Ingapirca ruins, including the Temple of the Sun in the center.

Incan lawn mowers

Part of the original Inca Road that went from Argentina to southern Colombia. It’s in better shape than a lot of the highways I’ve ridden.

The stonework is pretty incredible. These stones were all cut and shaped by hand to fit perfectly together. The tolerances are amazing.

Here’s one of the blocks with the notches for the Incan forklift…

Looking off the backside down into the valley. Beautiful.

Traditional dress. Well, okay, maybe not the sneakers. But the hat is cool. And traditional.

I met Nick at Ingapirca. Nick started in 2012 in Alaska on his bicycle. He took about 6 months off, but he’s back and headed for Ushuaia at the southern tip of South America. And he prefers off-road. The security guard was a really nice guy that watched my bike while I wandered around the ruins. We talked for a while (in Spanish of course). He thought I was “brave” for riding alone, and he thought Nick was just “crazy”.

Looking down from the second floor museum and offices. They had a lot of nice 70s and 80s vintage machines up here.

I had one of these before I left on my trip. I hope I still have it when I return. (First year YZ125)

My same motorcycle. Except that due to import tariffs and other taxes, it’s $8,900 here in Ecuador instead of $5,200 in the U.S. They had a Super Tenere on the floor also…$28,000 here. Also, note the 2015 DT175 two stroke in the background. Amazingly similar to the 1981 model.

Why aren’t U.S. dealerships this nice?