Megalithic Stone work at Ollantaytambo, Peru

Megalithic Period stone work.

The stone masonry in this rock wall is believed to represent the earliest of all peoples to reside in The Sacred Valley. It is understood by experts, that these mysteriously advanced stone construction practices predate the Inca by thousands of years, as early works have been excavated and carbon dated to 12,000 years old at the lower levels, which is referred to as the Megalithic period. The Inca, in many places in South America, merely built atop the much older ruins of a far advanced civilization long vanished. What?

South America is a treasure chest of ancient ruins, the most awesome of which are accessible only by days of hiking, usually in remote high areas, and have never been cleared of forest or excavated, some estimated older than the Pyramids of Giza. If this is true, then life possibly began here instead of Africa.

The Sacred Valley of Peru is made of the highest convictions. The construction practices used, the artistic manipulation of stone ( stone masonry) the cutting/ fitting of dense material to such close tolerances as depicted, the transport of items to 300 tons from a distant mountain and across a valley are puzzling even by the standards of 21st century machinery and engineering. The oldest stone work here in The Archaelogical Park at Ollantaytambo is considered among the best in Peru.

As a whole, we don't understand how they did it, or what became of this discipline as it appears to have vanished long before the appearance of the Inca.

View from the top of the Fortress/Temple

The possibility is visible that, the spirituality/mindset/intellect/purest will of the peoples, who ever they are/were, that built these works of high regard, are/were by these values, superior to too many of us.

We as simple creatures have been taught that evolution along with the education process of this so called modern day will produce a more complete society, where in fact it is exactly possible that the contrary, amongst other unimaginable scenarios is true, and according to the ages, time in its vastness sees what men might ever think irrelevant. The intelligence of mankind is being limited by a shortsighted misconception, that there is no need for it, and possibly has been this way for millennia.

From the Temple/Fortress across The Sacred Valley to Pinkuylluna and Grainary Ruin

The answer could be in the purest form_ in the form of the question. It is well inscribed  into every particle here in this garden, into the Moan-tanes, and the night sky.

The question allows convictions of  the highest order, a freedom for each individual to create in himself, the scope of his being. The evidence here insists that if one wishes and works real hard at it, he may advance himself far above the understanding of a vast majority who can/will not read the inscription in every particle, the universally glyphic language of images. The understanding to the grave complications of humanity is contingent upon the ability to decifer from a far greater source of information, available only in a language of images. This is the best medium to deliver/translate information.

But to understand from what one sees, then decide upon an action to take is a responsibility a complacent population does not want to assume. It is a matter of choice to be so devout/deciplined. Only few will undertake such an enormous/incompatable endeavor. The far greater majority want to be comfortably led.

This is exactly where a population becomes separated into 2 groups. One who believes it is detrimental, and the other understands with good reason it is imperative.

At this point, these two groups of people loose the ability to communicate, one does not see the other as living in the same time. The other believes the one to be extinct. One struggles to speak, while the other only hears the wind.

Group #2 operates as a whole, their ideas are based on the human condition, worldly goods. What is valued most important to them is appearances and the self. Their numbers constitute the visible population of humanity.

Group #1 operates, each as an individual. Their ideas are based on every demention of the absolute. What is valued most important to them is the beauty of the truth, mans role in its appreciation. Their numbers are scant.

Group #1 built the lower levels of these sites.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ollantaytambo

Ollantaytambo, Sacred Valley, Peru

Street in the old town near hotels/hostals/beds and breakfasts within walking distance of the most fascinating ruins the most high minded of men could imagine.

