I'm so late

Sorry folks, I know it's been a while but here are some photos from Ryan's bachelor party back in September. We kidnapped him after work on Thursday and then drove up to Algonquin and hiked the entire weekend. I think we covered around 24km in 3 days. We definitely need to learn how to pack even lighter.

Congratulations!

Congratulations to Mike and Rebecca who recently became engaged. We had a photo shoot down at Lake Eerie a few weeks ago and while it was very sunny (and thus squinty) we produced some good engagement shots for them. Look for wedding photos next summer!

Summer Flowers

Fifty Point

Last weekend Tori and I headed down to a childhood favorite spot of hers called Fifty Point just on the other side of the golden horseshoe from Burlington. It's a prety small conservation area that is mostly a marina and partially a beach/pond. It was a really fun day.

Finnegan

Meet our new puppy, Finnegan. She is a small munsterlander, which is the same breed as Trail. Finn is very, very cute, but is pretty much a biting and peeing machine. Having a puppy around is definitely an adjustment but I can say it is definitely nice when she has tired herself out and sleeps for a few hours.

Frank and Karen's 30th

I was selected (recruited) to be the unofficial photographer for Frank and Karen Wetselaar's 30th wedding anniversary. It was a really fun celebration of cultivating a life for themselves. There was free food, free beer, and good conversation, all the ingredients to a great night.


The food was delicious and ranged from caviar potato salad to lamb chops to lobster. To top it off was a great lemon cake and croque en bouche (gigantic tower of cream puff). Needless to say everyone had a great time and personally I can't wait until 40 years!

Orchid

A beautiful orchid from a trip to Ball's Falls a few weeks ago.

Borer's Falls Insects

After reviewing my photos from Borer's Falls I discovered that many of them were of insects. So here they are.

Trees Lounging II

Last winter Tori and I stumbled upon a park called Borer's falls. It is a very small park and thus not easy to locate on a map. However while driving around the RBG last month we hiked a small portion of the Bruce trail. Lo and behold we managed to stumble upon the same falls only this time from the opposite direction. What's interesting is that the first time I photographed a group of birch trees, which I was able to photograph again but in the opposite season. It was sort of like a bizarro hike/photograph.

Spencer's Falls

Absent from blogging but not from photographing. I know it has been a while but it just means I have a nice stockpile of photos to post. Here is a shot from a trip to Spencer's falls on the escarpment.

RIP: Trail

We'll miss you.

Cattails

I guess Tori and I are keeping up with our habit of going out in snowstorms so last weekend we went to nearby Kerncliffe park. Luckily it is has been slightly warmer around here so there wasn't too much snow on the ground but it was definitely coming down. Sorry for the lack of updates lately, I have no excuse, though I'm sure that when the weather improves you'll see more here. I should try and graph the co-relation between temperature and photo frequency.

More Birds

I am beginning to notice the copious amounts of birds that are beginning to appear on this blog. I completely blame Tori but note, I am not complaining. We went to the Hamilton Aviary a few weekends ago and got to see some pretty cool birds. It is a really small volunteer run establishment and they seem to really care about the birds. The first photo is a couple of conures loving each other. And below a Green-Wing Macaw and an Indian Ringneck Parakeet.

New York City part 2

The following day we started out by checking out Central Park and the surrounding area. Central Park is gigantic so we only walked through the southern bit of it. One of the most awesome aspects of NYC is the incredible subway system. Coming from Toronto which probably has the largest subway system in Canada, there is simply no comparison. Obviously there are far more people who live in and around Manhattan but the sheer size is really something to be envied. And the greatest part about it is that it runs 24 hours a day, so you never have to worry about missing your ride or taking a cab home, and to boot it is even cheaper than the paltry Toronto system.



After Central Park we headed down to the World Trade Center site. It didn't really look like much, sort of like a huge construction site. It was still a pretty impressive place to be and I'm sure even more so when they finish the new towers. The Statue of Liberty is just off the south shore of Manhattan so we headed down there afterwards. We were starving and of course freezing so we decided not to take the ferry to the statue but I grabbed a few shots from the shore.


We took a subway to little Italy and grabbed some dinner then ventured over to see the Brooklyn Bridge. It was pretty cool, but it's pretty annoying when the sun sets at 5 oclock and you're seeing everything at night. I still dislike night shots but I managed the best that I could.


By this point it was almost midnight so we went back to midtown to see the Rockefeller centre and Radio City Music Hall. It's funny how true is it that things seems bigger on TV. The skating rink is actually much smaller than a regular hockey rink but all of the buildings are still as huge as you imagine.


All in all New York is an awesome place to visit and ideally you could live there for a few months to really soak it in but at the very least I would suggest two weeks to see everything...in the summer.

New York City part 1

After Washington we finally had two days to explore New York City. After a must deserved sleep-in we started by visiting the United Nations building which was only a few blocks from our hotel. The tour was fairly interesting and we were able to see the general assembly. From there we ventured to Grand Central station and then Time Square. The thing about New York is that there are simply too many interesting things to see and they all take longer than you anticipate. So after several hours in Times Square we decided to go check out the Knicks game.


