Archive
South America Photo Catchup #7: Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia
Well, that's it. I think, barring any mental hiccups, that this is the lot. I've finally wrung the last bit of blood from the stone, and these shots are the last new ones that should be coming out of the South America trip. I mean, it's only 3 months since I got back. Ahead of schedule, really. Ahem. Next steps are to do a "Top 20 fave shots" post and then, if I am feeling energetic, the 10 minute video-to-end-all-videos.
South America Photo Catchup #6: La Paz, Bolivia
To my deep shame, it’s been a month since my last South America photo post. Workload, and a number of current photo sessions got in the way. I am in danger, nearly 3 months on from getting home, of having forgotten what these pictures are actually of! My work load has slacked off a bit, now, and I have a strong desire to get the last of the South American photos up and blogged before a trip to Istanbul in mid-May, when I know I’ll have a whole new round of photo madness.
South America Catchup Post #5: The Bolivian Amazon
Between Christmas and New Years 2009 (both spent in La Paz, Bolivia) I spent a few days up in the Amazon Basin in Northern Bolivia. It was a few days of heaven, sleeping in a pretty basic riverside camp, and cruising up and down the river all day taking in the flora and fauna, of which there was a heaping abundance. I wrote a blog entry about the experience at the time, with a few photos for good measure. But I had neither the internet connection nor the computing power to edit and upload many of my photos from the excursion.
Clearly, the time is right to rectify this, and so I've uploaded a small selection of additional shots that I quite fancy. Enjoy!
South America Catchup Post #4: Photos from Lake Titicaca
The second day got us a faster and yet longer boat trip out to the Isla del Sol, where an Aymara tour guide took us on a lung-busting rapid tour across the spine of the island, and no amount of coca leaves could disguise how desperately unfit I felt at altitude. But I still managed to hold my hand steady enough to take the odd landscape or two…
South America Catchup Post #3: Photos from Buenos Aires
The next installment of photos comes from the magical city of Buenos Aires. Of all the cities I visited in South America, Buenos Aires was the only one in which I thought I could conceivably live. La Paz was friendly and cool but manic and slightly broken. Cusco was charming and mysterious, but slightly too “gringo trail” to settle down in. Lima? Well let’s not go there. But B.A. was the essence of cool, even as it was desperately hot at times. The Porteños were all style and attitude, but knew how to let their hair down. The food was ace (as long as you weren’t a vegetarian) and the rambling and crumbling barrios of San Telmo and Palermo just begged for a long series of lazy days’ explorations on foot, with frequent rest stops at the ever-present sidewalk cafés. Even the over-touristed bits like La Boca had a certain style to them. I was fortunate never to come face to face with the infamous criminal elements, and I never felt unsafe – though to be sure I wasn’t brandishing the SLR around willy-nilly…
La Boca
Palermo
San Telmo & Centre
To see all the Argentina photos you can click through on the slideshow below:http://www.flickr.com/apps/slideshow/show.swf?v=71649
South America Catchup Post #2: Iguazu Falls, Argentina
Sure, I may have one little tiny blog post from the day with one measly photo and a Youtube video (albeit exciting) but I never got round to showing off some of the other shots I got at the mighty Iguazu Falls National Park in northern Argentina back in December.
Well, there’s no time like the present:
and lest I forget, this is the hard living we had to do when we weren’t out exploring the falls…
More to come very soon.
South America Catchup post #1: Lima, Peru
As promised I am going to fling up some more images from the end of my trip for your delectation today. The first stop is Lima, Peru, where I passed a brief period of a day and a half in between Cusco and Buenos Aires.
The end of the road… for now.
I am sitting in Buenos Aires airport, awaiting my delayed 12-hour Iberia flight to Madrid and thence to London.
- Photos and report from Lima
- Photos and report from return visit to Buenos Aires
- My favourite 20 photos from the trip
- My 5 highlights / lowlights
Just had to share this sunset image from Lima tonight
Just a quick one – I will do a bigger post about Lima once I've seen a bit more of it – but I wanted to share this photo I took of the sunset in a reflecting pool on the top of the cliff in Miraflores, the posh neighbourhood I am calling home for a couple of days.
Lucky escape from Cusco
I am in Cusco airport, about to board a flight for Lima.
I feel very fortunate to be able to do this, as a state of emergency has been declared due to the continuing heavy rains. Many previous flights were cancelled, and the airport is only going to get busier as the entire countryside around Cusco is a literal disaster area. Rivers overflowing, houses collapsing (a shop down the street from me in Cusco imploded), just yesterday bridges that I had crossed on Saturday were washed out. All routes, both rail and road, into and out of Aguas Calientes and Machu Picchu are now blocked. Machu Picchu itself has been closed off, and thousands of tourists are stranded in Aguas Calientes. Airlifts have started to bring out the most vulnerable people. I met a father and son couple who were airlifted out by helicopter last night, who told me that apparently the American military are bringing in their own helicopters to assist in the evacuation. Thousands more tourists who had planned to walk the Inca Trail, or who wanted to visit Machu Picchu, are milling around Cusco and most are evaluating where to go next. In a lot of cases the answer is Lima, so I was lucky to have booked my flight out today. It´s going to get messy around here soon, I sense chaos on the near horizon as everyone tries to leave the region. I feel lucky for having decided not to attempt to get to Machu Picchu by taxi on Saturday night – very likely I would still be there now, and miss my flight. But the problems of me and a few thousand other tourists are insignificant. Whatever happens, eventually we will go on to other, sunnier destinations, to continue our vacations and our lives. The poor people who live here, especially the already poverty-stricken Quechuas in the valleys and the mountains, are the ones that have to live with all this devastation, and over 3000 of them have already lost their homes. We go away with a travel story to tell, but the people we leave behind have to pick up the pieces. I will write more when I get to Lima.
Mortal Coil 