This place is Uplifting Cousin, and I want you to go. So get off it and online to see just how affordable Peru travel is. Gas is about $1 US per gallon here, so guess what, taxis and buses are cheap. WiFi is decent and almost always free at hostels and hotels although service is sometimes spotty or disrupted in smaller towns. You may have to go across the room or street and try again. Check with your hotel for taxi prices. Hotels and taxis are all connected and on the same page with prices for fares and tours. Generally, a taxi for all day is S/.220  or about USD $72. Taxi from Cusco to Urubamba or Ollantaytambo is S/.170 or about USD $45 to $55. Collectivos are much less. Buses are dirt cheap if you have time. An English speaking cab driver will cost a little extra. Spanish is the #2 language in the world and will be, so learn the basics. A tour guide will also be extra. So read up and know what you are going to see before you get there.

Terraces at Pumatallis.

I handle all travel arrangements myself, and the bill is usually 60% of what guided tours are (5 flights on this trip) hotels (6 on this trip),  I stay longer and see more than the tours do and usually know more than the tour guide does. However time schedules are stressful and delays may cost you whereas tour companies usually absorb this. My vacations are really not relaxing but grueling workaholic fact finding photo expeditions. Three and four in the morning to dark thirty, days are full, there is usually an apple or cheese crackers for lunch. I suck the melted Hershey bars from the wrapper and there is never enough water. I like it like that. I go to see something new and beautiful and come home every day completely exhausted, to crash and look at some of the images I made that day to make sure I am doing my best. I have a photographic memory. It's a wonderful thing to be able to relive these special days far into the future.

The language barrier is really no problem, just negotiate where you want to go, which takes few words, smile, pat the driver on the back, say I buy lunch, OK?  And its on cousin. This simple offering suggests that you take care of the people around you, and instills confidence in strangers you need to help you. Keep your word, and be good to them, this allows for their judgment to give you the benefit of the doubt, and they will take you to that special place no one else gets to see. They will work hard for you.

Ruins atop Pumatallis, terraces at Ollantaytambo overlook Sacred Valley.

Know from exactly which point in the ruin you need to be at sunrise to get the image you fancy. Study the forums, (Trip Advisor)  and others who will answer all your questions before you get to Peru with them. Peru is not the place to be unknowing. Ponder google images for every possible image of a particular sight and know that there will be a dandy you wont know about until you get back home.

Watch the videos on YouTube.  Buy a couple books on the Sacred Valley and Cusco on line. There are so many to choose from. No I don't get paid for this. When you get back you will understand fully. I just don't want you to miss U. flight 854 IAH Depart Houston 4:50pm  nonstop approx. 6.5 hrs Arrive Lima 10:54.

Brugmansia (Angels Trumpet) grows wild here.

The Peruvian Sole is a very stable currency at about .33 to the USD. So don't worry about trading cash. Bring unblemished Soles and a few US dollars from a US or foreign bank. Don't trade in Peru as counterfeit is common. Funds for services are commonly secured by credit card # at time of booking, but when its time to pay up in Peru, businesses and individuals usually want cash. US dollars are largely welcome but the Sole is boss here and good as gold. Peru is a cash society. People here do business in cash. They will scrutinize both sides of every bill you give them as they have all been burnt. Don't hand them money any faster than they can look it over. This is not polite. Peruvians are a very polite and patient people. They want late model clean and crisp currency without excessive wear.

We stayed at Ollay 3 days. Its owners were two young people, with a little boy getting started in the hotel/taxi/tour business. The hotel manager was an eager to help people person from Belgium, he spoke fluent English, French, Spanish for sure and people from Belgium often speak German, the language of their eastern neighbors and probably family, but I did not hear it spoken. But this is not typical.

 Tourism is big in Peru and its people are excellent in the hotel restaurant trade. Did I say the food is outstanding, fresh, beautifully prepared. The alpaca, Llama meat isn't wild tasting but much like beef. Roasted chicken is is where I started while I did a lot of tasting of so many vegetables I had never seen before. Peruvian food is far more healthy than American food and a late lunch is the big meal of the day at which time everything stops brother, everything. Check with you doctor to see if you can eat the unpeeled uncooked fruits and vegetables.  The small, yellow, bruised up, pointed, bananas are better than any banana I've ever tasted here in the U.S.