Thanks to Mr. Tischelman and his unreliable daughter we were able to get some great tickets for only 40$. Lucky for us the Suns were in town and we got to see Shaq and Nash. It was my first NBA game and seeing Madison Square Garden was pretty awesome.



After the game we checked out the Empire State Building since it's open until 2am. It was super cold at the 89th floor observation deck but I grabbed a few shot of Manhattan. The above shot is of downtown, the Brooklyn bridge is on the left side and the Statue of Liberty on the right. The other looks out over Queens with the Chrysler Building on the left side.

Washington

So to make a long story short Tristan invited me to go to NYC and the inauguration of Barack Obama and who I was I to pass up such a great opportunity. Our flight in to LaGuardia was 4 hours late and we had to catch our 2am bus from New York to Washington. We arrived in the capitol at 5am and soon after started our long march to the National Mall. It was a really surreal experience because there were a lot of people outside at such an early time. Not to mention the plethora of sirens and, police, military, blocking tons of streets. At one point we had to walk through a vehicle tunnel that was transformed into a pedestrian throughway.


We finally got the mall at 0730 and I heard someone say we were 3/4 of a mile from the capitol building. Well at this point we waited and waited and then waited some more for the ceremony to start. All told we were standing outside in below freezing weather for 7+ hours. It was incredibly cold outside and my shoulders were so tight from all the shivering. Eventually President Obama was sworn in (can't you see him standing there?), made a great speech, and the masses were free to disperse. Tristan and I decided to take refuge in the Smithsonian museum and actually stubbled upon a great civil rights photography show. There were some incredible photographs of Malcom X and Martin Luther King Jr.


After warming up for a bit we made it out to visit a few of the huge amount of monuments in Washington. The Jefferson memorial, Lincoln memorial, and the Vietnam Veteran's war memorial (below) were all very impressive. It makes me slightly envious as a Canadian, I wish we had that much national pride.

New Year's Day

I know we're a ways from New Year's but Mark had asked me to take some new year themed photos. Well I wasn't very happy with the pictures I took so it didn't really amount to anything but I think this picture of Tori isn't too shabby.
I switched up the look of the blog, I guess I just wanted a change and a something little different from the other blogs on blogspot. Also look for a big update soon some New York CIty.

I did it first

Last month Mike and Rebecca asked me to take some family portraits of them with their new kitten Spoons to give out for Xmas. It was a pretty fun shoot but I am figuring out that I am not a huge fan of studio photography. I feel as if it has more to do with fiddling with equipment to get a good shot than adapting to the location and the difficulties that come along with it. I guess I just prefer natural outdoor lighting though. Although I understand how that can seriously limit the type of shooting a photographer can do which I why I appreciate taking artificial lighting to an outdoor setting. A stunning example is Brooks Reynolds' We are Sleeping Giants. Night shots have always been difficult for me, even more so with the digital age. One of these days I'll get it though.

Snowballz

Last week I did some headshots for Corporate Knights at their office in Toronto. We got to go up to the roof of their building and while it was very cold and extremely windy I think we got some good shots. Of course that didn't stop a snowball fight from breaking out.

Edible Lodgings

Christmas time is such a delicious time to bake tasty treats. Tori and I constructed this gingerbread house with our own bare hands. It was a lot of fun and I'm sure we'll have more treats to share as the week go by. Her family also has a tree cutting tradition where the perfect specimen is killed to decorate their home. It was a very quick expedition this year since it was a balmy -10 degrees celsius. It was a lot of fun though.

Birds are Weird

Before I left for Peru Tori and I visited her ex-place of employment, the African Lion Safari. She worked with the parrots so I was able to take a some photographs of them when the park had closed. Most of the birds are quite intelligent while some are mostly bitey. Either way I think they look pretty awesome.

The Last Supper

So this ends our trip around Peru. Mike and I went back to Arequipa to catch our flight and enjoyed a nice dinner of cebiche and cuy. The former is raw fish which is marinated in lime juice and naturally cooked by the neutralization of the acid and base while the later is roasted guinea pig. Cuy is a fairly special dish in Peru and is only consumed on special occasions. We even saw a painting in Lima of the last supper with Jesus enjoying some delicious cuy. I had been a little hesitant to try these dishes our entire trip but both meals were extremely delicious so I'm glad I did.


So I hope your enjoy this photo essay of sorts and please come back for some not as exciting photos of Ontario...during the winter!

Puno

Ryan had to catch his flight back home so Mike and I left Cusco en route to Puno (elv.3830m). We caught a late night bus and 6 hours later we were in Puno on Lake Titicaca, the highest navigable lake in the entire world. After arriving and getting a quick nap in, Mike and I headed down to the harbour to catch a ride to the Islas Flotantes of the Uros people. These are islands that are actually made from totora reeds and float on the surface of the lake. The Uros use the reeds (which are partly edible) for almost everything in their lives; their homes, boats, and ground are all made from interweaving these reeds to construct what they need. The Uros decided to live on the constructed islands several centuries ago to isolate themselves from the Collas and Incas, and currently eke our their existence from fishing and tourism.



