Hi guys,
Thank you sooo much for nominating us in Mashable’s Open Web Awards. We’ve made it to Round 1 Voting!
Let’s help everyone find out how awesome our travellers are! 64,000 unique travel tips since we opened our doors this year! You guys rock!
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Thanks to Shaherose over at Jajah, I found out about the Open Web Awards.
I’m hoping that we’ll be able to raise more awareness of our site with this, so please, nominate us in the Travel Category!
Why should you nominate us? Though small, and almost completely self funded - we’ve already got a super active community that has been furiously contributing their experiences to the world about various attractions, destinations and whatnot. I’d love to see their work recognized! I mean, one month after having launched officially, we have more reviews of the top 100 attractions than the leading travel review web site. How about that for effort? Thanks guys! 
I wrote this over a month ago, and between rushing to Norway to the UK and back, didn’t get a chance to post it till now.
Last Friday, I watched a private screening of Storm over Everest by David Breashears.
I thought that was cool to start.
Even better was that David Breashears was in attendance for questions. :) I was super-thrilled given that I loooooved the IMAX Kilimanjaro and IMAX Everest — loved enough to actually hike the IMAX Kilimanjaro route in 2006 and am looking to do the Everest Base camp trek one day. Ahhh…need money. And time. And to get back in shape. 
The film documents the Everest disaster - focusing on the survivors’ experiences and their personal reflections on the events between May 10th to 12 between Camp 4 and the summit. The resulting deaths witnessed by the survivors made 1996 the deadliest year in Everest’s climbing history. The documentary centres around three climbing teams - one led by Scott Fischer from Mountain Madness, another by Rob Hall of Adventure Consultants, plus an independent team including Makalu.
It started with a grand look at the breathtaking scenery of the region, framing the teams as they moved towards their dream goal. You could sense the excitement and hear their determination. The beautiful weather and high spirits well conveyed the lull before the storm. There were setbacks of course and a few ominous signs - one member wasn’t able to continue as the other member chose to push ahead; Scott Fisher looked tired even during his ascent. Overall though, Everest felt like a wonderful place to be, and it was a great feeling watching several determined teams move towards their dreams.
As the day went by, as person after person reached their summit goal, you started to see a few questionable calls - pushing forward even when tired, celebrating too long atop the summit..the crowds and the ensuing delays…turnaround times past the safety mark; dark clouds coming n rapidly. Decision after decision - small in itself, contributed to a large, troubling buildup of what was to come.
The storm arrives. And what happens next is nothing but horror-ed fascination as the survivors are caught by surprise. Trapped on the mountain in the darkness with shrieking winds and cold cold climates, we watched the recreation of each scene; the behaviour of each cluster of survivors. With no scenery to distract, we listened to their thoughts, saw the amazing resilience of those who had the will to survive juxtaposed against those that no longer did. The bulk of the film rested in this section, and really, this was where the most interesting insight was to be had.
As the film wraps up, the survivors reflect back on their actions and of those around. Interestingly there were no accusations, just a matter-of-fact acceptance of what happened. Still though, I can’t help but wonder about the gap between what was publicly explained and the private feelings that may still be harboured. Fittingly one of the last questions was raised by Makalu - “would I have gone on if I knew what would have happened? “
After the fact it’s clearly a no.
But in the same situation again, would the same sequence have played out?
There’s no way to know.
~~~~
I had an interesting reaction watching this film. I found myself captivated by the stories told by the survivors. Hours after the film, various interview segments continued to play through my mind. It’s easy to judge behaviour in an armchair observing events unfold. Would I also have struggled to go on if the summit was so tantalizingly close and when it’s been a lifelong dream and a 5 week trek? Would I have had the strength to let it go?
Back in 2006, I watched my fiance’s evacuation 900 feet from Kilimanjaro’s summit in the middle of the night. He was delirious from the altitude; recognizing no one, oxygen levels dangerously low. As I sat through that night, knowing he was being taken down, I wrestled through multiple emotions - worry about how he was, of course relief that we found him in time (collapsed just outside his tent), but also anger that it happened, and disappointment that he wouldn’t be sharing the summit push with me.
