Thinking South

A couple of months from now, I’ll be stepping on a plane and heading to Chile. At the port city of Valparaiso, I’ll be boarding the Silver Explorer, an expedition cruise ship operated by SilverSea Expeditions. From mid-March to mid-April, I’ll be working as a naturalist, lecturer and Zodiac driver on the ship as we cruise up the west coast of South America, through the Panama Canal and into the Caribbean where I’ll disembark in Barbados. The trip is divided into three portions: 1. Valparaiso to Callao Peru 2. Callao Peru to Colon, Panama, and 3. Colon to Barbados. (Click those links for more information about each leg).

As I’m thinking about the upcoming voyage, planning my lectures and photo workshops, I’m also spending a lot of time reflecting on my other trips to South America. Here are a few images from previous journeys:

This is the Beagle Channel near Ushuaia, Argentina. The couple of times I’ve visited the far southern tip of South America it’s occurred to me just how similar it feels to parts of Alaska. Wild rocky coast, temperate rainforest, glaciated peaks. I won’t be headed quite this far south on this coming trip, but I expect I’ll make it back here before too many more years have passed.

An abandoned ranch in the Altiplano of Bolivia. If I had to pick one destination for photography that surpasses any other, I might have to pick the Altiplano. Dry, harsh, high elevation. It’s a place full of weirdness and oh, so photogenic. I’ll be touching the southern edge of this desert, on the Chilean side of the border this coming trip. I’m looking forward to seeing how it differs from Bolivia.

I photographed this man in the Plaza de Armas in Cuzco, Peru. There were major protests going on all around the streets of the city, but the atmosphere was more like a party, than a demonstration. I found this man, sitting quietly on park bench. He had an old medium format camera slung around his neck and I stopped to chat about photography. After a few minutes, I asked to take his photo. I wish I had not moved on so quickly, I suspect he had some great stories, and I would have liked to hear them.

Llamas above Cuzco, Peru. On the hills above the city are an array of Incan ruins. The most frequently visited is Saqsaywaman. It was pillaged by the Spanish but many of the huge stone blocks, constructed with mind-boggling perfection still remain. I found this small herd of llamas grazing above the ruin. They were owned by a weaver, who made lovely rugs and blankets using a handmade outdoor loom. The loom was constructed of nothing but wood stakes driven into the ground and his yarn. I bought a small tapestry from him, and it hangs in my cabin.

The San Blas Islands of Panama. They say there is an island for every day of the year in the San Blas, and I believe it. Run as a semi-autonomous province of Panama by the indigenous Kuna, the San Blas are stunning. Through much of the archipelago, the water is too shallow for large ships to navigate so its left to the Kuna’s canoes and small sail-boats. I’ll be touching the outer islands of the Kuna Yala on the final leg of my journey to Barbados.

Horseman on the beach, Santa Catarina, Brazil. Last April when my partner Amy and I crossed South America from Chile to Brazil, we finished our journey in Florianopolis. My brother lives here much of the year, and we stayed several days with him not far from where I made this photo. Amy and I took an evening walk to the beach on our final day in South America. We sat and watched sky change color as the sun disappeared behind us, when this horseman, followed by his dog appeared atop a dune. I had just a second to snap this photo before he cantered down, and the moment was gone.

The Salar de Uyuni in the Altiplano of Bolivia is the strangest landscape on the planet. During some times of year the huge salt plain is flooded in a few inches of water that, when un-rippled by wind, create the most perfect (and disorienting) reflections I’ve ever seen. I spent a morning at the Salar with pair of British travelers one of whom I photographed standing in front of the reflected sunrise. I want to return to the Salar to photograph it again, so, so badly.

In northern Argentina near the Paraguay border lies the Ibera wetlands. The area is ancient oxbow of the Rio Parana and is home to a remarkable array of tropical wildlife. From from any major city, it also has spectacularly dark skies. I made this image from a small boardwalk that extended out over the marsh from our hotel. The exposure is about 20 seconds and I used flashlight to “paint” the vegetation in the foreground during the exposure.

A friend on Facebook this morning posted a quote by Susan Sontag: “I haven’t been everywhere, but it’s on my list”.

Yep.

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