We got a very cheap spanish tour to the islands with our two 12 year old captains. After leaving the harbour we suffered several engine breakdowns, combined with the fact that our boat had loose floorboards and water in the bottom made us a little nervous. I'm not sure if you noticed but the two man team is required, one to steer and one to manually pump the gas into the engine...luckily they got us going again and we were off. We got to an island and sat for a small (completely spanish) presentation by a man who presumably lives there, while I caught very little of what he said it seemed fairly interesting. Of course there were several small souvenir shops on the island to purchase your island goods. There are actually some restaurants on the island though we didn't have time to eat there. Walking on the islands is an experience in itself, it is very soft and if you aren't careful you can actually sink through if you step on a rotten section. The sun was incredibly hot here since it is at such a high elevation but in the shade you would feel quite cold from the cool air.




After a fews hours on Lake Tititcaca we went back to Puno and and I snuck this picture of a peruvian couple on our tour with us. After arriving back to the harbour we took Batman's rickshaw around town and grabbed some dinner before heading back to our hostel. Puno was quite a nice city and a great detour from the rest of Peru.

Inca Trail: Machu Picchu

We were woken up at 400 on the last day to arrive at Machu Picchu early and it was pouring. After a quick breakfast we bundled up all of our things which were slightly lighter since the porters took the gear we rented with them as they went to Aguas Caliente at the base of the Machu Picchu valley. While that was a nice bonus, finding out that my rain jacket was not waterproof was quite the opposite. After hiking through the downpour for 2 hours I was soaked to the bone. We climbed a very step staircase at Intipunku (the sun gate) our last mountain pass and instead of having Machu Picchu revealed to us on the horizon we got to see...fog. Warren and Brian (knowing the connection between cause and effect) started to chant 'FUCK OFF FOG!' which surpringsly worked and then, in all it's splendor Machu Picchu arose from the clouds. It was actually very beautiful even with all the clouds, it gave it a very jungly feel.



After a few photos we made the last leg of the trail down the mountainside to the top of Machu Picchu. There is a regular entrance for folk to come up in buses from Aguas Calientes where we were able to drop our packs off and change into some dry clothes. The weather cooperated for our tour of the ruins and Paulito was an excellent guide. The city is separated into an agriculture section (on the left) for all of the terraces and a few buildings, and then the residential section (on the right) which itself has a sacred district and a popular district for living quarters. You can tell which buildings were important because of the quality of the walls they built. Again they didn't use mortar but constructed the walls by placing the polished stones together like a puzzle, which sometimes includes large stone which they did not move. The terraces are also quite unique, they have layers of stone, sand, and soil to improve the irrigation of the city but more impressively the sand comes from all parts of the Inca empire. Sand from the coast, Nazca desert and amazon were all brought here.



In the religious portion of the city there is a sundial which indicates certain important days of the year, such as the summer and winter solstice as well as the equinoxes. There are several altars for sacrifices including the temple of the condor which has this interesting stone that is shaped like a condor head. And also there were several more interesting architechtural details. Like the other ruins we visisted there was a source of fresh water which flowed through the city to several fountains in central locations. There is also several rocks shaped like animals, one has a perfect llama shadow on the summer solstice (which I obviously couldn't photograph), one is shaped like a guinea pig and another is shaped like a llama head (pictured below).



It is also worth noting that Machu Picchu was never actually discovered by the spanish conquistadors since they always destroyed religious places to build churches. Instead they believe that Machu Picchu was abandoned about 100 years after it was constructed because of a small pox epidemic (which was brought to south america by the europeans). Most believe that it was used a citadel for the Inca emperor Pachacuti. Hiram Bingham is credited with rediscovering the site in 1911 but at the time there were a few families still living in the ruins and using the terraces. There are also reports of several other adventurers discovering the site up to a dozen year before Bingham and taking some artifacts.



At the end of our tour we were able to explore the city for a few hours before needing to catch a bus down to Aguas Calientes. Though we did get to see a Green and White Hummingbird as well as this (as Paulito called it) Inca rabbit.



After some lunch in Aguas Calientes we said goodbye to our guides and caught the train back to Ollantaytambo and then a bus back to Cusco.




This trek was the most difficult undertaking I have had to do physically, but entirely worth it. The guides were great, our group was great, and the sights were incredible.


Trip distance: ~48km
Trip elevation: ~3100 m
Trip depth: ~2200 m

Inca Trail: Day three

The second to last day started much like the rest of the days, up at 600 and soon after we hit the trail. It was a much shorter day today as we only had to hike about 9 km and all before lunch. On the other hand it was almost all downhill which is worst than the uphill since we probably had to walk down over 2000 stairs. It was pretty hard on the knees but it was nice to only have to hike for 5 or so hours.


We started by walking slightly uphill until the ruins at Phuyupatamarka which was probably used as a checkpoint while housing a few dozen people. The Inca used a rotating system of people who worked in these various locations and by working they were paying taxes. From Phuyupatamarka we could see the next ruins called Intipata. Intipata is a huge complex of terraces. There are very few buildings here so it probably only served as a agricultural facility since it is quite close to Machu Picchu. It is intereting to know that it was only discovered 15 years ago, before that it went unnoticed as it was completely covered by trees and vegetation. After being restored it is now a small detour off the main path. The amount of terraces here are incredible we walked down some extremely steep stairs for a good 15 minutes before getting to the bottom. From there it was a short walk to our campsite and next ruins Winaywayna (forever young). This campsite actually has a hostel, a bar, and lukewarm showers. We finally got to have two hours of free time before heading off to check out the ruins.