Hotels can arrange any kind of tour, get you a car taxi, motorbike taxi in 5 minutes, know where everything is in town and The Sacred Valley, and for some reason have the most soft spoken, patient and polite receptionists, real Ladies and Gentleman. I am practicing this. It would be a good place to send American children to school to learn some respect from the Peruvian children.

Ronaldo, our driver took us down every beautiful road in the Sacred Valley. I had no idea the countryside in the high country near Maras was so beautiful, especially the rolling hills within sight of glaciers in the high Andes, and patchwork different colored farm fields and sprawling golden wheat fields that touch the clouds. Holy Smoke man, I would have gone much, much farther to see that alone.

Typical street in old town, ancient ruins upper left.

Ronaldo took us to Morray, Maras, Chinchero, Pisac, Sacsayhuaman, and other gems near Cusco and then to our hotel in Cusco.

Our hostal in Ollay had just outside the window a rocky, mountain fed stream, a towering mountain, and a cornfield with a farmer tending his cows and burrows in the old manner. These people treated us really good. They were more than reasonable, and we felt safe with them. The little boy likes Hershey bars and M&Ms, Could you bring some extra? 


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ollantaytambo

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacred_Valley

Growing Sweet Corn

The pan is 9 inches wide.

 This is the 1st season I planted Mirai 350bc sweet corn. I read about it in online reviews. All I heard was praise. So I bought a thousand untreated seed from Vermont Bean.

When the seed arrived it looked desiccated beyond what corn seed should look like.  So I figured I might have gotten bad seed.

Late winter here in zone 8b was warm enough for the grass to be green in my garden, and far too wet to prepare rows which we must use in South Louisiana to keep the seed from sitting in water in our flat terrain.

If planting 2 different types corn, you must have them at least 1000' apart to realize a crop true to name, to prevent cross pollination.

Clouds parted for a couple days and I tilled the garden with a heavy tiller. Weather would not permit any drying time, so I made rows and planted the crummy looking seed in almost mud, and churned up grass. When I got through all I could say good was the rows were straight. I wouldn't give 2 bits for the whole dog gone thing. Sometimes it's the best one can do.

Plant a seed young man.

It rained three weeks during which time every single seed came up in the mud, like rice. The mole crickets moved in and cut a few. I managed to hoe around it at about 12 inches tall, and hill a little. I sprayed seedlings for cut worms. It rained.

I sprayed the new silk for worms and worms gave me no trouble. It did very well growing in mud. It made a pretty good number of ears. It is by far the tenderest corn I have ever eaten, and the sweetest. Ears are a little small (6 to 7 inches, the pan is 9 inches wide) but extremely uniform and easier to handle, and chomp on when eating fresh boiled. I think this is good, despite the fact I wanted big ears. Huh! I have changed my mind again. 

 There are many good types of sweet corn to plant, but I will probably plant this again next season, as I am very happy with its performing so well under adverse conditions. This fact is uncommon. Good Luck.

Terraces Above Urubamba River, Sacred Valley Peru

You must enlarge to appreciate.

Ancient farm terraces lie idle 3000 foot above the Urubamba River. Swords of first light reveal, a garden in the sky.

This is one of the most difficult places in the world to get to if you figure the number of flights, cabs, trains, buses, tickets, bribes, but it was every bit a blessing. I had about 4 seconds to make this image as the sun came over this sharp moan-tane so quickly. Five seconds would not reveal the swords any longer. I took one at about 2.5 seconds and one at 4 seconds and it was gone. This is the one at 2.5 seconds. The other is slightly lighter. Both are in good focus and definition. This is the 5 seconds of magic I've been telling you about cousin, and it will carry you over.


This will be the first of many images I made throughout the Magnificent Country of Peru, and The Andes Mountain Range, where from I learned the correct pronunciation of the word     " Moan-tane " by a spiritual Peruvian. I believe He's right.

