcoholic, we found. Kind of fruity, with a tiny kick.

Asleep on the saddle.

This boy danced and danced with his bull puppet.

Here are your roasted guinea pigs. No, we haven’t sampled them. There are some things I’m just not eating, and this is one of them.

We went early. We stayed late. We drank Chicha (a traditional fermented drink that is given out freely to the crowd). We witnessed the blessed statue of the Christ Child, heavily protected by the armed National Police, and received the blessing of the priest riding with the statue. We went home tired but with out hearts and minds filled with images and experiences we will never forget.

Yes, it’s a guinea pig.

This little one has had enough of all this nonsense of riding on a horse. She refused to stay on one minute longer.

Ingapirca! Ingapirca!

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I’ll tell you what: the sun in Ecuador is intense. We’re here in Cuenca at about 8,500 feet altitude, and the sun feels so close you could reach out and grab it. The temperature here is almost perfect. Today, on the winter solstice, the temperature here is about 70 degrees during the day, dropping into the 60’s at night; just cool enough to leave the windows open for easy sleeping under light covers.

The Sun Temple at Ingapirca. Altitude: 10,500 feet.  Mt. Baker is 10,700 feet. Mt Baker is covered with snow. This land is covered with sun and green plants and crops.

Anyhow, hats and sunscreen and my little sun umbrella are the way to go here. Lots of people carry umbrellas to shade themselves from the sun; both men and women. And they aren’t gringos, either. In fact, I’m the only gringo I’ve seen carrying a colorful umbrella to protect my delicate skin from the intense UV of a sun that feels close enough you could pluck it from the sky like citrus fruit. Don’t gringos love their skin? What’s wrong with them, anyhow?

Speaking of sun, the sun-worshipping Incas invaded this area in the mid 1400’s from Peru and left their mark on both the culture and the landscape. The latter was in the form of enormous cities with temples and priests and housing for virgins-in-waiting (waiting on the priests, that is). In this area, it was the moon-worshiping Cañari tribe who tried to hold back the Inca invasion. Mike and I both enjoy a good ruin and decided no visit to Ecuador would be complete without a visit to Ingapirca, the largest and most complete Cañari/Incan ruin in the country. We sorely wanted to visit. But first, we had to get there.

A Cañari group grave for a tribal leader, who may have been female. The story is that the leader’s court drank poison so they could be buried with her and go into the next life with her. The Incas nicely put this big stone to mark the grave as a ‘tribute’ to the local Cañaris whose land they were trying to take by force. Nice of them, huh? The stone is highlighted by the sun at the summer solstice.

We did our research and decided we would take a bus.  Because understanding the bus system here has eluded us somewhat, we did what we always do: throw caution to the winds of fate and just show up hopeful things will work out. We took a taxi (CHEAP!) to the big bus terminal and promptly became confused by all the activity, noise, and visual over stimulation. How many bus ticket windows are there and why? And where are the busses? Good lord. Finally Mike pulled up Google Translate (highly recommended) and asked someone official looking where we could catch the bus to Ingapirca. Nodding and gesturing the man pointed us in a general direction and we went thataway.

At this point we were chirping ‘Ingapirca? Ingapirca?’ to whoever stood in our way. A man who looked as though he knew something pointed at a turnstile, beyond which we could see busses. Ah Ha!! The turnstile cost a dime and spit out a ticket. Having learned not to question the fates too closely, I paid the dime for each of us and handed Mike his ticket. He stood confused. A dime? We have a ticket for a dime? He could not have been more astounded, not to mention suspicious.Surely you do not get a ticket to Ingapirca for a dime. Whatever.  I gestured him through the gate as we handed our tickets to a small child, apparently there for that purpose.

Once faced with a line of diesel-snorting busses we needed to find the correct one. Again the chirping, ‘Ingapirca? Ou et la autobus to Ingapirca?’ we said, multi-lingually. A man keyed on the one word we had actually spoken in Spanish: Ingapirca. He began shouting, ‘Ingapirca! Ingapirca!’ at the top of his lungs, waving his arms and gesturing wildly toward the curb as he ushered us to an empty bus slot. He pointed at the empty place and shrugged his shoulder, a look of chagrin on his face.  Apparently the direct bus to Ingapirca had just left, or something like that. He thought for a minute, muttering something that could have been a spell under his breath, consulted with another man, then suddenly we were off again with the shouts of ‘Ingapirca!’ echoing like a call to war as he hurried us along to a different bus and almost shoved us aboard. He seemed certain and more than a little relieved to rid himself of us,  so we decided what the hell. We’ll go with it. We found the last double seat available, at the back of the bus, and sat down. The bus pulled away from the curb. We had barely made it.

At the Sun Temple, Segundo demonstrates that on each of the equinoxes and solstices, the sun at sunrise highlights the eyes of one of three statues that lived in those niches: a snake (representing under the earth), a puma (representing the earth), and a Condor ( representing the sky). Pretty cool. The wall is partly destroyed so only two niches can be seen.

We had no idea how long this ride would take or whether there would be another bus to return that night. Who knows? We are riding the wave at this point. We don’t control the waves of life. We only ride them.

People on the bus in Ecuador are very polite. They sit quietly. If they talk, they talk quietly. They entertain their children. It’s almost pleasant to ride a bus with people so civilized. I compare, as gringos are want to do, to our busses at home which you have to practically pay me to ride. There will certainly be at least one loud cellphone conversation going on, and someone is bound to think I want to listen to their music. I don’t. I really don’t.

