Tourism, a huge industry in today's world where millions of people manage to break away from their mundane daily 9-5 routine for a few weeks of rest and relaxation.  Here in Peru tourism is an industry that has helped the country gain more and more recognition in the world, and with beginning days of summer in effect and the yule tide vacations the number of tourists is at its PEAK.  For most people entering Peru the first land they step onto is that of the renovated Jorge Chavez International Airport located in the Constitutional Province city of Callao.  Being the main international airport, Jorge Chavez sees large volumes of people migrating and traveling from all parts of the world, and believe me it gets crowded.  The airport itself is not a large airport in comparison to behemoths like JFK or LAX, and therefore can create a sense of claustrophobia during high traffic seasons like December and June.

Yesterday I traveled with my father to Callao at 11:59PM to pickup my mother, grandmother, and brother from the airport.  We arrived to a full house with almost no place to park.  It made me wonder that with all that open parking lot space why they never thought to build a multi-level parking structure?  After circling around the parking lot like vultures waiting for a meal to hurry up and die, we finally found a spot towards the back of the lot (you know the part where no one wants to park because they don't want to have to actually use their legs and walk 100 meters).  By this time it was 12:20PM and my families flight from LA had just landed and so we made our way towards the arrivals section of the airport and waited amongst hundreds of other people.  After an hour of surveying the ocean of travelers we finally spotted my family and rushed down to meet them.  It is always a great feeling to be reunited with family especially when separated by distance.

For my grandmother this trip marks her very first time visiting the country of Peru or the continent of South America for that matter.  I can sense she is nervous and excited as the mystery of a foreign country and its marvels and perils do tangos in her head.  My brother is excited to be back in what for the last seven years he considered home, free to once again take back the night and reclaim his teenage youth with his old Leoncio Pradiño friends.  Mom is happy to be by her husbands side once again and I'm sure to see her FAVORITE SON of the bunch.    The next few weeks will be full of trips to museums and ancient cities to the south, so I will be posting quite frequently.  This should be an interesting Christmas season, and this American Photographer plans on taking a lot of family memories.

None of us our strangers when it comes to public transportation, there has been a moment in all of our lives where we have had to rely on others to get us from point A to point B.  Here in Lima, Peru just like in my hometown of Portland, Oregon the people of this city rely heavily on multiple forms of public transportation.  In Lima the most common forms of public transportation that one will encounter include: buses, Micros (small buses), Combi's (name was adopted from the original Volkswagon model), taxi's, mototaxi's (which is a motorcycle that has been converted to carry passengers), and Colectivos (which is a carpoolesque taxi).

All of these forms of transportation have their respective levels of risk and reward along with their varying range of transportation fares.  The mode of transportation that I most frequently use are the Colectivo's. Why?  There are a number of reasons why I prefer Colectivos the best three being: cheap price in comparison to taxi's, fast travel, and less passenger stops. 

The Colectivo as I mentioned earlier can be best described as a public carpool service which is similar to that of a taxi.  All Colectivos have their respective routes that they travel much like the buses, Micros, and Combis which, are fairly flexible to work with when trying to reach a destination in the city.  The downside of the Colectivo is that there are'nt many routes avialable in Lima, with the most common ones I can think of being: Via Expresa/Chorrillos, La Parada (La Victoria), Chosica, Comas/San Felipe, and Callao (there may be others that I am not familiar).  From these routes one may also have to rely on a secondary form of public transportation to reach their actual destination, fortunately for me this is not the case since the Colectivo that I take drops me off within walking distance of my home. 

The most you will pay for a Colectivo I believe is 5-10 soles (again, not 100% sure on this figure) to travel to Callao and 4 soles to travel to San Felipe/Comas.  I currently pay S/. 3.00 to travel from Chorrillos to Plaza Grau near the Sheraton Hotel and El Palacio de Justicia in Downtown Lima.  Another benefit is that they can often be found in the early morning hours which makes it a nice alternative to taking a cab for some (again, depends on whether or not the route is in towards your neck of the woods). 

Another downside is the fact that you have to carpool with complete strangers and depending on the time of day at which you decide to travel in one you may find yourself seated next to beligerently drunk guy (who apparently has lost all motor control of his body and collapses in your lap halfway through the trip).  Sitting between LARGE individuals is no way to travel and gives literal meaning to the phrase human sandwich. 

Lastly public transportation and recklessness are two words in Peru that are seen as synonymous with one another, so it should go as no surprise that by riding in a Colectivo you are putting your life in just as much danger if not more than riding in a taxi or combi.  This has more to do with the fact that most Peruvians (YES I AM GENERALIZING, especially since recklessness and total disregard for public safety rules seem to be commonplace in Peru) seem to drive with a feeling of self entitlement (as if they owned the damn road) and could frankly give a damn about their fellow drivers, FORGET about pedestrians they don't even exist, who are they?  Life Insurance is a valuable thing here, ARE YOU IN GOOD HANDS? probably not. 

