After going to the Cañar animal market, we went into town to the main mercado for some people watching. According to Alberto (our driver for the day), most of the younger generation left the city to find work in the United States or Spain, so you mostly find older Cañari people in this town of 225,000. On Sundays, Cañar comes to life with several markets, from the indoor central mercado to the smaller potato market.

Every local mercado in Ecuador is interesting, and this one in Cañar was no different.

After leaving the Cañar mercado, and having lunch, we traveled to Biblián, on our way back to Cuenca.  Biblián is the capital city of the Cañar canton of Ecuador, with a population a little over 20,000.  According to Alberto (our driver for the day), most of the original inhabitants of this city have left the country, a statement supported by Wikipedia.

Our last stop of the day was at the Santuario de la Virgen del Rocío. This church sits high on a hill overlooking the city.  You must then climb a series of very steep steps up to the church itself, giving you a tremendous overview of the valley city below.  This is very close to Incapirca, an Inca ruins that is a popular tourist stop.  We were the only gringos visiting the church though, being out of the way, and less known.