la luna

when we first arrived in ollantaytambo, the moon was somewhere close to being new. on one of my first nights here, i went for a walk after dinner to the main plaza. the street that my house is on is long and dark, bordered by houses on one side and overlooking the urubamaba river on the other. i stopped and noticed for the first time how many stars there actually are. the stars didn´t cover the entire sky though. if i looked up, they were everywhere, but if i looked out, it was just black. i stood there in the dark trying to figure out why until i remembered that we are in the mountains. they are a beautiful presence in the day, surrounding the town, standing out against the blue, blue sky and now i recognized them in the dark.

we are now approaching a full moon and the mountains are not quite so black at night. i can make out their peaks and folds. last night the moon made the clouds that were hovering low over the inca ruins that overlook the town glow a pale green-blue.

we are planning a night of camping on sunday at pumamarka when the moon will be full. i wonder what we will be able to see then.