Most poignant for me amongst all, was the realization that, if not for the guides’ intervention and insistence, I myself may not have made that same call. So would it have been any different if now instead I was near the summit of Everest, and I was making my own decision about myself?
So at the end of it, what did I think of the film? My first reaction would be to say I loved it, but that’s hard to say when watching a film about the hardships faced by a group of people who lived to tell the tale. Maybe the right statement would be to say that I really liked the way David Breashears told the story, and thought enough about it to order a copy off Amazon to share with other friends who I think are going to appreciate this documentary. I was really impressed by the fact that David Breashears personally funded this project to get it off the ground and to make it happen. He did this to ensure the integrity of the film & the characters portrayed. He didn’t want sensationalist angles, but rather, to get a real, as accurate look as possible look at what happened, how people felt, and what they did.
Kudos for that.
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Hey guys,
Quick update from me. We’ve got a cool contest.
You should enter this cool contest.
You can read about the travel contest here.
Basically, we are launching the Search for the Ultimate Intrepid Traveller, and we’d like to send one traveller on a $6000+ mystery trip personalized to his or her travel style.
What do you have to do?
1. Tell us where you’ve been (so we know where to send you)
2. Enter the contest.
How easy is that? Get started now on entering this contest!
This contest is sponsored by GeckoGo and Intrepid Travel, an adventure tour company specializing in off-the-beaten-path tours and destinations.
Sphere: Related ContentWho’s heard of Couchsurfing?
Who hasn’t?!
Couchsurfing’s one of those terms that I casually namedrop into conversation the way “lol” percolates through the internet. “You’re coming over to crash at my place? Sure couchsurf away!.”
Well we had the chance to chat with one of the founders of Couch Surfing, Dan Hoffer, and here are a few choice words he had to share about their organization.
Eric: Your formal title is Agent: Dan on the web site. So what do you do?
Dan: Agent Dan? Who told you that?
Eric: Uh… your web site?
Dan: Oh yeah! You can call me that. I also have a corporate title – Chairman and COO.
Eric: Awesome – very official sounding. So Couchsurfing first launched in 2004. How have things changed for the founders and the site since then?
Dan: Couchsurfing’s changed a lot since 2004. The defining moment for modern Couchsurfing came in 2006. We had a hardware failure and we lost all our data in the crash. But the community rallied behind us and helped us recover what we lost so we were able to re-emerge better and stronger!
Eric: Wow – that’s crazy! How did the community help?
Dan: Something like over 2000 people offered their services, including engineers and other technical folk to help us with data recovery. Other people re-entered their profile information. There was a huge outpouring of user support. It was really cool to see.
Eric: Well that says a lot about the loyalty of the Couchsurfing user base! From one fuzzy moment to another – what’s been your best Couchsurfing moment to date, if you can think of one?
Dan: Yeah, I think that would have to be the time I was travelling with my girlfriend in Sicily a few years ago, and we were invited over New Year’s Eve to go dancing on a cruise ship just off the coast of Sicily. It just ended up being one of those perfect nights, and I know that if it weren’t for my Couchsurfing host, I would never have found out about this event or been able to track down tickets.
By default Couchsurfers are a hospitable bunch and they work hard to provide a positive experience for their guest.
Eric: I take it you still Couchsurf. How often do you travel these days?
For business a lot. Couchsurfing I stayed on a couch in Dallas just a month ago.
Eric: So given a choice: Hostels, Hotels, or Couchsurfing?
Dan: Definitely Couchsurfing.
Eric: What no hostels?
Dan: Definitely not. You are meeting travellers, not locals.
Eric: Any idea what’s the longest someone has Couchsurfed without interruption?
Dan: Oh easily several months.
