Travelling south down the spiky, mountainous spine of Ecuador, a slow change takes place. After the climax of Chimborazo, the peaks become lower and the mountain ranges flatten and spread. You feel as though you are leaving Quito, far, far away and the pace of life becomes increasingly tranquilo. Until the early sixties there were no paved roads linking Cuenca, the third-largest city in Ecuador and the central hub of the region, to Quito and the coast. Many communities are still isolated for lack of proper roads, creating a sense that some of the beautiful hills and valleys are in a deep sleep. Vilcabamba, known as the Valley of Eternal Youth because of the longevity of its inhabitants, was cut off from the rest of the country until only a few years ago. Now this beautiful valley is slowly becoming a destination of choice for cognoscenti travellers. More so, than in the rest of the country, there is a strong sense here of the Inca past. At Ingapirca, once a major stronghold and now the most important Inca ruin in Ecuador, the spirit of the Incas still hangs in the air.

The Pan-American Highway going south from Cuenca passes through spectacular scenery as it climbs to the Tinajilla Pass at 3,527 m [11,755 ft], and through the paramo of Ganadel. There are no trees, nor houses — just scrub, grassland and barren, desolate, empty mountains. With virtually no other vehicles on this bumpy, potholed highway the driver swings the bus around bends at hair-raising speeds, with cliffs to one side and steep precipices to the other. At one point, I looked down on a valley filled with a white lake of clouds.

After three hours we stop in the pretty main square of the small town of Saraguro. An attractive, smartly dressed young woman wearing a black bowler hat, snow-white blouse, wide black skirt and black woollen shawl closed with a large silver pin, holding a small child, climbs down from the bus. She is one of the Saraguro indians, said to be descended from the Inca tribes who settled in this area. Many of them are quite wealthy and well educated.

The shawl pin, or tupu, is a characteristic Saraguro accessory, as are filigree earrings, both of which are family treasures passed down from generation to generation. This traditional jewellery can be bought in some of the small shops in town. The Inca ruins in the area are overgrown and hard to find.

|Article contributed by Dominic Hamilton|||

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