Peruvian Folklore Tales of the unexpected

I have been chatting to some of the engineers and mechanics who work on the site and who love to practise there English, but even though these guys are pretty well educated they still start telling tales of strange things in Peru. They invoke traditional Peruvian folklore about strange creatures that I found so funny but I had to keep a straight face when told so as not to give offence. I was told one day of a strange and mighty butterfly that is enormous and extremely beautiful and that I was never to touch it under any circumstances. The reason being it had the head of a reptile and could give me a poisonous bite, he told me with almost a whisper and with that wild eyed look of a weary sailor. I couldn’t quite believe my ears when he said that. This well educated man telling me silly stuff like that. We all know that all moths and butterflies are nectar feeders and have no mouth parts to speak of at all, so to say it had a bite that was poisonous was almost ludicrous but this is Peru after all and the Incas may have given them many folk tales to listen to. Today I was told of a mighty bird of prey that only feeds at night and eats monkeys only. So I asked if it was an owl and I was told no, there are a few birds that feed at night but not any large eagles I know of that can see at night. Only owls do that and they are better feeders at dawn or dusk, but he was insistent about his huge monkey eating night eagle. It is my challenge to find the most outrageous Peruvian folk tale now to see if it beats Bigfoot or the Yeti. We will see.