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