TMDV Photography

Well... well... well..

2016-08-24T02:16:00.000+08:00

So yeah, it's been almost 7 years.

Let's see if I can get this rollin' again... expect some layout changes as I try to pick up where I left off. This page needs some fixin'.

See you soon.

MY NEW BLOG --> timvan.com/blog

2009-09-28T19:02:00.002+08:00

I have been living & working in Shanghai, China for the past month now, where the government BLOCKS blogspot.
So I now began my new [official] blog at http://timvan.com/blog

All the rants and ravings (and dope photography) of an expat in China.

This blog however will now be put on hold indefinitely (but most likely, for ever).

Thanks for being a part of this with me, but I must move on to bigger, better (and working) things!

Cheers,

-Timothy Vanhonacker

TIMVAN.COM/BLOG

China, Facebook, & Gigapixels

2009-07-27T13:16:00.008+08:00

So I realize I have been lacking in the posting department... I am currently working on my relocation to China... hence my lack of posts recently. So my time in NYC is over... will be excellent and extremely inspiring to have new streets/architecture to photograph, when the time comes they will be posted!

I also recently published a Facebook fan-page for Timothy Vanhonacker Photography, check it out, and become my fan! I have posted a couple of the images that made and didn't make the cut from my Dystopia show... check it!

In the meantime, I have to share this link with you.
Taken with a multi giga-pixel camera, this site and the photos therein are absolutely STUNNING.
(http://www.xrez.com/yose_proj/yose_deepzoom/new/XRez%20Xtreme%20Pano/index.html)

Cheers,

T.

DYSTOPIA ¦ UTOPIA (my premiere solo show!)

2009-05-07T06:00:00.016+08:00

TIMOTHY VANHONACKER : DYSTOPIA ¦ UTOPIA

Upcoming solo photography exhibition coming to midtown NYC!

Opening reception: June 18, 6-8pm

All the info is at: timvan.com/dystopia

I apologize for my lack of posting these past couple months... its been rough... but my life seems to be somewhat on track once again... it's time for full throttle, dytopian style.

Hope to see you there!

Happy Holidays 2008

2008-12-10T07:20:00.003+08:00

So I've been a little out of commission lately... been pondering the direction of my life... so I apologize for my absence.

I have been working on my show, which is coming along smoothly.

I will be shooting a lot in the coming month during my stay in Europe.
Until then, merry christmas, and have a blast in 2009... finally a president that talks like a educated human being.

T.

Belgium/Holland/Spain

2008-02-01T15:00:00.000+08:00

So I had to make a last minute trip to Belgium. 2.5 weeks and I managed to hit up 3 countries... Belgium, Netherlands, and Spain. Obviously I took some photos, here is a little taste:

Rotterdam, NL

Rotterdam, NL

Antwerp, BE

Madrid, ES

My good friend Michael also had just gotten his new car... so being the good friend I am, I took some shots for him. Mini Cooper S John Cooper Works. Waterloo, Belgium.

More photos here:

MINI COOPER S ~ BELGIUM/HOLLAND ~ MADRID

Bali, Indonesia / Melbourne, Australia

2008-01-07T23:16:00.002+08:00

Our hotel in Bali, Indonesia (Courtyard Hotel, Legian)

My girlfriend Melissa at the Melbourne aquarium.

Yarra River, Melbourne, Australia

Melbourne, Australia

Although I have lots to say about our trip and especially Australia, but I'll try to keep it short.
Dec. 22-29 in Bali, and Dec. 29-Jan. 4 in Melbourne.
First was the flight. New York via Anchorage, Alaska via Taipei, Taiwan to Denpasar, Bali. 25 hours of fun! Our first flight with EVA was amazing -besides the fish porridge for breakfast- the plane was only something like a month old. The American airline companies could really learn a thing or fifty. Our flight back was with American Airlines (bah!) via LA, but operated by Quantas (woohoo!)... so once again we were quite lucky.
BALI~
Bali was great... it always is, cheap, laid back, and relaxing. Although the first couple days we were there it rained non-stop, and the streets flooded (make sure to check out the link at the bottom for ALL the pictures... including the flooding!).
When it storms of course all the crap from the ocean gets placed on the beach, so that was pretty much a bummer, but we still had an amazing time.
The last time I had been in Bali had been exactly a decade earlier, and you could really sense the change. There had been 2 separate bombings in between targeted completely at tourism, killing over 200 people. We visited the site, and had a beer at Paddy's II. It's sad because it really hurt tourism, the streets were alot emptier than 10 years earlier. Once again religion proves to be a destructive force. Bali is one of the only islands belonging to Indonesia which isn't muslim, and as you should know this country has the largest muslim population of any country in the world, hence their dislike for western lifestyle and influences due to Balinese tourism.
I really can't say any of that really matters to me, you can't live life in fear (although the Bush administration sees that a little differently, but f**k Bush, only 9 months left with that monkey).
AUSTRALIA~
First of all a place that calls itself a "drinking culture" should have bars that are open past midnight. We got kicked out of a bar at 1am because it was closing... I mention this because it was NEW YEARS EVE. A six-pack of beers in a supermarket should also not exceed $10. Which they did. Even Victoria Bitter (brewed and bottled in Australia) ran up to $14 (Aussie dollars). We also learned that "Fosters, Australian for beer" is a completely farce. The only Fosters I had was on the airplane leaving Australia. It's sad if I can get a Australian beer cheaper here in NYC than there. Really REALLY sad.
Bali, on the other hand, was the complete opposite, $1 bottles of beer at the bar (which are open 24/7). And they only sell Bintang beer, which means 'star' in Indonesian, and if you know your beers looks identical to the Heineken star on it's bottle. Quick history lesson: the Dutch colonized Indonesia back in the day, and they didn't leave on the greatest terms, so as not to correlate too much with Dutchness, they changed 'Heineken' to 'Bintang.'
The only problem Bali seemed to have was electricity. Couple times we had to relax by candle light as the entire town's electricity went out. We also rented a scooter for the day for US$3!

All our photo's can be found here:

BALI ~ MELBOURNE 1 ~ MELBOURNE 2

Check it out, because it's worth it! Photo's from inland Bali, the Royal Palace, massive spider, menstruation sign, wild koala bears, and my very own police mug shot! Enjoy.

Vote for Me!

2007-11-11T03:54:00.000+08:00

*UPDATE*
I didn't win :-(

Some of my images are running in an online contest...
All you have to do is follow this link, scroll to the bottom and click "Click Here To Vote".
That's it!

Thanks in advance for helping me out!

www.behance.net/Contest/Be-Contest-Photography/31493/46872

~T!M~

a TIM-troduction

2007-10-18T21:00:00.001+08:00

So I think it's a good idea to show some of my work here, considering many won't be familiar with it.
Remember to bookmark this page along with:

http://www.timvan.com/
&
www.flickr.com/photos/hotnacho

(or click an image below)

Thanks for stopping by, and make sure to stop by again soon, I am currently working on getting all my Peru/Bolivia stuff up, and then from there... everything else!

Enjoy.

Perú/Bolivia - Part XV (Cuzco - Inti Raymi)

2007-06-25T07:54:00.023+08:00

Cuzco used to be the capital of the Inca Empire. It sits at an elevation of 3,300 m (10,800 ft), about twice as high up as Denver, CO. In 2006 it was found to be the spot on Earth with the highes tultraviolet light level... whatever that means.

At first sight I thought this was an remarkably progressive city, embracing the gay community like no other place I had seen before... that was until I realized this:

gay flag...

...Cuzco flag

I'm sorry, but I hardly doubt I'm the only person who thought that!

Anyway, the day started with a 2km trek from Cuzco city up the mountain to the site of Sacsayhuaman ruins (all the touristas seems to just call it "sexy woman"), as that's where the Inti Raymi show would take place for the day.

This is where I get critical... there were hundreds of thousands of visitors (90% local) who sat around the festival site on the hills around, who were playing ball, eating, and spending a festivous day with the family to mark this festival of the sun that marks winter solstice.
The only thing blocking the view was a horribly massive tribune in the shape on the L, where all the f$%*ing tourists sat. Now get this... the price to sit there was OVER $200!
Although us gringos help the Peruvian economy with tourism, this is just a complete outrage, especially if you consider 44.5% of Peruvians live under the poverty line.¹
Because of this atrocity, the police and even the military are in high numbers surrounding the site and city during the festivities, just in case some locals realize how unfair it is to take away a several century old celebration and milk the gringos with it.

View Larger Map

The dots on the map show the site of Sacsayhuaman, statue of Jesus (Cristo Blanco), and the Plaza de Armas (the main square, and back in Inca times; the absolute center of the empire) with to the south with the rest of the city.

