Leyme'ohmygod´bamba

I am in my favorite place in the world. I came here and immediately felt at home, but at the same time find myself almost in tears at the strangness of the beauty here. The air is so fresh it cuts into you and makes you breathe deeply, stopping to smell the herbs and flowers and sunshine on the dirt path. And the all encompassing green in the hills which surround the pueblo is dizzying....you feel like you´re part of a story book.

The town is small and without many tourists yet, despite the number of impressive ruins that are accessible by foot from town, hidden under trees and brush. When you meet someone along the path, you always say good morning or good afternoon and people usually ask where are you going or where are you coming from or what are you carrying? I am generally greeted affectionately as Gringita!! (little white girl!) and people are always offering to give me a ride on their horse or donkey or moto and it takes some convincing that I am just enjoying a walk in their wonderful countryside. I have also had the experience many times of being kidnapped by locals to come see their homes or children, which has been very interesting. Last night I got to see a family baking bread in their huge hansel-and-gretel-esque oven. Then I returned to La Casona, the amazing colonial home in which I´m staying and dined with some great folk from Lima.

Today I went up the hill (3hrs) to see some ruins with some friends I had met the other day. There were no signs or arrows or anything to them, so we had to ask every villager along the way if they knew where La Congona was. After passing through a gate and over a fence and cutting through some foliage, we indeed found the incredible ruins of an old Chachapoyan town, which was settled perhaps 1200years ago.

My favorite site so far: seeing a baby (literally probably less than a year old) riding a horse by himself, propped up by sacks of potatoes and grain on either side, and being lead by his father. Shortly after I saw a couple small children--maybe 3 and 6 years old--riding together on a horse and unaccompanied by adults.