Winaywayna was similar to Intipata but had more living quarters. There are a huge amount of terraces and at the top is the temple of the moon. There are seven windows for each day of the week since the Inca used a lunar calendar where each month had 28 days. The architecture of the Inca is very impressive. Most of their locations are built downhill from a natural spring which they funneled down through their cities to a series of fountains that served the entire community. In addition to being able to control their water supply they built structures that have withstood 500 years in an extremely earthquake active area. All of the walls were built at an angle instead of straight up which gives them more stability. They also almost never built the walls with mortar, it makes the walks very weak so instead they built the walls sort of like a puzzle. One block would dissipate the force to the next two and then it would dissipate again this is done by rocks with several points of contact (you can see paulito with a rock that has at least 8 corners on it). All of the structures are very well preserved and show little sign of wear. We also got very lucky and got to see a rare orchid Masdevallia Veitchiana.



We stayed until sunset and before heading back to the campsite for dinner. After dinner we had a little thank you ceremony for the porters who were incredible the entire trek. The porters have it pretty tough on the trail. They become porters usually because the farming they usually do simply isn't enough to support themselves and their family so they work as a porter on the trail to bring money home to their families. Until about 2002 there was no regulations on their wages or the amount of weight they could carry so they would sometimes have to carry over 50 kg while bring paid very little. They walk the trail very quickly sometimes wearing sandals. Often times the porters spend the nights in the kitchen tent and get up even earlier than we do to get everything ready to go. There is still several improvements that can be made in porter conditions but it definitely isn't as bad as it used to be for them.



I grabbed another photo of our Rufous-collared sparrow who were very common on the trail and another unidentified blackbird.



Total distance: ~9 km
Total elevation: ~200m
Total depth: ~1200m

Inca Trail: Day two

We awoke at 530 to a lovely cup of coca tea and then some delicious breakfast. We definitely needed a good meal because we were about to climb 1000m in about 2 hours to Dead Woman's pass towering above us. We started off that morning walking very slowly upwards. After an hour of hiking we stopped at a campsite that had a good view of the mountain pass. You can see in the photo that the pass looks like a woman sort of lying on her back on the right side is the face (nose, mouth, and eye) and the left is her breast, the pass is the low point to the left of her. Well after snapping a few photos of our guide and some birds we started up again. At this point the entire trail was made of rocks instead of just being dirt which makes it more difficult to walk on because your feet are never on flat ground and your ankles definitely take a beating. Although it also means there are a ton of steps up to the pass. It was extremely difficult climbing up to the top but after another hour we made it! This is the highest point of the classic trail and sits at 4215m.



After a well deserved rest we climbed down into the next valley to the Pacaymayu campground and had some lunch. Right after lunch we had to climb very steeply to the next mountain pass. On the way up we passed some small ruins named Runkuraqay which means egg shape. This was used as a small outpost that overlooks the Pacaymayu valley. When we finally made it to the pass the clouds were starting to roll in. So everyone quickly got their rain jackets on and then we worked our way down the other side of the mountain in the rain. The views of the valley in the rain were actually quite spectacular which we could enjoy because we had to go slowly down the wet stairs. I had to wrap my camera up so I didn't get many pictures coming down but luckily the rain stopped just before the next ruins, Sayaqmarka.


These ruins have a narrow staircase along the cliffside that lead up to them. At this point of the day I was exhausted so I didn't really explore them that much. We took a rest while Paulito gave an explanation of the ruins and shortly after we left for the campsite. After hiking for about 9 hours I was just done with hiking. We had some dinner and listened to some great Inca trail ghost stories before heading off to a great nights sleep. The moon that night was so bright that the entire valley was illuminated, I tried to take some night photos but I never seem to have any luck with them.



However I did get some more bird photos, first we have a Rufous-collared sparrow and an unidentified bluebird.



Total distance: ~17 km
Total elevation: ~1700m

Inca Trail: Day one

We were all looking forward to the Inca trail since we had to book it about two months in advance and it wasn't even peak season. The government only allows 500 people on the trail per day (including guides and porters) so you have to book early to guarantee yourself a spot. The day before leaving we had a meeting at the tour office and met a bunch of our fellow trekkers. There was a total of 13 us in our group and everyone except for myself, Ryan, Mike, and Lauren had rented a porter to carry some of their things. So it seemed as though we were stuck carrying all of our gear.


We met with our tour group at 530 and waited for our bus to take us to Ollantaytambo which is about 2 hours north of the city. We stopped for a quick breakfast and then reached kilometer 82, the entrance to the Inca trail (elv 2350m). We were off!