Eric: You say you’ve Couchsurfed in the remote jungles of Borneo. Where are the most remote couches located?
Dan: Oh we have couches all around the world. We even have some in Antarctica.
Eric: We’re convinced as more people travel and the world grows smaller, more people will be interested in reaching out and helping other nations. Do you know if any cool initiatives that were somehow sparked or helped out by Couchsurfing?
Dan: Actually Couchsurfing is launching a program this fall that addresses that. Specifically we are going to connect displaced refuges from natural disasters to temporary accommodations.
Eric: Wow that’s great! Stay tuned guys for this early next year!
Let’s talk about you now. Tell us a random fact about you that you’d like to share
Dan: I was once a tour guide in the Australian Outback.
Eric: How did that happen?
Dan: I was there. I was travelling by myself at the time and found out they needed someone who spoke French. I speak a little French. So I ended up doing guided tours to wealthy French people.
Eric: Well Agent Dan, thanks for taking the time to chat with us!
Not your usual couch!
Check out couchsurfing.com!
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It’s my birthday.
Correction, it was my birthday.
Major correction — It was my birthday like a month ago. I took my time to write this post.
Of all the options available to me, I decided that the most fun would be to crash somebody else’s bday.
So that’s what I did.
And this post is about those adventures. Warning, it’s long.
~~~~~~~~~~~
The day before my birthday, I kidnapped the gang, stuffed a cooler full of blueberries, and went from one moment of figuring out how to celebrate getting older and more wrinkley, the next we were all crammed in a car full of blankets driving up north.
Now. What gets packed on a road trip requires utmost consideration. For me, the food is very important critical. Road trip junk food binges are an integral part of this kind of experience. So I made sure I had plenty of food. Pokin’s needs? Met.
And Eric? Suspiciously, my proof went missing, but picture Eric in the back seat of the car with the following in hand:
Pillow? check.
Self? check
Deodorant? check.
Toothbrush in hand? double check.
Unlike the rest of us that trusted the backpack to hold all the necessary items, Eric deemed it most appropriate to hand-carry all said items within the car.
So here we are, in car. Now what? First thing to do?
Start heading in the wrong direction!
Since we haven’t been making any $$ for some time now because of GeckoGo, “cheap” was the operating term of the day. The cheapest car we could rent was over in the SJ airport. So down we went to pick up the car in record time so that we could then rectify the situation by sitting in construction traffic for the next two hours. Once we finally got to the I5, we settled in for some serious bonding time, knowing it was going to be us and the same strip of asphalt for about the next 14 hours.
Along the way, we agonize Eric by not-stopping at any of the Quiznos we see.
At about 9:00pm, we pull in to Eugene, Oregon, famished, ready for dinner. And we soon realize important lesson of the day #1
Important lesson of the day #1:
If you want real food, small-medium town cities in Oregon may not be the best place to look for it late in the night.
Fast food it was.
We ended up getting takeout from a Chinese buffet & BBQ place respectively.
Disappointed over the lack of a sit down restaurant option, we decide at some point in the evening to drown our sorrows over a nice thick milk shake. We hit up a Carls Jr.
Moments later, milkshakes are in hand.
Important lesson of the day #2:
Going for a sugar rush when you’re already tired means you’re in for a serious low after.
By this time it’s some time around 11:00 and we still haven’t hit Portland. The goal is technically Seattle and we’re all totally exhausted. Eyes start shutting as we’re driving.
Important lesson #3:
Rest stops are your best friend.
Rest stops were our best friends. A place to stretch…power nap…look out at the stars. They even have coffee! We took MAJOR advantage of those places.
Important Lesson #4:
The coffee isn’t very good.
Important Lesson #5:
You don’t really care at this point.
I think it was around 1:00am at this point that we realize we didn’t actually have a place to stay for the night. But it doesn’t take long before we find a place around the Sea-Tac airport. We have a target!
Some time around 2:30 or so we pull into the hotel, trudge up to the room, Eric brings his pillow with him and everyone passes out.
