[attachment 198533 IMG_4793.JPG]
The Ecuadorian Central Bank is located on top of the ruins of the old Inca Capital of Qurikancha, so it doubles as a Museum as well as a Central Bank. The Currency Exhibit is amazing with all manner of gold and silver coinage going back to the 1500's. The Inca and Indigenous Culture Exhibits are also very well done but there is one problem with this museum - NO PICTURES ALLOWED!!
The Princess and I had to check our backpacks at the ticket office but I refused to give up my camera as it is expensive and I suggested they didn't want to be liable for anything happening to it - the youngsters behind the glass screen thought about it and decided to let me hang onto the camera so long as I gave up the back pack but reiterated the rule of NO PICTURES ALLOWED!
No worries, I headed down to the basement to the Currency Exhibit and it Really is Impressive but it is also guarded by several large guys in uniform packing loaded 12 guage shotguns, sorry folks but there was no way I was going to start surreptitiously snapping pics with armed guards shadowing me. (which they did by the way, like I look suspicious? come on?)
Susan and I worked our way to the top of the museum and we entered the indigenous section where they kept the shrunken heads, only to run into another guard but this one only had a baton, no shotgun; so I thought what the heck, I'll give it a try. I started hacking and coughing and sneezing as the guard made his pass through the exhibit and when he got real close I said "Disculpa" (I Aplogize in spanish) in the snottiest voice I could muster. Nobody wants to catch a cold, (even a fictious one) so the guard backed off and left the exhibit. This gave me enough time to snap 3 pics (unfortunately without flash) of one of the shrunken heads, lighting was really poor but this is the best of the 3 pics.
[attachment 198534 IMG_4742.JPG]
Back down to the main floor and a trip through the Adventurers Exhibit with some really neat pics of some of the guys that went into the jungles of Ecuador in search of adventure after WWII when this was Terra Incognita, but mainly they went looking for GOLD! There's a neat pic of some of the locals working the adventurer's sluice box back in 1940,(this is from the same area that the shrunken heads came from, makes you wonder who donated the heads) - once again not perfect because of the NO PICTURES ALLOWED rule, which I think is so stupid.
[attachment 198535 IMG_4748.JPG]
Covert pictures taken, we headed out to the ruins behind the Banco Central where pictures are allowed but to be honest there isn't much left because the Incas took everything of value with them before the Spanish arrived and what little they left behind the Spanish used as a base to build the new city of Cuenca on top of.
[attachment 198538 IMG_4801.JPG]
Location, location, location was still the first rule of real estate even back in the 1500's - the Incas picked the best site and the Spanish recognizing the strategic value built on top of the Incan city. Legend has it that the gold that filled the Inca Palace and Temple was stripped from the city of Qurikancha and dumped in the sacred lakes north of the capital in an effort to discourage the Spanish before they arrived on their conquest. It was hoped that when the Spanish arrived and realized the gold was gone they would go home, instead the Spanish enslaved the local population to mine more gold to replace the lost gold. Good plan that just didn't work out but I did meet a guy in Guayaquil that is diving in those high mountain lakes trying to find the lost Inca Gold.
Anyway the gardens are beautiful and are in the midst of being restored to their former glory of 500 years ago, when the Inca ruler had the area below the palace turned into a park, complete with ponds and shade trees. A nice spot indeed and still prime real estate, even comes with solid stone benches made from the local boulders - guaranteed to last a few centuries.
[attachment 198536 IMG_4785.JPG][attachment 198537 IMG_4799.JPG]
Cheers,
BDA
The Ecuadorian Central Bank is located on top of the ruins of the old Inca Capital of Qurikancha, so it doubles as a Museum as well as a Central Bank. The Currency Exhibit is amazing with all manner of gold and silver coinage going back to the 1500's. The Inca and Indigenous Culture Exhibits are also very well done but there is one problem with this museum - NO PICTURES ALLOWED!!
The Princess and I had to check our backpacks at the ticket office but I refused to give up my camera as it is expensive and I suggested they didn't want to be liable for anything happening to it - the youngsters behind the glass screen thought about it and decided to let me hang onto the camera so long as I gave up the back pack but reiterated the rule of NO PICTURES ALLOWED!
No worries, I headed down to the basement to the Currency Exhibit and it Really is Impressive but it is also guarded by several large guys in uniform packing loaded 12 guage shotguns, sorry folks but there was no way I was going to start surreptitiously snapping pics with armed guards shadowing me. (which they did by the way, like I look suspicious? come on?)
Susan and I worked our way to the top of the museum and we entered the indigenous section where they kept the shrunken heads, only to run into another guard but this one only had a baton, no shotgun; so I thought what the heck, I'll give it a try. I started hacking and coughing and sneezing as the guard made his pass through the exhibit and when he got real close I said "Disculpa" (I Aplogize in spanish) in the snottiest voice I could muster. Nobody wants to catch a cold, (even a fictious one) so the guard backed off and left the exhibit. This gave me enough time to snap 3 pics (unfortunately without flash) of one of the shrunken heads, lighting was really poor but this is the best of the 3 pics.
[attachment 198534 IMG_4742.JPG]
Back down to the main floor and a trip through the Adventurers Exhibit with some really neat pics of some of the guys that went into the jungles of Ecuador in search of adventure after WWII when this was Terra Incognita, but mainly they went looking for GOLD! There's a neat pic of some of the locals working the adventurer's sluice box back in 1940,(this is from the same area that the shrunken heads came from, makes you wonder who donated the heads) - once again not perfect because of the NO PICTURES ALLOWED rule, which I think is so stupid.
[attachment 198535 IMG_4748.JPG]
Covert pictures taken, we headed out to the ruins behind the Banco Central where pictures are allowed but to be honest there isn't much left because the Incas took everything of value with them before the Spanish arrived and what little they left behind the Spanish used as a base to build the new city of Cuenca on top of.
[attachment 198538 IMG_4801.JPG]
Location, location, location was still the first rule of real estate even back in the 1500's - the Incas picked the best site and the Spanish recognizing the strategic value built on top of the Incan city. Legend has it that the gold that filled the Inca Palace and Temple was stripped from the city of Qurikancha and dumped in the sacred lakes north of the capital in an effort to discourage the Spanish before they arrived on their conquest. It was hoped that when the Spanish arrived and realized the gold was gone they would go home, instead the Spanish enslaved the local population to mine more gold to replace the lost gold. Good plan that just didn't work out but I did meet a guy in Guayaquil that is diving in those high mountain lakes trying to find the lost Inca Gold.
Anyway the gardens are beautiful and are in the midst of being restored to their former glory of 500 years ago, when the Inca ruler had the area below the palace turned into a park, complete with ponds and shade trees. A nice spot indeed and still prime real estate, even comes with solid stone benches made from the local boulders - guaranteed to last a few centuries.
[attachment 198536 IMG_4785.JPG][attachment 198537 IMG_4799.JPG]
Cheers,
BDA
