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Report and photos from the Bolivian Amazon

December 31, 2009 Leave a comment

As you may know from previous postings, I decided to take advantage of the the downtime between Christmas and New Years by taking a quick 4-day trip up to Rurrenabaque in Northern Bolivia, a jumping-off point for tours to the Bolivian Amazon basin. After much wrangling and dithering I finally secured a flight for first thing Sunday morning via Amaszonas, a tiny regional carrier. So I found myself at at La Paz airport at 05:15 on Sunday, bleary eyed and unprepared for the 2-hour wait which ensued. Patience was tested but eventually we found ourselves on the tiny 20-seater plane (apologies for quality, this is a camera phone picture): 

The cockpit was open to us, and provided much in-flight entertainment and occasional anxiety as beeping alarms punctured the din from the twin propellers. Needless to say we were all very happy when we finally landed on the grass strip at Rurrenabaque. Heat, humidity, and thick air all hit us as we spilled out onto the grass. First impressions were of a one-building airport, and a comically simple baggage claim. It was when I went out the front door – to the separate toilet building – that I came across a scene straight out of Central Casting for podunk, third-world airports. Next to the toilet blocks were old, decaying airline equipment including a row of airplane seats and a set of boarding steps for a larger airliner from a presumably more successful past. What made the scene though were the herd of cows grazing around all of this. 

All the plane’s passengers boarded the shuttle bus into town and were dropped off at various tour agencies as we went. I befriended another solo traveller, Leftie (short for Leftira, as he was a London-born Greek) and together we headed for Bala Tours, which had been recommended both in the various guidebooks and by other agencies as one of the “good guys” – i.e. they practice responsible tourism and don’t run circus shows for tourists. This was up our alley, and we decided on the pampas (grasslands) tour as conventional wisdom has it that you see far more animals that way. We were told that we were the only visitors that day, so we would have their dedicated eco-lodge to ourselves. 

While the kind folks at Bala got their act together, we had a bit of time to hit the Sunday market and explore the town of Rurrenabaque a bit. I got a strong vibe of a Southeast Asian beach town off the place. It had the right combination of easy-going street life, heat, and the kind of bars, restaurants, and cafes that tell the visitor that they will be spending a lot of time outside – even when they are inside. 

Time came to hit the road. We met our guide for the 3 days, a mestizo named Alexander, and also Hilda the cook. I would tell you the name of our driver but he was a surly bastard who barely uttered a word. What followed was a jouncing 3.5 hour punishment of a drive in a failing Land Cruiser which had clearly had a Hawaiian longboard surfer as a previous owner. What I know is that on the eternal, sun-blasted dirt track through tropical lowlands, we had one total tire blowout (irreparable) and a following slow leak in the spare tire that required a couple of pumping stops. 

Finally we arrived at a boat ramp on the Yacuma river, out past Santa Rosa. We loaded up a long boat with a 15hp outboard and made a short 5 minute trip down the river to Bala’s camp, an idyllic setting called the Caracoles Lodge. Pretty basic accommodation really (dorm beds and mosquito nets) and all electricity provided by solar and batteries. But it had hammocks. By the river. We have a winner. 

What followed was three-ish full days, mostly on the long boats, and two very peaceful and restful nights (well once you got used to the jungle sounds all around you, that is). Some highlights included:
  • Seeing more wildlife in three days than I had in three months previously – pink river dolphins, caiman, alligator, egrets, herons, turtles, hawks, huatzin (prehistoric chicken-sized birds) and many more
  • Taking the controls of the boat for a bit  – my canal barge experience from the UK stood me in good stead – and now I can say I have have piloted a boat in the Amazon (get me)
  • Spending a pleasant afternoon fishing – mostly for catfish, which were delicious fried up later – and every so often having to fight off piranhas from stealing our bait
  • Going for a swim with pink river dolphins nearby – in the same caimain and piranha infested river 
  • Going for a shower back at the camp – and having both a toad and a tree frog for company
  • Burning through 16GB of memory cards on my SLR. And then deleting most of it, as there are only so many pictures of panicked birds’ arses that one needs in life. 