-Day 2- (my birthday! )
8:00am in the morning: phone rings. Our friend is outside the door. He’s to crash with us until 12:00pm when we’re to meet up with the rest of the birthday surprise squad. He comes in, curls up beside Eric and tries to go to sleep.
8:05am. He decides he’d rather go look for the new Apple iPhone. He recruits other iPhone hopefuls.
10:30am. Gang comes back. They managed to hit up almost every single AT&T / Apple store in the region but everyone is sold out.
Picture taken right outside the hotel - super sleepy gang and way perky me. :p
11:50am. We finally start checking out of the hotel. ETA? 10 minutes. Driving time remaining? 30 minutes. Phone calls are made.
# of people who are supposed to be there?
Something like 18.
# of people who will be on time?
0.
Way to go team work and coordination! :p
We get there more like 1:00pm, realize NO ONE is going to be there for still some time longer.
2:00pm, I decide I like my friend and all, but that I was going to ditch the joint and meet up with everyone else for dinner instead. I kidnap 3 more people, leave behind 1 and go looking for food.
2:40pm. I find myself on a ferry headed for Bainbridge Island. I just felt like it. Everyone in still starving as no one has eaten yet. Eric narrowly staves off a mutiny by sharing cookies.
3:00pm. Arrive at Bainbridge island. Begin to look for food.
3:15pm. Discover that most places had stopped serving lunch as they were gearing up for dinner. Blast! Finish sightseeing most of downtown Bainbridge in the process.
3:30pm. Start eating at a Thai restaurant. Could have done that in Seattle too.
View from our lunch spot
4:40pm. Realize that we are going to have to run like Forrest to make it back on the return ferry.
5:15pm. Get back to Seattle. Start coordinating dinner so we can surprise Laura (the co-birthday girl). Find out no one else is hungry, everyone is scattered, dinner is going to be late. Like 8:00pm.
We figure at this point we may as well sightsee Seattle so we blitz the Space Needle, the Museum of Music, some malls, Sephora, and this square full of pooping birds.
Finally it’s 8:00pm we make it to the dinner location, successfully surprise Laura and proceed to have an awesome dinner at the Crab Pot.
Birthday girls at the Crab Pot
- Day 3 -
Drive back. We decide at this point that we’d really like to come back a little more leisurely than we went up, so we decide to go along the Oregon Coast. It’s scenic, it’ll be different, and we planned enough time right?
Except that by the time we were finished brunch, dropped off friends back to the airport and said goodbyes our coastal ETA was sundown.
Important Lesson of the day #6:
There’s not much of the coast to sight see if you can’t see anything.
We seriously ended up driving the bulk of the coast in the dark. 
Again, we arrive to a dinner spot around 8:00-9:00 at night. This time we end up in a place that was touristy enough that food options were still open. We ate at the Drift Inn. Big mistake. Don’t eat there.
Why not to eat at the Drift Inn in Yachats.
We start driving again at 10:00pm. We’re at Yachats. Destination: Port Oxford.
Important Lesson of the day #7:
Yes restaurants close early, and guess what, lodging does too!
We realize at about 11:00pm that we’d better call ahead to say we’ll be late. No answer. We leave a message.
We arrive to the lodge at 2:00am to see that all lights are out and that no one is at reception.
We debate for some time on what to do, notice that there is a sign with a phone number to call for emergencies, spend more time debating the definition of emergency before finally calling.
Thankfully the not too cranky manager wakes up, appears out of nowhere and let us in.
Only real shot of the Oregon coast
- Day 4 -
Head home. Stop at the Redwoods along the way. Take some pictures. See Elk. Climb some trees. Drive some more.
In the Redwoods
Finally roll back into the house at 2:00am in the morning again. Drop of stuff, return rental car only to accidentally also take regular car into the rental lot. Spend time trying to maneuver around the in ground anti-theft spikes. Return home to crash for real.
And that was that.