From Lima south to Arequipa across the High Desert/Vicuna -Lama- Alpaca Reserve wilderness ( 8,000' to 16,800' ) and the breathless volcano region, to and along the Colca Canyon from Chivay. The many Inca and Pre Inca Megalithic stone masonry/ruins of the Sacred Valley and Cusco. Points of interests, Churches, Cathedrals, Convents, Monasterys, Holy Places, pottery, jewelry, art of all sorts, Peruvian Market, farms, indigenous peoples and culture.

My favorite medium has always been film, color negative or slide. This is the absolute reason I have shown you so few of the images I have made in so many wonderful places. Because I have a hundred good negatives for every image I've shown you, but they have never been scanned and converted to digital which must happen to get them online into google images. Yes I did use my $99 printer scanner to do those fuzzy ones. I've been so busy working for so long, but I quit all that. I'm going to buy a good scanner soon and haul out the shoe boxes of negatives.

On this last trip the rewind mechanism broke on my favorite film camera on the first day in Lima on the third roll of 120 slides. Good news is every frame I took after that point is available now. I did it all in digital on a new camera I had just bought in case. I shot 10 times what I would on film. Sure I got a heap of junk, but I am finding out there probably is 4000 images on the disks, and some are kik ass. I made more good images on this trip than I would have with film,  but the best are usually film. 

If I can figure out how to get the digital definition on line as it is on camera and monitor. Terraces above Urubamba image definition is far better than the windows 10 version you see. Will republish better later.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacred_Valley 

Kilauea, Gifts to Pele

Place where native people come to honor the Goddess of the Fire.

 will always be true, in this new day adorned with wonder_ there is entwined, reputable information that would greatly alter the firm conclusions you have made_ because you are only a man.

So be humble, and thankful.




Kilauea volcanic vent, Volcanoes National Park, Big Island Hi. The Southernmost and largest of the Hawaiian Islands. The southernmost point in the U.S.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawai%CA%BBi_Volcanoes_National_Park

Louisiana Irish Potatoes

Seed potatoes only from feed store or last spring. Plant February 15.

Very well drained sandy soil 8'' apart. A little fertilizer now more later when hilling dirt around plants when 10" tall.

Middlebuster

It helps to remove greenery before plowing.

So_ when the furrow is empty, you will remember when it was full.

Louisiana Iris 2

Jeri

Aunt Shirley

Ticfaw

Red Velvet Elvis

Delta Dawn

Lady Regina

Collected in the wild beside Gibson bridge Creole La.

Her Highness and Yellow Flag

KJ 2000 Bible

Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves; be therefore wise as  serpents, and harmless as doves.

Wood Duck Box

One of the simple pleasures of life is having a pond on your place, and no pond is complete without visits from wild ducks and what ever else wild you fancy to attract. It's a primal thing that becomes sweeter, more valuable with the experience of a lifetime of seasons. After all this time of being a die hard hunter, I have learned to love these birds and their environment through the understanding of a generous number of glorious sunrises in duck paradise. I must learn to put some of both back.

Please do not criticize people who hunt game, because these very people are the only people who care enough about game and the environment enough to buy land for habitat purposes for the very game they hunt. These very hunters are the only human beings who care sufficiently to understand the ways of nature, perpetuate the species.

This is the 4th set of boxes I've made in 38 years of living on this my home place. It is my opinion this is the best method to build them. To be successful you must see hatched shells in the boxes at the end of summer, even though you may never see the hen leave the nest with her brood. Evolution has made her the perfect creator of ducks. What human beings have forgotten is fresh on her mind, how to conceal and protect her young.

A screw in every point is necessary for wind resistance

 You may attract mating pairs of wood ducks with these nesting places, but you must then protect the eggs from amongst others, 2 major predators of nesting sites, namely raccoons and chicken snakes. The location of the boxes is important. Do not place boxes where varmints can jump to or on them from trees or any other objects. The bottom of nest boxes should be at least 5 feet from the ground so that critters including squirrels can't jump to them. It is imperative that a shield be built of sufficient strength to deter minks, racoons, opossums, and most of all chicken snakes, even though you are not around water. If you do not construct a heavy duty shield that will withstand strong winds and hungry critters you are wasting your and the ducks time and season. You will only feed chicken snakes, and never see young ducklings with their mother. It's down to earth gratifying.

