Valerie recently had a work trip to San Ramon, Peru. San Ramon is about a 6 hour drive from Lima. You go due east for 3 hours on the Carretera Central, which involves driving from sea level to a 4,800 meter altitude mountain pass. Then you go back down the other side, through mining areas to La Oroya, where you head north-east past Tarma, which is surrounded by striking terraced fields of flowers and other crops. Beyond Tarma, you enter a valley which takes you from the high Andes down into the Amazon. The landscape turns from terraces to steep, jungle-covered mountains. The air shifts from cold and dry (it's winter) to warm and green.
Because it was a 3-day holiday weekend here in Peru, Britt joined Valerie on Saturday, and they enjoyed several days of jungle discovery and exploration. The views were stunning (as is so often the case here in Peru). The plants and wildlife were also awesome. We saw an amazing assortment of butterflies, ranging in size from no bigger than your thumbnail to nearly fist-size - and in all sorts of colors and shapes. There were huge versions of plants you think of as indoor house plants in most cooler parts of the world. There were lots of waterfalls. And there was a little rodent called a Machetera that was very cute.
No comments:
Post a Comment