Naturally, it's November... {NSM! linkup}

But can you honestly believe it?! November?! As in a month and a half 'til it's a new year?! My life is flying before my eyes. Speaking of flying and flitting, would you believe we landed in moth mecca? It was incredible. I've never seen so many moths in one place, let alone of such variety! Of course, I'll tell you about it! Just let's start at the beginning of the story...

At the end of last month, we took one of our rousing and rollicking road-trips across the entire country of Peru. Jungle, Andes, Pacific coast all in one really long day (though we usually split it into two pretty long days)! Oh, and there were 9 of us this time. My mom joined us almost directly off the plane, and there was Christine, who is cheerfulness in the flesh, plus the regular seven of the Tuttle Tribe. Yep, first it was 13 hours easterly, then 3 hours straight south on the Panamerican Highway and we were once again arrived in the coastal city of Trujillo. We were there for a record short amount of time (5 extremely busy days). Still, it was long enough for my brother recently arrived from the States, to surprise us all by ringing the doorbell of the house we were staying at, early on Siah's birthday! Then it was pack all back in the Jack (the name of our minivan); this time with 10. Boy, was that exciting! :)

We got to do a little more site-seeing this trip due to being blessed with guests, but I'd better leave most of those details to a different story since this one is supposed to get back around to moths (don't worry, we're getting there). After a long drive the first day, we stayed in a hotel, uh, hostal... well, no. It really was just a very rustic house way up in the mountains. I hope the pictures we took will do it justice. On the second night, we stayed at an honest to goodness hostal, which was also up in the mountains, only not so high up. It was slightly more modern, except they were far from honest, cold-heartedly cheating us out of the pledged, pre-paid and earnestly yearned for breakfast the next morning. After all these long days climbing mountains and such, and little sleep, the third night, we merited a stay at the White House (La Casa Blanca), a hotel built practically on the highway, traffic sounds and party-people noise included at no extra charge. It was a grand adventure to say the least.

That last day, we had a long drive ahead of us. We were all exhausted and quite ready to be on the homeward track. About an hour down the road (or up it, would probably be more accurate), we were surprised and super excited (...moths?! not yet... we're almost there, I promise.) We hit the jackpot! A gas station that offered GLP (autogas, LPG or liquified petroleum gas, to be exact)! This was very exciting, as it is the first station on the very long route across the mountains and this type of gas cuts our travel expense drastically. We pulled in, half expecting that the sign would be false and they would not have GLP as is so often the case. But, we not only found what we were looking for, we found what must otherwise be known in the Lepidoptera world as Moth Mecca. It was incredible. We were so tired we thought we were dreaming, but lo and behold, the pictures are on my camera to prove it!

There were thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of moths, everywhere. Not flitting and flapping in a way that might make one nervous. They were all just placidly sitting there sunning their wings. Or something. How would I know what they were thinking of doing? Apparently, in that place practically in the middle of nowhere, they have big lights on after dark, and though it was mid-morning by the time we pulled in, there were still a myriad of moths all over the pavement, building, garbage cans, everywhere. It was awesome.

So, aspiring to be a good nature study mama as I do, I got out of the car, made everyone else get out, and I gazed and I ooh'ed and ahh'ed and I took lots of pictures of moths. We ourselves were the marvel of the Peruvian gas station attendants. They couldn't believe how interested we were in those bugs. They even stopped sweeping up the mass of winged wonders while we were there so that we could get a really good look. :)

Well, after all, I don't know if the story was worth the wait, but I was really excited about it and the pictures. Below are some of them. See if you can see a pattern. Next, maybe you can find the one that is not like the others. Lastly, there is one who rebelliously refused to stay put in line like the clown he is colored after. And if any of you actually look and find these, you are truly worthy of my awe and gratitude for the interest you have taken in this here extremely lengthy blog post.


Super lovely, wouldn't you say?!

The yellow with black spotted ones were all about the same size, with approx. 2 1/2 inches wing-span, which may give context to the others you see them next to. it makes that one VERY pretty moth, my favorite, look very large.


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The {Nature Study Monday} link up is for ANY nature study-ish blog post written at any time during the current month. Which means, when you submit your link, it will show up in every. single. {NSM} post. during the whole month! Oh, and be not confused, feel free to link up on any day, be it Monday or not! (scroll down for linky).

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