Ice Cream and Incas

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Spent part of thr morning walking around, checking out the town.
Stopped in at the bus station to check times as Lucy, the woman we are with, needed to be back in Guayquil in a few days to go back to the Netherlands. Then more gelato (white chocolate hazelnut) and we went to the main museum. The museum itself was alright, with some ancient history as well as a coin collection and ethnografic info on the major ethnic/ tribal groups of Ecuador. But was was really impressive was the Incan ruins behind the museum, right in the heart of the city! The ruins had been abandoned before the Spanish came, and there were no large buildings left, but some very impressively constructed low walls, drainage canals, dramatic agricultural terraces and a fenced off burial tunnel. Also present was a great mini agricultural garden demonstrating traditional Incan crops like corn, potatoes, amaranth, and quinoa. Walking through the small purple corn field, backdropped by the ancient terraces, the sun bright on the red flowers of the amaranth... Sure didn't feel like I was smack dab in downtown of of third largest city in Ecuador. A very late lunch and a bit of a rest, and we managed to end up relaxing for most of the rest of the day. Fine by me. Ended up having a long discussion about ADHD of all things... I have it, Lucy does as well, and she is a social worker who deals with children with developmental issues/differences. Interesting to talk to someone who knows about it, and Kevin was curious. Funny how travel works. You end up bonding over thr weirdest things, like ADHD and a fondness of stroopwaffels (syrupy, waffle-like Dutch cookie, so very delicious). The random moments make it fun.

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