Machu Picchu

Those who wanted to make it early in line to Machu Picchu to queue up to climb Huayna Picchu, the tall mountain behind Machu Picchu, had the option of hiking before the first buses up. This meant we had to start walking at 4:30am in the dark up a lot of stairs. We all got pretty sweaty and made it before the buses to get in line. When the doors opened at 6am we ran for the line to queue up for a later time cause we had our tour first thing.

Since the park was relatively empty, I took this time to go wander off alone. Flavio, our guide, told me before to take as many photos as I like, but to try and see it for more than that as well. He said to try and feel it. The time before the sun came up was terrible for photography, so I took this time to take it all in. I walked around in the silence and really took it in. I climbed a staircase and stood on a very high up ledge. My fear of heights wasn't completely gone. I felt a tingling sensation in the bottom of my feet. I wasn't so much in awe of the ruins them self, but more so the location on the ridge of a mountain in a valley. No wonder it wasn't discovered until the early 1900's. Really, this was another emotional moment for me. I have wanted to be here for a long time and finally did it. Anything you want is truly obtainable.

I slowly made my way back to our group for our little tour. I was honestly bored and it was at the best light for photographs, so I would sneak away from time to time to snap a shot. The sunrise came over the mountains and it was beautiful. The early light was the best light, however I still didn't feel like taking many photos. Most postcards can show you better, more empty photos of this place. I still took a few anyway.

My last climb was up Huayna Picchu. The sign said it takes one hour and it wasn't for the weak of heart. David and I had about 2 hours until we were to catch a bus, so we knew we had to hurry. David and I are in pretty good shape, but my long legs made all the stairs a little bit easier. We made it to the top in about 25 minutes. It is quite a view from the top, just some boulders and few Inca ruins on top, but the view is impressive. We hung out for a bit before the trip back down. Somehow I found lots of energy on my way down. The stairs in some places were as wide as my foot is wide and so I went down sideways in places. I made this into a dance and found a good pace going down, as the stairs got bigger I started to run down, I made it down in about 15 minutes and had a total trip of "una hora" I told the gate keeper while dripping sweat.

Cameron Bird wrote a story for the Orange County Register and the online version can be seen here. A printed version will be in Mondays paper, both include my photographs. My friend David Anhalt's flickr photos from the trek can be seen here. Here are my photos of Machu Picchu.


Sunrise hitting Huayna Picchu.


Inca stairs near the entrance.


The Sun Temple.


Nice light and shadows


Llama or alpaca or something or other.


flower


ruins


your postcard picture

The Salkantay Trek

After talking to many people who have been to Machu Picchu, I knew that I had to do the hike that leads to it. Due to some planning difficulties and the extreme popularity of the Inca Trail, we had to take the less popular, but less touristy Salkantay Trail. I saw this as a blessing in disguise. This trek was the highlight of my trip and one of the best experiences of my life.

We only spent one day in Lima before we flew to Cusco. We stayed at Aldea Yanapay, a non profit hostel that runs an after school program. Everyone who stayed at the hostel was rad, almost everyone spoke perfect english and a good number spoke good spanish. The hostal was painted many colors and decorated by the man who started it all, Yuri. He also runs a restaurant where all the profits go to the school. All the decorations reminded me of something from the mind of Michel Gondry and the "Science of Sleep". We stayed in Cusco for three days to acclimate to the high elevation, 10,000 ft. I didn't take altitude pills, just a healthy dose of coca leaves, tea, beer, and late night chats.


Cameron in a sea of short Peruvians, I hit my head on so many doorways.


This image will be in my cute animal calendar in 2010.

A bus took us a couple hours out of town to the starting point for our hike. Originally we thought our group was just going to be the group of friends we brought. There ended up being about 15 people which at first seemed like a lot, but later made for more friends. The trek started in a little town in a green valley, by the end of the day we were above the tree line at our coldest camp site. I expected the nights to be cold and warm days, but the sun was very strong at this altitude and I got sunburnt after two days and peeled before I made it home. We would start our day in jackets and end in t-shirts and sweat. Hiking in this altitude made us short of breath. I absolutely loved the physical challenge of the hike and was often at the front with two other guys I made great friends with, David and Mike.

We would be having deep conversations while hiking steep inclines and completely out of breath. I am in decent shape from riding my bike almost everyday, but it was the lifting I have been doing for a month or two prior that really helped my hiking strength. I absolutely loved being able to climb these mountains. That being said, the trek was made as easy as possible for us. We would take a break every hour or so, the porters would prepare us lunch at a site halfway to camp. The only things I had to carry was my water, camera, and whatever other personal items that I wanted with me. The food was great and so was not setting up my own tent.

We reached the highest point of our trek on the second day and it was mostly down hill from there, which is actually more painful for me. Our guides, Flavio and Edwin, are the biggest jokers ever. Flavio was very spiritual and would share lots of knowledge about the mountains and offerings. He also knew lots about the plants and loves his bird watching. Edwin would just make fun of Flavio. Those guys are great. At the peak, Flavio pulls out a liter of beer and pours some out to the Andean gods as a sacrifice and then passes it around, it tasted so good after that climb.

Reaching the top was an emotional experience for me, I decided to go wander off alone somewhere and make a traditional offering of the three best coca leaves in my bag. The glacier was absolutely gorgeous and my photographs do not in the least capture the beauty of these mountains. We would hear the glaciers cracking, occasionally see a little avalanche, breathe the thin clean air, look to the sky and see a condor soaring above. Absolutely breath taking. I never knew how much I loved the mountains. The terrain changed after we went through the pass.


The start of the hike looked like this.


Cows were munching on the hills all over the place.


Our first site of the Salkantay Peak.


The roads became less green and more rocky the higher we hiked.