Below, you can see somewhat of what I'm talking about... sectioning off the paying gringos from the locals, and with a good buffer too! The mountain (and crowds) rose up behind me, and wrapped all the way around to the left... this is hardly half the audience.
I apologize for the small size, but once again I have to tell you that I'm working on getting some gallery representation for all my panorama's taken on this trip.. this being one of them. They will look amazing large and in print.
We sat for hours and watched the show best we could, also managing to get sunburnt although the sun only popped out for about 20 minutes... must be something with that UV thing I mentioned... oops.

Anyone order a truck-load of cops?

The infamous 12-angled Inca stone.

The whole wall (make sure to view large).

Church of La Compañia, Plaza de Armas

La Catedral, Plaza de Armas

Perú/Bolivia - Part XIV (The Road to Cuzco)

2007-06-24T06:58:00.004+08:00

Once again, we had to carry all our stuff across the border from our bus in Bolivia to our Bus in Peru... I forgot the exact reasons, but without all their emission laws, it seems strange to have some sort of registration issues... although it was something like that.
We filled out some paperwork, got some stamps in our passports and were herded back on to our new bus.
As we headed out of the Bolivian Andes and into the Peruvian Andes, this is where we witnessed the only rainfall of our entire trip, it lasted a wonderful 20 minutes, and that was that.

I honestly couldn't wait to reach Cuzco, as it was the only place we would stay a couple days... close to a week actually, finally, some downtime.
Plus it was the city where I heard many great things from my friend Evrim who had been there less than a year earlier. Not to mention it was THE Inca capital, and the closest city to the incredible site/sight of Machu Picchu.

When we arrived in the city, it was littered with people as the Inti Raymi festival (Festical of the Sun) was in full swing. It was going to be a special couple days.

We got in late, and I went straight to sleep as the next day would be a long one.

Perú/Bolivia - Part XIII (Cerro Rico)

2007-06-22T10:04:00.027+08:00

Legend has it, that the Spanish took so much silver out of mountains like this one that they could have built a silver bridge back to Spain. You only have to step in one church or cathedral in Spain and see that there might be some truth to that.
We woke up that morning, and although earlier I had been excited, I felt really sick and unsure if they would have decent bathroom facilities inside the mountain.
I decided to tag along and see how I felt, as I could always abandon the mine shaft when I got there... my thoughts were simple: I feel like death, sick to my stomach, ready to puke, head throbbing, and at any minute I could get a bad case of... let's just call it mud butt. I don't mean to be crass, but I'm trying to put in perspective how shitty I felt (I apologize for the pun!).

Anyway, our guides were awesome, they were these 2 little Bolivian ladies that (although I didn't know this yet) were experts in the use of dynamite.

We were given our suits, and led over to a little street that was filled with stands like the one pictured... apparently it is customary to bare gifts to the miners while visiting their workspace.
Here is the best part, in this image you can see all the gifts they appreciate: crackers/cookies, water, soda, gloves, hand rolled cigarettes (sold in ripped paper and taped together - they are the pink/light blue right behind the guide), now comes the good stuff: pure alcohol (Ceibo), cocoa leaves, and... oh yeah DYNAMITE.
If the life expectancy for a Bolivian miner wasn't in the 30's, I would consider wasting my life away eating cookies and washing them down with grain alcohol, all the while smoking and blowing shit up.
And to think that you have to show ID here in the "land of the free" to buy anything from cigarettes to alcohol, to even getting into a place that sells these things... in Bolivia they sell TNT on the side of the street! Not to mention the alcohol was about $1 and the dynamite + accessories was about $2 (The dynamite is in the box the lady on the right just bent in front of... you can see the rolled up fuses as well as the "agitator" which armed the explosives).

So, you take out the dynamite stick, put it in a bag filled with little things... I think she referrred to it as an agitator, still a fuse in the there...

...and voila, you're ready to blow some shit up.

She then buried it and lit the fuse... boom.

At this point I decided that I would go into the mines... I figured even if I pooped myself, that I should suck up how horrible I felt, as whenever would I have the chance to get back into a Bolivian mine...?!
I left my camera in the bus, and we ventured into the darkness...

I must say, it was quite amazing... they had chapels inside the mountain, and tunnels leading everywhere... of course most were smaller than you average hallway, some the size of a manhole cover.

The thing was... that that stick of dynamite was on my mind... and for good reason. Because every 30 min or so an enormous explosion would rock the entire mountain around you...! Dust and debris would fall around you just as in the movies... and we would all look at each other. Stressful to say the least.

We then got on the bus and headed from Potosi back to the La Paz... thankfully it was [almost] all paved roads from here on out. Although there were gonna be some unforeseen deviations along the way...

This is how they demonstrate in Bolivia... we passed several of these "blockades." So we could drive right by... others took hour-long detours. Many used rocks and whatever they could find, while others blocked the roads with buses, trucks, and masses of people. Yeah, it was annoying.

When we got back to La Paz that night, I went out and did some last minute shopping, as I hadn't been able to check out the city due to the prior bike trip I took... I was amazed and some of the things that were for sale... and wondered what they would think about it at customs in Newark.

Now this is what I call a convenience store... anything from drinks and snacks to leopard skins and llama fetuses. And no, I am not joking.
The dried fetuses are used as offerings to mother earth ("pachamama") and are buried under every house for protection.
So now you know where to go if you need a dried frog (wealth), armadillo (Bolivian form of Brinks security, prevents thieves from entering -could also double a nice Halloween decoration), burnt llama fetus on a bed of herbs (good fortune with a new business), or a simple ceramic statue of a naked couple (improves sex life).

La Paz is a crazy city... the traffic lights work, but they seem to be optional, and as I mentioned before about the imported foreign trucks, there are no laws on emissions... so buses (like the one above) spew out the most intense blue smoke you've ever seen.
That night I stayed awake as long as possible, went to an internet cafe and webcam'd with my girl Melissa for a while, as the next day would be another grueling 12 hour bus ride back in Peru and on to the ancient Inca capital of Cuzco.

I also bought a portrait of Ernesto 'Che' Guevara from an artist on the street (which hangs right next to me as I type). Which seemed to be strangely fitting for Bolivia, considering it was where he was captured and ultimately executed (with the help of the always insightful CIA) in 1967. The airbushed image on fabric, which turned out to be one of the most expensive purchases on my trip (at $5) is also one of my favorite.

¡Hasta luego Bolivia!

Perú/Bolivia - Part XII (Potosí)

2007-06-21T11:59:00.015+08:00

Another several hours in the bus, from Uyuni to Potosí, said to be the highest city in the world...
We got to this marvelous little mining town in the late afternoon, my salmonella poisoning was in full effect (although I hadn't realized it yet -I was still truckin').
I didn't really feel like taking too many pictures, but this is what I got:

The image to the right being some of the typical cables hanging overhead everywhere... with the infamous Cerro Rico ("rich mountain") in the background.

Left; San Lorenzo Church relfected by the strange tourism center

Right; a school in session.

Later that evening I went out and took these images:

When I returned to the hotel is when I finally couldn't take it anymore. I was having horrible heat flashes, not to mention the worst headache I've ever had in my life for a couple days straight, not to mention things coming out in both places you can think of, sometime with only 4 seconds notice. I felt incredibly horrible.
The doctor was called, and the only word I understood while he was talking to our guide was the damning word "salmonella."
Apparently I picked it up somewhere around Puno, but as to a straight source, well thats anyone's guess. I was given some prescriptions and told what to eat for the upcoming days (nothing greasy, lots of rice, bread, and water).
He was a super friendly doctor, and what's more is that his "house" visit cost roughly $6! The medication he prescribed (some sort of special and intense aspirin, along with antibiotics) cost more than double what the doctors visit cost. And to think I paid over $200 for some bullshit here in New York City.

From here on out I would feel sooooo much incredibly better, although I wouldn't properly recover for a couple days, the light was at the tunnel.
That was until I realized that the next morning we were going INTO the tunnel... the mountains' mines that is... with dynamite in our pockets.
Literally.

Perú/Bolivia - Part XI (Uyuni salt flats)

2007-06-20T11:50:00.030+08:00

Salar de Uyuni / Uyuni Salt Flats

Breath-taking. Utterly breath-taking. No pictures (not even mine!) can convey the shear beauty and wonder this spot on earth evokes. Truly amazing.
But I'll get to that in a second... our first stop was at the ol' Uyuni train graveyard. I had seen pictures and was really excited... I was going to see the actual trains Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid had robbed almost exactly a century earlier!!! And I'm not talking about the 1969 film with Robert Redford and Paul Newman... I'm talking about the actual people the movie is loosely based on. And trust me, I can't even begin to imaging how Bolivia looked in 1908...

The train yard was amazing... I got upset we only had about 10 minutes to roam around... I mean wtf!! I just spent a day feeling like I was about to die, only to spend several minutes in a photographers paradise?! Damnit.

It's a great shame that people write graffiti all over the trains, but can't say tourists are high up on the R-E-S-P-E-C-T chain. I know I was/am a tourist too, and we have ALL been tourists at some point, but I think you know what I mean.
Either way, it was time to get salt and dirty...
It is a truly great expansion of the mind to think about the time it took nature to to fulfill what I saw (and what you will see below)... enjoy.

