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In Southern Colombia, there is a city called, San Agustin, which is known for an enigmatic civilization that once lived there. As most ancient civilizations have done, the Agustinians left behind ruins. Except their ruins weren't in the form of pyramids or temples but hundreds upon hundreds of intricately carved stone heads. These large stone heads are believed to have served as gravestones marking burial plots, but sometimes represented idols as well.
While exploring the site, Genny and I passed by a few small farms. At one such farm, we stopped and took some pictures when we heard a soft peeping sound coming from behind us. We turned around to see a little, black chicken chick all alone. We named him Peeper. Now, I don't know if it was the fact that we were both wearing black, or that being alone is not a good survival strategy for a chick (I'd like to think it is not because we look like big chickens), but Peeper started following us. We allowed it at first, as it was kind of cute to have our little chicken friend tour the ruins with us, but after descending a rather steep hill together, we decided that it would probably be better if Peeper stayed at home.
Our first attempt to leave Peeper behind was the old run away tactic. We would run down the steps on the hill and surely he couldn't follow, but as we ran down, we looked back to find Peeper sprinting to the edge of each step and hurtling himself off to the next. He would not be lost so easily.
A Plan B needed to be devised. Once Peeper arrived at the bottom of the stairs, I scooped him up (strangley, he didn't resist) and carried him back up all the 30 or so steps we all just ran down. Knowing this bird to be rather persistent and particularly fearless when it comes to steps, I decided to take it up a notch and set up a series of obstacles for Peeper to navigate while we made our getaway. I found a ditch on the side of the path that was open at either end (don't worry, I didn't just drop Peeper into his grave), and I blocked the exit that lead in our direction. The idea was that once Peeper figured out that he couldn't get by the rock and climbed out of the ditch on the other side, we would have been long gone. It worked! We put Peeper in the ditch and sprinted down the stairs and out of site. We kept checking behind us to make sure he hadn't caught up to us, but he never did. It would be a lie though to say that part of me didn't want him to.
- comments
mamanan I still say that you guys should put all of these pictures and blogs into a book and get it published. This is such a cute story! I hope Peeper lives a long and productive life! He sounds like he/she is plenty resourceful.
Alena I agree with mamanan! What an awesome story! I love little animal stories - through the years the girls have always managed to find a little guy out on the trail or camping, whether it was a small frog (which we always named - the last being Fabio), a bird or rodent. They all became characters who chose to interact with them! LOVE the Peeper Story...