Pachamama

Usquwillka or  passage of the felines .
This section of rain forest is at 3600 metres above sea level which makes a unique environment  and very hard to handle your breath.

We spend a few days doing "living in tourism" in the Andes of Ayacucho with this amazing family.
Aide the lady of the house cooked delicious meals every day and she only use what the land and the current season
provided, no coles or woolies here mate.
i was amazed and a bit jealous at the simplicity and happiness of their lives at the same time a lot of admiration for
their resilience  after living with terrorism for 20 years .

Just before the start of a big walk we sat down and relaxed. Gabriel our guide got us some coca leaves and showed us how to do the chewing the proper way.  We did tried chewing coca leaves before without any guidance and we thought it was bad.
Now we know the proper way we think it's not too bad.

Water was chilled and fit for drinking just like it has been for thousands of years.

We were heading to the base of this sacred mountain.  It is a sacred mountain and we were heading there to make an offering to Pachamama and Apu Kuntiksi Wiraqucha.

This was our offering to Pachamama. Handmade clay pottery figures of the owl for good luck on our travels. Plus a bunch of flowers......and coca leaves (of course).

Beautiful walk. We saw Puma`s and wolves tracks around the dens, along the way. They stayed out of our way.....but they were there. 

 bringing up the rear in case we lose a man.

Can you see the face in this photo? (not Madeline or mine but another face)

This was our accommodation for a few nights. We had 2 beds but because it was so cold, we all slept in this tiny single bed.  

Landscape at 5000mt above sea level

Madeline's cheeky face after eating her chocolate Easter egg.

The  Candelabra.
No one knows who made this,but there are a few theories like pirates hiding treasures, extraterrestrials  marking landing fields,
Pre-Inca people making land marks for their travels or even some smart arse laughing at us now.

This picture is only a small view of the amount of birds we saw, they went for kilometres.

Islas Ballestas.
It's a wildlife sanctuary off the coast of Paracas, central Peru.

We found Happy Feet's summer camp.

Awesome.

Perfect couple until...... (see 2 pictures below)

Family day at the beach. The baby seal is just a few weeks old.

Until the grass cutter came home. which one of the 2 males was the original and which one was the lover, we'll never know
but they had a blue over her. It must be the way she move her hips.

All the white stuff on the rocks is "Guano" birdshit.  It is harvested every 4years or when it reaches a certain depth. It was one of the main export in this part of Peru back in the mid 1800`s.