A Quicha community lives in the vicinity of the Peguche waterfall. It is a beautiful area and also an Inca ritual site, where people the night before the eve of Inti Raymi or Winter Solstice, bathe in the falls for purification. During the Inca Empire, the Inti Raymi, or Festival of the Sun, was a religious ceremony to honour Inti, the most venerated Inca god.
The name in Quicha on the left of the sign.
Legend says that inside the falls is a cauldron of gold guarded by two black dogs. On one side of the cauldron sits the devil with a plate of sand. Gradually the sand is cast away and finally repaced with gold and the taking of the soul. It's an odd story. But gold is painted on some rocks and there are invitations to enter a cave. We passed. Would like to keep our souls for a while.
Two hundred years ago a fellow brought the Eucalyptus tree to Ecuador. The tree has spread and has become an invasive species that takes enormous amounts of water from the land, destroying indigenous plants and trees in the process.
See you tomorrow in Quito.
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