La Cordillera Oriental

While Coral led the students overland from Rumi Loma down to La Libertad, our low camp I threw the dice on Big Blue. Packing up all the gear and driving the long way around by road solo. Fortunately there were no breakdowns, no problems. Cruising the high altitude highway in this fantastic beast of a machine. Like a mad cartoon character chugging along on a monster. In Taday there was a festival and I wanted to stop so bad but had to meet them by an appointed hour else something happened.

In Rivera the new paved road for the dam ends and the hardpan rocky road begins. Hugging the hilltops weaving into inner Canar providence and our field site in the heart of the Cordillera Oriental. A patchwork of small fields along the hillsides. Did you know in the Andes farmers can literally fall out of their fields sometimes? Think about that...Past adobe straw homes, furry pigs by the roadside, and belligerent bullocks drawn to the plow. Its a gorgeous place like walking back in time a little.

El campo Andino.