In case you all were wondering: Change in plans

Today I'm resting and letting lower digestive tract issues run their course...tomorrow I´ll head to Mendoza, Argentina and with any luck meet up with Noah, otherwise continue further south to see the transition of late summer into fall in Tierra del Fuego, and move northward as the season deepens toward winter in the southern hemisphere (meanwhile, my beloved savannah and woodland birds will get the hankering to fly thousands of miles north to Missouri).

I´ve parted ways with Ryne and Jen, who are currently hanging out in subtropical forest, and are headed southward thereafter...maybe to meet up with later in Patagonia? Today, I´m hanging out in and near Jujuy, Argentina, and found it a convenient situation to make a (monster) blog entry. Here goes!

Earthquake damage in Pisco, on the Pacific coast of Peru. We had a stopover in this town and spent the day seeking out birds of the coastal wetlands nearby.

Up into the cloud forest of the western Andean slope! The town of Abancay lies in the valley below the loosely designated nature preserve where these pictures were taken..

Something along the lines of a sunflower, acting much like a tree.

Podocarpus, a yew-like conifer of the cloud forest

Lush epiphytic growth made possible by persistently humid conditions

Abancay below, although there were folks living far up the mountain, higher than my body would comfortably go, as at this point I had not acclimated well to the altitude. On the second day of our visit to the area, I stayed much lower than the first, and my day´s adventures were much more physiological than ecological. Ryne continued up to the paramo, where even there were some houses of Quechua folks. On the second day, I was happened upon by a crew of 12 to 14 year olds who gave me some food (arroz, carne, y hot dog slices), and enjoyed having a Quechu-spanglish-pseudo-conversation with their groggy gringo friend. A couple of days later we were at lower elevations and heading into Machu Picchu (via testosterone-poisoned cab drivers…really fast on those narrow, unpaved mountain roads).

Spires surrounding Machu Picchu

Temple of the Moon (in a cave near Machu Picchu)

Oft-present rufous-collared sparrow

Present-day mammalian inhabitants of Machu Picchu

Ruins...fairly complete, I thought, aside from the deficit of rooftops

Then we ran into Alec Lindsay on the way back…this was actually a guy originally from near Joliet , IL who, with his Peruvian wife Gladys, intends to start giving bird tours out of Aguas Calientes…the railroad corridor between this town/gringo hang-out did indeed support a great diversity of birds.

Lake Titicaca, seen from an island within it. We stayed one night on the island, and despite the heavy sheep –grazing, there were some intact natural communities (mostly where rocks and steep inclines prevented sheep from grazing, or people from cultivating food plants). People on the island cultivated quinoa, sorrel, and potatoes for the most part, grown in perhaps ancient terraced beds

Jungle Jen avoids the gringo trail

The walk back to our hosts´ home included scenes highly reminiscent of our old familiar Lake Michigan…except with fewer shorebirds and more (flightless, endemic to Lakes Titicaca and Poopo) short-winged grebes

El Choro trail, near the trailhead in La Cumbre, Bolivia. My hammock didn´t quite work the first night here, but I still managed to get in a decent sleep…

High elevation cushion plant bog

Diminutive alpine flowering plants

I was glad this weather waited for the morning! There was a thunderstorm in the next valley over, and we were graced with a wintry morning, which turned to rain on our way down, clearing up and warming up eventually (as evidenced by my fingers not having dropped off of my hands!)