#cañari

[cccovers]

Cañari Vol. 1 (2005) cover by Carlos Meglia.

[aglassofjerez]

«Nos tejíamos en la liminalidad»

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Una reinterpretación de «El Beso» de Gustav Klimt.

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Una noche, buscando conectar con mis ancestros, apagué todas las luces y entregándome a la oscuridad esperaba que por el favor de los espíritus se me diera alguna señal.

Entonces mi cuerpo vibró, como si estuviera a punto de levitar y de repente empecé a visualizar un escenario desconocido.

Era una vida antigua, en donde yo encarnaba otro cuerpo, un cuerpo al que resguardaba del gélido clima cubriéndome con los ponchos ásperos de un hombre taciturno que me rodeaba tiernamente con sus brazos. Ambos echados sobre lo que parecía ser un montón de paja, mirábamos el cielo nocturno a través de una abertura en la techumbre. Era un escenario maravilloso, la luna resplandeciente entre estrellas dispersas a la perfección que conformaban la vía láctea.

Pero todo se sentía extraño, porque aún cuando aquel espectáculo estelar nos inundaría de calma, parecía como si algo malo iba a pasar; al levantarnos salimos de nuestro refugio, y no había algo más impactante que pudiera describir como lo que sucedía en el horizonte montañoso, un inmenso remolino de luz iba a cubrir todo el cielo, tragándose a las estrellas del firmamento. El corazón me palpitaba con fuerza, era maravilloso; pero a su vez el horror se apoderaba de mí.

Volví la mirada hacia mi compañero, y bajo la tenue luz del cielo comprendí por su semblante que él ya entendía lo que eso significaba. Entonces se acercó a mí y me estrechó contra su pecho, directo a su corazón que palpitaba rápido y con fuerza. Me soltó llorando.

Entendí que debía partir de aquel lugar inmediatamente cuando me entregó las riendas de un animal de carga que sería mi único compañero de viaje. Pude sentir el inminente peligro.

Mientras me alejaba, miraba atrás y parecía que la nostalgia iba a terminar por desmoronarme; y con un ademán de tristeza alcé mi mano para despedirme de aquel hombre que, al igual que yo, estaba convencido de que esa no sería la última vez que estaríamos juntos. Nos encontraríamos en otro tiempo, en otra vida.

- Jerez

[cccovers]

Cañari Vol. 2 (2007) cover by Carlos Meglia.

[tatyshadowhunter]

#Traveler #allyouneedisecuador #Cañar #Cañari ♥♥♥ (en Ingapirca)

[japantz]

Un Jardín Propio

“Un Jardín Propio” is a multimedia, interactive web page project made by Ecuadorian investigator María Rafaela Palacios Correa and Mexican artist Casandra Sabag Hillen. The web page showcases the cosmovision of indigenous people of the Cañar province in the southern Andes of Ecuador. The page mostly focuses on the ancestral knowledge of its indigenous population about botanical medicine, which is still being used. The web page also has many recipes for all your natural botanical medicine needs. The page is currently only in Spanish but for those that want some background into the history of the Cañar people I wrote the following introduction into their history:

The Cañar province was the home to Ecuador's (probably) most advanced civilization, the Cañari. The Cañari according to legend are descendants of a serpent and evidence suggest that before the Incas conquered them they may have had calendar and writing systems. They also had their own language, origin myths, funeral traditions, and clothing code. When the Incas started their invasions of what is now Ecuadorian territory, the Cañari were very successful in pushing them back, but eventually they surrendered and offered their vassalage to the Incas. It also believed that during this time Túpac Yupanqui, the Inca ruler during the invasion of Ecuador territory, had his heir son Huayna Capac born in the Cañari city of Tumipamba (modern day Cuenca). The Incas made many architectural projects in Cañari lands and initially planned the most important city of the north of the empire be situated here, before they conquered the Kitu-Caras and its confederation of other indigenous cultures, that tried to resist them in Quito, the capital city of Ecuador. That's why today the Cañar province contains the most important architectural sites of Inca and Pre-Inca times in Ecuador because all the places in Quito were burned by Ruminahui,the last shiry (equivalent to king) of the Kitu-Cara kingdom, and what survived was later demolished to use as materials to build Spanish buildings. Today it is also believed that the unique accent the population in Cañar and Azuay provinces have comes from their Cañari heritage which is now an extinct language.

