The
fortress on top of Quitoloma
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July 15, 2002
Conquer the Pucarae
I couldn’t get in a good night of sleep.
Tim, a guy in the group who looked like Ernest Hemingway, kept walking
through our hall to go to the bathroom. Each footstep of his was
accompanied by the imminent groan of the floor. He must have walked
that floor five times last night. Along with the creaky floor, the
howling wind, the barking dogs, the and perky roosters at night, the honking
buses in the morning attributed to my sleep deprivation. I was either
awoke by the noise or the unbearable smell of this place. The mixture
of kerosene, motor oil, wood stain scents invaded my nostril. I
tried to evade it with a blanket but this move left me suffocated after
couple seconds.
Around 6:00am, people began to roll out of bed. One
by one we marched down the stair for a morning wash and breakfast. After
breakfast, we loaded into a bus and headed for Quitoloma. This
pucarae (fortress) is a major Incas stronghold in their
quest of Quito. Shaped like a layered cake atop the hill, this fortress
has several surrounding walls made of cut stones. In a 16th century
chronicle, it was told that the layout of a fortress in this region was
designed by Inca King Atahualpa and his cousin Cuxi Yupanque.
Could it be the same site? Suspicions from the project led them
to think that perhaps it was built before the Incas came. And the Incas
claimed it as they built ontop.
For certain, it was the project’s targeted area.
In the morning, the bus frolicked up to the foot of the hill on the cobblestone
road. From there we made our trek on foot up the hill. The
zigzag trail, tattooed on the side of the hill, was our path to the fortress.
But after the first two legs, I was left breathless. It felt like
someone was choking me. My heart beat in an alarming rate and sucking
for air seemed to be the sport.
The view was breathtaking however. From above, little
tiny houses, dotted among the defined plots of land, integrated well into
the rolling plain of the paramo (highland). The drifting clumps
of clouds floated against the deep blue sky, painted a perfect picture.
Miles of rolling highland and the sierra could be seen by our own naked
eyes. This place yielded one of the most magnificent view I’d ever
seen. However, there was a price for all this. The wind was
unforgiving and the sun was merciless. Since we were almost on the
Equator, our proximity to the sun couldn’t get any closer, but the wind
tried its damnest to knock us off.
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