Mike sees something in the river.


There was a dead cow in the water that we had been drinking, it was boiled of course.


This is one of the porters with the emergency horse at the peak of the pass.


This little climb rewarded us with a site into the glacial valley.

The hike through the pass lead us to the other side of this mountain. The terrain became much more lush as we declined in elevation and soon turned to a more jungle like atmosphere with orchids growing along the way. The second night of sleep was in a little valley with a river. I awoke in the middle of the night to relieve myself and saw one of the most beautiful things I have ever witnessed. When I went to sleep the sky was cloudy, but when I woke up at midnight all the clouds had blown away. The moon completely illuminated our camp site. The stars were so bright and I could see the whole valley by moonlight. I don't think a camera could come close to capturing what I saw. I won't be forgetting that image for a long time.

We continued to hike downhill the next day until we got down to the river and then hiked along side it until the next camp. Along the way we tried some wild fruit that isn't available in the U.S. This day, the third, was the shortest day of hiking. A couple of the guys and I went for a dip in the river and then had dinner. Later that night we all went to the local hot springs. This one is much less popular and way cleaner then the more visited Aguas Calientes. We soaked and swam for a couple hours trying to degrease my hair as much as possible without soap. We all slept pretty good that night.

The next day was an optional hike, we knew by the way our guides would over sell things that this wasn't going to be as difficult as they made it sound. Regardless only 6 of us made the hike and the rest took a bus to the meeting point. This hike went through a pretty tropical setting and was uphill for a couple hours then back downhill on the other side. We were able to hike to an Inca site and see our first glimpse of Machu Picchu. Edwin told us a little bit about the site and we continued on our way.

On this trip we reached some high elevations and saw some steep cliffs. I am normally afraid of heights, but I was able to overcome so much of that on this trip. However the last bit of the hike included a rope bridge that scared the crap out of me. I just had to stare straight and walk. No one else was nervous about it, but the more people on, the more it swayed. I overcame many fears on this trip and learned a lot about myself. The rest of our group was waiting with their feet in the water. I thought a dip would be more satisfying, but my suit was packed up somewhere else. David and I decided to go down stream and take a dip in our breifs anyway. A nice cool swim feels so good after our last day of hiking.


The scenery changed around every corner.


Into that mist is the jungle.


The elite and Machu Picchu in the background on a ledge just above that plant.


This bridge is scarier than it looks


Cameron couldn't resist taking this candid photo.

Lima, Peru

Cameron and I were picked up at Lima Airport by my friends Rosie and Graham. It is a nice feeling to get picked up by friends in a foreign airport. We were then treated to Peruvian hospitality from Rosie's family, dinner and a comfy bed to sleep in. The next day Cameron and I tagged along with Rosie and Graham on a ride through the city which included; catacombs, pottery museum, amazing ceviche and a visit to an orchid man who has some very rare orchids.

This trip was not so much about photography for me, in fact, I considered not even bringing a camera at all. However, I did bring two 35mm film cameras, one was a backup, but was later used by a friend for the majority of the time. Using cheap cameras allow me to not worry about theft or being a target of theft. After my transfer in Mexico City I realized that film was going to be a hassle. The USA will hand inspect your film every time, no where else have I been has this been done for me. X-rays will harm the film, yes, once is ok, but if you are going through transfers and connections then it is exposed to numerous scans. I purchased an x-ray bag for this trip and I think it did help some but overall there are some inconsistencies with the pictures due to crappy cameras. I decided for me that 35mm is best in rangefinder form or smaller and if it is an SLR, I would rather shoot medium format. I will probably be making some changes to my arsenal very soon.

I also decided that digital is way better for traveling and film is better for art. Film for me will probably just be used for artisic endeavors only, digital is cheaper and getting better all the time. Besides no matter how great your film camera and shot is, you need a great scan and that is expensive. I will always have a love for film, but digital will be more prominent in my life now.

The next posts will be more story and less camera nerd stuff, I have a a variety of readers and this is my blog of observations so stay tuned for more on my adventure. I just wanted to give all my readers a preface on the photography before hand.


Cameron in the green house


Orchid man and his orchids


Rosie chasing birds outside the catacombs

Back from Perú

Hello,

I am home from my adventure. I shot about 7 rolls of film in 3 weeks, not much, but my experience was so much more. I will have words and photos soon. Here I am getting cleaned up before my departure home.

I think I have swine flu, or just a cold.

This Time Tomorrow

I am going to Peru tomorrow until June 30th, don't expect any posts from me unless I try from my iPhone. I don't plan on mailing any postcards either, I apologize in advance to my all star mailers.

I am bringing my Pentax Spotmatic and 15 rolls of color film, I hope to come back with lots to share.


I just like this song and its relevant.

Badfeet

The good guys from Badfeet asked me to take some photos of them recently, we had a blast. Here are my favorite shots.

Shopping with Terry

My friend, Terry Pruss, sure loves a good time lapse. We get together now and then and create something. This is all Terry's doing, I just sat in the cart. I had a lot of fun, but not much talent needed for what I did. We may elaborate on it in the future, this is only a preview.

El Mirage, California

Last weekend my father and I went out to El Mirage to watch the land speed racing. The morning was nice but the winds picked up around 10am and created massive dust clouds. Sometimes the dust literally whited out our vision and we could only see a few feet in front of us. So, we only got to watch racing for a little bit. I took my Pentax and snapped off a roll. Here are the results.


People signing up to race.


A roadster going out for top speed.


A little car and his trailer.


An official cone.


My dad covering up from the elements.


The elements formed nasty dust devils and dust clouds.

El Mirage races happen a couple times a year, but the Bonneville salt flat races in Utah happen once a year. Anyone interested in making a road trip out there and watching speed week August 8-14, 2009?