It's hard to see, but the arrow in the image above is pointing to a jeep off into the distance... it's tiny, but it's there! Just so you get some idea of scale.

We first visited a place where they harvest the salt (above left), as you can imagine, it's not much of a process, they scrape it up into little piles to let it dry (see bottom), then haul it off somewhere, do something to it, and it's pretty much done... I mean c'mon, salt is salt.

Some info on the Uyuni salt flats¹:
~The world's largest covereing some 10,582 km² (4,085 square miles), which is roughly 25 times bigger than the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, USA.

~Some 40,000 years ago, the area was part of a giant prehistoric lake Minchin. When the lake dried, it left behind two modern lakes, Poopó and Uru Uru lake, and two major salt deserts, Salar de Coipasa and the larger Uyuni.
~It is estimated to contain 10 billion tons of salt, of which less than 25,000 tons is extracted annually.
~Due to its large size, smooth surface, high surface reflectivity when covered with shallow water, and minimal elevation deviation, makes an ideal target for the testing and calibration of sattelites.

Below you can see a satellite image of the area, the green arrow being the town of Uyuni.

View Larger Map

In some spots, water was still seeping out of the ground, which made me feel somewhat uneasy walking around... but I figured if the the jeeps could handle it, I'm sure little old me wouldn't break through.

We drove for at least an hour to visit an "island." It's not really an island anymore, but you get the idea... you can obviously imagine in the picture below how it used to look tens of thousands of years ago...

After a walk around the "island," everyone got extremely creative...

In the bottle... ...and back out.

And of course the best one for last:

Our group taking it easy on the Bolivian salt flats!
What's funny is, that I put my camera on a 10 second timer, which meant that I had 10sec to press the shutter then sprint over and jump to finish the '!' . We had intended to write something like "Bolivia 2008" or just "Bolivia", but we couldn't figure out how to 'write' the letter 'B'... not that 'S' is all that easy!

The sun was setting (and it was starting to get damn cold), so I planted my Belgian flag and headed on.
No, just kidding, the flag was there already, located right outside the Salt Hotel. Yup, that's right, a hotel made out of salt.

As the sun set, I took my final photographs for the day... it had been a good one, considering I didn't throw up, puke, hurl, have explosive diarrhea, or any combination there of. Tasty.

Left, is most likely the longest human shadow you'll ever see!

And right... well I didn't know if this was the hotel's pool or not, either way I wouldn't dare go in it... unless it was the world's largest margarita or something.

The next morning it would be back into the beloved bus and on to the mining town of Potosí, which was a massive raping station for the Spanish conquest. Legend has it, that so much silver was mined out of the mountain, the Spanish could have built a road with it back to Spain.
Now you know why the great cathedrals in Spain are so lavishly decorated! Though I'm still curious if they are talking about a road thats more like a 3-lane highway or a bike path...?
Either way, I was about to have some mean-ass American-style nachos. Or as I would call them: "buenas nachos."

¹ -http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salar_de_Uyuni

Perú/Bolivia - Part X (La Paz to Uyuni)

2007-06-19T08:58:00.004+08:00

The trip from La Paz to Uyuni was horrible. I woke up and threw up. I can't say I've never felt that bad before, but one thing I can confess to, is that I've never had a bigger headache in my life, my head was throbbing. It was terrible. And the headache was just part of it. I tried to sleep it off, but sitting on a massive bus that is driving on a dirt-road for 13 hours, made it a little tricky, we even drove through a couple rivers. I was popping all kinds of pills, but no aspirin, because it thins the blood, and at high elevations that is no good.

I took 6 pictures the entire day (I would take 267 the following day alone, and averaged around 142 a day) so this will be a short post, and tomorrow will be a big one... the infamous Salar de Uyuni (Uyuni salt flats), the world's largest.
All 6 images were shot during our lunch break next to one of the rivers we just drove through (below), and the train tracks (which we seemed to cross 3 dozen times).

Just goes to show you, that you might live in a 'town' with 5 other families, in mud-brick houses, with no electricity, no shops... NADA, but you can still play a game of basketball... if you had a ball that is.
I was so happy the bus finally stopped, got some air... still felt horrible, but what can you do...?! I was in the most remote area I'd ever been in.... 7 hours south of La Paz and almost 4km closer to heaven.
When we got to the town of Uyuni later that night I was in for a surprise... not only was half the town not even paved, had limited electricity, and no hot water (I would soon find out), but... I would have the most amazing food ever.
Toñito Hotel, the self proclaimed "oasis in the desert" (and rightfully so), is run by an American called Chris and his Bolivian wife. They made such delights as nachos, authentic pizzas, homemade American-style pancakes (the Dutch people we were with didn't know what the hell was going on when my mom ordered massive pile of banana pancakes with syrup)... in a restaurant called Minuteman Pizza. As most Americans should know, the minutemen were a select group of militia men, primarily in New England, that were ready to fight off the British within... -you guessed it- a couple minutes.
I talked with Chris for a little while before dinner, talking about Massachusetts (where he was from) and living in NYC and photography and the such. It was very strange for me... imagine driving to the middle of no where (and I mean NO where), then driving some more, and coming across a small dusty village and walking into a restaurant adorned with pictures of Fenway Park (Red Sox stadium). It was strange, but somewhat comforting at the same time.
We had dinner, I had an amazing pizza, while my mom went for the nachos, and I was feeling generally good. The headache had vanished and my bowel movements (I'm talking both entry and exit areas) were once again somewhat normal. That was, until about 20 minute after dinner, when I ran up to my room and donated my pizza to the Bolivian drainage system... leave it up to me to have the most amazing food in weeks only to throw it up minutes (get it?!) later. I once again felt sick almost immediately, ended up going to bed around 9 and hoped for the best.
It seemed the Massachusetts memorabilia was just part of it... the eeriness continued with the picture that hung above my bed in the room:

The beaches of Belgium!!!

Perú/Bolivia - Part IX (La Paz & surroundings)

2007-06-18T10:00:00.004+08:00

*THERE WILL BE A VIDEO HERE SOON OF THE BIKE TRIP- CURRENTLY HAVING YOUTUBE ISSUES*

So I'm not sure if biking down a road called "The Death Road" is a great idea when you're not feeling too great, but I thought what the hell, not like I'm coming back any time soon.

So woke up just before 7am, picked up our gear... a shirt, shorts, helmet, full-fingered gloves, and a decent Trek hard-tail. It was a drive up into the mountains and into the clouds (see right).
We would start at an elevation of 4700m (15,420 ft) and bike down to 1180m (3,870 ft). The first small hour was asphalt so we could get used to the gear (it was also really damn cold!), then we would start our decent down the Death Road.
Also known as the North Yungas Road, El Camino de la Muerte (the Way of Death), and another charmer: Road of Death, it is a 70km stretch of dirt road generally slightly wider than a lane, the only catch being there's a enormous drop off, their are no barriers, oh and yeah... it's for two-way traffic. Some 200 people die on this road a year, although [finally] in 2006 a replacement road was built.
More info on this road:
HERE- (http://www.carinfacts.com/deathroad.shtml)
HERE- (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_Road)

The only picture I took was of the clouds and the one right above here to the right... next to that on the left is one of the many many vehicles that did a proper cliff dive. I had taken my mom's camera with me, and it had already been acting up the past couple days... possibly due to the elevation or something. Either way, it didn't really matter because both the driver and our guide had camera's (hence all the other photos/videos).

After the ride, which lasted about 4 hours, we drove back to La Paz, just in time for a massive dinner, and some of the best sleep I've ever had. My wrists and arms were soar, they took a pounding that day. It was a great ride, I could do it weekly, although there were a couple times I was going a little too fast around a corner and my heart stopped, but still I had a damn good time. I should also note that myself and the Dutch guy I went with, did the uphill stretches too... not like the other goddamn tourists who put their bikes back on the van, drove up, and got out again... "uphill makes the downhill better" is my philosophy.

Although I had just not only seen but biked the Death Road, the next day would prove to be the most treacherous day of the entire trip, salmonella in full bloom and a 13 hour off-road bus ride to the most remote place on earth I've ever been too. It was to become "I feel like death -road."

Perú/Bolivia - Part VIII (The Road to La Paz)

2007-06-17T09:58:00.028+08:00

The Road to La Paz

After a busy day in Puno, we got back on the bus early the next morning, it was going to be another full day on that damn bus. It was off to La Paz via Copacabana (not that Copacabana).
This all meant a border crossing was in order... it was Bolivia time.

Home to one of the more infamous guerrilla campaigns of Che Guevara.

We had to cross the border by foot, along with everyone else, while we were there for a good 30min, no motor vehicles crossed the border, just the masses of people and their bikes.
Filled out some paperwork, got a new stamp in our passports and put some Bolivianos in our wallets.
Then it was back into the [new] bus and on our way once more.

