Souvenir Photo Studio, by Al Bourassa: Sunday July 3, 2016 Ingapirca

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Sunday July 3, 2016

The Herederos del Pasdado de Cuenca called for a ride to the Ingapirca ruins this morning so I was getting ready and Cristina decided to come along. It was a blustery cool morning but we saw a patch of blue and figured the day should improve.

For info on Ingapirca, please see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ingapirca.

We met the group at the Primax station in Calluabamba and, at first, I thought there were only 6 guys on the trip plus Cristina, but then Pierino's wife Isa pulled up in a car with their young son. When offered a choice to ride in the warm car Cristina jumped at the opportunity.

We encountered some drizzle on the way and it was really windy and cold. Even with biking gloves, my fingers were beginning to lose feeling.

On a small stop on the way, on a slight decline, I put Toxic on the kickstand and moved away only to hear a crash as the darn thing rolled off the kickstand and fell on its left side, breaking the hand guard. Later, I didn't realize until I was trying to brake a little, going around a tight downhill curve, that the rear brake lever was broken and I almost lost control... Having the throttle on the right side along with your only effective brake, the front brake, is certainly not ideal, but doable. I was just thankful that we did not encounter and rain and wet pavement for the balance of the day.
As we pulled up to the town of Ingapirca after a couple of hours riding, there was blue sky and sunshine, but the wind was strong and brisk.

I asked if any of the group was going to go on the guided tour and two of the guys indicated "nah"... So Cristina and I walked along the road to take in the views and then I remembered that the road led to the "Inca Face" in the rocks below, so we continued walking. My memory was faulty because we walked right past it and quite a ways down before realizing it. Anyway, I am quite happy with the day's shots.

We came back and hung around to see where the rest of the group was, and yes, they had gone on a guided tour.... Everybody had lunch and then we prepared to return to Cuenca.

My thrills for the day weren't over though.. As we were running low on fuel, but certainly not empty, Toxic began to power out and die. I was suspecting maybe bad gas, dirt in the fuel line, etc, but Pierino indicated it was maybe a float problem with the low level of fuel. After about 8 such episodes we finally made it to a gas station and that problem went away. I was beginning to feel jinxed..

The weather returned to cloud, but not rain, for the stretch before Azogues and we made it home easily and safely.

Our 4 dogs were certainly happy to see us return.

I am curious if anyone is still getting this Blog via the subscription email, as it seems to be a universal Google problem that they have yet to solve.

I hope you enjoy the photos. I will just number the pics without individual captions. That was the day's excitement, Cheers, Al

NOTE that you may click on any photo for an ENLARGED VIEW.