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."