The boy on the bike at the border crossing brings up another point I wanted to make about South America. I had started noticing trucks and buses with foreign writing on them. Trucks with company logos still affixed to the sides and cab, from countries like Japan and everywhere throughout Europe, even ones with Dutch on the sides. This was due to the lack of laws keeping vehicles off the road. So when a truck or bus didn't pass inspection for whatever reason, it was then sold and shipped to south America, where it could still be used. From now on I kept a good eye on all our buses.

COPACABANA
On our way to La Paz, the unofficial capital of Bolivia, we stopped for lunch in Copacabana. Like the famous area of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, only then not. This was to be our first glimpse into Bolivian life and we were in for a treat. At noon that day outside the church they were going to be having some kind of blessing ceremony.
So, I met up with my Bolivian counterparts (see right) and awaited the show.

Now I had foolishly assumed they were going to be blessing people, but instead the priests came out and started blessing the cars...

What I found more amusing was when the priests were done chucking holy water over the cars, the owners and their entire family lined up in front of their vehicle took a picture, and then proceeded to spray the car with everything from champagne to beer and soda. No joke.

For the rest, Copacabana wasn't anything special. It was filled with dirty hippi's selling handicrafts, and that's about it.
My mom and I had lunch, had a walk around and headed back to the bus... I was beginning to feel unwell, unfortunately for me this was only the beginning. The very beginning.

I'll let you guess what a Bolivian ferry looks like... (hint: see right).

Another couple hours went by, and while we were passing through a town, we noticed some kind of celebration was going on, so we hopped out and joined in the fun...

So even the Lonely Planet guide to Bolivia stated that La Paz is the highest capital in the world. This is if you assume La Paz is the capital... which it is not... sort of. Sucre is the actual capital, it's not unlike the Netherlands, where Amsterdam is the "peoples" capital and everyone assumes this is so, while in actuality the city of The Hague houses all parliamentary buildings.
Either way, it is high up... with an elevation of 3640 m (11,940 ft). And because of this, it is one of the few cities in the world where the poorer neighborhoods are located higher up than the richer ones.
There is even a German area of the city... which is filled with the lucky (but still horribly evil) bastards that were part of the Nazi party, as many fled to South America in fear of repercussions (imagine that!?). It's a sad tale, but if you look at the Nuremberg trials, only 142 were found guilty, now you can't tell me that those 142 people were the ones running entire Nazi Germany. Either way, I doubt life in La Paz is all that glorious... until you see the mansions those bastards live in. It seems blood money is still money.

The sun sets over La Paz with the mountain Nevado Illimani (6,402m) as its backdrop.
We got to our hotel, walked around a little, hit up an internet cafe and passed the hell out.
The next day we had the choice of going hiking, mountain biking, or having a free day to tour the city. As soon as I started reading about some infamous road called "death road," I decided on option #2.
A full-day bike trip down "Death Road - the most dangerous road in the world." Sounded intriguing... so I was definitely in.

Perú/Bolivia - Part VII (Puno and surroundings)

2007-06-16T10:30:00.003+08:00

Puno

Woke up early in Puno, I had started feeling really sick and wasn't too sure about having to sit on a boat for a couple hours, and be far away from a reasonable toilet for the rest of the day. Although there was no way in hell I was going to miss out on this trip. So early the next morning, somewhat reluctantly, I put on my happy-face and got on the pedicab headed for the bay to lay eyes on the infamous Titicaca:

Lake Titicaca
As mentioned before, Titicaca sits at an elevation of 3,812m (12,507 ft), making it the highest commercially navigable lake in the world. It is connected to over 21 rivers, has an area of 8,372km², an average depth of 107m and is 284m at it's deepest.
Also written Titikaka, it was one of the few places I had actually heard of, prior to this trip, and it came from a very unlikely source: Beavis & Butthead. Here's a memorable clip:

For the rest... Lake Titicaca is enourmous! As we didn't have much time, we opted to see as much as possible and go to the Uros islands in the morning, have lunch back in Puno, and in the afternoon on to Sillustani. Just to give you an idea how large this lake is, Taquile Island (the white dot) is a 2-3 hrs boat ride, one way.
Lake Titicaca, on the left is Peru, on the right Bolivia. Puno (Peru) and La Paz (Bolivia), Uros Islands, Taquile Island, Sillustani.

The Uros Islands

Uros is the name of the people who live on man-made islands located just over 30 minutes by boat from Puno. They are a pre-Incan peoples who have been living on 'land' made by bundling up reeds that grow in the lake. The totora plant is grown for use as food (it tastes like lettuce in stick form), to make boats, homes, watchtowers, and of course the islands themselves.
It is impressive that these peoples surrive solely on the fish in the lake and this one plant. Having almost no use of money, they barter in the Puno market for whatever else they need (like Pooh sweaters for the kids!), although I am curious how much they make from us touristas selling handicrafts.

We had a guide that wouldn't shut up (Freddy)... and since I felt like crap, I just wandered around taking photos... not like I could get lost on an island the size of a baskeball court! We visited a couple islands and then headed back to Puno for lunch. The Uros Islands even boasts its own school, with an island all to itself! Each extended family takes care of their island, as the top layer of reed gets dried and sinks, a new layer is laid out over it, simple really. Though forget about running around, definitely not the easiest thing to walk in.

Waving goodbye to the guards at the Uros Islands' entrance/exit.

We got back to Puno with the thought of just going to a shop and buying random things, as I wasn't feeling too great and neither was my mom. Of course, this is before our proper introduction to siesta. Damnit. So we found an indoor market (a proper Peruvian mall!), bought some bread rolls (something like 10cents a roll), and I got tomato and a [massive] avocado so I could make a, you guessed it... a tomato and avocado sandwich. I wish I had pictures from the market, but I didn't have my camera on me. The meat section was... what's the right word... rancid. In proper third world tradition raw beef and chicken just chillin.' Hence my choice with the veggie sandwich.
Although I should point out, that it was roughly around this time (+/- 1 day) I contracted the salmonella virus.
Either way, I felt like crap. We got on another bus and headed into the hills towards Sillustani.

Yes, I know... but I had to... LAKE TITICACA!!!

Sillustani

Sillustani is a pre-Incan burial ground on the shores of Lake Umayo. Most of the towers ("chullpas") that mark the family graves have once again been looted, by dynamite no less. Which reminds me to discuss what I think of the Peruvian people as a whole. All this talk of pachimama, the Inca word for Mother Earth (technically, Mother Universe actually), and yet people throw their trash everywhere. We obviously got stared at wherever we went, the smaller towns were the worst, "who is that paleface, and what is that black contraction on the top of the 3-legged metal spider?!" But this is all familiar too me, what surprised me more, was the lack of interest beyond that. In Tibet, Egypt, even Brooklyn, people come up to you and ask what you're doing (not in the NYPD "whut tha f@ck you doin'" sort of way) and seem like they actually give two sh!ts about who you are and what you're doing there. In Peru... forget about it. First of all no one speaks English. I mean no one. Though that honestly shouldn't be a barrier. I only had ONE guy talk to me for a while, and that was in Cuzco (still to come), we talked for a while about Canon cameras, photography, art school and the such. He was an painting student at an art institute in Cuzco selling his landscapes to tourists, who actually had a Canon 20d (my camera) given to him by some random person! So he just needed some help explaining what half the crap was.
Anyway, back to Sillustani, which I can keep short and simple because no one really knows anything about them. The only thing worth mentioning is the feeling you got walking around this spiritual area. The stones used for the chullpas are actually magnetic! Strange, yes. So you do get an mysterious feeling while walking around the hilltop.

Birds also damage to the chullpas.

The insides of the tombs are apparently shaped like female insides, and the bodies were mummified in a fetal position to recreate birth. Some of the tombs also have lizards carved into the stone, as they could regrow their tails, lizards were considered a symbol of life.
I walked off away from the group, I was more able to take in the sights, sounds, and that eerie feeling alone, than with Freddy a.k.a. STFU Alfredo. It was while walking alone I had my first close encounter with the alpaca. No tourists around so I was free to shoot away... with my camera that is.

My mom then finally caught up with me, took some photos and we were back on the damn BlaBlaFreddyBus.
I didn't retouch my mom's photos (actually, just a little!), but you can see why it pays to get decent camera, and not use all the FullAutomatic color settings... but then again, I'm a photographer, so I'm never happy.

As the sun set, we passed by a typical house/farm, where I was somewhat surprised to learned, that although you see firewood in front of the little oven hut (picture left), it is in fact filled with llama patties! Makes me wonder if I should use something like that for my next BBQ...? Maybe not.
Either way, the sun had set, we head back to the hotel in Puno, where I fell asleep to 'Los Simpson' y 'Robot Pollo', while my mom kneeled over the toilet for a bit... ah, the joys of travel!

Early the next morning it was going to be another 8hrs of bus-fun across the Bolivian border via Copacabana and on to La Paz!

