Inca Trail 2007.

So how about something completely different to break up the Back to School posts?  (the dude starts tomorrow. Brace yourselves for many more pictures because it's his First Day of School EVER.)  Waaaaay back in 2007 Matt and I went on a trip to Peru.  It was amazing.  And Epic.  And of course I never finished blogging about it.  And I didn't even have any kids then to use as an excuse!  Anyways 7 years ago today we were hiking the Inca Trail.  Which is this insane 4 day hike through the Andes to get to Machu Picchu via the Sun Gate. It was an epic journey and one that I still reference as one of the coolest/hardest things that we've ever done.

At the start of the trail.

Map of our route - the ruins and elevations along the way.

Day 1 was fairly low key.  Started to hike up into the mountains and passed some very pretty scenery:

This picture was actually used on CNN.  Seriously.

Day 2 was... yeah.  It was DAY 2.  It was the day that we trained for months beforehand.  Basically you climb up a giant mountain to a place called "Dead Woman's Pass"  The trail rises higher than the highest point in the contiguous United States.   You start down in the jungle: 

 

And rise out above the treeline into the mountains:

 

by way of steps.  Lots and lots and lots and lots of steps.  

 

And then some more steps.

I have issues with altitude - it makes me short of breath and light headed and such.  So there was a fair bit of this happening during all of those steps:

Why are you taking this awful picture of me?  It's not like I'll post it on my blog 7 years from now or anything...

But we made it to the top!  

And it was awesome:

And .....then we hiked back down the other side:

SO MANY STEPS.

Day 3 was the day that I knew would be hard but I wasn't prepared for being HARD.  I mean we passed day 2 so how hard could it be, right?  Haaaaa.  Day 2 was 1 climb.  Day 3 is several.  Weaving up and down and all around the mountains:

With lots and lots of "steps"

At this point I think they are just messing with us.

There are several Inca sites along the way that are pretty spectacular:

 Unfortunately the day we were there it was very, very smoky:

Literally that is smoke from farmers burning last year's crops.  When it cleared the scenery was fantastic, though:

 And you end at a pretty amazing site:

 I spent that whole night worrying.  I was exhausted and really upset that the smoke would make it impossible to see Macchu Picchu from the Sun Gate.  Which is the sight that is supposed to make all of this hiking worthwhile.  The whole reason we were there.  I tossed and turned and fretted.  And when it was time to get up to hike to the gate - somewhere around 4am so that you hit the gate at sunrise - I got out of bed, looked up, and saw..... STARS.  Perfectly clear skies.  Perfect end to our adventure.

That gray blob in the background is Machu Picchu.  Notice how the sun hasn't hit it yet?  We got to watch the first rays of light travel across it.  Amazing.

I could probably do about 5 posts just of pictures of Machu Picchu.  But I'll edit it down to a few:

 

It was an amazing trip.  I hope someday we can take our kids on adventures like this. 

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....

Plain Dealer Photo Contest.

So today was the deadline for the Plain Dealer Travel Photography Contest. Choosing photographs to enter was such a drawn out process – you only get 5 per person. It resulted in a lot of procrastination and a last second run to the post office. So instead of being bummed that we couldn’t enter all of the photographs that we wanted to I thought I’d share some of the rejects with you guys.

Although before I do that does anyone else find it completely amusing that my two best entries both had to do with fiber arts?

Woman selling natural dyes at the market in Pisac, Peru.


Woven belts for sale on Taquile Island, Lake Titicaca, Peru.

Heh.

Matt’s best entry was one that we both originally overlooked. We just didn’t have any perspective b/c while he was taking this picture I was behind him crying b/c I just broke my nose on that rail:


Funny how what you felt in a place influences your thoughts on the photographs of it. Case in point this picture is too dark when printed to really be all that great (it looks better on a computer than it does printed):

But we seriously thought about entering it just because that lodge was so frickin’ cool.

There were two shots that didn’t make the cut that made me really wish we were each allowed 6 entries:

View of the Urubamba River, Inca Trail Hike, Day 1, Peru.

I love that photograph. But as Matt said – It’s just a beautiful landscape shot. Yes it’s nice but there will be 50 million other nice landscape shots entered into the contest. In a herd there’s nothing that’s going to make it stand out that much.

View from the train between Cusco and Puno, Peru.

This is a photograph that would probably be perfect for the competition since it’s very clearly about travel. However the entry form states that only basic photo editing is allowed. In the original shot there is a guys backside in the window. His light pants screwed up the otherwise perfect reflection. So I photoshopped it out. Really the retouching work was barely anything - maybe 2 clicks on the rubber stamp tool. But with the butt in the picture it’s not nearly as nice of a shot. I debated sending it in but what exactly is “basic” editing? Would this count? Or would it be disqualified? I decided it wasn’t worth it to even come close to “cheating”.

It wasn’t just our Peru photos that we considered. We seriously thought about entering in one of these two from the Chihuly Nights Exhibit:


But decided that they were shots of objects and not of places. I think they will be looking for shots that more reflect the essence of a place.

With that in mind we considered these two of the abandoned Carrie Blast Furnace in Pittsburgh:



We both love these photographs. But we also realize that we sortof have a thing for industrial ruins. To most people rundown steel mill does not equal vacation. So they didn’t make the cut.

Only one non Peru picture did and it’s just because no matter how many times we looked at the pile this one stuck out:

Toledo Museum of Art, Glass Pavilion

Something about the way Matt shot this really describes what that space felt like. Plus it's pretty.

Anyways I doubt either of us will win. The competition is pretty stiff – just from what I’ve seen so far. My dad submitted a couple of completely spectacular shots (his are in their online galleries - gallery #7 photographs 35-39) and at least 2 of my coworkers were entering. But you can’t win if you don’t try so what the hell.

Keep your fingers crossed for us!