An American in Lima

 Once upon a time, the easiest way for a visitor to touch ice  in Peru was to climb the tourist trail to Pastoruri Glacier, a flat-topped glacier 70 km south of Huaraz. Roads from the highway made the glacier easily accessible to daytrippers, and even though its peak is a staggering 5,200 meters above sea [...]

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We camped out for three nights (June 6-9) in the valley below receding Qolqepunku Glacier. That dark mountain on the right used to be covered with snow and ice. Once upon a twentieth century…
I look at this photo, and what strikes me is how pleasant and cozy the scene appears. Warm sunlight, plenty of space between campsites.
That’s [...]

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Doing the Yawar Mayu dance with a dancer from Cusco

El Fotografo and I were making friend with our camping neighbors — a comparsa from Cusco — at the Qoyllur Rit’i pilgrimage last weekend, when suddenly one of the young dancers snatched me by the arm.
“Come on, dance,” she said.
No, I said, several times — No to [...]

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A new book (March 2008) co-edited by a UC Davis professor of environmental science and policy looks at the world’s glaciers from all sides, scientific, social and economic.
“Darkening Peaks: Glacier Retreat, Science and Society” (Univ. Cal. Press) brings together researchers from five continents to discuss how scientists study glaciers, how climate change is altering glaciers’ [...]

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I spotted this unusual blue-eyed alpaca on a hillside in Upis

I returned to Lima this past Saturday after a week trekking around Mount Ausangate, in southern Peru, with my cousin and a Quechua-Spanish translator from Cusco. What an experience.
It was a work trip, rather than a vacation per se; we’d wake up at six each [...]

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The beautiful Apu Veronica, considered a female mountain lord by indigenous people in the Peruvian Andes

Many mountains in the Andes are considered male by the local people, but a few are female, like Nevado Veronica.
She rises wide and conical over the Urubamba Valley, like a big-hipped mama towering over her children.
In the photo above, she’s bathed in [...]

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Masked dancer at Qoyllur Rit’i festival, Peru, 2006

 El Fotografo spied this guy at the 2006 pilgrimage. He embodies the fertility cult that underpins the festival’s Catholic traditions, which have been sycretized with older, Andean rituals.
I find this image rather terrifying, for some reason.
We looked again for the Sheep’s Head Dancer this past May but didn’t [...]

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The local Quechua-speaking people consider Ausangate the mightiest apu or mountain lord of the region. Like all apus, Ausangate has a gender (male) and a personality (powerful, easily offended). Local customs dictate that we pay our respects to the apu prior to beginning our trek, to ensure a successful journey.

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