Perú/Bolivia - Part VI (Colca Canyon -> Puno)

2007-06-15T10:00:00.000+08:00

Colca Canyon

6am:
We woke up early so we could drive further into the depths of the Colca Canyon to see if we'd be lucky and spot some condors.
As I had mentioned earlier, we were told conflicting stories as to how deep the canyon was, and whether or not it was the deepest or second deepest in the world.
Seem as if they can't get some scientific gear down there and settle it. Or maybe they like the ambiguity. Beats me.
We drove towards the condor lookout point, and ended up walking the last hour, so we could check out all the other wildlife... which included these weird large rabbits with long tails... looked like rabbit-rats. Also saw the tiniest hummingbirds I've ever seen, hawks, falcons, eagles, and a entire flock of green parakeets.

Above, a predatory bird (of some kind) with the canyon in the background.

Once we got to the condor lookout point, I somehow managed to get a good spot... actually the best spot. Can you spot me? Not as high as the cross, but close enough.

My mom took the picture above, as it was taken into the sun I just messed with it a bit much...
The next image, is another panoramic shot I took... it's not a final copy, and it's not available to view large, as I had mentioned before that I am trying to put a show together solely of pano's... just a taste:
I sat there for close to 2 hours, the air was clean and crisp, it was just warm enough in the sun, and although there was a crowd around me, it was almost perfectly quiet (something about noise, seems to bother birds).

I even got to witness 2 hawks in an aerial battle with an eagle. The eagle had been sitting off to the left for over an hour, then decided to look around. I saw a total of about 7 condors, though I can't be sure whether they were all different. In the image above there is one flying below me, 75% to the left on the image, and perfectly in between the lady standing to take a picture and that last guy in black with the gray hat. Though once again, it isn't obvious. There are also two other birds flying. Either a hawk and an eagle, or a hawk and a hawk. Or maybe it was a falcon. Once again, beats me.

Just in case you're wondering what exactly a condor looks like (as I apologize, but my closest picture still wouldn't satisfy). Click here for an image. They are amazing when they fly... no wing flapping, just gliding around with their +3m wingspans.

The Road to Lake Titicaca

We left the Colca region, back in the bus (for 9 hrs) and on our way to the city of Puno, known for its proximity to Lake Titicaca!

View Larger Map

My mom took the following one:

...which became:

The photo that I took in the same spot, stitched together from 10 images:
Out of the canyon, andon the way, we had some delays, protests of some kind, they wouldn't be our last:

Throughout the past couple days, the Peruvian landscape seemed quite dry, of course we were not traveling through the wet season, this way about to change when we neared the Lake Titicaca area. We wouldn't see the lake properly until the next morning as it was already getting dark. Below, you can see a couple wild flamingos mingling in the water:

-+-

Around towns and villages it looked a little more like this

As I mentioned earlier, the following day we were to see Titicaca properly, and set sail on the highest commercially-navigable lake in the world (3,812m / 12,507 ft) to visit the artificial Uros Islands.

Perú/Bolivia - Part V (Chivay and surroundings)

2007-06-14T06:52:00.000+08:00

Arequipa to Yanque & Chivay

So it was time to hit the road again...

...luckily for us it was only a 5hr trip.

On our way, we got our first view of alpacas, llamas, and vicuñas, which are all basically the same animal, just different sizes.

As you can sort of see on the map, we were to drive the red line from Arequipa around Chachani and El Misti to Imata. From Imata is was all uphill to Patapampa (our highest elevation for the entire trip; 4913m) and back down to Chivay for lunch, and on to our hotel in Yanque.
The next morning we would drive the blue line, then after watching the condors (and tons of other wildlife), we would drive all the way back to Imata, and make a turn towards Puno and Lake Titicaca.

Roaming alpacas with El Misti as backdrop.

A stray dog with a pack of alpacas/llamas/sheep in the background...
We would have to get used to these dogs (and their barking), as they were everywhere. Just imagine a whole town littered with stray dogs, when one starts barking... well you understand. We would be in the middle of absolutely no where... and I mean no where, yet every mile or so another dog would be waiting next to (or sometimes in the middle of) the road, like little living statues that adorn the roads into and out of the mountains. Truck drivers (as well as some of our bus drivers) throw scraps of food to the passing dogs, as the belief is if that they bring good luck for the driving ahead.

"Could you pass the sugar please...?"

We had also stopped along the way, to pick up our first coca leaves... which are chewed, actually not really chewed... you stick a wad of leaves along with ilucta (a preparation of the ashes of the quinoa plant, which softens the astringent flavor of the coca leaves and activates the alkaloids) into your gum (see self-portrait; bottom-left), and let it sit there for as long as possible. Coca is as much part of culture as wine is to France, with the added benefit that it boosts energy and has medicinal and healing properties, like acclimatization for example. It doesn't taste all that great, kind of like sucking on tea leaves, but then after a good half an hour of chewing, you get the same sensation as novocaine, as it begins to numb your mouth.
I fed some so the llama/alpaca (see right) in exchange for a kiss, but I guess he wasn't interested... or just playing hard-to-catch.
It wasn't until 1860, when a German scientist came along and successfully extracted the chemical that made coca, into something a little more harsh; cocaine.

I chewed for as long as I could, then spat it out:

That morning I had already had some of my first coca tea. So I was ahead of the coca program.
Which, according to the label, had many medicinal properties, including: "restorative and energetic, excellent for diet (?), digestive, anti-diarrhea, acts against fatigue & altitude sicknees, tiredness of voice, and regulates the metabolism to carbohidrate."
Sure, I don't know what half that really means... and no I didn't misspell sickness or carbohydrate, they did. What surprises me more is that they got 'diarrhea' correct, but messed up on 'sickness'.

360-degree-panoramic view of Patapampa (4913m / 16,120 ft).

It was quite cold up there, so ended up buying an hand-made alpaca sweater from the ladies you can see in the picture ($8).
What was also interesting, was that because this was the highpoint, you can see stacks of stones almost as far as you can see in the image, this was done as a prayer for loved ones that have passed away (I stacked some in memory of my grandmother). I say interesting, because in Tibet there was a similar religious practice, as people would walk a specific holy route with a stone which had a prayer painted on it.

From Patapampa is was all down hill. Quite literally.
As we all started moving a little slower and breathing a little heavier we began our descent into the town of Chivay.

Speaking of downhill, present day Peru/Bolivia is where they first domesticated cuyos for food, which were then later brought back to the rest of the world as exotic pets, I had to chance to taste one for myself. I don't recommend it all that much.
Oh yeah, cuyo is Spanish for guinea pig.
I basically guinea pigged myself with guinea pig... and no, it doesn't taste like chicken.... more like duck actually; thick skin and fatty.
It was at a buffet-style lunch, so I just had to try one of tasty-lookin' chicken wings.
If you want to see the proper guinea pig dish, check out the image below, which is what a braver individual ordered:

Koen, who not only took this photo, but ultimately ate it too, has a website along with his girlfriend Nynke, at: http://www.dantuma.net/.

Yanque was a tiny little village... no stores, no restaurants, no pavement. Just a hotel for us gringos. We went for a walk around before eating dinner and going off to the natural hot springs of Chivay.

Who needs barbed wire, when you can just grow some cacti on a wall.

A typical dwelling, minus the bird, which was my first up-close encounter with a predatory bird... although I'm not sure if its a hawk, falcon, or an eagle...?
An even closer encounter with the feathered kind...

That bird was massive... those claws, that wing-span... thank god I'm not a small rodent chillin' the mountains somewhere. This is a [domesticated] Black-chested Buzzard-eagle.
After our walk through Yanque, we had dinner in Chivay... and lucky for me, some people were late getting to the bus, perfect timing too, as the sun had just set behind the mountains so I got to take advantage of my famed MagicHour:

Back on the bus...

...we were about to have our first proper relaxing session: La Calera natural hot springs.

The water was kept naturally at a temperature of 38C (100F), which was amazingly relaxing... along with a cerveza and all my aches and pains melted away. Until I had to get out. Let's just say it was kinda cold.

When I got back to the hotel, I was amazed at the sky... the stars. It was crazy. I had never really thought about it, but they are amazing bright and clear in the middle of nowhere... and I mean really in the middle of no where. Then add the fact that you're already halfway to airline cruising altitude, so not only are you closer than you ever will be, but there is less atmosphere in between you and space, so everything is clear.
I had already been prepared for the fact that due to the high elevation, I would have to under-expose my images, as the camera's light meter can't read some sort of atmospheric light-rays, and therefore everything would come out a stop lighter. Even though thanks to digital photography, who really gives a damn, I'll photoshop the crap out of it.
Anyway, all that got me thinking... you know what, I'm in a place which is pretty close to being the complete opposite to Brooklyn, New York. I'm gonna set up my camera outside my hotel room and take a mighty long exposure. First of all, who the hell is gonna steal my camera, even though that llama over there does look a little dodgy... secondly, if the solar system is clearer, this picture should look pretty wicked.
So here is a 45 minute exposure:

I have a lot of new-found respect for star-trail photographers... imagine only taking 1-2 pictures a night... completely dependent on weather conditions, as the slightest cloud will ruin the shot. As well as fighting condensation on your lens, finding an interesting foreground that isn't lit up too much (or at all!), otherwise it will blow out, and you'll lose all the detail. Patience, in every sense of the word.
Either way, respect to all of you. Just check out some this crazy star-trail photography.

