Mira Terra Travel Blog

Happy Chinese New Year! Year of the Dragon 2012

2012-01-22T20:55:00.000-08:00

The Chinese New Year is upon us, and 2012 is the Year of the Dragon in Chinese Astrology. The dragon is the only mythical animal in the Chinese zodiac, and is a symbol of good fortune and power.

According to legend, the dragon body is made up of nine other animals. Since I don't have any photos of a living dragon, then I thought that it might make for an interesting photo-post to show all the living animals from which the mythical dragon is formed.

Head of a Camel:

Neck of a Snake:

Scales of a Fish:

Horns of a Deer:

Ears of a Bull:

Stomach of a Clam:

Paws of a Tiger:

Claws of an Eagle:

Eyes of a Rabbit:

Happy Chinese New Year!

Dogs Around the World

2012-01-05T22:46:00.000-08:00

First, a big wag of the tail for this week's team of #frifotos hosts who came up with the (travel-related) theme of DOGS, giving me a great excuse to finally post these dogs shots from all over the world in one place. Question is....where to begin on a Round-the-World photo journey of dogs? Since all journeys start at home, we'll start here, then we'll continue throughout the US and on to Latin America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and back home again.

One man's travel destination is another's backyard - the same may be said for dogs, of course. So I will begin with one of my Surf Dawgs photo series taken at a favorite local beach right here in my (dog's) own "backyard", Del Mar Dog Beach, California:

Moving out geographically, and back in evolution, coyotes and wolves are great examples of canine wildlife. These beautiful "dogs" were photographed in Arizona:

Coyotes of the American Southwest

Mexican Gray Wolves

Still in the southwest, I will always love this moment when these pueblo dogs came to greet me in New Mexico, making for a truly iconic capture of Native American pueblo life:

Dogs of San Ildefonso Pueblo

Now I'm not going to drag you through every state via dog pictures, but there is one more state deserving mention, as it is well known for hosting the annual Iditarod sled-dog race. A few years back I had the pleasure of taking my daughter Dog-Sledding on a Glacier in Alaska, and gave her the video camera (listen to the interview/commentary!):

Getting to visit all the sled-dogs and puppies in training after the ride resulted in plenty of wonderful photos, this one being my favorite:

Blue-eyed girl and blue-eyed husky

And on the subject of girls and puppies, let's travel to Guatemala, where this woman was selling a basket full at the Chichicastenango Market:


Chichicastenango Market: Puppies for sale

Next stop, Peru, where this dog and his buddies enjoy the scenery:

Dog & Donkeys overlooking the Sacred Valley and Andes of Peru

Some of the happiest dogs I've ever seen during my travels are found in Chile:

Pair of dogs and pair of lovers in Puerto Varas

....where they also have jobs that they love, such as this....

Little guard dog with big attitude in Puerto Natales

or this...

Rancher and his dog herding sheep in Patagonia

Ah yes, the sheep herders. What better segway to hop over to Europe? Landing first in Ireland:

Satisfied Border Collie watches his flock

Then on to London, UK, for this canine appearance in the Lord Mayor's Parade:

Dogs on Parade

And to Spain, where these dogs enjoy shopping the avenues of Barcelona:

Dogs and Shoppers in Barcelona

Enough of the domesticated dogs for a bit, let's head down to South Africa, and to my personal favorite wild animal to spot in the wild, the African Wild Dog:

African Painted Wild Dog

African Wild Dog of Madikwe

It is such a thrill to watch them in the wild, and to get them in good light, I even shot a video and blogged about the Wild Dogs here: Madikwe is for the Dogs. A must read for dog/wildlife lovers! Oh what the heck, here's the video too:

Before we leave Africa, Here's a shot from Namibia which illustrates the difference a dog makes - without the dog, this scene would be, well, depressing.

