La Virgen del Rocío | The Church Built Into a Mountain in Biblián Ecuador 2019

My name is Flavio, I am the touristic guide and I'm introducing you to Cristian, our driver in this day. And now we need to drive to Ingapirca Archeological site, one of the most important archeological sites in Ecuador. And different stops, for example in the Virgen del Rocio church, indigenous market, and I hope that you enjoy it. The capital of Cañar province, probably in this city we have around 60, 50, 60% of the people, the families, we have immigrants in the U.S. ok? The economy from these little towns is important for the immigrants, they send money, yeah. So the people moved to the states or moved to another country and then send their money Exactly, yeah, people live in the U.S., yeah. People live in the U.S., maybe 4 years ago, probably. And then they still send money back to the family. Exactly, yeah. This is the reason. It's normal. In this kind of mountains, we found beautiful houses, big ones, good constructions. This is the people's money. Yeah. They're like the richest people in the mountains, yeah? Indigenous people. It's like a competition. Really? Interesting. This is my big house and probably my family sent me a lot of money. The construction of the Virgen del Rocio Church, Virgin of the Dew, no? Rocio Dew. Virgin of the Dew. Oh, ok. The Dew. 1883 and the temple, the construction of the temple was in 1924. Oh, ok. Chalao Hill is the name of the mountain here, ok? But around 1893, in this part, we had big problems with the drought. Oh, ok. The drought. For me. Yeah? And the people, the local people, come to here with a little image of the virgin. But destroy everything. The farms don't have more production of the vegetables, you know? And talk with the bishop and come to here, the Chalao Hill, and put a little image of the virgin and a little hole. Like a waiting, a miracle. Ok? And the next day, or a few days, the… Yeah? This is the Dew. Ok? Ok. The Dew. And say it was a miracle of the virgin. This is the name it. For example, Virgin, Virgen del Rocio. The Virgin of the Dew. Yeah? And then all the Catholic people come to here and the different processions bring all the materials for the mines near to here. And they… Wow. They construct this kind of church. It's like a fate. Yes. Fate of the people. Look at this. This is a ritual. Long time. Yeah. And the church is carved in the middle of the rock. No, it's amazing. And every little town, so towns in Ecuador, soccer field. Oh, yeah. Of course. It's the second church. Exactly, yeah. Second temple. Up on the top of the mountain and right behind me is Azogues and Virgen del Nubio or Virgin of the Clouds. So we're standing on the Virgin of the Dew, so Virgen del Rocio. And then over to my… Direction. In that direction. My left, your right is Cuenca. So we're not that far. It's absolutely beautiful. We're in Biblion. Biblion? Yes, we're in Biblion. It's very peaceful up here and it's also good preparation for Cajas because we're in higher altitude. Although I'm not really feeling it JP is. Yeah, I can't breathe. There's no air. It's not that bad. We're still alive. It doesn't even look real. That's a good idea. The dimensions. Yes. This church is built into the side of the mountain. It's incredible. You can see the rock right behind me. There's also pictures and those are pictures of loved ones that they place here to keep them safe. Our tour guide Flavio was saying that sometimes it's people who are going to the US and they won't hear from them for months. So they look at this as a form of protection and also for people undergoing surgeries and things like that. Hopefully you enjoyed the beautiful scenery in Biblion and the Santuario El, what is it? El Vergen del Rocio? Si. The Virgin of the Dew. Rocio means dew. Yep. And Amelia thought it was really cool that they built this in the side of a mountain. I think it's incredible and they built that by hand. It's amazing. It was 100 years ago or 120 years ago they built it by hand out of the mountains inside the church. It was really cool. Very cool. And we walked up to the top and the stations of the cross, if you're Catholic you know what that means. Amelia is not Catholic. I said JP had to explain this. So I was raised Catholic and so they had the stations of the cross that lead all the way up the mountain and I guess people come up there and do the stations of the cross. He said Easter. It's mainly at Easter time and it's really steep to go up. Well and he said the elderly and the sick do it. Everybody comes and the area comes for the stations of the cross. So if you saw all of those the white and blue crosses in the video that's what those were the stations of the cross. Yes. All right so stay tuned for our next video which is going to show you Kenyar and the indigenous marketplace. Yeah that was a major change from Biblion. Yeah a big change from Biblion. Like going back in time. It was fun. All right we'll see you next time. See you soon. And please remember to subscribe and hit that little bell. Isn't it down here? I don't know. It's down here somewhere. I think it's down here. All right bye. Bye bye. They also have something else going on in January 20th. You know there's always celebrations happening in and around the Cuenca land area. That was irrelevant. Okay. Unrelated to what we're talking about. Well. Anyway.