Photo Essay

I haven't posted anything in a while and I remembered that I wanted to post some pictures in the past, but I had problems uploading them at the time. So now that everything seems to be working I am going to post a sort of photo essay of the last month and a bit. 

Coca: Christmas Day

This picture sums up my Christmas very well. Sun, a river, swimming trucks and just relaxing. I took this just after we got onto our boat, which was more like a 20ft canoe with a huge engine on the back. We headed up river for the day with lots of food and drinks, found a huge sandbar, and set up camp. It is such a beautiful place, the river is huge and on each side is just dense forrest, another thing I love about Coca are the clouds, they are just so cool. I edited this photo a little bit in order to bring out some more details in the clouds and water. 

Coca: December 27th, 2008

I took this photo while riding in the back of a pickup truck on the "Happiest Day of My Life". We had just freed the other truck from the mud and were heading tot he waterfall. Those of you who see me often, probably mostly American friends, will recognize my favorite sunglasses in their usual place, on my head haha. I love how you can see a clear reflection, of my hands holding the camera, in the lenses. In the past 6 months I have become really interested in black and white photos. 

Coca: December 29th, 2008

I did not take this photo, because well I was too busy wake-boarding, so big thanks to my host sister Carolina for taking this. On our last day in Coca we went back to the river and did some more relaxing, eating, drinking, water skiing etc. which was a really nice way to end a great trip. When we were leaving, I asked if I could wake-board home, my family loves watching me ski / board so they were all for it. The interesting thing was that the river had risen about 2m since the previous waterskiing trip, this meant that there was all sorts of debris floating around. By debris I mean trees and stumps. The driver was weaving in and out of the this minefield of boat-breaking lumber, and every time he turned one way I would go the other in order to jump whatever he was trying to miss. This was alot of fun but in retrospect, probably a dumb idea. Then the sun started to set and made the most beautiful colors on the water. 

Quito: December 31st, 2008

New years in Quito is a pretty wild night. You are probably looking at this picture very confused and maybe some strange things are going through your mind. So let me explain what is going on. First off, yes, that is a man in a mini skirt and fake breasts. So the tradition is that on new year's eve young men all over the city dress up as women and dance for money in the streets. The men (women?) are supposed to represent the widows of the year that is leaving. I can't say I participated in the cross-dressing but I did ride around the city sitting on the spare tire on the back of our car taking pictures of all the strangeness. 

Quito: December 31st, 2008

After we drive around all the family came to the house for a big get together. It was kind of a fancy dress party but not everyone had some thing to wear, i.e. me haha. So this is me with my brother, in the Minnie Mouse costume, and my little cousin in her dog suit. 

Baños: January 31st, 2009

The following photos were taken on a trip to Baños which is a town about 2.5 hours from Quito famous for its waterfalls and plentiful action sports. Sharone and I rented this off road buggy thing (above) to see the waterfalls while the other opted to go in the car. 

This is the view from the cable car, looking up the valley towards Baños. 

Again the view from the cable car. This was the first waterfall, can't remember what it was called though. As we went over it you could literally feel the power coming from the falls and the incredible force it exerted on the rocks below. 

This was at the second waterfall, El Pailon del Diablo, which means the Devil's Cauldron. You could go behind the waterfall by crawling through a man made cave in the side of the rock. 

This is behind the waterfall. Yes, I took my camera behind a waterfall, risking water damage to get this photo to show you all... Anyway, I didn't have a lot of room to take a good shot, so in this picture you can't get a feel for the size of the falls at all. Again, you can literally feel the power of the water just standing next to it, quite strange. 

This last photo is one I took from my house last week. We have had some really cool moon-rises these past few weeks so I have been trying to capture as many of them as possible. 

So thats it for the photo essay I guess. I am leaving to go to Peru for a week on Monday morning. I am going to be doing a program in Lima which brings together teenagers from all over south America to share their cultures and learn about Peru. I am really excited for that and will be sure to take lots of photos. 

Happy Valentines Day!