Scene of daily life in Katatura Township

Now, from a land where few children have shoes, to a land where few dogs don't. I'm talking about Japan, where the dog is a fashion accessory and Tokyo department stores have entire floors dedicated to canine fashions. I've blogged about how these little dogs are Big in Japan, but here are a couple of the more blatant four-legged fashion victims:

Proud owner poses her fashionable toy dogs

The men in Japan are not immune to dogs as fashion accessories

Little Dog, Big Attitude. Kyoto, Japan.

Finally, Asia is home to what I consider to be the happiest dogs anywhere in the world, living an even better life than their human counterparts. They reside in the tranquil Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan.

Dog enjoying best view in the world, Tiger's Nest Monastery in Bhutan

Dog Amongst Prayer Flags, Punakha Bhutan

Of course, this is a case where a picture speaks a thousand words. I've seen plenty of happy dogs, and plenty of sleeping dogs, but this blissful dog was truly in an elevated state of consciousness:

The ultimate meditative state - doggie nirvana

When it comes to travel, truly, the most important dogs anywhere are the ones who wait at the door and greet me with enthusiastic wags and slobbery kisses when I return home from my travels. It's not so easy for my older dog, Jambo, to jump up and rush to the door anymore, but bless his heart, he always makes the effort when I come home, always. And there's the younger dog, Java, who jumps like a circus act and whose tail never stops spinning. They bring so much joy and love and laughter, and home would never be home without them.

Jambo

Java

And thus ends my Round the World adventure by dog photos. Hope you have enjoyed, and if you are on twitter, be sure to share your own dog pics and follow the hashtag #frifotos!

The Old and the New: Top 11 of 2011 - Viewer's choice

2011-12-30T20:26:00.000-08:00

Last year, I posted the Top 20 + 10 Viewer's Choice of 2010 from the Mira Terra Images archive. The popularity of some of those has continued throughout this year, while many new images made their way into the rankings, based on views by YOU, the internet public. As I noted last year, what's interesting about this list is that it doesn't reflect the most licensed, sold, or published images; and perhaps it more accurately reflects a list of images which ranked highest in Google search results. Only one of these Viewer's Choices was actually taken in 2011, and it hit and held the #1 spot for most of the year. Here are the TOP 11 Most Viewed Images in 2011 - 10 of your choice, and 1 of mine:

10 - Young Peruvian Boy, PERU

9 - London Eye Capsule, UNITED KINGDOM

8 - Architecture of Brasilia, BRAZIL

7 - Maasai Beadwork & Crafts, KENYA

6 - Estonian Teens, ESTONIA

5 - Guatemalan Textiles, GUATEMALA

4- Chinese Girl in Traditional Dress, CHINA

3 - Ladies & Llamas, PERU

2 - Moroccan Mosaic Detail, MOROCCO

...and the NUMBER ONE VIEWER'S CHOICE IMAGE OF 2011:

1 - Monk at Wangdu Phodrang Dzong, BHUTAN

Here's where I get to tie it all together with my end-of-year mantra "Out with the Old, in with the New", and share how images speak to me. Look again at the #1 most popular image by viewer's choice - pictured is a monk walking through a gate, wrapping up his robe and heading away from the camera. What I see in this image is the end of a year, the work accomplished, and the wisdom gained. Reflecting upon the challenges met and lessons learned of 2011, it's time to wrap it up and move on. Thus, Out with the old.

Enter, MY #1 PHOTOGRAPHER'S CHOICE (personal favorite) IMAGE OF 2011:

Young Monk of BHUTAN

Pictured is a young monk, skipping innocently through a gate, and heading toward the camera. What I see in this image is the beginning of a year, embracing a new path ahead, and a readiness to engage with circumstances yet unknown. Thus, In with the new.

