Today we did some more exploring of the Inca road, this time to the north of Sicalpa up to the town of Mocha. It was pretty impressive. The road itself (by that I mean the original cobbles placed by the Inca) is basically gone, but the straight line (and it's really straight for most of it) trajectory of it stil exists as a later, wider cobble road built in the mid 1800s (I think). we found some interesting places where there may have been Inca way stations and a spot where there could have ben a watch station by a bridge. It was interesting to talk to the local people (well, Ross, José-Luis and their friends Efrain, Eduardo, and Edgar did all the talking and Ross translated for Jim and me). They knew, without hesitation or doubt, exactly where the old Inca road was and how long it had ben there. It was basically a gigantic game of connect the dots for us and it was a ton of fun.

We're all pretty tired now. Having one last drink (one first drink, actually) before heading up for an early bedtime. Back to artifact analysis tomorrow and friday then Jim, José-Luis and I are off to Cuenca for the weekend.

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In a bit of oddness, the local/national (I'm not sure which) newspaper had a story reporting on the NOFX concert in Guayaquil last night. Who'd have thought? Ross tells us that Supertramp is in Quito right now, too. I think they should tour South America together. Wouldn't that be a great combo?

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Oh yeah, I forgot to metion one thing yesterday. I've decided to try a new way of forcing myself to learn Spanish, at the urging of Ross. I bought a novel in Spanish. I made sure to get one I had read before (Aztec by Gary Jennings) to make it a little easier on myself. Next, before I start reading it, I'll need to get a Spanish dictionary. Not a Spanish/English dictionary, but a plain Spanish one. This was, once again, a recommendation of Ross', the argument being that a Spanish/English dictionary uses translation as a crutch while a straight Spanish one will challenge me to think in Spanish and expand my vocabulary. It's definitely worth a try.