Inca Trail maintenance is underway at Paredones historic site; Ecuador counts both the U.S. and China as friends; Tsunami alert is cancelled

A group of University of Cuenca students are spending their school vacation cleaning and restoring a section of the Qhapaq Ñan – or Inca Trail — west of the city. The work is concentrated at the Paredones archaeological site in Molleturo parish.

Paredones, known as “the balcony”, is situated at 3,490 meters above sea level. On clear days, says historian and Molleturo resident Aurelio Gutama, visitors can catch a glimpse of the Pacific Ocean near Machala and the Chimborazo volcano, Ecuador’s highest mountain, from Paredones. “There is a reason why this location was important to both the Incas and the Cañaris,” Gutama says.

Volunteers are cleaning up the Qhapaq Ñan trail at the Paredones archaeological site.

Juan Pablo Vargas, archaeologist for the Azuay prefecture, said that the objective of the students’ work is preventive maintenance. “We are preserving sections of the trail that have been previously cleared and restored,” he said, adding that about 550 meters of the trail are within the archaeological site.

He added that a larger project to restore Qhapaq Ñan in Peru and Ecuador is in the planning stage but lacks adequate funding. Ecuador’s National Institute of Cultural Heritage is coordinating work at Paredones as well as in other areas.

Vargas says more money is badly needed to maintain the Paredones site. “There has been natural deterioration in the park as well as damage by visitors that must be repaired,” he says. “We also need funding to conduct scientific studies.”

One issue to be studied, says Gutama, is how much of Qhapaq Ñan near Paredones was first developed by the Cañari civilization that was centered in modern-day Azuay and Cañar Provinces. “It is possible that in our area, the Inca inherited a road system that was already in use.”

Ecuador needs both the U.S. and China
Foreign Minister Gabriela Sommerfeld says that Ecuador intends to maintain friendly relations with both the United States and China. “We are friends with both governments and we will not play favorites,” she said in an interview with Japanese news service NHK.

“It is in our national interest from both a business and cultural perspective to maintain and build strong relationships with both countries, and we have told officials of both China and the U.S. that this is our intention,” she said. “As part of this commitment, President Daniel Noboa has made visits to both countries and met with their presidents since the beginning of the year.”

In her NHK interview, Sommerfeld said trade talks are also underway with Japanese officials.

Tsunami alert cancelled
The Naval Oceanographic Institute (Inocar) canceled a tsunami alert Wednesday afternoon for the Galapagos and the mainland coast. The alert was issued Tuesday night following a magnitude 8.8 earthquake off the western Pacific coast of Russia.

Although waves reached an additional height of 1.3 meters in several of the Galapagos islands, they were less than one meter on the mainland coast. No damage was reported.

Inocar said that above average wave heights will continue for several days in both the Galapagos and on the mainland shore due to aftershocks from the earthquake.