Back row: Jill, Brian, Warren, Ryan, Frankie
Front Row: Ross, Valentine, Lauren, Parveen, Katie, Sara, Paulito, Emer, Emma, Mike
(click photo for higher resolution download)

The beginning of the trail is quite nice flat ground for an hour or two so we didn't need many breaks. Then there was one huge staircase that climbed about 150 m, our guide told us that a few years ago an older man had died right after climbing them. We reached our first ruins Patallaqta shortly after that. The incas built several communities throughout the sacred valley for a variety of purposes and always in strategic places. These ruins lie at the base of a mountain to control both paths through the valley. About 2 hours later we stopped for lunch. Upon arriving at every break the porters already had our meal tent set up and had some small bowls where we could wash our hands before eating. If you ever hike the Inca trail I can guarantee you will not go hungry, every single one of our meals was fantastic and there was always more food than our group could eat. Kudos to our cook Walter for taking such good care of us, the pumpkin soup was awesome.



The second half of day one was killer. We climbed probably another 6-700 m and hiked for a good 4 hours. For some reason I had real trouble with or post lunch hikes. I'm not sure why I just always found the going much more difficult after eating. We slowly made it to our campsite before sunset and I was just glad to get the weight off my shoulders. Our campsite sat at around 3300m and had a beautiful view. Now you'd think you'd have a lot of time to hang out, maybe read a little on the trail, do some sudoku, well if you aren't hiking then you are catching your breath or eating with the group. At night you just pass right out until morning.
Let me tell you about our group now. Our two guides were Paulito and Valentine who were really great guides. They were both extremely informed, friendly and helpful. There was Ryan, Mike and myself from Canada. Lauren from Malaysia, Ross and Jill from Chicago, Parveen and Katie from Australia, and then Sara, Emer, Emma, Warren from Ireland and Brian from Northern Ireland. It was an awesome group and I couldn't have asked for a better troop of people to trek with for four days.





Total distance: ~16 km
Total elevation ~1200m

Cusco

After Arequipa we rode a 14 hour long bus ride to the Inca capital city of Cusco. We arrived quite early in the morning and upon arriving at our hostel we discovered that our reservation had been cancelled. I did contact the owner to change our reservation but it seems as though he thought I meant cancel the entire reservation. We eventually got things sorted out and when we finally got to our room we all had a nap. Our first day in Cusco we didn't do much since we really just wanted to acclimatize to our new altitude (3326m) instead of suffering like we did in the colca canyon. The day after arriving we explored the city and found that it was quite a touristy. Almost everyone who hikes the Inca trail or visits Machu Picchu goes through Cusco at some point so it makes sense that there are so many people trying to sell things.


An interesting aspect of Peruvian culture is the way they conduct their day to day lives. They simply do things much slower than us North American folk. Many times you will find yourself stuck behind a slow moving person on the sidewalk or notice how many people congregate at the city's numerous plazas. At nearly every time of day you will find people sitting and passing the time in the Plaza de Armas (universally the name for 'main plaza' in Peru). There just isn't the type of rushing about that there is in North America. The first photograph is the Iglesia de la Compania de Jesus with the Plaza de Armas fountain in front of it (there is always at least one church attached to a plaza).


With all of the tourism that is attracted to Cusco (or Peru in general) because of Machu Picchu also has it's fair share of negative effects as well. I tried not to photograph many locals because I didn't feel that it was right to take the photographs of strangeres without giving something back. And I didn't want to give them money for a photo because then you get people who just dress up pose for photos on the streets. So walking around Cusco you get women and small girls asking you to take a photo, dressed in 'traditional' Peruvian clothing carrying a small satchels with a baby llama in it. I guess I just feel that they should be treated as people and not solely as a means to an end by tourists, but by the same token you want to help them I just think there are probably better ways to do so.


Anyways enough politics. While walking around the city we found a huge mural on Av el Sol. It was probably about 50 feet across and I'm not entirely sure what is depicted on it but you can definitely see an Inca (probably Inca leader Pachacuti) with a model of Machu Picchu. Also, I guess our hostel neighbors had a pet parrot. Stay tuned for postings from the Inca trail!

Arequipa

Arequipa lies at the foot of the Colca canyon, which is officially the deepest canyon in the world dropping down 3191m (twice as deep as the grand canyon) and surrounded by several high volcanoes Ampato 6310m and Coropuna 6613m. As Peru's second largest city it has little in common with Lima. The architechture of the city is built with a white rock called sillar which gives it an antique sort of feeling.


We ended up arriving after midnight and had no place to stay. We took a cab with another traveller on our bus and found a hostel with vacancy (pictured below). Arequipa is at an alitutde of 2350m but we didn't seem too affected by the air so we walked around the main plaza of the city, enjoyed an alpaca steak, and explored a few extra neighbourhoods. We visited the museum of Juanita the Ice Princess where a real mummy is kept. She was a young girl that the Inca brought to the summit of Ampato and sacrificed to the gods. They call her the ice princess because she was found frozen but when they returned to excavate the tomb they found that due to recent nearby eruptions the ice had melted and they found her rolled down the mountain. They believe that she had been chosen at birth to be sacrificed because as well being buried with several artifacts and jewelry they found her umbilical cord in her tomb. Although our Inca trail guide disputes the fact that she was sacrificed (instead simply buried) it was still a fairly interesting exhibit. The main plaza is flanked by La Catedral which is one of less than 100 basilicas in the world that is allowed to display the vatican flag. About 17 km from the plaza lies the active volcano El Misti which most recently erupted in 2000.