Tomorrow morning it was off to gaze at the Andean Condor... the western hemisphere's largest flying bird. With wing-spans of up to 3.2m (10.5 ft)!!!

Perú/Bolivia - Part IV (Arequipa)

2007-06-13T06:38:00.000+08:00

Arequipa

After the horrible 10hr trip via night bus we somehow arrived in Arequipa in one piece, albeit a little tired. This marked the first ascent into the Andes. We had already been told not to drink alcohol (or take aspirin), as it thins the blood, which doesn't help if you want to acclimatise and avoid altitude sickness. I wasn't really worried, as I had already visited Tibet a couple years before, where we somewhere between 3700m (12,000 ft) and 5600m (18,400 ft) above sea level and only experienced minor headaches and shortness of breath, plus the fact that we flew straight into Lhasa, so no real time for a steady acclimatization.
I was in for a little surprise.
We had started in Lima at sea-level, and had a steady climb to where we would be between 3300m (10,825 ft) and 4,000m (13,125 ft) for the next 3 weeks (hitting a high of 4913m / 16,120 ft). Little did I know I would have to get used to the bloody noses, headaches, and how walking a flight of stairs felt like a marathon. Weird, lower than Tibet, but it affected me more. Also funny to think of the Dutch people along with us... as they actually live below sea-level.
Arequipa (2380m / 7740 ft), also known as La Ciudad Blanca ("the white city"), situated above the San Andreas fault line is Perú's second most important city, surrounded by some 80 volcanoes, most notably Chachani (meaning "the beloved" in Quechua), Picchu Picchu ("top top"), and my personal favorite: El Misti (which I assume, doesn't mean anything). They range from 5822m (19,100 ft) to 6075m (19,930 ft). I forgot which, but one is still active. Most of Arequipa's buildings are made from the white volcanic rock (hence, "ciudad blanca").

I took a power-nap and met up with my Mom around lunch at the Plaza de Armas (every place we went had one, it is the name of pretty much every main square in Latin America, thanks to the Spanish Conquistadores).

Plaza de Armas (Plaza of Arms) was called this as it would serve as the area to protect the city from attack, and weapons would be supplied to the defenders... ironic that it was the Spanish themselves that came along and ultimately destroyed everything, in the name of religion. The Inca beliefs were seen as Pagan and against Christianity, which almost baffles me... seeing as all the damage the Spanish did, and yet the language of choice throughout South America is still Spanish (I for one, would hold a grudge), but I'll leave that for a debate some other time.
It's funny that the all-mighty Christian conquerors couldn't build worth mierda, considering many of their buildings have been damaged by earthquakes, whereas Inca structures more than twice as old, still stand.
On the map to the left, you can see my walk, although half is missing, leaving my hotel towards the Plaza, then lunch at a place called La Quinta (which can be seen in the mosaic picture above - bottom left).
I was a little surprised to see a mob of people on the Plaza de Armas, including riot police, as there was a protest going on. I didn't know what as going on, seeing as I don't know what "viva el paro" or "muerta al conejo" means... although I know viva means "long live", and if I'm not mistaken muerta is death and conejo is rabbit... but I didn't get it... "Long Live the Bunny Killer"???

(We found out later it was a protest against a gas price hike- what better way to protest gas prices than driving around the plaza!)

And before you start wondering, yes all those yellow cars are cabs. It's funny how cabs in NYC are massive, and the drivers give you a weird look if someone has to sit in the front passenger seat... you should see how many people they could squeeze into those tiny cars, saw some with 7+!

Taxi, Plaza de Armas, Arequipa.

After lunch (I had a stuffed pepper with some other goodies), we hit up the massive Monasterio Santa Catalina. Built in 1580, it was a cloistered convent founded by a rich widow, in the travel books they called it "a photographers' paradise" (we'll see about that).

In all honestly, it was amazingly beautiful, the rich colors of the walls, the staircases to nowhere, it was Mondrian meets Escher up in the Andes.

Excerpt from Wikipedia:
"Each nun at Santa Catalina had between one and four servants or slaves, and the nuns invited musicians to perform in the convent, gave parties and generally lived a lavish lifestyle. Each family paid a dowry at their daughter's entrance to the convent, and the dowry owed to gain the highest status, indicated by wearing a black veil, was 2,400 silver coins, equivalent to US$50,000 today. The nuns were also required to bring 25 listed items, including a statue, a painting, a lamp and clothes."
Sounds like college. Only it's double as expensive, we were the slaves, not close [at all] to the lavishness (although my dorm room did look a little like the bedroom picture below -minus the cross) and instead of a black veil we are given gown and square hat, but then only get to keep the stupid tassle.

"el ascensión"

"el baño"

It should also be noted that I took roughly 36 panorama's, including one from the top of the Monastery, but as I'm currently working on putting a gallery show together of those images, so they must remain secret... they are pretty amazing if I do say so myself, I'll have some teasers later on (they range from 6 seamlessly stitched-together images to over 40!).

Just before dinner, I went out and shot some trademark Timagery:

For dinner I had alpaca (more on that in the next blog post), which is the smaller cousin to the llama. Delicious. The following day, we were to ascend into the proper Andes, towards the Colca Canyon (home of the condor, among many many other things), which is either the deepest or second deepest canyon in the world (apparently, they still can't make up their mind). It is more than twice as deep as the Grand Canyon in the USA, but without the impressive steep drop-offs.
Buenos nachos.

Perú/Bolivia - Part III (Nazca II)

2007-06-11T11:11:00.000+08:00

NAZCA (Part 2)

After eating lunch at the hotel... or having a cactus growing out of my head and putting a beer up my nose, depending which way you look at it, we took a short bus ride to el Cementerio de Chauchilla.

No, not a massive tire cemetery, even though I thought it was pretty cool...

These were the grave sites of the same civilization that drew the Nazca lines, and of course they were first discovered/uncovered by grave robbers (also known as huaqueros). Actually to this very day, there are still uncovered by robbers. It was a truly sad tale the guide told us... they sneak in at night with long poles and just poke around the desert until they hit something, then dig it all up, taking all the valuables and leaving the corpses and other "undesirables" in the sun.
Then, quite unfortunately, it is the archaeologists turn to sift through what is left of the graves.
The image the right shows some of the tombs uncovered, there are probably 2 dozen such sites (and probably more to come, if you ever make it down there). The Nazca peoples were buried, by family, in underground vaults made by mud bricks. The bodies were put beside offerings, dressed with special garments, put in a kneeling position, and mummified using a resin coating (even after over a 1000 years you can still see skin).

"Baby Steps"

Now, take a good close look at the following landscape picture (make sure to click it and view large):

Then ask yourself, what are all those white things scattered across the sand...?

"El Bone Yard"

To the right you see the most common site on the cemetery grounds... and yes, that is real dread locked hair. Many sites had a couple individuals, and many just bits and pieces.

To the left on the other hand is a bit more twisted. One can only imagine how many deaths happened during child birth... and the theory is (remember that hardly anything is known about this civilization) that because of their innocence, children could defend the graves from evil (ironic, but it still took a good 1200 years for the evil to prevail). So infant mummies were placed outside and in front of family tombs to protect them from danger. The image on the right shows where one of these babies was placed... surrounded by rocks. The molding in the middle is (with lack of a more professional sounding term) baby body juices that have hardened over time.

And on that note... we left the Chauchilla Cemetery. Our next stop was a good attempt at a tourist trap, I didn't pay attention to the tour, just walked off to take some proper Timography. To set the scene: it was a gold sifting site, which they have been doing the same way for centuries... [best viewed large]

To the right you can see someone working a platform (while others watch) which is attached to a large rock, which in turn somehow aides in the art of gold sifting... again, I'm not really sure, as I said earlier, I wasn't paying attention.
How 'bout them color tones...?! These are what most houses look like, built with mud bricks. I didn't have my tripod with me that night either, so you can actually see the shadow of my camera on a bike seat (known by the locals as a trípode bicicleta).

It was then dinner time... a couple of us decided to go out on our own and find something new... we first went to a "restaurant." Gatha, someone from the group (whose blog can be seen HERE), went to use the bathroom and came back with an expression of absolute disgust... I won't get into details, this isn't that kind of blog, but apparently the scene included evidence of numerous visits and a pair of underwear. So we finished our drink (thank god that's all we had ordered!) and went somewhere else.