So if you ever find yourself with the task of deciding between taking that taxi to Callao or Chorrillos or the Colectivo, try mixing it up and saving a few soles by going with the Colectivo.  You might just discover a new found respect for a form of transportation you once denied. 

Yesterday was an incredibly boring/stressful day, especially thanks to the fact that I could not get my internet to work.  Apparently what happened was while I was out and about yesterday my aunt needed to access the internet from her computer in the office, sounds reasonable enough right?  WRONG, the downstairs computer in the office is not connected to the internet, therefore she got the idea to go the second floor and unplug all the cables from the modem and take it downstairs.  The problem is that when she did that all internet was cut off from the upstairs where my computer is as well as the phone.

Figuring it to be a simple task of reconnecting the modem turned out to be a huge fiasco, due largely to the fact that the second floor where the modem connects is full of unmarked Ethernet and phone cables.  It took me the better half of 3 hours to get the right combination down.  There was roughly a one hour period in that 3 hour span where out of complete frustration I decided to take a break (give up) on the internet connection.

It was during this time that I decided to brush up on my photography skills by doing some light reading followed by an interesting mini photo shoot.  While trying to find a photo subject in my home I managed to come across one of my brother's military caps from his class A uniform (back when he was a cadet at Leoncio Prado Military Academy in Callao).  I was looking at it when it accidentally feel on the floor.  Seeing the cap roll around on the sunbathed hardwood floor caught my attention and I was drawn to it instantly.  I took several test shots to get my exposure and metering down before I took my final and favorite shot.

I did some minor touch ups in Adobe Lightroom and I must admit that I am quite pleased with the results.  After I finished my photography practice I decided to give the internet troubleshooting one more crack.  I went downstairs to the dreaded computer room and reassembled the cable connections.  Fingers crossed I made my way back up-stairs where I sat down in front of my computer and stared at a blank Internet Explore page that read:

"Browser unable to find Internet connection"

Hesitantly I moved my finger towards the F5 key to refresh the page and closed my eyes out of fear that the connection would still be unavailable.  To my surprise when I opened my eyes I saw the most beautiful sight in the world, it was the Google homepage.  I almost cried at the sight of it but thankfully I fought back the tears and instead rejoiced in all the comforts that the internet provides.

I later came to the horrible realization that in today's modern world, technology has managed to make me it's needy bitch, and frankly that freightens me.

Peru is a country that is continuously in the process of advancement and development in an attempt to rise from their economic status, therefore it's not uncommon that such a proposed (2006) project like the San Lorenzo Megaport came into existence.

The $12 billion USD project would convert the San Lorenzo island off the coast of Callao, Peru into South America's largest and only megaport.  The megaport would be created using land reclamation techinques with completion of the project estimated over sevens years.  The companies spearheading the project are under the authority of two retired Peruvian Naval Captains who envisioned a project that would allow Peru to reclaim its position as one of the strongest ports in South America. 



The Project would be carried out in four stages:
1. Construction of Megaport's infrastructure including: 3km airport, naval base, hub port, shipyard facilities
2. Construction of freeways and roads, parking, and other vehicular services
3. Construction of tunnels, bridges, and high-speed railways that will connect the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic via the Amazon River
4. Implementation of various utilities and systems (ie. water drainage systems, lighting and communication systems, river transportation systems, etc.)

The project would also include the construction of a financial center similar to the one in Callao, as well as airport hotels. 

The project has been proposed to the Peruvian government in previous years but has yet to be approved and is still in the process of locating investors.  There is some opposition to the project which claims that the San Lorenzo Island is a natural habitat to thousands of sea birds as well as a large colony of Sea Lions.  The construction of the Megaport would obviously encroach upon the wildlife habitat and pose a threat to the animals who inhabit it. 

The San Lorenzo Island is Peru's largest island with a size of 16.5 sq km and maintains an interesting history.  The island was once used during Pre-Hispanic times by the natives as a cementary where many remains and indiginous artifacts have been discovered.  In 1866, the Spanish utilized the island to repair their ships and bury their dead during the Battle of Callao.  Even the famous Charles Darwin explored the island!

**images taken from the www.megapuerto.net website

It has been another long week which has left me with little time to post on the net. Here are some of the daily photos from my Photo of The Day Project that I am currently working on. The above photo is of my aunt's bread pudding that I am such a fan of. She makes it using leftover pan frances (little french bread rolls that are so popular in the panaderias in Peru) that is soaked in water and then milk. This dessert is found all over the Lima and Peru and has a fairly light flavor that I prefer in my desserts. I know that it can be found in the US but the way its made in Peru is much better in my opinion.

Below is probably the worst photo of the day photo taken thus far. It's a closeup of french fries from Peru's famous pollo a la brasa dish. I was eating Tuesday night with the family when I realized that I had negelected to take my daily photo and in mad desparation I shot this photo with biggest disregard for autofocus or artistic creativity what so ever. Not even photoshop could save this photo.


This photo of clouds was taken from my bedroom window. I liked the way the clouds looked and the sunlight that refracted off of them. I am sure it could have been more color rich but there is this huge mountainous hill right behind our house that blocks the beautiful view of the ocean and the sunset.


