After spending seven months on Gorgon Island, Pizarro and his men set sail for Colombia and Ecuador. Accompanied by Ruiz and his Indian interpreters, he traveled down the mangrove coast. Here, they encountered more balsa rafts. They sailed on until the Indians recognized the coast of their hometown, Tumbes. The Spanish anchored near the little port known today as Puerto Pizarro.

"When the indigenous people saw the ship coming on the sea they were amazed, as this was something they had never seen before," says Cieza de Leon, who had talked to Inca eye-witnesses. They prepared food for the Spaniards and sailed out to the ship to greet them with joy and wonder.

The local governor told the Spanish that they were "welcome to come ashore and provision themselves with water and whatever they needed without fear of harm." Nonetheless, the governor sent an official report about the strangers to his king, the great Wayna Capac.

Nueva Corónica y Buen Gobierno
(Letter to a King)

Wamán Poma wrote: "The Kings of an earlier dynasty of Peru, the last of whom was called Tocay Capac Pinahua Capac, had their own coat-of-arms specially drawn to illustrate their legitimate descent from the Sun. These rulers were called Intip churin, which means 'children of the Sun.' The founder of the Inca dynasty declared that his father was the Sun, his mother the Moon, and his brother the Day-Star."