Peru, Day Ten (July 21, 2009)

Have to geek out for a moment and reveal my closet birdwatching obsession. I cannot believe that I saw a spatula-tailed hummingbird in the garden beneath my balcony this morning. What an outstanding way to start the day.

















After breakfast, we traveled by taxi to Chachapoyas. It was a beautiful ride through country that would be a playground for any geologist. We´re staying at the Gran Hotel Vilaya, a dismal but safe place that´s close to the main plaza. After fighting with the laptop for a couple of hours (the advertised ¨free hotel wi-fi¨is a joke), we wandered down to the plaza for lunch. Stopped by the Amazonas office of the INC and had a long chat with the staff archaeologist about the work going on at Kuelap. Then made arrangements with a travel agency for a day trip to Kuelap tomorrow. The internet cafes in this part of the country are maddeningly slow, but I´ll try to post photos once we´re back in Lima on Saturday.

3 comments:

Annie said...

A spatula tailed hummingbird ... I know that must have been beautiful.

As a fellow avian geek, I must admit that the annual Audubon Bird counts in the tropical jungles of Panama were one of my fav secret obsessions!

MaggieandBandit said...

Sounds like you are doing great....knee and all. Hope you are hanging in well!

Brad said...

Now, if only you could find a whisk-tailed bird, in a nest with some eggs, you could whip up a great breakfast...