My second time in one of the most isolated islands in the world

Very seldom to I ever return to islands as I usually see everything that I want to see on them. However Easter Island is a very different place. From the Great Seafood to great sites and people, it is no wonder I decided to make a return to one of the most remote islands and airports in the entire world.

This whole trip was made possible by my good friend Marc Shields who I met 11 years ago on the island. His company Green Island Tours, has many different tours around the island in order to make your stay as pleasant as possible. He has discovered every little nook and cranny this island has to offer and him and his staff are very good with people. They can cater to just about anything and he does stargazing trips as well as sunrise trips to the most popular statues on the island….He has written a brilliant book with some great photography about the islands history, statues, and also contemporary. The book is called Rapa Nui- Beautiful Photography from the Navel of the World and is a must read!!!

First of all the food is to die for. I think I ate ceviche twice a day and also the tuna and cheese empanadas which weighed about 800 grams each and were packed with fillings. The tuna fillets while in western countries are very small, these were big and cooked perfectly!!! The Pisco Sours here were also some of the best I have tasted!!!

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Hanga Roa is the only town on this island. I have noticed how different it looks from 11 years ago and how more small bed and breakfast hotels are popping up and more places to eat on just about every street. It is a very walk-able town that sits right on the coastline of the island and has the only airport in which there is only one flight out per day from Santiago. The houses are colorful and the people are all very friendly all over the island. The cemetery is also something to be noted to look at as it is adorned with beautiful headstones depicting the person who had passed away and also perhaps what they did on the island. Sometimes you may have a chance to see local people dressed in traditional clothes, practicing dances for upcoming competitions. I can honestly say, that I did not get bored of this town at all!!!!

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Even though the statues are a big part of the island, I had a fascinating time every single day sitting with my cameras and watching the waves crash against the rocks. They made for some marvelous splashes and the crystal blue water was amazing to look at as it was so clear!!!

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As I took trips around the island, I learned about the early inhabitants who built the statues and places they sometimes had lived (like in caves). there are many lava tubes that go out to sea on the island and going into a couple of them was interesting and claustrophobic. The big volcanic crater on the island that is now filled with water and reeds is definitely one of the places that should be visited, along with areas where the statues had not been erected yet. Up on the top of the volcano, you can see three small islands which have been entrenched in island lore of the Bird Man Cult. Legend has it that after the warring period of different tribes on the island in which many statues were knocked down, the island chiefs came together and once a year they would send a warrior to fetch an egg of a migratory bird from the islands and the one that swam back with the egg first, his chief would rule the island for a year. On th island you can also find different bird species as well as turtles coming up to shore and horses and cows on just about every corner.

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The Moai statues of Easter Island are of course the main attraction of the island and what the island is known for. As Easter Island is the southern most point of the Polynesian Islands, experts say that Polynesian people came here between 800-1200 AD. The different tribes erected these statues all over the island to their gods as most of them are found along the coast, with only one set of them in the center of the island on the alters. I visited the quarry where the statues were carved out of the stone over many months and then probably put on logs and rolled to the place where they would be hoisted up standing. This is an amazing feat as it even takes modern day engineers a while to figure this out!!!! In the quarry you can see remnants of statues who started to be carved but for some reason they were not finished (could have been the warring period).

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My favorite thing to do on the island is of course the sunrise and sunset photos of the statues. For both of these is a bit tricky as you cannot have any bad weather or the photos will not look good. The first spot is Ahu Tongariki which boasts the most statues in one place on the alter and is pretty close to the quarry. Here you can get some beautiful shots from different angles before the sunrises and during the sunrise. The sunset spot which is near the beautiful cemetery is called Ahu Tahai. In this spot people gather to get some good sunset photos and the beautiful colors in the sky as the sun goes down. Unfortunately you may have to navigate around the boats that are docked in the background. Both of these spots are weather dependent. I am lucky the 5 nights I was there to get a night and morning with beautiful sunrises and sunsets as the other days were cloudy and rainy.

The Sunrise Collection

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Sunrise Time Lapse Video

The Sunset Collection

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Well I went back after 11 years and I absolutely had a great time, as the statues did not change at all, however the whole island is changing little by little and the sun and clouds will always move. Lets see if it takes me another 11 years to come back here or sooner….

Quite possibly one of the most photogenic cities and people in the Western Hemisphere

What can I say about the city of Otavalo in northern Ecuador. It is surrounded by beautiful mountains and the town/city is a sprawling area with people just about everywhere.

The indigenous population of Otavalo are ethnically and culturally belonging to the Kichwa-Otavalo indiginous group. Otavalo is popularly well known for its market of handicrafts and textiles which is said to be the biggest in the world.