After dinner awaited the most horrible bus ride I've ever taken (although it would later be trumped by a trip through Bolivia), this is the bus ticket:
So if you get one just like it... uhm, well then tough sh!t I guess... cuz you're in for the ride of your life!
It was a 10hr night bus ride from Nazca to Perú's #2 city, Arequipa. To say I didn't sleep was an understatement... I was more awake than ever. The bus driver was LOCO. I had to fasten myself with seat belts just to stay in the seat... I swear. I am not exaggerating one bit... and I still fell out of my seat twice! It was terrible, we went off the road a couple times, and when you see some of the drop offs, it was not very cool at all... passing cars left and right, and using racing lines at every possible turn. I also had a seat towards the back, which doesn't help the whole centripetal force thing.
Funny thing was how all us gringo's were all looking at each other throughout the trip shocked, and the locals were asleep like it was totally cool for Schumacher up front to be racing an enourmous bus through the Andes... in complete darkness. Think about when you're in a car and someone abruptly starts, stops, turns and generally drives like a maniac... now imagine yourself in Peruvian tour bus. Looking back, it's hilarious, but trust me... that trip was not cool.

Perú/Bolivia - Part II (Ica/Nazca)

2007-06-11T10:55:00.001+08:00

ICA

Huacachina sand dunes (2nd highest in the world), Ica, Peru
[please note that by clicking most of my images, you just get directed to a larger version... the ones with the blue border (above) link to my flickr page... which is chock-full of beautiful imagery you should definitely check out! The link is also available at your disposal on the side bar on the right hand side of the screen... also there were 2 camera's used... my Canon 20d and my Mom's crappy Pentax point-n-shoot, hence the differences in image quality]

This was the most fun I had the entire trip:

C'mon, how does this not look like shear pleasure?!

The drivers of these buggies, definitely have one of the coolest jobs in the world.

Although the video doesn't portray the coolness even remotely close (when will they ever?), we actually caught air flying over some of the dunes... going up near-vertical climbs, teetering on the summit for a couple seconds, then plunging down... waaaaaaay too much fun!
We also got a nice view of the Huacachina oasis:

Huacachina oasis, Ica

What was actually more of a surprise was when we got to the top of a 180m dune, the driver informed us we were all getting out... and not to take pictures. He nonchalantly went to the back of the buggy and pulled out some snowboards...
I have never snow/sand boarded. I watched someone else go first... standing... and it looked fun, but slow. Then, I saw someone go down lying on it with their stomach. They were at the bottom in less than 8 seconds! Now that looked like fun. So I lay the board down, strapped my wrists into the damn thing... and received a quick nudge. I was quickly told to keep my legs up in the air, and try to stay straight otherwise I could swerve, roll, and ultimately break some bones... and I don't think getting stuck somewhere in the middle of the Peruvian desert with broken bones on the 3rd day of my trip seemed like a good option.
And then before I knew it, I was lying in the sand staring at the sun, laughing my ass off.
Hitting the bottom of the slope was pretty harsh... my knuckles were bleeding after my second go (from touching the sand a split second on the way down). Oh, and for all you people placing this on your to-do list... some tips I learned the hard way. Don't wear anything with pockets. Don't keep anything in those pockets. Also, although you're going so fast you don't really know whats going on, don't yell in excitement as you reach the bottom... We all know sand doesn't taste good... it just doesn't have that savory texture... and trust me, Peruvian sand is no different.
After re cooperating from the buggy/boarding down at the oasis (with a nice cold Cusqueña!), we hopped back on a bus towards Nazca.

One thing I noticed immediately about Peru was the fact that every building seemed to be under construction... even the nicest hotel we stayed at (here in Nazca) bowed to this formula... because a building under construction, isn't a completed structure, so you don't have to pay tax on it. Good job to the government on that one, for making the entire country look like its recovering from something it will never recover from. Hence, it was easy to get roof (and all the guests' towels) access:

NAZCA

And I say this was our nicest hotel, although I didn't know it yet... it would be one of the very few with a working TV, warm water, and heating- which we actually didn't need now, as we were surrounded by desert and only at 500m (1640") above sea-level. That however, was all going to change soon.

Nazca is of course known for the infamous 'Nazca lines,' which are still ambiguous in their meaning and purpose. When researching this part of the trip, I couldn't wait to see them for myself... and I was a little disappointed... not in the sense you would think, I'll let you figure out on your own:

My pictures:
[#1 monkey, #2 hands, #3 hummingbird/heron, #4 spider, #5 condor (my fav), #6 whale, #7 dog, #8 parrot, #9 flamingo]

Their pictures:

Notice anything different...?

Ha!

So needless to say I was expecting some very visible imagery...

For this blog I spent well over an hour trying to find ANY of the animal/plant graphics on GoogleEarth, and didn't find a damn thing. They definitely are not that easy to spot.

Besides the animals and plants depicted, there are also numerous shapes and countless lines. I also can't really communicate how large some of these designs are... some range up to 275m (900ft) across... The lines on the other hand are massive. Here's a satellite view of the area, the lines can actually be seen (in the red square), if they were hands on a clock it would be about 2:25. The red square itself is 13km (8 miles) wide.
Push the little + sign to zoom in, if you don't see it:

View Larger Map

The Nazca lines were made between 200BC and 700AD, I know that's like a 9 century window, but the fact remains exactly when, why, and how this ancient civilization (known as [surprise surprise] the Nazca culture) made these things. Your guess at this point is as good as anyone's.
Many believe they were for religious purposes, who else but god could see these things that they couldn't see. Keep in mind this is still a millennium before the Inca's and two millennias before aviation.
More specifically, that the animal images revolve around the theory that they were used as "walking temples" (also known as prayer labyrinth).
Take the hummingbird or heron for example:

The lines form a sort of circular path, which would actually make the geoglyphs themselves brighter, actually 'negative geoglyphs', as the dark top layer of sand was moved to expose the lighter sand underneath. These designs actually survived so long because there's no wind and the average annual rainfall in the Nazca region is about 1cm (0.5").

As for other theories... well there's everything from astrological maps, underground aqueducts, even that they are landing strips for alien aircraft.
There's more info on all of that on wikipedia's entry for the Nazca Lines.

ANYWAAAAAAAAY... we got to check out these Nazca lines in a 4 person (including the pilot) plane, which was pretty damn cool. And also the source for my first sickness. Not that I threw up (they hand out bags before departure), I just got a little queasy... cuz as you can imagine, there's only one way to see something directly below you out of airplane.... flying sideways.
And since there are two sides to everything, we would fly once on one side circle over a geoglyph, so you'd be staring right down at it, then doing it again but looking straight up into the sky.

"Shotgun!"

Something I also found amusing was the fact that these lines were only discovered in the 1920's, as the first commercial airlines started flying over the area, which meant that some of the designs had already been destroyed... the Pan American highway actually dissects one of them. Sad, but true. I mean, how the hell were they supposed to know?!

View Larger Map

The red dot shows where this next photo was taken.

You can even see how the road destroyed part of the "tree" seen here. Not to mention all the tire tracks crossing over everything.

And with names like "Tree," "Man," and "Hands," you would think the same marketing guy that changed bird shit to guano, could have come along and helped them out a bit.

My mom and the spider.

Up next was something I couldn't figure out when I got back home and started retouching my pictures:

Firstly: which way is up?
Secondly: is that a mountain or a canyon?
Thirdly: is it a hummingbird or a heron?

It's crazy to think about it... but obviously a long time ago that used to be a massive raging river... and I mean both a long time ago and massive, considering now they get 1cm of rain each year, and that that tiny blue spot to the right is a truck.

Landing was definitely the most fun (doesn't beat sitting jumpseat on a ChinaEastern flight during a perfectly clear night landing at the infamous [and now deceased] Hong Kong Kai Tak* airport... but still), it's also surprising how nimble those little planes are... the cockpits aren't so intimidating either, made me want to get a pilots license!

But all I got was this:

The rest of the day was spent walking around the town of Nazca, where everything was adorned with the designs from the desert geoglyphs... streets, signs, sidewalks, taxis, statues, benches, bus stops, etc...

That night we would hop on another public Peruvian bus... a night bus. Little did we know of the terror that awaited us... let's just say Pirates of the Carribean was going to be the least of my problems.

And I apologize for the layout issues, this blogspot crap is annoying sometimes, this post was a damn mission to get done, and I for one am happy it is... no more attempting to make it look nice... just the basics from now on!

[* if you know nothing about Kai Tak... shame on you! Google it.]

Perú/Bolivia - Part Uno (Pisco/Ballestas)

2007-06-10T10:55:00.000+08:00

First of all... I usually do some damn good research when it comes to travel... I like to know what I'm getting into. Never would I have expected to see some of the things I did... including wild flamingos, condors, hawks, eagles, falcons, parakeets, llamas, alpacas, vicuñas, vultures, lizards, humming birds, Andean geese (that only travel in couples), Peruvian booby's (get your mind out of the gutter), seals, penguins, (even saw some of those diving birds that chill above the ocean then dive headfirst into the water), volcanoes (active, dormant, and extinct), enormous sand dunes (2nd biggest in the world), vast deserts to lush jungles, etc... Perú/Bolivia had it all.

