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Went past the Disco Jey sign and the town of the blue churches and the
town of the three-legged dogs and only got lost once in Cuenca, once in
Saraguro, once in Loja, and once in Malacatos, arriving 11.5 hours later
here, Hostería Vilcambamba. All the birds today were old
birds; all the roads today were Venezuela roads; all the turns were missed
turns. And rain, at the pass and here tonight. Have we covered the weather?
Cold on the paramo, warm elsewhere, windy in the canyons and blah blah
blah. And now let us write about the nature seen today: mushrooms in horse
dung, trees cascading with orchids, feral roses behind the abandoned adobe
farmstead at 13,000', two Carunculated Caracaras in a dogfight with a
Black-chested Buzzard-Eagle over...over what? Not sure (skunk/agouti/
opossum-sized carcass), swallows and swifts in mixed species flocks coming
low over the orchard at dusk, fireflies around the habitacíon, raindrops
on the lit blue pool, smell of wet vegetation coming in through the patio
here and at dinner, flowing eddies of fog at the Scarlet-bellied Mountain-Tanager
elfin forest, the Hawaii familiarity of Saffron Finch on the lawn here,
Pacific Horneros in the mechanic’s back yard, immense stalks of last
year’s agave candles, the sudden glimpses of waterfalls just before
the landslides, a chachalaca-rooster hybrid, too much eucalyptus and Honduran
pine, too much diesel exhaust, too much trash in the stream cuts, too
much overgrazing all the way up to treeline and beyond, too many chassis
hulks of wrecked buses being passed by old Inca ladies in bowler hats,
serapes, rubber boots, and magenta skirts carrying half a forest home
on their shoulders. Oh well, the beer comes in liter bottles and the frogs
call all night and even the cheap restaurant in Cuenca had fresh orchids
in a vase on the table. 8:30 p.m., 1700 meters, 4°13' S, 79°11'
W.
© Charles Hood, 2000
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Contact:
Charles Hood
Dept. of English, Antelope Valley College
3041 W. Avenue K, Lancaster, CA 93536
A basic book with ivory index cover and opaque white
text paper. Click on the image above for enlargement of cover.
60 pages
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