On sunday I went with Zdenka on a walk through the Plaza de Armas and decided to take the tour of Cerro San Cristobal (a huge hill with a large cross on it). It had been years (the last time was when I was 11) since I had gone up to the top of the hill. At the top there is this large cross and these candles where people who have never been there before can make 3 wishes, if you have been there before you only get one. I made my wish and I hope it comes true.



I like this black and white photo of Jorge Chavez International Airport, it is definately a favorite of mine. Most of you who have been to Peru will recognize this familiar location. This was taken while I was waiting for a friend to depart for the States.

And last but no least is a photo taken at the Peruvian Air Force base in Callao. The Air Force has placed several war machines out on the front lawn for all the public to gawk over. This is an old russsian anti-air system.

It has been a long week here in Lima and while I had a great time with all of my days off, the vacation has really messed with my week. Let me just start off by saying that the 28th was really laid back and chill for me. I did not go to any social gatherings nor did I attend any of the many festivities that were going on in and around Lima, all I did was visit my grandmother, eat some great chicken tamales, and slept.

I did go out with Zdenka and her female friends to supposedly party, however all we ended up doing was riding in taxi after taxi since they could not decide on a place. We eventually ended up in Miraflores in a bar near the Calle de Pizzas (very anti-climatic). I don't remember the name of the bar but it plays 80's music and has a very relaxed atmosphere. Anyways after having spent 3 hours traversing several of Limas most popular districts all I wanted was to have a damn beer and call it a night. I gave the waitress a $20 bill only to have her come back and tell me that it was fake so obviously they would not accept it. I knew this was a lie since I had just gotten that bill from an ATM machine. These guys thought that they could get away with swapping my 20 for one of their fake ones and pull a fast one over gringo, NO DICE! THAT WAS THE TIP OF THE ICEBERG! I went to the bartender who was this ugly short asian dude who in response to my claims took me to what was their state-of-the-art money fraud detector (a UV lamp). With what I assume was my original $20 he should me the differences between an authentic bill and the fake they tried to pass off as mine. Apparently the only difference were a few worn spots on the supposedly fake bill. I argued and insulted his intelligence for the next 10 minutes until I boldly accused him of trying to steal from me. He did not like that and suggested that if I did not like being stolen from that I was more than welcome to drink in another bar, what a jerk!

Realizing that I wasn't going to get anywhere without any hard evidence I dropped the argument and retreated back to our table where I drank my beers in resentment. In a show of good faith or just plain guilty conscience the bartender (shorty) only charged me for one of the two beers.

How exactly does one end such a night? By sleeping on his girlfriends coach only to wake 2 hours later to stumble home through the rain at 7 am on a Wednesday!

The photo above was taken in Callao near the military academy Leoncio Prado (a place where parents send their children who are uncontrollable/undisciplined punks), where my brother Dumenico attended against his will for 3 years. NOTE: After his initial institutionalization (similar to what happens to prisoners) Dumenico did not want to leave and discovered that the school that had placed restrictions on his freedom had become a new home and family to him.


This above picture is of a famous Peruvian treat: the Doña Pepa. It is a heavily embellished nuget like desert that is in my opinion to sweet for my taste buds to handle. I will post some other pictures of it later.

And finally the photo below is a picture that was taken in response to my father. He would always joke about how the word "slot" when pronounced by a spanish speaking person sounded like "slut". When I saw this I knew I had to take a picture of it. Please note that i did doctor or "photoshop" the photo.

Some of you will obviously fail to find the humor if any at all in this photo, in anticipation to this there isn't really much that can be said nor will I try to justify/defend my actions. You had to be there.

Busy, busy, busy week what with all the madness and rush around trying to get these new plastic injection molds ready for production. It never seems to fail that when you think everything is going well someone throws a wrench into the machine. The above picture was captured just outside of Ventanilla which is a district of Callao in the northern outskirts of Lima. This little wooden sanctuary was at the base of this cliff and it had this lone old tree. The way the sunset was hitting the rocks really brought out the color in the entire picture. This scene was located at a Repsol (spain owned) gas station and was taken right before the ignition cable came loose (too bad we didn't know that at the time). So yeah beautiful sunset and few clouds in the sky set the perfect mood for push starting a medium size cargo truck.



Yup you guessed it another day traversing the highways. With little in terms of photography subject matter I figured I'd try my hand at motion photography. In the past I had given it a shot a few times but just couldn't get the hang of it. In order to take a good photo that conveys a sense of motion you have to slow down your shutter speed, 15 sec. in this case. Then you need to auto-focus on your moving target and then pan through with the target as it passes you. I figured since I was shooting in Black and White that I would push up the iso to 800 to give more contrast. This photo of the combi wizzing by came out pretty good. The photo really gives that sense of motion and the combi comes out clear and somewhat sharp. These guys really fly down the highway in a mad attempt to beat out rival combi companies for passengers. It's a dangerous game they play, which isn't surprising that these guys could careless about the safety of their passengers.