The next day we decided to do a tour of the Colca Canyon. The night before I had some pretty intense fever dreams. I could not stop repeating the word 'hospedaje' (hostel or lodging in spanish), so I barely slept and the bus was supposed to pick us up at 230, which showed up at around 400. Then we drove 3 hours to Chivay in a tiny bus with negative space for your legs driving back and forth up switchbacks to Chivay which is 3630m high. After lunch the bus trip got even worse, driving about an hour on an unpaved gravel road to an altitude of 3795m. This is where we got to see some wild Andean condors. They were actually quite magnificent and we watched them fly right over our heads for about 10 minutes, and there certainly was no lack of other tourists there either. After the condors disappeared we started to feel the altitude. It really is a strange feeling to be at altitude. You feel tired pretty much all of the time and walking up a flight of stairs makes you completely out of breath. Also the sun is extremely hot and you can get suburned easily yet the air is still very cold. Well altitude sickness combined with a fever does not mix very well. It was about 900 and I was done for the day. All I did was sleep in the bus as our guide rambled on about Alpacas, Llamas, terraces, mountainside tombs.



I did manage to get some information in my stupor however. There are quite a few villages in the canyon where people survive mostly off farming. There are over 25,000 terraces (pictured below) that were mostly built by the Incas. Though only about 5,000 are used now it is quite an impressive sight. There are also several places where the Inca built tombs on the sides of mountains to bury their dead. This wasn't done as a sacrifice but instead they saw the mountains as protectors and in the afterlife they would be safe.

Nazca

Nazca is only about two hours from Ica so we arrived in Nazca in the afternoon and was it ever hot in the desert. We got a hostel and then explored the town a little in an attempt to find somewhere to do a sobrevuelo (overflight) of the Nazca lines. Hostels are often in cahoots with particular tour companies and I'm fairly sure these arrangements are entirely informal and probably drive up the price due to the convenience factor. We ended up paying extra for a smaller three passenger Cessna that can fly at about 1700 ft. This meant that we got to circle each geoglyph twice at a fairly good distance. After going through an extremely paltry security check in the airport we were on the tarmac and ready to go. We spoke earlier with some Australian folks who had gone taken a flight earlier and they said to not eat before hand since the flight is quite turbulent, unfortunately they told us this over lunch just before we left for the airport. Well the pilot flew us to each geoglyph and banked sharply to give us a straight down look at each symbol. All the banking from left to right and back again can definitely make the stomach turn a little but luckily none of us lost our lunch. Although even myself, who never experiences nausea associate with vehicles felt a little wobbly after getting out of the plane. The entire fight was only about 25 minutes but was definitely all we could take with those maneuvers. (click photos for better view)

Alcatraz

Let me explain these geoglyph a little. They were constructed about 500 years ago by the Nazca people who lived in this area and built these massive symbol in the sand. This was done by removing the top layer of oxidized (rusted) sand and rock to reveal the lighter coloured earth underneath. Some of the symbols are over 270m in length while others are as small as 40m. The Nazca desert has very stable weather and virtually no wind so the symbols are still visible today. There are more symbols than I was able to photograph, there are several hundred that are mostly simple lines or geometric shapes and a few dozen that resemble animals, plants or people. No one knows for sure what the purpose of all these designs for though it seems that they had some sort of religious significance. Though that surely hasn't stopped people from attributing hundreds of paranormal theories to the lines (especially the human figure they call 'The Astronaut' or 'The Extraterrestrial').

Monkey

You will notice that some of the figures have lines going straight through them. Some of these lines were also built by the Nazca and represent solstice lines. Others are erosion from human activity. Like many of the sights in Peru the lines have their own preservation difficulties. They are impossible to notice from the ground so people have unknowingly built in and around them. Also the Pan-American was built straight through the tail of the lizard (not pictured). There is however quite a bit of concern that the lines could disappear if weather conditions change and more rainfall occurs since the lines are only 10-30 cm deep.

Condor
Calibri (Hummingbird)
The Astronaut
Whale
Tree
Trapezoid
Rectangle
Perrito (Dog)
Parrot
Hands
Spider

And to continue the bird theme a museum we visited had a peacock family living in their courtyard.

Huacachina

The day after Miraflores we took a 5 hour bus ride down the Pan-American highway to Ica and then to a small suburb of Huacachina. I doubt it even qualifies as a suburb, it is more of a lagoon surrounded by some hostels (ours had a chicken I guess) and restaurants. It is nestled in the middle of a desert with dunes towering over all sides of the town. After another delicious meal we explored around the lagoon and then went on a dune buggy ride to do some sand boarding. If you are curious sand boarding is a sure fire way to cram sand into every cranny of your body. You have two choices to get down the dunes: 1) Careen down head first with the board on your stomach 2) Strap yourself in and board down on your feet. While the latter takes more skill the former gets you much more speed since sand boarding usually brings a lot of sand up over your board and slows you down. I chose to board down and after a couple of runs you can get the hang of it though turning is next to impossible. I am proud to say I did not wipe out at all but somehow still managed to be completely covered in sand.