I was tempted to make this post P is for Pokin, but thought that might be a bit much. :p So puffins it is. Specifically I’m going to yabber about Atlantic Puffins.
Puffin photo by mrpattersonsir’s
Aside from sea turtles, I’ve lately been obsessed with puffins. Why? Because I’ve been wanting to go to Iceland and Iceland is covered with puffins.
So puffins. What about them?
They’re the mascot for a children’s book division. They’re cute. Their colourful beaks and webbed feet make them highly photogenic. (Take that! Peru!) In fact, by some accounts, they are among the most photographed birds in the world.
Oh and we eat them.
But I don’t want to do that.
So puffins. These sea birds hang out 9 months of the year in oceans, and during this time, they float, dive, swim, and basically don’t come back to shore till they’re ready to breed. They live till they’re 20+ years old, and usually form life long pair bonds.
So where can you find Atlantic puffins then?
Iceland of course as a start. Some of the world’s largest colonies live here. Best places include: Látrabjarg out in the far western part of Iceland, Breiðafjörður and Lundey near to Reykjavik, the Westmann Islands, Hornbjarg and Hornstrandir in the north west.
What’s really cool about Iceland too is the “Night of the Pufflings.” Puffin pairs lay one egg a year, and the hatchling is then fed from birth till “long enough”, at which point the parents ditch the baby puffin and take off. This happens some time in August.
The young puffins are then left to make their way out to the ocean.
Thing is, this process forgot to take into account modern day human interference. The pufflings usually use the moonlight to guide them to the sea. And guess what? The street lights mess that up. So young puffins end up flying in all random directions, crash into light posts, and end up on the streets.
And this my friend, is when local children come to the rescue. They go out at night, gather these baby puffins, keep them overnight, and release them back into the ocean. Tagging along during these events is mucho-cool because it’s one of those opportunities where you’re actually allowed to touch them. No you’re still not allowed to man-handle them. You can touch them.
Over in the UK, the best bet for puffins is at the Isle of May off the coast of Scotland. Technically there are more puffins at the St Kilda archipelago and in Shetland, but of course the reason there are so many puffins is in no small part related to the fact that those places are a bit hard to access. Some 60 miles away by boat type of hard-to-access.
Close puffin access can be had on the west coast of Scotland near Lunga. In England, head to the Farne Islands, which are 2 miles off the coast of Northumberland.
Over in North America, the best puffin access is around the coastlines of Newfoundland. Witless Bay Ecological Reserve is your best bet. Some puffins can also be found in Maine. Maine puffins are scattered around a series of islands, creatively named: Eastern Egg Rock, Western Egg Rock, Large Green Island, SealIsland, Machias Seal Island and Matincius Rock. Love those names.
Puffin photo by Thomas O’neil
All this talk about puffins and I still have yet to go. Sadly I missed the timing this year, but I can’t wait to make up for this missed puffin time in a big way next year.
Now I didn’t think this picture belonged in a blog post with the word “photogenic” in the title, so didn’t include it in my last post on Peru. All the same, I think it’s a photo worth sharing, as I haven’t seen any other llama photos that looks this crazy. The poor guy must have had some kind of skin problem or infection, requiring his keepers to douse him in something purple (there was no one around to explain what was going on, so I never really learnt what the deal was with him). Sick or not, I thought he looked pretty cool, so I went ahead and took his picture.
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So I was surfing today, and I came across Darren Cronian’s Travel-Rants blog. Love the concept.
Now I mentioned in a previous post that I don’t have good luck with airports. Rather, I spent more quality time in them than I like. And the last time I was in one, I put in some serious bonding time.
Inspired by Darren’s blog, I’m going to rant about this last experience.
~~~~
Being Canadian and all, I like the idea of flying Air Canada. I mean, they’ve got me for the miles already, it’s a Canadian airline…I’m often GOING to Canada….so why not?
