Of Gollum and the Bell-ringer

'So you want to get out of the bus here?'
'Yes, stop please'
'But you know that there's no transport to San Pedro, right?'
'No, in fact I didn't. Is it far to walk?'
'5 kilometers at least, just follow the road'
'Ok, I'll walk. Put me off the bus'
As a gringo ecologist in Peru, you need some persuasive skills to get the local bus drivers to drop you off where you want them to drop you off, which is usually in the middle of nowhere. The middle of nowhere is exactly where ecologists try to be, but bus drivers over here initially never see that as an option. Gringos are supposed to go to city centres and visit churches. So that's what they do. Goodbye frame of reference. I'm breaking minds open in this country.
So there I was. Alone in the desert of Sechura. Determined to walk to the coast. Luis had told me that I could find Algarrobo and Zapote there, so I was going to check out if this site was worthwile of further investigation.
To comfort the busdriver a little, I made some big strides in the direction of the sea.
I had barely walked 50 meters, when I saw a little red cat walking straight towards me. He had black spots of some kind of infection on his face. He was continiously miauwing as if there was a fly stuck in his throat.
I thought he must be hungry and thirsty being out here without his mother in the middle of the desert. I put my bag on the ground in order to get him some food.
He instantly climbed inside it, so I took him out and fed him some chifles and water. But he would take neither of the two.
'Hmmm...'
I told him I had to go and do some research, so there I went again, leaving the little one behind (he seemed pretty energetic) hoping he would find himself a good destiny. But he didn't see it that way. He came after me, and before I knew it, he was between my legs. He climbed on top of me as soon as I stopped. So there we went, through the desert. At times, he wanted to go down, and jumped off. The he followed me again, miauwing in two voices. He seemed to have a good and an evil voice. Gollum, I called him.
When he became tired, I lifted him up, and he climbed up my shoulder. I carried him, singing songs for him, while he was miauwing in my ear.
The road was longer than I expected. It took about 2 hours to get to the coast.
I found a lot mangrove there, but no semi-arid Algarrobo-Zapote landscape. 'Where did Luis get that idea?' I still have to ask him. It's not a common mistake for a biologist to confuse Mangrove with Desert. But no village to buy milk for Gollum either.
Gollum wanted to go down, and walked around the landscape at once. I took a break from my long walk, thinking I might never see him again. I ate my chifles, and drank some water, while I made the plan to walk to Sechura, a town I saw on the way towards the coast. Then, when I left, about half an hour after my arrival at the mangrove, Gollum decided to follow me again.
This time, he didn't really want to be carried, but he couldn't follow me walking either. I went to fast and he was tired. I put him in my bag and walked making breaks once in a while, to give him some air.

So it happened that I was crossing the desert with a little red cat in my bag, wondering what might happen if I took him home to Piura.
A river blocked our way. We had to make a detour and luckyly chose the right way. Gollum didn't want to drink of the river water. When I sat down with him, I noticed he just wanted to sleep im my shade.
But on we went, and I kept singing songs to him. At a certain point, I accepted that I had taken up the responsability for this little one, and started to explain him that we would go to the city, where he would live with me. We saw bright red and yellow birds flying around us.
Sechura came closer and closer, and when we heard the first noises of the city, Gollum started miauwing panickily. I decided to give him one more chance to stay here in the oasis.
I put him next to the river, and told him to drink water and hunt for lizards. Then I left. And Gollum didn't follow. After about 100 meters, I decided to sit down, and give him a fairer chance. Then, wondering if the little one was able to decide for himself, I went back to look for him.
But he was gone. I felt like I had ended up in the film of Jungle Book, at the moment where Mowgli goes to the Man-Camp.

After more walking and a very fresh Ceviche (crude fish with lemon and onion), I found myself in front of the main altar of the Cathedral of Sechura.
I heard myself think 'forgive me, father, coz I don't know if I've made the right choice'. In english, even. I doubted even the reply that there are no wrong choices.
When I was about to leave the church, a guy entered whom I met at the Ceviche place. He introduced me to the Bell-Ringer of the Cathedral. And a typical one he was. He knew all the secrets of the building, almost like if he was the building. He had the keys to the doors, and led me up the roof, explaining the different types of styles the spanish had brought along with their ravaging inquisition. Some aspects of the church where Inca, others where Roman, French, Italian and Greek. He knew a lot about Architecture in general, heaving read all about it.
While the sun was setting, he gave me a concert with his bells, easing the pain in my heart for leaving Gollum behind, showing once again that things are as they are supposed to be, allthough the lord works in mysterious ways. It is crazy how fast a man can get attached to something as cute and furry as a little cat.
The tour ended with a demonstration of the accoustics of the church. With a howling voice, Jose the Bell Ringer spoke about the constructional physics and energectis of the building that made the vibrations of sound strengthen and solidify within the huge hall of the church. I watched the signs 'Silencio' below, and reckoned the bell ringer has the right to demonstrate the curch the way he wants to.
'Wow' I screamed, and did some more voice experiments, to see how it felt. Great is the word. The bell ringer told me that during the silence of the night, one can still hear the whispering emotions of all the people who have been here over the years. Because sound never dies.

After a big reciprocal thanks, I left for my trip back to Piura, in wonder of what I learned this day.