Cusco from Sacsayhuaman - arrow shows our apartment
We had a great day yesterday, Esther, Salvador, Valerio & I went out walking in the countryside.
We started by getting a taxi from Cusco to Sacsayhuaman, the Inca ruins overlooking the city.
We then took a back route behind the ruins and found some peace, we could still hear the dogs barking in Cusco 1000ft below, though.
With Valerio pushing Salvador and Esther admiring the view, I was able to sneak off for a while.
The trouble is here I don’t know what many of the birds are or their calls, so I spent quite a while following a very interesting noise that turned out to be a farmer calling to his pigs.
I did however see a couple of Andean Parakeets, American Kestrels and several species of Tanager, by the time I got back down the road Valerio’s interest had been sparked and he spent the rest of the day as my spotter.
I didn’t need a spotter for our next encounter though, the Red Coated Peruvian Irritant, which appeared from amongst the ruins.
We have seen this species before, with its characteristic call of ‘get orff my land’, this female specimen was especially keen to be heard.
Employed by the Institute of Culture to prevent day-trippers like us getting into Sacsayhuaman without paying, she had picked on the wrong group.
She was patronisingly explaining that Valerio didn’t have to pay because he was from Cusco, Esther did because she was from Lima and me? Well she didn’t really get as far as me because Esther used two words of English that she must have picked up from somewhere (strange that they came out in a perfect Swindon accent) and the redcoat was gone.
All this and we were about ten yards inside the perimeter of the ruins.
Our jolly day continued as we walked along the road to be confronted by a film crew who asked us to pass to the other side (and a blind bend) so that they could carry of filming.
I managed the Spanish equivalent of Esther’s outburst and carried on walking, unfortunately straight into an orange cow-pat, but I don’t think they saw me.
We then went in search of corn on the cob to eat and found some on sale at the trout farm round the corner, Salvador tried to eat the corn the cob the same way as us and nearly succeeded.
On the way back we saw a Sparkling Violetear Hummingbird before we arrived at the million or so steps that make their way down back into Cusco.
Even the Mountain Buggy was defeated; Valerio and I forced to lug it down together.
Carrying heavy baby equipment at 11000ft is not funny.
But we all agreed that it had been a very enjoyable day out that was worth it for the views of our apartment and my office alone.
Valerio wants me to play football up there on Saturday which is about the most masochistic experience on offer in Peru, so I might take him up on it.
We arrived back, I made us all some food, and then Esther and I watched
‘Bombon-El Perro’, an Argentinean film which was excellent.
At 4.30am this morning Salvador started crying, ten seconds later there was a thud and screaming, our little mountaineer had finally reached the summit of Mount Baby Bumper and in true ‘Touching the Void’ fashion had little choice but to let go of his toy snake and fall straight to earth.
As usual he seemed less shocked than us, there was however no choice and smiling Santiago came over this morning and lowered the base of the cot; Chris Bonnington would struggle to make it over the bars now.
Despite his little adventure Salvador is absolutely fine, with not a mark on him.
Abad and his mate Victor are doing some electrical work for us again today which means that once more Victor is up in the roof with Abad lisping instructions to him from down below.
It all seems to be going well so far and we now have a new light in our hallway, in fact new lights and sockets seem to be springing up everywhere.
We started by getting a taxi from Cusco to Sacsayhuaman, the Inca ruins overlooking the city.
We then took a back route behind the ruins and found some peace, we could still hear the dogs barking in Cusco 1000ft below, though.
With Valerio pushing Salvador and Esther admiring the view, I was able to sneak off for a while.
The trouble is here I don’t know what many of the birds are or their calls, so I spent quite a while following a very interesting noise that turned out to be a farmer calling to his pigs.
I did however see a couple of Andean Parakeets, American Kestrels and several species of Tanager, by the time I got back down the road Valerio’s interest had been sparked and he spent the rest of the day as my spotter.
I didn’t need a spotter for our next encounter though, the Red Coated Peruvian Irritant, which appeared from amongst the ruins.
We have seen this species before, with its characteristic call of ‘get orff my land’, this female specimen was especially keen to be heard.
Employed by the Institute of Culture to prevent day-trippers like us getting into Sacsayhuaman without paying, she had picked on the wrong group.
She was patronisingly explaining that Valerio didn’t have to pay because he was from Cusco, Esther did because she was from Lima and me? Well she didn’t really get as far as me because Esther used two words of English that she must have picked up from somewhere (strange that they came out in a perfect Swindon accent) and the redcoat was gone.
All this and we were about ten yards inside the perimeter of the ruins.
Our jolly day continued as we walked along the road to be confronted by a film crew who asked us to pass to the other side (and a blind bend) so that they could carry of filming.
I managed the Spanish equivalent of Esther’s outburst and carried on walking, unfortunately straight into an orange cow-pat, but I don’t think they saw me.
We then went in search of corn on the cob to eat and found some on sale at the trout farm round the corner, Salvador tried to eat the corn the cob the same way as us and nearly succeeded.
On the way back we saw a Sparkling Violetear Hummingbird before we arrived at the million or so steps that make their way down back into Cusco.
Even the Mountain Buggy was defeated; Valerio and I forced to lug it down together.
Carrying heavy baby equipment at 11000ft is not funny.
But we all agreed that it had been a very enjoyable day out that was worth it for the views of our apartment and my office alone.
Valerio wants me to play football up there on Saturday which is about the most masochistic experience on offer in Peru, so I might take him up on it.
We arrived back, I made us all some food, and then Esther and I watched
‘Bombon-El Perro’, an Argentinean film which was excellent.
At 4.30am this morning Salvador started crying, ten seconds later there was a thud and screaming, our little mountaineer had finally reached the summit of Mount Baby Bumper and in true ‘Touching the Void’ fashion had little choice but to let go of his toy snake and fall straight to earth.
As usual he seemed less shocked than us, there was however no choice and smiling Santiago came over this morning and lowered the base of the cot; Chris Bonnington would struggle to make it over the bars now.
Despite his little adventure Salvador is absolutely fine, with not a mark on him.
Abad and his mate Victor are doing some electrical work for us again today which means that once more Victor is up in the roof with Abad lisping instructions to him from down below.
It all seems to be going well so far and we now have a new light in our hallway, in fact new lights and sockets seem to be springing up everywhere.
I’m just leaving them to toil away under the instruction of Esther.
What with my laptop's phantom death and the convention of electricians and carpenters in the apartment today, I haven't made it down to the cafe for more than a hello.
It was smelling a bit better than Saturday night when plumes of smoke from the paintwork inside our new oven billowed into the cafe and the street beyond.
I don't think we gassed anyone, it was essential of course that the oven carried out its final piece of acclimatisation.
When we went to Tumbes we flew with Tans, a Peruvian airline, on Saturday all of their planes were grounded for safety reasons, phew ....!
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