The Incas built a road across the Andes that stretched for thousands of kilometres, linking Quito, Cusco and far beyond, and parts of it still survive in Ecuador. Llaviuco is a short surviving segment, listed by UNESCO as part of the Qhapaq Ñan, the great Andean road system. It lies inside Cajas National Park, in a landscape of high moorland, small lakes and cloud forest, above Cuenca. The stones of the old road are set in the ground by hand, and walking them gives a direct sense of how this empire moved people, messengers and llamas through the mountains.
The setting is magnificent. Cajas is a world of páramo, a treeless highland of tussock grass, cushion plants and hundreds of lakes left by glaciers, and the air is thin, cold and often wet. Llaviuco itself is a lake with a patch of Polylepis forest, a twisted, red-barked tree that grows higher than almost any other in the world. Cuenca, the nearby city, is one of the most elegant in South America, with colonial churches, cobbled streets, a river lined with trees and the Inca site of Pumapungo beneath its modern streets. The famous Panama hat, which is actually Ecuadorian, is woven in this region.
The ride up from Cuenca is a good one. The road to Cajas climbs steadily through farmland and then moorland, with bends, long views and changing weather, and crosses a high pass above four thousand metres. The air gets cold quickly, and fog and rain can cut visibility to a few metres, so carry warm and waterproof gear and ride slowly. Altitude can bring headaches and breathlessness to those who arrive suddenly. The dry months, from June to September, are the best, though the weather in the páramo can turn at any time.
Cuenca, about eighteen kilometres away, has everything: fuel stations, restaurants, hotels and markets. Try a bowl of locro, a potato and cheese soup, and a cup of hot canelazo, a cinnamon and sugar-cane spirit drink, at a roadside stall. Entry rules and fees for the park change, so check at the visitor centre, and bring layers, sun cream and patience.