My Life, Our World, My Passion

Slacking!

2009-04-04T00:13:00.000-07:00

Well actually I am only slacking on the whole posting 'past trips on the blog thing'.

Truthfully I have been very busy trying to get this summer's trip planned. It's hard to keep up when you go from planning a few weeks in Colombia to scrapping it and looking into spending two months in Madagascar.

You research your flight and find you have a layover in Kenya and look into what you can do there for a couple days. You quickly realize that a few days in Kenya is not enough. Now, all of a sudden you are spending a few weeks in Kenya and making sure you get to see Kilimanjaro from a distance. But after further study you are all of a sudden heading to Tanzania and climbing Kilimanjaro (is there a bar at the top?). So now you are looking at a month in Madagascar and a month in Tanzania and Kenya.

Finally you are relieved because you consider the trip planned. You have the guide books and you've done the research. Your timetable is loose but you know what you want to see... Enter 'Political Coups' and all of a sudden the country that made you want to forego Colombia, and spawned the desire to go to Kenya and Tanzania is in the "Avoid all non-essential travel" column of the Canadian Travel Advisory Board......Awesome......*side-note* Please look at

http://www.marojejy.com/Crise_e.htm to see the tragic affect this is having on the wilderness of Madagascar, a place that is home to so many endangered species and is considered to have the most unique wildlife in all the world.

The latest news is that they are heading towards a civil war, which is a war that the already threatened wildlife won't be able to endure. This is only my opinion and I have only the reports I have read to back it up, but when you have read enough stories of endangered species being captured and sold on the global market you get upset enough to post it (even if it's only read by a few of your friends and family).

Wow. Who went off track????

And now I'm back on that good old track.

We fly in and out of Nairobi and have two months in between.

I can't promise anyone that if the opportunity to go to Madagascar comes up I won't go, but the general plan is Kenya, Tanzania and Rwanda (Colombia got lost in the shuffle) .

Random Peruvian Loveliness

2009-03-13T00:20:00.000-07:00

Homeless Photos

What else can you do with some shots except create for them their own little niche. They don't seem to fit into any of the typical headings. Portraits, parties, beaches....etc. Sure you could do a Landscapes post, but who really wants to read about or look at a long stream of what usually sounds or looks like the same mountain or valley view.

Animals can usually have their own classification but what if you just have a million shots of the same dopey looking Llama. Hilarious, yes, but only for the first couple of shots then it becomes Sleepy-Town and the Llama is the clerk.

As for Cathedrals....I get bored taking the damn picture! Posting one shot of a cathedral is already pushing it, but throw in five or six more and I may actually sacrifice my computer to a volcano.

And what if you have a couple of neat photos of yourself? Sure you could do yet another 'you segment' but, get over yourself already. I mean you already have a blog for fuck sakes! People are going to start to wonder if you can even possibly conceive of getting over yourself or if the act is simply beyond your ego.

And don't even get me started on birds and flowers! Unless you are prepared to show me some 'Planet Earth' worthy stuff stick to one or two shots. I don't want to know what atrocities I would be capable of after looking at 20 pictures of an orchid.

And this sunset nonesense has GOT TO STOP! I don't need five different exposures of the same one. Pick one you like and keep the rest for your screensaver.

So here is my shelter for all the photos the other posts didn't want.

Big ass stone that Incas carried from the other side of the mountain in the background.
Cityscape of Arequipa with Misti looming over.
Chair in a monastery in Arequipa.
Rasta Llama.
Dopey Llama.
Two Llamas.
Ollyantaytambo.
Mountain at Ollyantaytambo which was thought to have the face of a god on it. So up they sent some dudes to carve a crown. Pretty cool and apparently at exactly the right time on the summer solstice the sun hits the 'jewel' of the crown and is so bright you have to shade your eyes.
Picture of me with Pepe, the resident Howler Monkey at the lodge in the Peruvian Amazon that, I thought at least, to be a little over-rated. The Peruvian Amazon, not the lodge. I wanted to see an Anaconda and I didn't.
Mountains on the Inca Trail.
Me swimming in the river in the Amazon where we had just been fishing for piranhas, and where I may or may not have snared a caiman.
Best I could do on the Cathedral. If you never return to my blog again for fear of seeing another one I will understand.

