Francom's in Ecuador: August 2016

Santuary of the Virgin of the Morning Dew

This sanctuary is found in the small town of Biblian. It is famous because the only church in South America built into rock.

It was a pretty steep climb without a lot of oxygen in the air.

Town of Biblian!

Burial crypts but because you are closer to heaven at this high elevation costs are pretty steep. We were told $20,000!!

Beautiful old Church built with slave labor.

Here you can see the rock that the church was built around.

I call it a rhino beetle. Sometimes they get pretty big.

Azogues Market

Vendors in traditional dress.

Cheese vendor!

Chocolate vendor

We arrived at lunch time and everyone was buying something to eat.

Produce looked great.

The sales ladies kept busy shelling peas.

Anyone care for cuy? Cuy is an onomatapia or the sound Guinea pigs make. It is a delicacy here in Ecuador along with grubs and snails. I don't think I'll try any!

Here are the women shelling peas! They seem to keep busy.

Chickens for sale in the bags!

Rooster cost $25

Bunnies and guinea pigs for sale in their Easter baskets!

Baby ducks!

Cute puppies for sale.

Yummy pineapple!

Fresh chickens I hope!

How about some hoofs for dinner?

Different grains for sale. Lady was grinding them up.

Open meat market.

Baby chicks 3 for $1.

The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception (Spanish: Catedral de la Inmaculada Concepción), commonly referred to as the New Cathedral of Cuenca (Spanish: Nueva Catedral de Cuenca), is the cathedral church in Cuenca, Ecuador. It is situated in front of Parque Calderon.
The plan of the Cathedral was drawn up by Juan Bautista Stiehle (1829-1899) — a German-born friar who arrived in Cuenca from Alsace in 1873 — on suggestions made by Bishop León Garrido. The Cathedral took over the function of the nearby Old Cathedral that had become too small. Construction works started in 1885 and lasted for almost a century. This building combines many architecture styles, but Romanesque Revival is predominant. The cathedral is surmounted by three giant domes covered by striking blue and white glazed tile from Czechoslovakia.^[1] Its stained glass windows were created by Spanish artist Guillermo Larrazábal.^[2]
Its towers are truncated due to a calculation error of the architect. If they had been raised to their planned height, the foundation of this Church to the Immaculate Conception, would not have been able to bear the weight. In spite of the architect's immense mistake, the skyline of its domes has become a symbol for the city. Its facade is made of alabaster and local marble, while the floor is covered with pink marble, brought from Carrara (Italy). When the Cathedral was first constructed 9,000 out of Cuenca's 10,000 inhabitants could fit in the building.

Cuenca flower market!

Beautiful old building in the city of Cuenca.

Mom wants me to explain that this is Dad's street!

Cajas National Park

Here we are entering the lowest part of the park at almost 10,000 ft.

Our guide with the Jones', our wheelchair specialists.

Very beautiful lagoon with hiiiigh mountains.

Our guide would use the internet on his cell phone to mimic different bird calls to see if the birds would respond.

Lots of moss, lichens and bromelids!

Llamas have recently been reintroduced into the park.

Our last picture!! Mom dropped the camera.

Ruins of Ingapirca

All along the side of the road merchants were preparing to sell their cooked pigs!

Beans, rice and corn were prepared along with a serving of pork.

The corn is pretty bland. It's a hard dry corn that is boiled. Ecuadorians call it choclo.

First the outside is toasted!! The chitlins are the best part.

Nothing is wasted! Everything cooked and sold on the side of the road. On the weekends vendors average about 2 pigs a day.

We finally arrived at the Ingapirca ruins. This is an ancient city of the Canari Indians. They worshipped the moon and were a matriarchal society. Eventually the Incas, under Atahualpa conquered them. The Incas were sun worshippers with headquarters in Cuzco and Quito.