Leaving Lima at 06:30 towards Pisco (meaning 'little bird' in Quechua -the ancient Inca language- which is still spoken in certain areas), we took a Peruvian bus service... we got to enjoy Johnny Depp & Co. -full volume- dressed as pirates in 2 movies straight, the whole entire trip. Oh, did I mention it was in Spanish. Full volume.
Scared for life.

PISCO
Upon arrival in Pisco (a small dirty little town -the poorest we would come across during our trek through Perú), we went straight to the Reserva Nacional de Paracas. Set up in 1975, it is a 335,000ha area including the famed Ballestas Islands- a.k.a. "the Galapagos for the poor."

The area around Pisco is known for its production of a liquor made from grapes, known oddly enough as pisco. There are several types of pisco, ranging from just a couple percent alcohol, up to 40% depending of course on it's fermentation (some of their 'kegs' are in the image below). The national drink of Peru is the Pisco Sour, a concoction of pisco, lemon (or lime) juice, egg white, and a sprinkle of cinnamon. Sounds pretty nasty, but it's a sweeter cousin to the margarita in my opinion, only with some foam on it. Strange, but good.

Pisko/Pisco - (there are many spelling variations throughout the former Inca empire, and considering they had no written language, it's anyone's guess to which one is correct).

Back to Paracas... where the hue of the sand went from a dirty whites to deep reds, thanks to it's iron content.
We had lunch at one of two restaurants (called "La Mina") in a "village" (I think there was a total of 4 structures, 2 of which were restaurants, and one a toilet) of Lagunilla in the reserve, located at the end of a little peninsula... I had the most amazing shrimp I'll probably ever have. As well as a new cerveza to strike of the list for me (I was determined to try every one that came my way), although this time I immediately fell in love (and created a long-standing relationship that would last for the next couple weeks): Cusqueña. Which also had one of the most original bottles I've ever seen, incorporating an Inca wall into its design [I tried finding a pic online, will work on that one for you guys]. Many of the Peruvian beers were named after the town they originate from, ie- Cusqueña from Cusco, Arequipeña from Arequipa, etc...

Once again, back to Paracas...

Did I mention pelican's...? Who knew?!?

Where absolute dry, meets absolute wet.

Watching a vulture who's probably watching them (and their red shirts).

"The Cathedral"

Mom & Pacific

The rest of the evening was spent watching wild flamingos from a special watch tower, from such a distance I didn't take any photografias. It is one of the very few remaining natural places flamingos chill at, therefore us humans must be kept a safe distance away.

We had dinner in the center of Pisco, which was cut short when we were given a police escort back to our hotel. An older couple had just been sprayed with pepper-spray and robbed at gun-point (2min away from our/their hotel).... "welcome to Perú."

Pisco cabbie

THE BALLESTAS ISLANDS

Waiting for our boat to those poor man's Galapagos...

Our first glimpse of an ancient civilization... An ancient civilization called "Paracas", that existed during the pre Colombian era, with its most famous remnant, "El Candelabro" ( The Candlestick) geoglyph, carved on a hillside on the way to Ballestas islands. Although I agree it looks more like a cactus, especially when you consider the fact that candle holders haven't been around that long. With an impressive height of 128 m (420 ft), we still would have probably floated right by it had the guide not said anything. It makes you wonder whom their target audience was.

Notice the white frosting on the rocks in the foreground? No, not snow, ice, or salt (more on that, in a bit).
Also worth noting, is the weather... apparently it is always like this, overcast during the morning, then around lunch time it gets sunny, hot, and beautiful for the rest of the afternoon... with the exception of Lima, which is overcast for half the year straight. Depressing? I'll get back to that with my final post.

The islands...

They warned us to bring a hat. I think you can see why...

The Ballestas islands are made up of 3 major islands, all of which have a dock, like the one above. They are used roughly once every 5 years, when some extremely lucky people get the job of collecting all that guano... nope, not snow... not salt either... just a more appealing term for bird shit.

...and I thought pigeons were bad...

Due to its high levels of phosphorus and nitrogen, makes not only an excellent gun powder, but some sort of super fertilizer which is exported across the globe. It is also generally odorless... which was good news for us!

Also seen in the image above are starfish... when the water receded a bit, the rocks were littered with massive starfish.

I know right!!! (click to see a larger version!)

All those black dots are penguins. All the white ones, are the infamous Peruvian Booby.

Perú/Bolivia - Introducción

2007-06-01T12:00:00.001+08:00

So...
Hello.
Welcome to my first ever blog thingy.
I had promised to post images and experiences from my trip just south of the equator, et voilà.
Enjoy.

~~~

My mom and I had decided a little while back to travel somewhere we both hadn't been instead of me flying over to Belgium to visit her and vice versa with her coming to NYC.
So our original plan was to hit up Cuba, get a rental, and trek around the one country, us free [half-]Americans can't travel to. I'll let the irony speak for itself.
I was to take a bus to Montreal, and hop on a flight via Kingston or Mexico City on to Havana.
Though in the end, the Great Satan proved too powerful, and it would have been somewhat of a mess to get there... not to mention the prospect of getting slapped with a hefty fine (+/- 120,000 Cuban Pesos).

Although, nevermind all that... we then both decided -relatively quickly- that we really wanted to experience all that is Machu Picchu (which, while we were there was in the running in becoming one of the new 7 wonders of the world, but more on that later. Much later.).

So, it was settled: a 24-day trip through Perú and Bolivia (June 8 - July 1, 2007).

My mom flew out of Amsterdam with KLM (and a modern airbus jet, with her own personal TV, games & movies on demand, free alcohol, and generally comfortable seats), and I flew out of Newark, NJ with Continental... well, you get my point.
I have never had to get from my apartment in Brooklyn to Newark airport, and I'll tell you I'll never do it again. What a mission. Here's the rundown: leaving at 11:30am, took G-train to C-train to Chambers Street (WorldTradeCenter), walk walk walk to PATH train to some train station in New Jersey, then took NJTransit to "airport," where I still had to take AirTrain to the real airport... I got to check-in @ 1:44pm, with 6min to spare.
Something still tells me it shouldn't take over 2 hours to get to Newark Airport. It was the only direct flight from "New York City" to Lima, but at that rate I might as well have left from JFK and spent those 2 hours sitting in Quito or San Juan waiting for my connecting flight...

The flight was only just over 7hours, (3631 miles, as stated on my boarding pass) but the interesting thing to me was that there is just a one hour time different between the NYC and Perú (and none with Bolivia), which means.... no jet lag!

I met up with the crew at Hotel Esperanza in the Miraflores district of Perú's capital, Lima...

Lima, Peru

This is only image I took in Lima... as I arrived around midnight, and we were to leave at 6:30 the next morning... I quickly went down the street, had some landfood and my first [of many delicious] cervezas... this one being a Cristal.

We would be back in Lima the day we left to fly back home, so more on Lima later, much much later.

~~~

"So Tim, how was your vacation...?"

Exhibit A:

va·ca·tion [vey-key-shuh n] –noun
a period of suspension of work, study, or other activity, usually used for rest,
recreation; recess or holiday.

I keep stating it wasn't a vacation, first of all I am generally umemployed, I already finished my studies, and this trip was far from anything called 'rest'... although I can admit it was a recess from the pleasures that are American life and the relaxing qualities that NewYorkCity brings my soul.
Ah, sarcasm... the lowest form of wit, but the highest form of intelligence.

Exhibit B:

there is no exhibit B.

Good... now that that's out of the way... less bla bla from me, more click click.

View Larger Map

red line (bus): our itinerary, moving from top left counter-clockwise.
blue line (train): train from Cusco to Aguas Calientes (Machu Picchu) and back.
green line (airplane): flight from Cusco to Lima.
white line: "The Gringo Trail" -basically the tourist tour.

Our itinerary (just for gits and shiggles):

01: Brooklyn -> Newark -> Lima
02: Lima -> Pisco (& Paracas Nature Reserve)
03: Pisco (& Ballestas Islands) -> Ica -> Nasca
04: Nasca (night bus to Arequipa)
05: Arequipa
06: Arequipa ->Colca Canyon (Chivay)
07: Colca -> Puno (Lake Titicaca!)
08: Puno (& Uros Islands)
09: Puno -> Bolivia -> Copacabana -> La Paz
10: La Paz
11: La Paz -> Uyuni
12: Uyuni Salt flats
13: Uyuni ->Potosí
14: Potosí
15: Potosí -> La Paz
16: La Paz -> Perú -> Puno -> Cusco
17: Cusco (Inti Raymi festival - festival of the sun god)
18: Cusco
19: Cusco
20: Cusco ->Aguas Calientes
21: Machu Picchu
22: Cusco
23: Cusco to Lima
24: Lima -> Newark -> Brooklyn

So much for an introducción... let el aventura begin.