Photo of Ingapirca sun temple in the province of Cañar

Link to Un Jardín Propio

[noturaverageamerican]

Museo del Pumapungo, Cuenca

Museo del Pumapungo, Cuenca

A short walk from the neighborhood of Las Herrerías is an outdoor archeology museum with the preserved ruins of an ancient culture, the Cañari. The entire complex is called Pumapungo, a Quichua word which translates to puma (a mountain lion of the Americas) and pungowhich means door. The remains of the ancient culture sit atop a hill that overlooks the surrounding mountains, rivers and valley of…

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[noturaverageamerican]

One of the things I love about taking road trips are the surprises we find along the way. As we were driving from Ingapirca to our next stop on the road, Cuenca, we noted an official sign along the side of the higway, small and brown with white writing that tells you without even reading that a cultural place of interest is nearby. This one advertised an archeological site a few kilometers up the road near the town of Cojitambo. We decided to take a look.

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And we ‘discovered’ a location that, for us, was more intriguing than the temple at Ingapirca. We did not find a huge temple or a palace but nor did we share the grounds with any other tourists. In fact, the only other people around were a few local couples enjoying the sunny afternoon and a man we assume was a caretaker of the site as he was cutting grass by hand. His job would be a full time one because by the time he would clear one section, the others would be ready for attention.

A few years back, archeologists visited this site and prepared it for visitors. Signs explain that the remaining walls, petrogylphs, and tons of ancient ceramics support the theory that several cultures lived in this location. People who lived simply occupied this area from 500BC to 500AD and a more advanced civilization occupied the area from 500AD until the arrival of the Inca in approximately 1450AD. At that point, the Inca added to the existing structures and remained in place until the Spanish Conquest in 1532.

The name alone tells us something about the site. According to the Ministry of Tourism in Ecuador, the entire name comes from the Quechua Curi Tambo, which meant Resting Place of Gold. The word curi refers to gold but nothing at the site mentions finds of gold, only of ceramics. The word tambo refers to a resting place or a stop on the road. The Inca generally built tambos a day’s travel from one another, about 30 kilometers apart for a fast runner or chasqui.

The only remaining building at Cojitambo is a small one and is lacking a roof and lintel over the doorway. It is interesting for the multiple niches built into its walls, a very typical Incan detail. However, it was built using mortar and few of the stones are shaped as would be found in a ceremonial building of the Incan Imperial Style. This tells us that Cojitambo was more important as a military stronghold or just as a stopping point along the trail connecting Quito to Cuenca and eventually to Cuzco, the capitol of the Incan Empire.

An area built up like a stage with accompanying space for an audience has retaining walls that are constructed without mortar but with unshaped stone. And just in the center of where you would expect the audience to sit are the remains of an ancient well.

We had a wonderful time wandering up and down the hillside, stepping into the ancient building, reading modern graffiti while contemplating the history of this place, and searching for the petroglyphs that are said to be carved into the hillside but which we were not lucky enough to find. Have to save something for a return visit, right?

For those without a vehicle, this location can still be visited with a little planning. It is only 12 kilometers outside of Azogues, a major city and possible tourist destination, and 30 kilometers outside of Cuenca, a major tourist destination and the retirement spot for thousands of Americans. Many local tourist companies in both locations would be willing to arrange a trip.

Cojitambo – The Ruins One of the things I love about taking road trips are the surprises we find along the way.

[noturaverageamerican]

After touring the Cañari-Incan ruins at Ingapirca, you’ll come upon a small trail sign inviting you to discover a few other wonders that can be tied to the Cañari and Incan cultures. In fact, walking the trail is absolutely free and if you decided not to visit the Ingapirca complex, the hike alone provides stunning views of the Incan Temple and the retaining walls that surround it. My best photos of the site were taken from the high point of the trail.

In a single hour, you can expect to see some ancient baths thought to be used for ceremonies at the top of a hill overlooking Ingapirca, a stone partially carved by the Cañari so that it looks like a turtle, a piece of carved stone that has fallen into a farm field but originally belonged to the baths high above, a natural formation that the local Cañari worshiped because of its similarity to the sun, and a face carved into a mountainside. And those are just the ancient sites. You can also enjoy walking past fields of freshly sown corn, chat with local farmers about fresh milk, and wonder at the men and women working fields so steep it seems nearly impossible that they could stand upright. You might spot tanagers flying in the Eucalyptus grove or llamas grazing near the trail. And if you’re lucky, a local farm woman might wave in thanks as you step off the trail to allow her to keep running by so that she isn’t late to help her husband water the cattle.

Ingapirca – The Trail After touring the Cañari-Incan ruins at Ingapirca, you'll come upon a small trail sign inviting you to discover a few other wonders that can be tied to the Cañari and Incan cultures.