My picture is on CNN!

So you guys how cool is this... a picture that I took while we were in Peru is on CNN!  Seriously!  Here's the video (mine is the second one they show, the one credited to Jeanne Stevenson):


Ok so I don't really agree with the article at all.  First off because I'd much rather eat Cochineal - a natural dye that has been used for literally thousands years - than some sortof chemical.  Even if GASP cochineal is a bug.  Secondly because the whole thing reeks of sensationalism.  I mean really we're going to get our panties in a twist about this particular ingredient now?  When there are much more disgusting and alarming things going on with our food sources?  C'mon.  But I"m happy that they wanted to use my photograph anyways.  Because, as my one friend put it, having your photo on CNN is pretty badassed.

The original image is this one, taken on Day 1 of the Inca Trail hike to Machu Picchu:

The white stuff on this cactus is the Cochineal.  I took the photograph because it is also used in dying wool and that is something I'm a tad bit interested in.  Heh.  Here's a wider view:

The cactus was growing in this really strange area.  It was very cold but there were cactus?  It had something to do with the high elevation, lack of moisture, and proximity to the equator.  The whole landscape was odd:

But breathtakingly beautiful:



Kindof fun looking back at those pictures (the full Peru set is on flickr here).  I still can't believe we did that hike.  4 days up through the mountains to see the first rays of light hit Machu Picchu from the sun gate.  It was grueling.  But so, so cool:

Day 1, sign that starts the trail.  Look how excited and... young we look!

Day 2:  At the top of Dead Woman's Pass.  We are higher here than the highest point in the continental US.  And we go there by foot.  It wasn't pretty but we made it!

Day 4:  At Machu Picchu.  This is still one of my fav. pictures ever.

We really have been on some fantastic adventures....