On this fine occasion, I’m on a visit up to Vancouver to see GeckoGo-Aaron & other friends. Being the organized person that I am, I booked my trip up up to Vancouver fine, but ahem, forgot to book my return ticket to San Francisco. So it was bad enough as a start when I realize this oversight and am in panic mode trying to book my return flight uber last minute.
In the middle of this self-induced heart-attack state, I luckily find a last minute deal with Air Canada for only $200 more than I would have paid if I was on top of things and had booked on time. Ok Pokin, you messed this one up. Suck it up, pay the fee, and go on your way. I note at the time of booking that this flight is VERY EMPTY.
So I book my flight on the Friday morning and I’m on my way to the airport later that afternoon. I figure I have plenty of time and I even stop for dinner with the fam before heading to the airport.
In all the times I’ve ever flown this route, I’ve always arrived at the airport 60 minutes in advance. I know that going to the US is technically international. But c’mon. It’s not like the US doesn’t consider Canada a mini rogue state and it’s not like all the US airports don’t dump the Canadian traffic in the domestic terminals anyway. :p
So I get to the airport 80 minutes in advance. I go to the airport check in and proceed to get my boarding pass.
“Itinerary not found”
Uh oh.
With no small amount of trepidation, I head up to the front of the line where there are 3 ladies at the check in counter and no other customers.
“Hi there,” I say to the lady on the far left “It seems to say that my booking number isn’t there.”
“One sec, let me look,” says lady-on-the-far-left. She types away furiously, stares intently at the screen, then tells me matter-of-factly “booking’s closed. You should have come earlier.”
“But there’s still a full hour,” I say. I can’t believe this is happening. “I don’t even have to check anything in. It’s all carry-on.”
At this point the lady on the far right interjects (as I said, there were no other customers). “You can always call the gate for her. They can open a spot.” You rock, I think.
“I don’t know the number,” says the person who’s helping me. YOU suck.
“I can get you the number” quips helpful lady on the right. TEN seconds later, she reads out a number, to which my person reluctantly dials. THREE seconds after that, she hangs up. “No answer.”
“Try this number instead”
“I think I’m just going to send her to ticketing,” says my very unhelpful person.
“You can just reopen the booking for her yourself” says helpful person.
“Nah I’m just going to send her to ticketing.”
I’m not kidding. She said that in front of me. Unfortunately for me by this time the middle lady and right helpful lady are occupied by clients. I turn to look at the unhelpful person.
“It sounds like you should be able to let me in. The flight is empty, I have my luggage, I’m over 60 minutes in advance and I’ve never had a problem,” I say.
“I don’t know how to do it,” she insists. Bitch!
I look at the time. I look at her. I weigh my options. Probability chance of success if I insist right here? And what if I head over to this “ticketing” place? Hmm. With just under an hour, I decide to take my chances elsewhere.
“Where is ticketing?” I ask.
“Oh just around the corner.” She points somewhere vaguely left.
I start heading in the direction of ticket booth — across the ENTIRE international terminal AND the domestic terminal. I get to the near-mythical Air Canada ticketing booth and I see one attendant and 2 people in line.
I walk up to the very front.
I mean, if there’s something I can do about this, it’s now or never.
“Excuse me,” I say. “I was told that my flight (which is now in 50 minutes) was closed for boarding and that you can open it up for me. I don’t have luggage.”
“Get back in line.” I am told very firmly.
I reluctantly get back in line.
And watch as my 50 minutes trickles down to 30 minutes and I’m still the 3rd person in line.
Some 25 minutes after I got to this area, about 30 other people show up in my line. Their flight has been cancelled and they need to be rescheduled for tomorrow. There are NO other possible flights for them tonight.
Suddenly, the one attendant multiplies to about 5.
But does that help me?
You’d think eh, but nope. I watch as an usher appears out of nowhere and start directing the people who arrived -behind- me to these new attendants.
“Excuse me,” I ask. I was in line before hand and I’m still magically hoping I can catch my flight. “My flight is departing soon and I’d reeeally like to catch it.”