THANK YOU all for your interest and support of Mira Terra Images - 2011 was a record year of image sales and licenses that began with this AAA Magazine Cover of Machu Picchu, and continued with my debut as Photo Editor for Travcoa's 2012 World Traveler's Dream Book, right through to a recent appearance of this image of a Terra Cotta Warrior Horse which adorned a booth and print literature at WTM Travel Mart in London. Moving in to the new year, 2012 kicks off with this image of Talinn by Sea published in Jan/Feb issue of AFAR magazine. And there's still more coming to print out there so keep reading those tiny photo credits - you may spot them before I do!

THANK YOU also for your engagement with my travel blog - your TOP 10 FAVORITE BLOG POSTS are listed in the sidebar to the right ->. My personal favorite post of 2011, while we're at it, should come as no surprise. It's the one titled: Travel Photography Nirvana (illustrated with images from Bhutan). Check it out, you'll find there another of my favorite images - a young monk blissfully skipping in a field of prayer flags. I imagine that boy is still skipping his way into the New Year, and that's the vision I choose to carry forward with me for 2012.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Peace and Pleasant Journeys,

Kymri

Love travel photos? Be sure to check out Budget Travelers Sandbox every Thursday, and Delicious Baby's Photo Friday.

It's A Small and Festive World

2011-12-16T12:27:00.000-08:00

"Dear Santa,
What I want for Christmas is a doll from It's A Small World. No, make that ALL the dolls from It's a Small World. Or just one doll with all the costumes from It's A Small World. Whatever works, I think you get the picture."

Oh the big dreams we have as little kids. That was one of mine, and though I never did get any of the dolls from It's A Small World, I still enjoy visiting them at Disneyland every year for the holidays.

"It's a Small World" is to credit for being an early inspiration for me, fueling my desire to travel the world and discover the many different peoples and cultures represented with the colorful costumes and brightly painted scenes of far away places. As an adult having traveled to many of these places, I now appreciate it all the more.

So, in honor of Disney's power to inspire, and the "Festive" theme of today's #Frifotos on twitter, I present, in photos,

The far away places....

The costumes of culture...

And....the magic of SNOW and Sleeping Beauty's Castle....

For more festive photos of Disney Holiday Magic, check out:

The 12 Lights of Christmas

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Cats, Cameras, and Caring Less

2011-12-11T19:00:00.000-08:00

So it's "BIG CAT" week at National Geographic. As much as I'd love to say "big deal', I do hold a certain fascination for these creatures, and I respect those photographers and filmmakers who spend weeks and months with the big cats to fill a good hour episode. I watch with awe and envy. I know what goes into every frame, and what it takes to get the shot that tells the story.

My own experience with cats and cameras, however, is not so glamorous. I've spent some time on safari and have learned a great deal about these cats, and I can tell you this much -

Cats couldn't care less about cameras. They couldn't care less about people with cameras, too. It doesn't matter if it's a cat person with the camera, or a filmmaker, or an idiot. The cat couldn't care less.

I have many friends who are cat people. They post silly pictures on facebook of their cat asleep in the sun or looking pissed off about something. When I go to their homes, I am overwhelmed with smell of cats. The cats, however, are nowhere to be seen, they couldn't care less that I've arrived after a long absence. They couldn't care less about a lot of things, and well, cats are just like that.

I'm not really a cat person in my every day life. When I come home from my travels, I actually like to know I've been missed. The pets I own physically rush to the door, wag their tails like helicopters, and smother me with affection. They're called dogs. There is no doubt in my mind how they feel about me. They care.

I can appreciate cats, however, especially if they are really big and live in the wild. When I observe cats in the wild through the lens of my camera, even the smell doesn't bother me. I watch long enough, and soon find myself reading their every thought (click). I get into their minds (click), and really connect in ways that I never experience with other people's kitty cats (click, click, click). And you know what I've learned? Cats couldn't care less. (delete, delete, delete).

Cats love to torment (click). Cats love to play games (click, click). Exactly what they gain from these games is nothing more than the satisfaction of having proven that they care not about anyone or anything other than themselves (delete). They certainly don't care if I've got the right lens on (delete), or need to change the battery (delete), or only have 3 frames left on the memory card (delete all? press OK to confirm).