Just walking these streets and photographing people coming out from Sunday church was great as most people sat in different squares around the city usually with a church across from them.

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The rest of the town/city was just as bustling with people going about their daily lives, especially the market area in the center of town.

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Of course I cannot forget about our great accommodation of Hotel Curinan with our great hosts sitting on top of the hill to the city..

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And of course no trip to Ecuador is complete without a trip to the Equator which is probably a little too touristy compared to the ones in Africa but still a must see…

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Where you see the real scenery and the rural people of the areas

Traveling on the road in Colombia definitely had its challenges, but also its rewards. The humid weather up north made it very hard in some aspects to cool down, as we got more in the mid to southern parts, the weather became a lot more pleasant, something I had not experienced in sometime traveling from Alaska thru Central America.

As we got into the mountain areas, the days were longer as some of these mountain passes were practically straight up. Protests on bridges, along with some truck problems made one of our days long and we had to camp on the side of the road near a small truck stop on the side of the mountain.

However being out of the cities made us see how rural life was with people yelling and screaming happily, seeing a truck full of gringos go by and the scenery was simply amazing- driving along the sea in the north, to humid areas, and finally up into the mountains, this is some of the best scenery to be seen in Colombia in my opinion…

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The White City of Colombia

Popayan is a relatively small city in the middle of Colombia. The central historical district is flanked by white buildings just about everywhere. It has been said that it is one of the gastronomy capitals of Colombia, but to me, Colombia is one big gastronomical country in every region.

Walking around here was very easy to get lost because most of the buildings in the central area were indeed white with people selling stuff on every inch of space on the sidewalks. It was a quite relaxing town with a lot of old structures and while we were there, they were doing a festival to honor all of the horses that served carrying carts which was something interesting to see.

Other than that, watching people go about their daily lives in the plaza in which children played and people sold stuff was good enough for me ….

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A tiny picturesque town in the highlands of Colombia

Salento is an old colonial town in the highlands of Colombia. Finally it was where after Medellin that it started to get pretty cool at night after dealing with humidity from just south of Mexico City all the way to a few hours south of Santa Marta.

The trout in this area is some of the best I have ever had and a game called Tejo which is throwing heavy pucks onto a mud pit with gunpowder in envelopes seems to be the national sport of Colombia behind Soccer. I can say it was an interesting game with the rules and a game in which you wont find anywhere else in the world.

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This town boasts some very small but picturesque streets as well as a beautiful plaza with a church and restaurants and bars. Walking down the colorful streets with people enjoying their life and looking at the lush landscape from the surrounding areas gives you a sense of serenity. No wonder why people come from all around on the weekends or holidays to stay here and just relax…

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Quite possibly the best city in Colombia

The hotel where we stayed had some amazing views of the city

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Medellin is a city longed talked about in Colombian Culture as of course it was the city that Pablo Escobar ran him cartel out of which became popular by the series Narcos.

However this cities history and people go a lot deeper than this tragedy which many people are embarrassed by. The city has a rich culture of people and neighborhoods that predate Pablo Escobar and while some are extremely shy to talk about it, it is a part of their history. I went on a small Pablo Escobar tour to see different areas that surrounded his life. From the church where some of the hit men used to go to bathe their bullets in holy water, to his grave, to his prison that he made for himself, to the new park dedicated to his victims, and finally the house where he was shot and killed, this was a very interesting excursion to find out about him.

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Commune 13 is one of the highlights of Medellin. Once one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in the city, this area has transformed itself to the premier area in Medellin. With apartment blocks built through the surrounding hills, the people of this area have transformed themselves into doing tours to look at the street art and walking down the narrow streets. They even have escalators put in so tourists can transverse the steep areas to see what this area has to offer. The street art here was amazing, and even though a lot of people were in the way as there were hordes of people on Sunday, I was still able to get a glimpse of a lot of it as well as going with our guide through some back alleys in order to see the non tourist areas. This is definitely a place I can keep coming back to over and over again….

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One of the better times I have had while in Medellin was walking down Barrio Triste with an ex student of mine Franco Guillen. I taught him in Venezuela during my three years there and it was good to see him as he is now photographing and living in Medellin. Barrio Triste is a place where no tourists go as it is the industrial area with piles of car parts and engine blocks being worked on. Walking around here you get a sense of the rough lives that people have working in very crowded conditions but nonetheless people were friendly but curious on why we would be there.