Speaking of pictures, of course I have a few to hand:

All in all, well worth the experience, a magical few days to be sure. 

Yesterday afternoon it was then back along the bumpy road to Rurre and a somewhat anxious evening as I only had 200 bolivianos (under $30) on me and that had to cover food, lodging, and transport to the airport in the morning for my flight back to La Paz. But a look at the trusty Footprint guidebook pointed me at my first proper budget accommodation of the trip, a 20-boliviano hostal. That’s less than the price of a cup of coffee. That sorted, we had a few beers and dinner at the “famous” Moskitto Bar, which was struggling a bit with a lack of tourist trade and looked slightly sad and empty. I don’t think the bar owner took too kindly to our request to change music from the inescapable-on-the-gringo-trail Bob Marley mix to something slightly less cliched. Ah well. 

So back in La Paz now, and out for the last night of the 4 Europeans tonight (Shane, Eiza, Sibylle and myself) with some accomplices. Sibylle leaves tomorrow for New Years Eve in Buenos Aires, and Shane, Eiza and myself stay on in La Paz for what promises to be a big night here….
Categories: Photography, South America, Travel Photography Tags: , ,

Quick shots from Lake Titicaca

December 25, 2009 Leave a comment

These are a few shots of Lake Titicaca from yesterday. More to come when time and internet connections allow.

Night view of Copacabana and Lake Titicaca

Lake Titicaca

Aymara Family on Isla del Sol
Categories: Photography, South America, Travel Photography Tags: , , , ,

Some photos from Buenos Aires

December 20, 2009 Leave a comment

While I am stuck in Santa Cruz airport with no money, telephone or guaranteed escape plan, but still possessing all-important WiFi and a full-ish netbook battery, I thought I would point out a few of the photos I took in Buenos Aires over the last week.

Mercado de San Telmo

"For Love, Use a Condom" (San Telmo)
I think the texture on this wall and the way it adds depth to the mural that would otherwise have looked flat. Fantastic!

La Boca- Laundry
Much as I tried to despise the obvious faked up nature of "El Caminito" (read: tourist trap) I had to admit I still relished the opportunity to photograph the bright primary-colour houses littering the area. 

More of my Buenos Aires photos can be found here: 
Categories: Photography, South America, Travel Photography Tags: , , , ,

Grand tour of Iguazu Falls

December 16, 2009 Leave a comment

I am far too exhausted to give a proper account of today’s excitement in Iguazu Falls, but I can say I have not seen a more impressive natural wonder in a long old time. Just waterfall after stunning waterfall, stretching off into forever. Not only did we walk all over the national park, not only did we see (and photograph) the multitude of different waterfalls and rapids, but we took the seemingly obligatory boat ride which culminated in us getting drenched at the base of the falls, a true thrill. More to come…

Categories: Photography, South America, Travel Photography Tags: , ,

In the lap of (jungle) luxury

December 14, 2009 Leave a comment

After a surprisingly-comfortable and well-rested 15-hour overnight bus journey from Buenos Aires, we arrived in Puerto Iguazu, a rough and ready little town where locals and tourists seem to intermingle freely. 

We are staying in a very swish joint called the Iguazu Jungle Lounge just on the edge of town. Our jaws all dropped when we saw the huge and irresistible swimming pool, but our eyes all popped out of our heads when we saw our "cabana", a 2-floor epic of a house with views out into the jungle and the Rio Iguazu beyond. We wasted no time hitting the pool and no sooner had we arrived than the sun came out to greet us, along with a 2-foot tiger-striped lizard who loped across the far side of the pool as if to remind us that, gin and tonics or not, we were in the jungle. 

So a rest day today, going to take it easy before the adventure of Iguazu Falls tomorrow…

Categories: Photography, South America, Travel Photography Tags: , ,

TIME Magazine issues The Year in Pictures 2009

December 10, 2009 Leave a comment

via time.com

TIME Magazine have released their 2009 Pictures of the Year. Understandably dominated by Obama, Afghanistan, and Iran. The Obama inauguration shot is ever-so-slightly messianic.