I have built boxes of old growth red heart cypress 1 x 12 lumber which will absolutely last longer than any other wood. I know after so many years of watching these nest boxes deteriorate, that a good roof on the box will allow it to withstand the elements far longer. That's why I made the roof on these boxes much bigger. It's a good rainy weather project, and here is good advice free from an old man who has built and still maintains 30 or so give or take a tree falling in the night, in a storm.

Nest at eye level for ease of maintenance

This ultimate box location will be easily maintainable, a grown man's eye level from the ground, close to trees and cover for wood ducks ( a creature that loves clutter ) but not so close as to be easily jumped on from above or below. Do not place boxes where hawks can swoop from above at high rates of velocity, with ease to attack ducks perched attop boxes which they love to do. Hawks love duck meat, live in twos and threes, some times fours in successful years when they rear 2 chicks. This makes 4 big hungry mouths to feed. A family of hawks will decimate a whole neighborhood of peace loving ducks without remorse. The dozing ducks will never know what hit them. Hawks will wipe you out brother, the self defense mechanism of a duck is no match for the speed and skill of the hawk, and don't get caught taking revenge on those hawks... Huh......So here's what you do see,,,

Black Bellied Tree Ducks also nest in these boxes

1.Get to Home Depot.

2. Almost forget about finding old growth cypress, it's almost impossible to find, and will cost you an arm and a leg.

3. Go to the .5 inch thick x 5.5 inch wide cedar board fencing. Cull all but the clear grained boards (boards without knots). It takes about 3 boards ($3.50 each) to make a box, gluing 2 together to make an 11 inch wide board, 3 boards wide for the roof. Make sure to let the boards dry before gluing them. Set them apart leaned vertically in your living room central air or on the porch in sunny weather for 2 or 3 days. Use a pair of clamps and wood glue to glue the boards together, or improvise to keep boards squeezed together over night till glue dries using plywood backing long nails and string contraption. It's not rocket science but do a civilized job.

4. The hole is 3 inches high and 4 inches wide, 18 inches from bottom of box. 1/4 inch mesh hardware cloth may be tacked from nest to hole to aid ducklings out of the box but you can also cut grooves with a skill saw to accomplish the same thing.

5. Make a hinged door with nails as in the photo cutting the door side board on an angle as pictured to keep elements from the nest.

6. What is apparently holding the box up is a 2 inch schedule 40 PVC pipe 7 or 8 feet long painted brown with rustoleum spray paint, $3.50 a can (does about 3.5 pipes/boxes).

7. 2 inch u clamp thingamajigs fit perfectly around PVC pipe bolted though box with 1/4 inch x 1 inch long  bolts with wide washers inside the box to prevent bolt head from pulling through the soft cedar wood. I used 1 inch glue coated nails that were not galvanized because a I could not find any that were. A simple latch.

There are freshly laid eggs  in this box buried in the shavings

8. The shield is 26 gauge galvanized sheet metal cut in a 36 inch circle. You will probably have to go to a sheet metal fabrication shop to find such a heavy gauge metal. Cut straight to center from edge, then a 2.1 inch x in the center of the 36 inch circle, then cut a second x to make this many points of very sharp sheet metal so wear finger protection. Drill through every point of metal and screw to PVC pipe so that shield will be exactly horizontal when set up. This will require a level, and assembling components (box, shield) after PVC pipe is placed over t post on location.

9. My biggest failure for 30 years was a dinky shield. This one is not dinky.

10. Drive a 6.5 inch steel t post where you want the box to temporarily be. Place pipe over t post. As trees grow, move box to prevent ambushes by predators.