Strangely enough the previous peruvian driving rules did not apply to the dune buggy, though I guess the sand dunes don't have any rules either so it is tough to break them. Our driver did manage to get stuck on the top of a dune with his wheels hanging off the edge. So all the guys had to push him out and somehow I managed to get stuck being the one to push from behind the buddy right next to the engine. As he hit the gas all I could do was shut my eyes and mouth as tight as possible and push, I'm sure a picture would have been hillarious. After our last sand board our guide took us to a nice desert oasis that had some goats (I think) and then we were off to watch the sunset over the dunes.



Upon returning to the hostel we went for a swim in their pool to get rid of (most) of the sand and then head off for dinner. Huacachina is an awesome little town and definitely one of the highlights of the entire trip.


I also got a chance to see some interesting birds in Peru and for Tori I really tried to photograph as many as possible. In Huacachina I got two pretty good photos. Above you can see a Guanay Cormorant sitting on a rowboat with a large dune and sand boarders behind the lagoon. Next we have a Vermilion Flycatcher. This little guy is an attractively coloured male.

Lima

We landed in Lima in the late evening and our first peruvian experience was with the zealous taxi drivers (really drivers in general). We learned several things: 1) There will almost certainly be a missing piece to your seatbelt, either the buckle or belt. 2) Peruvians enjoy some strange music. 3) There is always one more lane than there are lines for. 4) Using your horn is mandatory in all situations (even when there are no other cars around).


After arriving at our hostel safe and sound we met some friendly Vancouverites and chatted for a bit before heading to bed. The next day we visited the Monasterio de San Francisco in downtown Lima. This is a church dating back to before 1687 and has survived several earthquakes. As with most churches the architecture was incredible. There was a domed ceiling made from wood that was held up using only the force from each piece put together, i.e. there are no nails or glue. Also underneath it there was an estimated 70,000 burials in the catacombs which were very well built but not very well preserved.


The next day we attempted to do some surfing at a beach in the upscale neighborhood of Miraflores. We got a reference from Pepe and found a man named Robert who we rented a few boards from. After Mike and I received some quick instructions we learned that we are experts at surfing benches on concrete. The water was actually quite nice if you had a wetsuit on. Surfing on the other hand was not so nice. It is extremely tiring trying to paddle over the waves that are coming in. I severely underestimated their size and paddled out much further than I should have. After trying to get up a few times I was pretty exhausted but stayed out. Eventually I made my way over close to a pier that jutted out from a rock wall (pictured below). That's when I got pummeled by a huge wave. I swam back to my board only to be destroyed again by an equally sized wave. Repeated two more times and I had no energy left to paddle away from the pier's legs which were about 40 feet away. I gave up and simply let the waves carry me, which they did all the way back to the shore. I laid on the rocks for about 20 minutes before even attempting to carry the board back down the beach to meet Mike. Needless to say I doubt I will be attempting to surf again for a while. The rest of the day we explored Miraflores and had a delicious lunch. You can actually parasail off the cliffs though we didn't see anyone actually jump we did see one gentleman playing with a chute.


Overall Lima was much nicer than I thought it would be for a city with 7 million people. A pleasant surprise.

Peru

Mike, Ryan, and myself recently returned from a trip to Peru so I am going to attempt to convey our journey across the country. It is a spectacular country to visit and I highly recommend the trip to anyone who has considered traveling there. I dragged my D200 around for 18 days (with a more or less constant worry about it) so I hope you enjoy the photos as much as I enjoyed taking them.

Spring forward, fall back down

Hi kids. Last weekend Tori and I went for a lovely thanksgiving day walk at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Hamilton, On. The weather was spectacular, and we really just enjoyed getting out together after a pretty lousy summer, weather wise. We fed some suburban wildlife including chipmunks and the chickadees pictured below. So I hope everyone had a delicious thanksgiving and I know I am ready for another season full of excitement.

Detroit

Howdy folks. Mike and I just returned from Windsor after writing our law school admission test. All I will say of it is that it was hands down the most difficult test I have ever written. Afterwards I managed the fortitude to snap a few shots of Mike at the Ambassador bridge to Detroit. I only got one before a security guard asked us to leave. Either way while slightly annoying to be forced to take the long haul down there I feel as though it was still worth it.
Until next time.

Turkey Point

Last weekend we headed off to Turkey Point, Ontario for some much deserved and awaited relaxation. And what better way to relax than to sit on a beach? So that is precisely what we did. I mean, besides frisbee and volleyball what else could we do? The weekend culminated in an extremely arousing (and noisy) game of flip cup. Go team backwards hat!
Thanks to Tori and Brittany for being such lovely models.

What if I were to wrap it

Made a photo montage of pictures from Port Burwell a few months ago. I think it turned out pretty well. Nothing new to report today.

-end transmission-

Yearning

The last week in Toronto has been especially hot and it is finally starting to feel like summer. Ryan, Mark, and myself all went to Yearnny's softball game in Scarborough. I think it definitely helped me get over a small bout of uninspired photography I have been having.


Watch for more posts soon.