Categories: Photo and Tech News Tags: , ,

Police U-turn on photographers and anti-terror laws – Home News, UK – The Independent

December 7, 2009 Leave a comment

Police forces across the country have been warned to stop using anti-terror
laws to question and search innocent photographers after The Independent
forced senior officers to admit that the controversial legislation is being
widely misused.

The strongly worded warning was circulated by the Association of Chief Police
Officers (Acpo) last night. In an email sent to the chief constables of
England and Wales’s 43 police forces, officers were advised that Section 44
powers should not be used unnecessarily against photographers. The message
says: “Officers and community support officers are reminded that we
should not be stopping and searching people for taking photos. Unnecessarily
restricting photography, whether from the casual tourist or professional, is
unacceptable.”

Chief Constable Andy Trotter, chairman of Acpo’s media advisory group, took
the decision to send the warning after growing criticism of the police’s
treatment of photographers.

Writing in today’s Independent, he says: “Everyone… has a right to take
photographs and film in public places. Taking photographs… is not normally
cause for suspicion and there are no powers prohibiting the taking of
photographs, film or digital images in a public place.”

He added: “We need to make sure that our officers and Police Community
Support Officers [PCSOs] are not unnecessarily targeting photographers just
because they are going about their business. The last thing in the world we
want to do is give photographers a hard time or alienate the public. We need
the public to help us.

“Photographers should be left alone to get on with what they are doing.
If an officer is suspicious of them for some reason they can just go up to
them and have a chat with them – use old-fashioned policing skills to be
frank – rather than using these powers, which we don’t want to over-use at
all.”

via independent.co.uk

This is utterly fantastic, and I really do hope this results in real education and instruction given to officers and especially PCSOs who seem to be behind a lot of the problems. It’s great to see such enlightened policy coming out of ACPO, finally. Of course, talk is cheap….

Categories: Photo and Tech News, Politics / Current Events Tags: , , ,

Preparing for South America

December 6, 2009 Leave a comment

So what do you take for a 7 week trip to 3 or 4 different countries with climate varying from summer sunshine to Andean thin air and chill, from a semi-formal wedding in Buenos Aires to trekking in Peru, from urban exploration to rural endurance?

More to the point, how does a tech-addict and camera geek such as myself adequately strike the balance between taking too much gear and not taking something that would really enable me to capture and share snippets of my experiences in a satisfactory manner?

I think I am gradually coming back to the less is more theory on the clothes. I am not going to be a walking North Face ad; I am going to take comfortable clothes and if I have to pick something up there, so be it. Though I am taking my Scarpa boots – they are just awesome. But the full waterproof shells can stay in the closet here.

Still struggling with the tech/photo gear though. My daypack (an excellent combo photo/daypack from Crumpler) is already fairly heavy loaded for bear with: 
  • Canon EOS 40D body
  • Canon 17-40mm F4L 
  • Canon 28-135mm F3.5-5.6
  • Canon 70-300mm (the cheap one)
  • Canon S90 pro compact (just getting to grips with this, but excellent so far)
  • Olympus water / shockproof compact (crap pictures, but could come in handy)
  • Asus EEE PC netbook (for posting, surfing, photo editing and boredom relief on 16 hour bus journeys)
  • Guidebook
Never mind all the chargers, adaptors, batteries, cleaning supplies etc it takes to keep all of the above running. 

But I would be kicking myself if I didn't have the right tools to get into the photo-groove when I get there. The netbook is the only real indulgence, but I won't be taking it out with me during the day (that's what hotel safes are for) and it doesn't weigh much anyway. And I am typing this post on it, so I already know it will come in handy. 

I am still struggling on whether to leave behind the 70-300mm cheapie lens and swap in my 70-200mm F2.8L which is a muuuuuch nicer lens but is A) expensive and B) big and heavy. I think I am gonna have to get by without it. Not like I'd be pulling it out in a crowded market in Peru anyway….

Since this is my first proper post using Posterous I really should include a photo, so here's one I shot yesterday while out testing the new S90 compact: 

Categories: Photography, South America, Travel Photography Tags: , ,