CB&W Photo Challenge: Rocks, Boulders, Stones
Back in 1450s, Incas used local rocks in Machu Picchu to build the estate.
Today, Peruvians still use rocks to build their houses. Here, you can see that rocks are used to stabilize the house.
When we were walking through the village, I was amazed by these stone buildings and cobblestone alley. At the same time, I was thinking it’d nice to capture a Peruvian woman walking down the alley. A few minutes later, she appeared…
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CFFC: Catching People Unaware
Catching People Unaware is a fun theme. Here is my entry.
I had no idea what they were looking at, but was glad I captured their expressions.
I couldn’t tell she was texting or sending a photo, but it looked cold and windy out there:
Photography is a lonely journey… The photographer was carrying two cameras with heavy duty lenses, a tripod, a bag, and some stuff in his pockets; and it was only 6:45 am.
This young Peruvian artist was sketching at the courtyard of the hotel. My friends M bought a beautiful painting from him.
If you want to take a photo of a woman who dressed in Peruvian traditional cloth, be sure you have a few Peruvian Sols.
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Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #23: Celebrations (Enchanting Peru 3)
Peru is home to many colorful festivals. During our traveling there, we hoped to experience some of their cultural celebrations.
The last evening in Cuzco, we decided to take a walk around the downtown area. Minutes later, we saw many young people wearing colorful costumes marching into the city square. It looked very much like they were going to participate in a fun celebration event.
Cuzco City Square
Youngsters were taking selfies:
Fabulous costumes with beautiful colors and textures were everywhere:
along with lots of music and dancing.
These photos and the two videos were taken with iPhone 8+. I apologize for the image quality.
In the city square, we learned that this was a regular celebration enabling local people to enjoy music, dancing, and fun gathering during the weekend. We all certainly enjoyed it.
People around the world have different ways of celebrating their cultural festivals, religious holy days, etc. Through the celebrations, we share the joy of cultural traditions and learn about the history and culture of the country or region.
I look forward to seeing your family’s celebrations and/or those you’ve experienced while traveling.
Have you seen these:
Scilla’s “What a wonderful world!”
Nicole says, “Many are the happy things in my days, one more colorful or playful than the other,…” Take a look.
Murtagh’s Meadow shares the beautiful trails and mountains of the Ballycroy National Park.
Brian (Bushboy’s World) says, “Happiness is sitting down and watching the world drift past, from the big to the small.”
Be sure to stay tuned for Tina’s challenge next Saturday!
Cee’s B&W Photo Challenge: Field
My entry for this week’s CBW challenge:
Beautiful field captured in Ireland (#1-#2) and Scotland (#3-#5).
Thank you for visiting! 🙂
Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #22: Happiness Is… (Enchanting Peru 2)
Ann-Christine calls for “Happiness is…” for this week’s photo challenge #22. This also is my “Enchanting Peru Part 2”.
That morning, we took a Lake Titicaca boat excursion to Taquile Island. The lake is the highest navigable body of water in the world, Lake Titicaca sits 3,800 meters (12,467 feet) above sea level.
Because of the high altitude, hiking uphill from the lake base was pretty challenging; and the hill seemed steep for ordinary hikers. But, village people not only hiked up on a daily bases but also carried heavy weight bag of their daily food/water and supplies on their back. Some do so more than a couple of times a day.
A few of us stopped at half way to the top of the island, where the local family serves coca tea and home-made lunch or dinner for tourists. The rest of our tour group including my husband continued hiking. They then hiked down here to join the lunch.
Drinking coca tea is traditionally believed to help prevent altitude sickness.
Weather couldn’t be better that day. We were facing the beautiful scenery while enjoying the delicious home-made soup/bread and fresh pan-fried fish.
After lunch, a local woman demonstrated how the village people make their own soap by rubbing the tree leaves picked from their front yard. She then showed us the result of the cleaned wool (on her right hand). It was like a magic.
It was amazing to see men knitting skillfully and women weave and spin the wool:
Our day ended with the traditional dancing and music of the village.
Back to the boat, we were happy that we made to the island of the Lake Titikaka and spent a beautiful day with the village people. We couldn’t be happier for having a chance to learn about the unique culture and traditions of Taquile in a natural site oversee the blue sky and lake. Niki (who traveled on her own) said to me, “… there are so many wonderful moments of this trip, but this is my happiest day.”
This time of the year, when so many people are busy with shopping hoping to create some happy moments for the holidays, our travel experience taught me eating a simple lunch on a picnic table in a beautiful natural site, watching knitting and weaving, enjoying stories of the culture… can bring immense happiness.
“Being happy doesn’t mean that everything is perfect.
It means that you’ve decided to look beyond the imperfections.”
~ Gerard Way
Thanks to Ann-Christine’s “Happiness is…” theme and her inspiring post. Looking forward to reading your happiness 🙂
Enchanting Peru (1)
After 5 hours waiting and 2 hours delay at the Miami airport, we arrived at the Bogota, Columbia a little after 5 AM. From there, we were connected to a short flight to Cuzco. My friends flew from CA to Miami that morning had only 3 hours of sleep in 24 hours.
On arrival, our Peru tour began immediately. The first stop was the Sacred Valley of the Incas.
Cuzco perched at about 11,000 feet above sea level. Beautiful landscapes, mystical ruins, and indigenous villages.
We then stopped at a weaving center where people still keep ancient weaving techniques and traditions alive.
Here we saw how they used food and rocks to make colors for weaving.
My first time seeing Alpacas. 🙂
Alpaca and Llamas look much alike. Alpacas are bred purely for their luxurious wool which is one of the finest in the world. Llamas have no wool for garments. More about the differences.
Another view of the valley:
These photos were taken with my iPhone 8+.
Thank you for visiting!
Lens-Artists Weekly Photo Challenge #21: Splash!
Patti said eloquently, “I believe water is magical. Its beauty, power, and persistence are unsurpassed. It flows through us and around us…”
The river was known in Inca times as Willkamayu and was sacred to them. It is one of the main Peruvian rivers and is part of the Amazon Basin.
This river crosses the entire Sacred Valley of the Incas, on its way it passes to the foot of the mountain where Machu Picchu is.
Riding the train, we saw the river running so smoothly to the majestic Machu Picchu. It certainly had made a mighty splash in Inca history. As Patti said that water connects us to the past and leads us to the future.
The photos below may speak of splashing.
Hamilton Pool Preserve near Austin, Texas (below) is a natural pool that was created when the doinme of an underground river collapsed due to massive erosion thousands of years ago.
Multnomah Falls (620 ft in height) is the country’s second-tallest year-round waterfall:
The whale was making an awesome splash. He did not do it for fun but sending a powerful signal to his competitors.
The surfer had no fear for the wave splash. Watching the surfer at the Huntington Beach, California was a thrill.
I’d like to use Patti’s insightful words to close my submission. She said, “It (water) is nature’s mirror because it reflects not only ourselves, but also the degree to which we respect Mother Nature.”
Patti is calling splash for this week’s Lens Artists Photo Challenge. Click here to enjoy Patti’s remarkable photos and stories. Hope you will join us. 🙂
Thank you for visiting!
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