Sunday, 12 May 2013

A 4 hour walk in the country side, so nice!

I am given some delicious Spanish sunshine today.  To begin with . .   No,  it was just overcast.  Then around midday ... the sky cleared up and brilliant sunshine poured forth :-) Yet the air retained its distinct chill so that we don't forget there is snow on those mountains on the horizon.  Fredy & I went for a four hour walk leaving here at about midday, this time we went in a different direction to the city.  This time we went through some farm land and some very well used plain ol dirt tracks through the scrub. Then worked our way up onto a good sized hill that Fredy calls a mountain.  We were able to look out over the city. We saw quite a bit of wildlife too.
I saw 2 skinks in the end of a novaflow pipe that was buried end on in the concrete of a bridge I was crossing, I almost stood on them as they each  scurried  over the other to get into the hole first. We saw hawk-like birds an a pair of ... what looked a lot like wood pigeons!  Cousins I would say going by the way they moved and flew, size and shape too.... only their colours were ... milder. We also saw a pair of ciguenas (the ones that carry babies said Fredy,  hmmm if only it was that easy ae? :-)  yes they were Storks.  They are bigger than I imagined. There are a lot of Golondrinas (swallows) here, and it made me wonder ... when they get to NZ in spring they have chicks, right? Then they migrate to another country for another spring ... and another set of chicks? So twice a year?
Other birds we heard but didn't see are Cuckoos ... I just had to imitate back to them :-) And then this funny sounding bird that went " click-click-click-click squeeeeel!  :-)  We saw large ants with big nippers.... Fredy assured me that they are not big at all compared to the ones of his country ... easily 2 centimetres long!!  I saw an orange and white mariposa (butterfly,  but it moved too quickly for me to get a good picture of it. ) I saw a small heard of cows and some of them had bells on :-)  don't know why cos their paddock was flat an clear of scrub and bush there was really no way of losing them ...  An on the way back we saw 4 fluffy little patitos (ducklings) in the river.  When looking down from the hill top we saw an area of gatden plots with a scattering of small sheds amid, , Fredy explained that people rent these areas to grow vegetables in, ... what an amazing contrast of lifestyle especially when you have a look in these photos I'll post. ..to see the typical "back yard" these people have, all concreted over ... no natural ground ... and almost rarely used says Fredy.
In the distance we could see the Cathedral de Leon and could look over the whole city of Leon (population being about 120, 000) an we saw a series of snow capped mountains on the horizon.
When we arrived home Santiago had prepared lunch (dinner) for us, pork chops, salad and boiled platanos (bananas)! These bananas are a little different from the ones we are used to (more starchy but still sweetish) and and are cut into thirds or quarters, and cooked in their skins for about 30 mins. It's a normal "farmers meal" in Columbia Santiago explained. And of course it was accompanied by the usual box of juice and milk.  :-)
Then this evening Santiago made me another traditional thing from Colombia ... "agua de panela" a drink made from breaking a piece off this block of hardened brown sugar. .. boiling it with water and adding lemon juice, it is had either hot or cold, I had it hot :-) nice.

The next day we had tomato soup with (this time they were normal) sliced bananas in it!! Again a usual way of eating in Colombia :-)

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