Space Invasion

2009-03-12T22:29:00.000-07:00

The Always Elusive Portrait

It's happened to us all. While wandering anywhere we can come across a face that speaks without moving the mouth. Eyes that are so deep you could swim around in them for days and never see the same thing twice. Lines that are paths to seemingly countless memories. You know that you will never fully understand a life in a portrait but you can get a glimpse if only you had the balls to invade a person's personal space and life for a few short seconds.

Sometimes it is made easy for you. People will stand at frequented tourist attractions, dress in traditional clothing and let you take their picture, for a small payment of course. But those eyes, and lines never seem to convey the same thing that the old woman's on the bus did. Sure they make a good shot to show the fam but it isn't really what you wanted and deep down you will always know that picture that mom shows off to all her friends is one big ass fake. You want that spark of reality that is never really there in those situations, plus why pay for it when you can get it for free?

Enter the 'Let's Take a Shot of the Locals Without Them Knowing it' game. With enough sneakiness, a bit of luck, and plenty of room on the old memory card this can yield a pretty good shot (usually with a bit of cropping), but usually it just leads to far away headless or feet less bodies that are off centre and usually on such a slope that without their feet it is unbelievable that they are managing to not tumble down the hill. And after awhile you just start to feel bad.

So you finally suck it up and ask. If you speak the language great. If not a show of the camera and a tilt of the head works just as well. You snap the picture and BAM great shot and one that you will be happy to have mom show off. At which point you could say thank you and walk away, but usually I find some sort of exchange always makes me feel better about the invasion. You can choose to throw them some money which is obviously best for the very poor, or you can take down a name and address and promise to send them a copy. If you do this make sure you follow through as most people will be excitedly looking forward to the day when they receive your picture of papa, mama, or little sister, in the mail.

These pictures are my attempt at these techniques. Three are my real deal and the rest are the first two tricks. I think it is pretty damn easy to figure out which ones are which.

Lake Titicaca Peru

2009-03-09T15:36:00.000-07:00

Don't be fooled. I am still without my handy digital (replaced that on the black market in La Paz), But I did bring my massive EOS 1 and finally found some film. *Note to self; don't get film developed in Bolivia. Icky colours eh? *Note to you; when on Lake Titicaca do a home stay. To this day it remains the most bizarre day of my life.

Alana's Checklist for planning The Most Bizarre Day of Your Life

Board a boat on the highest Navigable Lake in the world: check
Dock at an inhabited floating island made of reeds: check
Mail a postcard home from the post office on the island: check
Board a double decker boat also made entirely of reeds: check
Go for a tour than re-board non reed boat and head to a solid island for homestay: check
Have new Peru mom greet you right off the boat and learn that she only speaks Quechua, which you foolishly forgot to brush up on: check
Shown to new home and new bedroom locked with a rusty padlock: check
Sit in aforementioned room for 2 hours wondering what you are supposed to be doing: check
Finally retrieved for dinner which is had in a shack with dirt for the floor: check
Eat possibly the worst meal of your life and have no idea what it is and no idea how to ask (stupid useless spanish phrase book): check
Realize it may have been a sibling of the guinea pigs you just noticed running around your feet: check
Watch mom breast feed a toddler while you try to choke down what appears to be a rubber egg: check
Brought back up to room to wait for another bewildering hour: check
Mom finally comes up with her arms full of traditional clothing you will be wearing at a party thrown in your honor: check
Have to have mom tuck some of your parts into the 2 blouses and 3 skirts and a scarfy thing: check
Pinkie swear with your roomies never to make public any photos taken of this night: check
Dance like a mad person and drink like a sailor in a large room that smells like pee: check
Actually don one of those geeky head-lamps so you will have your hands free to deal with your 3 skirts while you try to keep your balance squatting over a hole in an outhouse wondering if there isn't something to be said for peeing in the corner of the dance hall: check
Hear about all the amazing food the other moms made for their quests: check
Watch your mom out party and out dance all the other moms: check
Think about trying to convey to your mom that her cooking may improve if she spent more time in the kitchen and less time on the dance floor: check
Quickly realize that she is pretty damn cool just the way she is, shitty cooking and all: check
Taken back home long after everyone else's mom took them home, a little drunk from much beer: check
Watch as mom pulls out plastic bowls from under the beds: check
Then watch her hike up her skirts and squat over the bowl: check
Take a minute to realize that she is telling you that this is where you pee at night: check
Watch in horror as she locks the gate leading out to the outhouse: check
Immediately regret that 'I guess one more can't hurt' beer: check
Crawl onto thin hay mattress for what is sure to be an agonizing sleepless night: check
Get woken up by roommates who are going to attempt a bathroom break out: check
In an attempt to be stealthy crash into everything you can and wonder 'where the hell did that empty bag of chips with the bells and tin cans around it come from?': check
Contemplate climbing over wall that has shards of glass glued to the top because the deep gashes seem like a more pleasant experience than pissing in a bowl in front of practical strangers: check
Grateful (and a little worried) for the lock picking skills of new best friend (who you will be watching closely for the duration of your time together, shady bugger): check
Have the best damn pee of your life: check
Try to stealth it back in but manage to find the jar of marbles on a wobbly table: check
Sleep rather soundly the rest of the night: check
Awake to the stories of 2 other breakouts in the night: check
Head down to surprisingly edible breakfast: check
Say goodbye to mom: check
Never once see man of the house: check
Board boat and watch a truly great place fade in the distance: sadly check

