Touring East to South - Ingenio
Continuing our trip further south, we arrive at Ingenio, one of the oldest towns of the island, delimited by the ravine Barranco de Aguatona in the north and the Barranco de Guayadeque in the south.
Today a predominantly agricultural area with tomatoes being its main crop, this small town was a prosperous sugar-refining centre in the 16th century, witnessed by the remains of an old sugar cane pressing machine at the eastern end, from which the town also holds its name (ingenio = sugar mill).
What this town is best known for today is its embroidery and the Museo de Piedra y Artesanía (Stone and Handicraft Museum) houses, apart from a collection of rocks and minerals, pottery, wicker works and agricultural tools, also an embroidery school, where visitors can watch how fine pieces of embroidery are being created.
The attractive, newly-tiled Plaza de la Candelaria, with modern fountains and surrounded by pretty houses with wooden balconies, is loomed over by the impressive Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria. This colonial-style church, which houses in its interior the image of the patron saint of the archipelago – the Virgin de la Candelaria, has two towers and a white dome and can be seen from far away.
One of the most important prehistoric burial grounds is to be found nearby in the Natural Park of Guayadeque of the Barranco de Guayedeque ravine.
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