In Ecuador,  at each stop new food vendors get on. This is a new experience for us and is pretty interesting. One guy was selling some kind of packaged cookie. He passed these things out to the people on the bus, then stood at the front giving his spiel about these cookies and why a person would want one. Meanwhile, people have taken the cookies for a test drive by fingering them and getting the chocolate coating nice and soft inside the cellophane wrapper.  We didn’t understand a word he was saying but he spoke movingly about these cookies. After his patter, he went through and collected either the money for the treat, or his merchandise. Then he hopped off at the next stop, and another vendor got on.

This guy was selling candied peanuts and he knew just how to sell. He made one pass and sold a few, then he came by and gave out free samples. Costco ladies have nothing on this candied peanut man.  He stood by our seat and held the package out over our hands, emptied a few peanuts in each palm, then gestured to us to eat them. Well, yeah, candied peanuts are pretty good. He sold us a couple of packages of them. At the end of that bus ride, we could have had an entire meal just from vendors making the most of a captive audience. The free market is alive and well in Ecuador.

View from the top of the Sun Temple. Note that’s the edge of a pretty high wall at the bottom of the photo. They have not “ruined” the ruin by installing a railing to keep people from falling. In Ecuador, people learn to take care of themselves. Sometimes it’s appalling how little attention to safety there is. But mostly it’s very freeing. I loved it that they did’t put modern safety structures on this place.

Soon the mystery of ten cent ticket was solved. A bus employee came down the aisle collecting tickets or money. We paid $3.50 each to ride that bus.

By the time we had been on the bus for almost two hours we began to think maybe this bus would go all the way to Ingapirca. But it didn’t. We stopped in El Tambo and everyone but us got off the bus. We had pulled up next to another bus at a stop in town and people were milling around. Mike and I were beginning to get nervous when the bus driver came back aboard and yelled, ‘Ingapirca!’ back at us, gesturing to us to follow him. We scrambled to follow and he pulled us around to this other bus and shoved us on with more  ‘Ingapirca’s for good measure. This man would make sure we got to Ingapirca.

This was a city bus and was filled with school children in their uniforms, going home for the day or maybe for lunch as it was a little past noon. They all lived between El Tambo and the town of Ingapirca. There was standing room only and we were standing at the front. This is where living on a sailboat comes in handy as we are both kind of used to hanging on for dear life as a vehicle rocks and rolls and jerks us around. Who needs a gym?

So here’s another gringo impression comparing school busses. This was a bus literally filled to bursting with kids of all ages up to about 12. They were laughing and talking and being kids, but not being disruptive or rowdy or even particularly loud.  If they had a seat, they were seated in it. If they were holding on, they held on. They were, to a child, eating something sweet; either candy or ice cream on a stick or a baked good.  And all of them used the trash receptacles provided at the end of each seat. When the bus approached their home, they shouted, ‘Gracias!’ and the driver would quickly stop, they would get off, and as soon as little feet were on the ground, the driver was off again. None of this stopping of traffic in both directions so kids can cross the street kind of thing you have in the U.S. These kids just know that busses are dangerous and they stay out of the way. Even the little ones. I’m not saying it’s a better system, although I’m not sure it’s a worse one either. I just see that people are really in charge of their own safety much more in this country than in mine and that starts at an early age.

One of the tour guides in her native Cañari dress, sitting in the Sun Temple. Note the incredible fitted stones. No mortar. Perfectly cut. The green patina is said to be caused by copper in the tools used but that is only a theory.

Anyhow we were dropped off at a little place in the road that turned out to be Ingapirca. Thank goodness the ruins are easily seen from the road. Otherwise we might still be walking along some highway in Ecuador looking for ancient cities.

The ancient city of Ingapirca spread out before us, we went to buy our ticket. Now here is a classic example of traveling in both Mexico and here. There are different ticket prices based on whether you are a gringo or not. Locals pay 2$ to get into the ruins and have a guided tour, which you are required to have because they do not let you just run amok in these ruins. Ingapirca is a national treasure and it is protected by armed guard, who, by the way, are really friendly. Tourists pay 4$ to get in, still a terrific deal. We were charged 2$, the local price. Why? I have no idea. Maybe the lady just liked the cut of our jib that day. Or maybe it’s because we at least tried to speak Spanish to her when we bought the ticket. Maybe that little smile on her face was a smile of pity, or maybe she was feeling generous. We’ll never know. But we paid the 2$ each and waited about 15 minutes for our English speaking guide to show up. He was worth the wait.

Segundo with the other guide.

Segundo, our guide, was passionate about his Cañari/Spanish roots. He is not a fan of the Incas and how they came and took over. (We did not get very far asking him why it was OK for the Spanish to come and take everything, but not the Incas and he only looked confused. Oh well, some things just don’t make sense. ) He brought this place to life for us. Segundo’s English was pretty good and he was proud of that. He had grown up in the shadow of the ruins and had felt an affinity for them since childhood. He told us he gave his first tour of the ruins at age 10. His father and mother, with their Cañari roots, still use the phases of the moon to guide them in planting and other activities, although they are all Catholic.

According to Segundo, the Cañaris were fierce warriors who resisted the take-over of their country. When the Incas could not take the land by force, they decided to try to get along with the Cañaris and try to take over using political maneuvering, marriages, and making concessions to the moon-worship customs of the Cañaris. Even now, he said, you will find no one in the area who will admit to Incan descent. You must go to the Quito area to find people who will admit this. Segundo’s disgust regarding the Inca’s was palpable.

The tour took about an hour and was excellent. It was well worth the effort to get there, and we got very lucky that we were in time to catch the 3:40 direct bus back to Cuenca, no shouting or shoving us aboard required. It picked us up right outside the gate to the ruins. If you go, ask for Segundo. You won’t be disappointed.

The native Cañari woman’s hat. The bowl represents the earth, the button in the middle is the sun. The three lines of thread are the equinox and two solstices. Segundo wasn’t sure about the tassels. He said some people say they have to do with whether a woman is married or single.