Nazca (Peru) to Trujillo (Peru): Photos 21 to 28

Aye in the catelogue ye go for men

Going up a long yellow-green curve of Altiplano I see him,
Chase instinct triggered
A well-used toilet brush torpedoes towards me.
Bandits at three o´clock!
Chest steady, legs thump through dust,
Chaotic fronds of mangy brown hair
Focussed on pursuit.
Still a hundred yards away yet closing in earnest.

Flanked by two others, he is the emperor of this humble patch of dirt and grass
The immediate geography conspires against me,
I cannot simply smile smugly and freewheel gleefully away
Instead I must climb and confront him at the pass.

What kind of beast is he?
Like men they come in many shapes and forms.

Elder statesmen stretched out on the heated tarmac of a latin afternoon
Indifferently nod their baked heads,
Certain in the knowledge that I will not give them meat.

Young bloods whose green bark carries a hollow sound,
Lacking conviction they will merely stand their ground.

Best of course, are the dead.
Picked a quarrel with the wrong truck and
Now wear a tyre print on their head.
At last, peacefully supine.

This fellow is of the worst sort,
Before he smells

Full Text Entry: Nazca (Peru) to Trujillo (Peru)