Algonquin

Man Camping

Last weekend Mike, Ryan, and myself headed up to Algonquin for a Portaging trip. It was first time in the provincial park so I didn't know exactly what to expect. The weather forecast was against us even up until the day we departed, yet suprisingly the weather was mostly cooperative. I say mostly because it was almost always warm and sunny except for Friday night when the thunderstorm literally turned our tent into a waterbed. While our tent leaked I tried to seal the seams with some (appropriately named) seam sealer. Unfortunately it covered my hands in an insoluble plastic chemical. My solution was to run outside the tent and clean my hands. Well it didn't get 2 feet away before I was soaked to the bone. I could not see the opposite shore through the dense rain and the thunder could make you jump right out of your knickers. I am actually extremely surprised we didn't get hit by lighting in our tent.
We did manage to make it out alive and enjoy the rest of the weekend. Please enjoy the photos I managed to grab. We have a baby snapping turtle, a moose, our canoe, and our resident model Michael.

PoBu

Last weekend several friends of mine went camping at Port Burwell Provincial Park. It was a really great time but unfortunately we got caught in quite a few rainstorms. Starting friday night at around midnight it poured for hours. Luckily it let up by morning and we headed down to the beach where I caught the photo of Mike above. The rain started again, we had some lunch and Tori had the great idea for the photograph below.
Later on that day I found a Yellow Warbler nest with 4 eggs in it. There are actually only 3 Warbler eggs in the nest, the largest egg belongs to the Cowbird. Cowbirds do not make their own nests, instead they lay their eggs in other birds' nests. Once hatched the much larger Cowbird can actually outcompete and kill the other birds in the nest. So after discovering this nest Tori quickly disposed of the cowbird egg and the next day the Warbler actually laid a fourth egg.

Laura

Halifax - The End

We finally arrived in Halifax. Let me say first of all that if you ever have to chance to visit the so called capital of the Maritimes, take it. The city is pretty incredible, and the food was just breathtaking. Laura and I visited a huge amount of bars and drank our weight in Alexander Keith's delicious brew, as well as several local concoctions. The first night we visited the casino and I got this shot of the Angus L MacDonald bridge that joins Dartmouth to Halifax across the Halifax Harbour. The next day we visited a Historic site of Canada, the Halifax Citadel. This was a fort that protected Halifax from it's founding until after the second world war.
The next day I was off back to Burlington, but stay tuned for photos of our new Haligonian friend.

Halifax - The Middle

Our next stop was Montreal (for 30 mins) and Quebec City. Unfortunately I didn't get any photos there but it was interesting to be in such an old city. There were 400 year anniversary celebrations going on in the downtown with an interesting light show and fireworks. After walking through vieux Quebec we retired to our hotel to rest for the next day of driving.

The next day we drove straight through New Brunswick and on to Charlottetown. The entire province of Prince Edward Island has a very small town feel to it, Charlottetown included of course. The top image is Confederation Bridge which joins New Brunswick and P.E.I.
Below is a photo of St. Dunstan's Basilica in Charlottetown. It was surprising to me how religion seems to be more prevalent in small towns. This church towered over any other building in Charlottetown. It was even larger than any we saw in Halifax (though I think Quebec City wins the round). And last in a photo of a snail on a typical red P.E.I. rock.

Halifax - The Beginning

First of all special thanks to Mark Cohene for selling me a Nikon D200 and also lending me a nice 20-35mm Nikkor lens, they both come in very handy.
Well the last month has been either cameraless or quite busy so that explains the lack of photos. However last weekend I drove out to the maritimes with Laura. She accepted a job in Halifax so we drove out there together with a few stops in between. The first night we stayed at her parents trailer in the Kawartha Lakes. It was awfully rainy but I managed to grab this shot before the sun set.

Ah! There's a snake!

So finally spring has arrived, and it almost feels as though we have skipped straight through to summer. With temperatures in the low 20's I've been trying to take advantage of it. I had a day off work last week so Tori and I went to visit Ball's Falls Conservation area near St. Catherines, On.  It is a pretty interesting place. Two separate waterfalls used to run mills for wool and linen. There are a few remnants of buildings in which we found several snake dens. These little buggers are tricky to photographs. 

Castle Mountain

Here is a photo from my road trip last summer through the rockies to Vancouver. This is Castle Mountain in Banff National Park. I think this is the first good picture I have taken from a moving vehicle and am also please with how the clouds cooperated with me today.

Happy Easter!

I hope everyone had a fantastic easter and now their bellies are full of chocolate and/or some kind of delicious meal. Tori and I baked cupcakes, tasty!

Trees Lounging

Here is another shot that I took with the new lens. Taken at Borrer's Falls near Waterdown Ontario. Spring can't come soon enough.

New Lens!

So I found a used Sigma 17-70 lens for a great price and decided to go for it. I figure it's the perfect mid range lens that I can use when the 50mm isn't working for me. It has a really low minimum focusing distance so it can actually be used as a macro lens. Anyways here are a couple photos while I was trying it out. Just some easter flowers, and of course our good (but loud) friend Petrie.

Pretty Girls in Snowstorms

Last friday there was a huge snowfall in and around the greater Toronto area. We ended up getting about a foot and half of snow. For some reason Tori and I have a habit or trying to go for walks during this type of weather. It makes for treacherous drives but wonderful photos. Here are a few from the afternoon just before the sunset.