Treasure of the Llanganatis

The Treasure of the Llanganatis is compromised of a large amount of gold as well as other treasures that are supposedly hidden within the Llanganatis mountain range of Ecuador. They were said to have been hidden by the Inca general Rumiñahui.

Francisco Pizarro was the founder of a small town called San Miguel de Piura in 1532. He then began the Inca Empire and captured the Inca Atahualpa at Cajamarca later that year. This was a region of deep Spanish descent and the Spaniards worshipped gold. Atahualpa knew this and vowed to fill an entire room with gold if he would be greed and although Pizarro made an agreement to this is more than likely than h never intended to go along with this deal. Before the promise could be filled, Pizarro had such a strong distrust for Atahualpa because of his strong influence over the other Inca warriors that he had him killed in 1533.

Inca general Rumiñahui was in route with some 750 tons of gold to pay a ransom for the release of Atahualpa when he was told that he had been murdered. He quickly made his return to Ecuador but it is said that he had the treasure brought up to the Llanganatis mountain range and buried. The location of the treasure was never revealed even after Rumiñahui was captured and tortured by the Spanish.

Many have searched for this treasure but none have yet found it. Many also believe that there is a curse on this treasure. Atahualpa was an uncrowned chief and Rumiñahui was his half brother. It is said that Rumiñahui was so mad that he hid the gold in the Cerros Llanganatis which is three peaks northeast of Baños. Ironically, this place is famous for being dark, desolate and wet for most of the year and it is plagued with cold rains and frigid mists consistently making the recovery of the Treasure of the Llanganatis extremely difficult.