“Sorry miss, these guys have priority. Their flight has been cancelled.” WTF! My flight could be sending me up in the air in 25 mins!
So I wait until my 25 minutes turns into -25 minutes and my flight officially departs. Along the way, I swap battle stories with my newfound line-up comrades about our worst Air Canada stories. And many a dirty tale surfaces. Well at least it passes time.
Finally I’m up at the front.
“I’ve missed my flight.” I tell the now pleasant attendant. At this point I am expecting more grief. Like she wants the place that I’m renting mortgaged for a rebooking fee or something.
“I have a flight that I can put you on tomorrow morning at 11:00am.” She tells me.
She messin’ with me?
“Suuure…I’ll take that.” I tell her.
She’s silent for the next minute typing away, prints out my itinerary and hands it to me. Total transaction time? Less than 2 minutes. Total extra charge? $0.00.
“Thanks.” I say
“Just get there early tomorrow.” She tells me. Yeah no kidding.
As I leave, I have the notion that I’d really like to file a complaint against that first girl. To my disappointment, she was no longer at the counter when I’m finally back to the original counter hours later. The remaining attendants play mum on her name. Sucks.
So I go home in a huff, crawl to bed, arrive at the airport at 7:00am the next morning for my 11:00am flight –only to listen to Christmas carol music from the Christmas store at the gate for the next 3 hours. Cut me some slack! It’s summer! Those stores should be banned.
Boo.
And that was that.
Sphere: Related ContentCan countries be photogenic? Here’s why I ask: I love taking pictures, but certainly wouldn’t consider myself a good photographer by any means - I know nothing about lighting, shutter-speeds, or aperture settings and I usually just play with the buttons on my digital camera until the photos I take start looking nice on the display screen. Yet I was consistently able to take good photos during my trip to Peru. Subsequent trips revealed that it didn’t have anything to do with me, so the only way I can explain it is to point the finger at Peru itself. I’ve basically concluded that certain countries are just more photogenic than others - and that in the world of landscape and people photography Peru must be a reigning supermodel. Check out some of the amateur photos I took while visiting the country:
That poor chicken was this girl’s favourite toy - every time he tried to escape she’d go pick him right back up. The string tied to his right foot made escape impossible. This girl lives on the island of Amantanes - one of the larger Islands on Lake Titicaca.
…blue archway inside the Santa Catalina convent in Arequipa…
…a tree covered in jungle-moss taken mid-day on steep slopes that straddle the Inca Trail 3 days in from Ollantaytambo.
This massive glacier on Mount Ausangate would make low crackling rumbles about every 2-3 minutes.
These two young girls met us out in the middle of nowhere, 2 days walk out from Tinki.
The two girls were with an older man and a young boy (above), and they brought us some kind of a root vegetable resembling potatoes. We cooked everything up and shared the food. When I offered them vitamins and cough medicine in return, the old man started crying. I didn’t really know what to do to comfort him, but realized this kind of medicine probably meant far more to him than I could imagine, so I gave him everything I had with me. Made me wish I had taken more.
And here is the refuge we all ate in. In the background are semi-wild alpaca grazing on the plateau with Ausangate towering in the background (alpaca are like lamas but with cute bunny-rabbit faces)
Above the clouds in the early misty morning…
…some impressive stonework at the ruins of Saqsaywuaman located just above Cusco (which you can see a bit of in the background).
Ok- I know - you’ve seen it a million times already - it’s just that Machu Picchu is probably the most incredible place I’ve ever been to, and it doesn’t seem right not to include it (plus I really lucked out here - for a brief moment Huayna Picchu was under cloud cover while the ruins themselves were still in full sunshine). To make up for it, here’s a less-seen angle of Machu Picchu looking out from the ruins:
So I know you serious photographers will see all the little flaws, and that’s good - the point is that it didn’t take any real know-how to get these. Imagine what a little bit of talent would do in this glorious country! Photogenic Peru indeed!
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