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Directly after to Barrio Triste, we were organized by Franco for a photo walk with a bunch of photographers in Medellin. Although it rained for part of the time when we started, we quickly got some great photos of the reflections. We then walked down the main street with oodles of people going about their daily lives, shopping and eating street food. A walk into the old National Palace which is now partly a mall and a brilliant art gallery had us scrambling through the different levels to see everything in there. We continued to one of the main squares near the museums to see people watching some dancing and enjoying their Saturday. This was another great highlight of this magnificent city that I will more than likely head back to…

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Back again to this little city in East Colombia

Santa Marta was one of the only places I had been in Colombia before as I came across the border from Venezuela during my time there in 2010. Going on this trip, I wanted to see it again but being there for only a couple days limited my options. Was it the famous national park or to the central market where all the people hung out? I chose the market…..

Since I had already done a lot of stuff when I was there previously, I decided that I wanted to see how people lived and the bustling market which took up a few city streets. I was not disappointed…..

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A return here proves fruitful for photography, people, and food

For Colombia 2010 while living in Venezuela, Please click here

Colombia is a country that has always been in the news since I was a young kid. However things have changed in this beautiful country now as they rely mainly on tourism. Traveling from Cartagena all the way down south gives me a chance to see this beautiful country as well as try all the delicious food they have, as it is very close to Venezuelan cuisine which I ate for three years. While I was only able to make it here one time from 2009-2012 while I lived in Maracaibo, Venezuela, I always wanted to come back and see most of the other parts of the country which I am getting to do by road.

Part 1- Cartagena- The culture and people of this city is amazing, as is the food!!!!

Part 2- Santa Marta- The return- Markets all about!!!!

Part 3- Medellin- Quite Possibly the Best City in Colombia!!!

Part 4- Salento- A picturesque town in the highlands!!!

Part 5- Popyan- The White City!!!

Part 6- On the Road- From the North to South and all the villages and landscapes in between.

The culture and people of this city is amazing, as is the food!!!!

Part 1- Cartagena

Cartagena is a very hot and humid but an amazing city. With so many types of people coming into this port city through time, they have blended amazing ingredients with all different types of spices. I had a chance to take a couple cooking class through Cartagena Connections which is a company that specializes in different excursions such as cooking classes, craft beer tasting, market tours, rum and chocolate tasting as well as street art and food tours. They have been an amazing company and an easy way to get through to them is on whatsapp at the following number +573135529647 (ask for Juan).

In the cooking classes we cooked different ceviches as well as red snapper and Black Coconut Rice.

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Street Art are some of my favorite things to photograph, from the street art in Greece, to Hong Kong, to China, and to the little down island of Djerba, Tunisia. Usually street art expresses struggles people have encountered, or perhaps a political statement or even self expression. The street art in the Getsemani area where I stayed had a lot of self expressive street art as this area is where a lot of the lower income people have lived and used to be a very seedy area, but in recent time to attract tourism, it is one of the most popular places in Cartagena if not Colombia for tourism.

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Walking about the Getsamani and the Historic Central area behind the walls, you can find people going about their everyday lives. Most people sell drinks or food on the streets and you can find them going about doing this stuff almost all hours of the day. The people here were very friendly and also very photogenic because of the colorful backdrops in these areas.

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There is a place in the central park that has sloths, iguanas and Tamarin Monkeys. They ended up there protected from poachers some years ago and live up and around the trees!!! It is like a safari all in a central park….

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One of my favorite things to do in any given city for photography is markets. Here is where you learn about the culture of the country and how most of the populace shops and lives. The Bazurto Market in Cartagena which is just outside of the tourist area by about 15 minutes shows everything I love to see in Markets. The fishermen bring their fresh catch in and it is sold all over, from small sharks to manta rays to red snapper and lobster, you can find all kinds of Caribbean sea food. The other parts of the market are the different meats, as well as fruits and vegetables being sold. Two walks through this market showed me just about everything including the people who are cooking food as small shack restaurants line these small alleys.

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As Cartagena is a very photogenic city besides the market and the street art, the buildings are beautiful. In the Getsamani area, you can find small alleys of people opening up their homes for restaurants or bars as walking down them after dark, you can barely squeeze by all the chairs set out. A lot of the alleys or streets here are decorated with the street art as seen before as well as umbrellas or flags to give it a very different feel.In the walled area of the historic center is a little more upscale, but some great colors on the different buildings….

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Finally all the two cooking classes, Craft Beer Tasting and Rum and Chocolate tasting were done in a beautiful building called Cafe Lunatico. The two owners, have done an amazing job with their classes as well as their different activities they do. I have never done a rum and chocolate tasting, but this was one of the most fun activities I have ever done in which we tried 8 different rums with explanations about them and how they are made and paired them with different chocolate…..

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