Day 668: Mountains

Actually not fake. Real.

The rain is here, shrouding the mountains in soft clouds and filling the air. The flowers in the botanical garden next to me are lifting up their faces. The cactus plants are taking shelter. There are tastes of blue in the sky, and swathes of grey. I feel the cold, but I love this weather too. It makes a change. I haven’t dug myself out of town to go sightseeing today. I did a massage this morning, and was planning to travel, but I may just hang out and do a little work (what brilliantness, I have work to do too).

Mountains. Sky. Breathe.

The trees are full of birds. Ther are pigeon-likes, only gentler in their shape. There are little flitty things, too fast to see. Yesterday, a condor, and yes, majestic. They just are. They’re so big and strong and calm in their flight. Two plucky sparrowhawks or kestrels were defending their territory, dive-bombing the condor as she soared. She wound up and up in her spiral. They chased her. The game went on, and they did not let up, not did she care. She’s ten times their size at least..

My friend Fabian the Swisser

We watched this from a perch on the edge of the Pisaq ruins. We being me and Fabian, the smiling Swisser. now departed for Cusco and Machu Picchu. We walked and marvelled at the size of the stones, the work it took just to walk up with water and a few bananas, let alone hunks of granite bigger than a chicken hut and heavier than a car. We snuck up from the back, not to avoid paying (I have already paid), but because it was beautiful, and involved crossing a stream on bouncing logs and finding our way rather than following painted arrows

I have explored a new place to live, down by the river instead of up in the hills. My heart lives in the hills, and my independence thrives on being able to walk to where I live at any time, without fear and without worrying that the last of the motokars will have packed up and gone home, leaving me with a dark and windy walk up a long, long hill. 

I walked down a good part of it today, as rides into town were unforthcoming. Eventually, I found one. The place has served its purpose, in a way, allowing me to have peace and a room to myself for a happy price, and to wake up with mountains right next to me, flowers, quiet, water. The compromise in town is noise. Safety and independence are the benefits. There'll be a way that this will work. 

I am blown away by the landscapes here. If it's possible to believe, it becomes 'normal', but look at it: it's beautiful. This is what I get to see just by lifting my head. This is the quality of the colour all around me. This is nature, huge and present, just doing its being wherever you turn. Magic! 

Pisac ruins from the bottom(ish)