The Rear View - Peru

Faces

Packed into a truck on the way to a Saturday
market & a fiesta, Andes, Peru.

We relate to faces.  Some of the most iconic travel photos are of faces. I know this, but sometimes I can’t bring myself to openly take pictures of people as they come toward me. It takes a certain brazenness, a certain lack of regard for others, an ephemeral rudeness, and an arrogance that permits the photographer to snap a pic of someone without their permission. Since I am a coward, the only pictures I have of people’s faces are taken surreptitiously, from far away with my 12x telephoto, paid for (don't like to do this) or taken with permission.  I do take pictures of people, but usually from the rear – a sneak attack. I try to take images of people from cars as they come towards me, but that almost never works.  

In truth I am an equivocal person, so as much as the afore stated is true, it is also not so true—I am always trying to be more brazen. However, from our last trip, here is the rear view... 

Covering the Ground in the Andes

Rear View x 3

Vendors in Cuzco

Moving Goods in the Plaza de las Armas,
Cuzco, Peru

Viewing a Religious Festival, Cuzco, Peru

And one wonderful smiling face--well actually three.

In a Truck on the road in the Andes between
 Cuzco & Pillahuata,  Peru
(taken with permission - shared fun)

Small But Impressive: Beetles, Spiders, Larvae

Peru, 

September-October 2010

We went for birds, but once out in the jungle, you never know what surprises await the observant. Some birders ignore anything without feathers, but we aren't that sort. We are delighted and intrigued by the extraordinary variety of life out there. So I watch the ground, scrutinize the leaves, and look a second time at something odd glimpsed out of the corner of my eye.

There is a famous quote attributed to both Darwin and J. B. S. Haldane. One or the other was asked by a cleric about what he might infer about the Creator, based on his wide ranging study of life. The reply: the creator must have had "an inordinate fondness for beetles." We discovered this magnificent creature on a damp trail in the Manu Biosphere Preserve, Peru.

Cerambycid Beetle, Manu Biosphere Reserve, Peru

Complete metamorphosis is astounding. There's the egg, the larva/caterpillar, the pupa, and the adult - one form doesn't hint at the next--no clues. Since my husband is a knowledgeable Lepidopterist, he can say with some authority "that caterpillar/larvae will/may grow up to be in the XXXidae family. 

Wild Silk Moth. Saturniidae with Stinging Spines
on the Road near Cock of the Rock Lodge, Andes. 

Megalopygidae? -  called a Puss Caterpillar. Found by the road in the pristine Manu cloud forest on the verdant eastern slopes of the Andes

This cutie may grow up to be member of the : Arctiidae, Noctuidae, Eupterotidae, Manu Biosphere, Peru  

Once our guide realized we wanted to see it all, he took time out from looking and listening for birds to lure a fierce predator out of her den.

Tarantula Protecting her den, Manu Biosphere, Peru

Komodo Dragons

Indonesia – the Lesser Sundas – Komodo Island

Dragons, 2008

Armed only with a forked stick, the ranger walked slowly ahead us looking for the fabled Komodo dragon.  When he raised his hand, we all bunched up around him, peering ahead through the open, scrubby forest.  The guide pointed ahead – we looked – he pointed and edged forward – we edged too.  Today’s superb nature films set our expectations, so we anticipated a fast moving, huge lizard – really a dragon.  Instead, lying in an opening near a rock-edged, scummy pond, was what looked like a mound of dirt.  Upon closer inspection, the mound morphed into a Komodo dragon at rest – flat on its belly, legs splayed out, looking around leisurely.

Then it opened is huge maw – teeth dripping with viscous saliva; a slimy yawn or perhaps a warning for unwary, overconfident tourists.

  

 It finally got up, its lizard tongue flicking in and out – testing the air for tourists perhaps - and  spraddle-legged, it ambled off, ignoring us completely – which is good.

Guides with forked sticks used to protect the tourists from dragons.

Deer fall prey to dragons, often dying of the bite

 The claws are fearsome.

We were on a birding trip in the Lesser Sundas of Indonesia which includes the island of Komodo, one of two places where the Komodo dragon still lives and roams free.  The dragons are prehistoric and the land they live in exudes the same primordial atmosphere.

The Virgin of the Rosary of Guápulo

Plaza de Las Armas. Cuzco, Peru. October 8, 2010.

 

“The practice of dressing cult statues of the Virgin originated with religious confraternities in Spain and spread to the Viceroyalty of Peru through prints brought to the New World by missionary priests. In the New World, indigenous peoples often hid pagan offerings in the wide skirts of the dressed statues, thus allowing the syncretic worship of both Christian and Andean deities” [see Ref. Duncan 1995]

The distant sound of trumpets – a little discordant and tinny – announced the coming of something or someones. The police blocked one of the streets leading into the Plaza de Las Armas in Cuzco. Having shopped the arcaded edges of the plaza all morning and politely saying “no” – “No Gracias” to the many, many street vendors, we were tired, so we sat for awhile on the steps of the cathedral, waiting for…whatever was coming. It didn’t come, so we sauntered across the plaza to one of the second story cafes with a balcony where we could get a Cuzcena (the premier beer in Peru – hydration is important at high altitudes) and a bite of lunch. It proved to be the perfect place to see the procession.

It finally swung into sight and what a sight it was. The bands sent the pigeons swirling into the sky and wheeling to a roost above our heads. It was a religious festival celebrating the Virgin of the Rosary of Guápulo. The giant mother and child arrived dressed in gold and red, lurching and swaying carried by a host (or a lot) of guys dressed in dark suits.   

A few priests and nuns walked sedately, surrounded by a cacophony of sound and color. Men in masks, men in hats with the skins of baby alpacas on their backs, men in gorilla suits, all danced and gamboled down the street. The groups rounded the plaza and danced down the street right below us.

The women's skirts unbrella-ed out and back-- they twirled dizzingly to the music.

Dancers in the religious festival for the Virgin of the Rosary of Guapulo (Click the link to see some dancers and hear the music.)

In general I have no idea what was going on, but the dance “clubs” were beautifully and wildly dressed and they twirled tirelessly down the street.

  It went on for an hour before the Virgin turned the corner and headed off somewhere away from the Plaza. 
I have no idea if she had offerings hidden beneath her "wide skirts."

The Andaman Islands, India: Eleven Lunes

Prose is not necessarily the language of travel; not necessarily the way to describe the elusive, kaleidoscopic impressions of travel. I have opted to use the lune to describe a recent trip to the Andaman Islands.

Port Blair bustles

Noise, cows, people, and auto-rickshaws,

India writ small

A rural road

in the Andaman Islands, India

Life on display

Incense, curry, dung

wood smoke over and under

all the smells

Life at dawn

No drab overalls for chores

Gossamer gaudy saris

Net furls out

Sinking slowly into the water

one tiny fish

Life at dusk

Trotting dogs, goats, cows, chickens

Birds to roost 

     

Palm frond unfurls                       

Small iridescent snail slides along

Beautiful beyond measure

Andaman green pigeons

Figs and pigeons, same color

In a tree

Bare tree outlined

Illumined in the setting sun

Full of parakeets

Chai at dawn

Chai in the late afternoon

A yard long

Beer before dinner

Cold sharp taste golden color

Marks a moment

 For more information about the Lune, go to:  http://www.goarticles.com/cgi-bin/showa.cgi?C=550606

Many thanks to poet, Jane Bridges for introducing me to the Lune on a trip to the Lesser Sundas, Indonesia,