Inca Trail, and Machu Pichu

2009-03-09T13:38:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately most of my shots from the trail were liberated from me as were the Nazca Lines shots. It is this amazing ability of mine to get a camera stolen every time I go away (even sometimes when I don't go away). I try to burn them on to cd's as often as possible but sometimes it just isn't an options. At least I have my head movies to remember them by.

Sand and Sun in Peru, oh and Nazca lines

2009-03-09T05:35:00.000-07:00

If you have stumbled across my blog by accident and miraculously have gotten this far I'm certain that you would be shocked, confused, (maybe a little bored) to know that I HATE FLYING!

There are very few things that send me into panic attack mode like flying does. That is why it is completely tragic that I lost all the pictures I took while flying in what I see as a very tiny and poorly made coffin, over the Nazca Lines.

These pictures are all that remain of the place where the desert meets the ocean and where, some clearly interesting people decided to draw shapes in the sand only visible from the air, for purposes we don't know. My vote is that they just wanted to fuck with our heads.

Oh and I threw in a picture of me sandboarding.

Vegetarians, You Have Been Warned

2009-03-09T05:20:00.000-07:00

Cusco Peru Inti Raymi

2009-03-09T02:57:00.000-07:00

Cusco Peru Inti Raymi Dancers

2009-03-09T02:54:00.000-07:00

Cusco Peru Inti Raymi

2009-03-09T02:41:00.000-07:00

Lovely, Sleepy Quito

2009-03-09T02:20:00.000-07:00

Quito at Night After What Was Clearly an Important Soccer Game.

2009-03-09T02:13:00.001-07:00

Actual Past Travels Part 3. Cotopaxi.

2009-03-09T01:58:00.000-07:00

Actual Past Travels Part 2. Galapagos Islands.

2009-03-09T01:47:00.001-07:00

Actual Past Travels Part 2. Galapagos Islands.

2009-03-09T01:37:00.000-07:00

Actual Past Travels Part 2. Galapagos Islands.

2009-03-09T01:27:00.000-07:00

Actual Past Travels Part 2. Galapagos Islands.

2009-03-09T01:14:00.000-07:00

Actual Past Travels Part 2. Galapagos Islands.

2009-03-09T01:02:00.000-07:00

I have to be honest and tell you that whenever I look at another person's blog I rarely read their words (sorry) but it is true. So I am going to do my best to let my pictures do the talking, which this guy was more than ready to do.

Actual Past Travels Part 1.

2009-03-09T00:54:00.000-07:00

I spent 4 months in Costa Rica way back when I was using film (oh yeah.....making myself feel old) and am too lazy to put the pictures on a cd so I will not be posting any pics. Let me just say that it is a wonderful country and to blame for what is to follow.

The next trip was to France and Spain to see my pseudo brother and that was also a million years ago (bet you didn't know that I am older than Jesus) so no pics.

Now on to the trips that I have actual proof of my having been on.

Past Travels

2009-03-09T00:38:00.000-07:00

My life is pretty simple. I love my family, my friends, my pussycats, and travel.....I guess you could say I love to party on occasion as well.

I have a few years of blog catching up to do so bear with me as I attempt to blog the last few years. Or I could just sit here and keep typing blog. Blog blog blog blog blog. Meh. That kinda got old fast.

Here I Go Again

2009-03-09T00:34:00.000-07:00

I am going to try this blogging thing one more time. If I suck again than I promise I'll quit and stop taking up html's or whatever the heck they are called.

As you can tell i am VERY computer savvy.