So a few weeks ago I was out for a Sunday ride on the motorcycle and I happened to see a sign for Pambamarca Archeological Area. When I mentioned it to Daniela she said it was the the ruins that I had wanted to find when we did a road trip to La Quinche months ago. A professor from her university was involved in helping the local community clean up the ruins.
In this area there are many paracas (fortress) on top of the hills stretching for miles along the Qhapaq Nan road (Inca road).
She sent me a link to the website with many pictures one of which showed a small staircase. Last month we headed there to check out the area. We hiked up and visited to 3 or 4 sites but no staircase. I even went back and explored the one we did not hike up to and spent an hour looking for stairs but no luck.
On the way to harvest papas (potatoes) we drove past Quito Loma. This is where the stairs are and we were about 5 miles off from finding them first time. So last weekend we headed off to check it out.
There is a small what they called a museum but it is more like a visitors center. It cost two dollars to hike and visit the museum. There is a small area to camp for three dollars a night also.
So up we went and nearing the top I walked around the corner and there was Daniela on the staircase she had been looking for. Very cool place to check out if you get time and in the area. I really enjoyed it and I may go back to spend the night camping just for fun.
Afterwards we did a little 22 Kilometer bike cycle ride on the road heading to the hot springs. We were riding at somewhere around 12,000 to 13,000 feet. I am getting better at handling the altitude but still need some more training. We turned back at the top before it dropped down into the valley and the hot springs (my idea). We were back at the car in no time. I didn’t realize the two hours was mostly a slow up hill grind so we flew downhill. I really like this area of Ecuador.