11. Use medium pine shavings for nest. Wood duck nesting cavities are in short supply due to human population growth/deforestation. In late February, early March here in the South wood ducks are looking for nesting sites. When I put up a new box, usually in 2 or 3 days, ducks have found it.



In the far North of Canada, the Northwest Territory and Yukon, the Gate of Heaven opens to set free many sky's laden with ducks_  to hunt men.

Common Ground

Vatican Museum Painting

There are beautiful places in the world of all sorts, even in nooks and cracks. In the landscape there are hidden gems hard to imagine for one unknowing of their existence.

In just a short hike over a hill there is wildly captivating grandness, incomprehensible contrasts in form, infinite degrees of darkness and light, colors unseen in depths of endless fields,

created by a God or by a man whose great love made available this exclusive design_ one's uniquely personal call/gift to the other. This is the only art,

it is the knowledge that was absent in beginnings apart, appreciated mostly by the architect himself,
but only because he endured to know,

Half Dome, Yosemite

suffered to see past the vast dark emptiness where the beauty now lives.


We must learn to connect to the unfamiliar, though one is so unknowing of, or far from the other. Learn to associate, assemble those parts/people that allow freedom to understand indifference. This requires a high regard for continued education throughout one's life. It is the destiny of good men to promote the peace that resides in knowledge. It is the truth that wins_ that lives.  

Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, AZ

Not so important, is the ability to cross a desert_  but far better one learns to live in it.                  

This is the most beautiful desert I have ever seen. Yes, Deserts can be absolutely easy to look at. After a March to May rain in the Desert Southwestern U. S. they become gardens. No, men are not wise, but a rainy spring desert is.


Organ Pipe Cactus, Saguaro Cactus, Palo Verde, Teddy Bear Cholla, Ocotillo, Sage

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organ_Pipe_Cactus_National_Monument

Going to the Sun Road

A man should become more as he gets older, and not less, after having had such great freedom to create in himself, what he believes_ one independent being with the last say. He should see far past what hateful little men do, not to outlive his usefulness, but know what is grand, and find within, words worthy of the wonderful chance.


Image of Montana Rocky Mountains, taken from Going to The sun Road, Glacier Nat. Park

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Going-to-the-Sun_Road

Basilica Of Saint Mark

A freedom that is pure must surely require the most humble of questions every one, an earnest need to be whole above everything else.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Mark's_Basilica





Venice, Italy

Circuma Roscoeana

Very little information can be found on this beautiful orange flowering Circuma, just pictures on the web and lots of questions. It's hard to find in the trade in this country and I suspect it may be more cold sensative than most, although it has behaved very well since last fall when I recieved the dormant bulbs from Thialand Plant Nursery. It's also available at times from a nursery in Oahu, HI selling on ebay.

I'm pretty sure I kept it too wet all winter in a 54 degree greenhouse hoping it would break dormancy in early spring like the other circumas I grow, but it didn't wake up until early summer much to my surprise. It then very quickly grew to 24 inches tall with 18 inch flower spikes for mid September, which is an impressive growth rate for any ginger or plant for that matter.

It is doing just fine under 50 percent shade cloth with no special treatment and I'm thrilled with it up until now. Next winter I will put a division in the ground and let you know how it fares here in zone 8b South Louisiana.

Taro Fields at Hanalei

What is good in a man life on a high place, and sees afar, into another time. A spirit being he is, endowed with abilities to create beauty where there was darkness.  His dominion be the colors of light, where the call of a voice so true permeates a scattering of all things_ longing for oneness. 

But, upon this hill he is met by relentless temptation to allow himself vanity and material possession, which he cannot own_ not even the slightest little thing. Still, he struggles, and in his weakness all he knows is what he wants, Glory. His great power is weakened by the number of the days he is compromised, his understanding lost to this exact degree, and in these days the meaning of all words in his and his children's world is forever changed as they believe they are, what they are not.

Moses
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moses

Mount Nebo 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Nebo

Image of Taro Fields at Hanalei, Kauai, HI