Hang on, cats. I'm not going to let you off that easy. I can still get in your mind through my lens, remember? My camera is able to freeze a split second of your life, and even though in every frame your "I couldn't care less" subtext remains clear and consistent, there can be more to the story, and more to reading your thoughts, too. Well, at least this much more: "it's all about me."

Case and point: During a recent safari in the Maasai Mara, we happened upon a pair of lions laying in the grass. While the male was lost in his "all about me" thoughts, the female quite clearly "couldn't care less" about the male; she had something else on her mind.

With absolutely no concern for the fact that I still had a telephoto lens stuck to my camera, the lioness came right to the tree which stood literally within arm's reach of our vehicle. She could care less about the vehicle being there, and she could care even less that I was fumbling for a different lens in anticipation of what she might do next. Nope, she showed no consideration whatsoever, it was "all about her", and up the tree she leapt.

Tree Climbing Lion - Sequence by Kymri Wilt

Turns out this was more than just a display to express how much she didn't care about my getting the shot with the right lens. At least, up in the tree, she was again distant enough that I could fit the cat entirely in the frame. She made quite a show of finding just the right spot to settle.

"now what...."

Remember what I mentioned earlier? That bit about cats loving to torment and play games? Turns out that is exactly what she was up to. I mean, why else would she bother fighting gravity to get herself up in that tree?

"oh good, this'll show him...."

"I don't care that it's extremely uncomfortable...I look good"

Well yes, lioness, of course you look good...you're in a tree and surrounded by wildlife paparazzi! But I have news for you, dear cat. As far as my camera is concerned....it's not "all about you".
Cue the male.

"WTF???!!!"


"That B#@%!!!!"*

The photos tell the story. Cats couldn't care less. Cats love to torment. Cats live in an "all about me" world. But maybe, just maybe, they might actually care that there's a camera around.


"Are you looking at moi??"

CAUGHT!

More about cats:

Killer Cats of Kwandwe

Tharu, Rice, Tigers, Grass

African Wildlife Photo Gallery

Dedicated to the memory of Sacha, a cat who exemplified the essence of caring less.

UPDATED: Win 2 tickets to the Tournament of Roses Parade, hotel & more!

2011-12-08T08:27:00.000-08:00

UPDATE: The sponsor (YMT Vacations) has extended the offer to be redeemable for EITHER this year (December 30, 2011 - January 3, 2012) OR next year (December 29, 2012 - January 2, 2013), so you can take your pick and plan ahead!

It's that time of year, when Passports With Purpose conducts the annual fundraiser organized by travel bloggers that raises money for deserving non-profits throughout the world. It's a wonderful way to give back to the places we, as travelers, visit.

This year, Room to Read was chosen as the 2011 beneficiary of Passports with Purpose. The goal is to raise $80,000 to build two libraries in southern and eastern Zambia. Wow, that sounds ambitious, right? After last year's target of $50,000 was surpassed by over 25% and an entire village was built in India in partnership with Friends of LAFTI, clearly this community of travel bloggers and PWP founders are not content to rest on any laurels. We love to travel, we love to blog about it, we love reading blogs, we love reading books, and we can't imagine what our lives would be without the gift of reading. But perhaps above all, we love the idea of bringing the gift of reading to others.

In my last post, I shared the story of how I found the room to read on the floor of an orphanage in Calcutta, with children climbing all over my lap to stare at the words on the pages and listen to my voice. I realized right then and there just how powerful the gift of reading can be, and I hope that you will take just a moment to share in my reading with purpose.

Read it? Good. Now you're set with inspiration to help make a difference, too. And that means, it's time to talk prizes!

Here's how it works:

Each participant blogger provides a prize and blogs about it. You can find the complete list of the prizes at Passports With Purpose website. Between now and December 16, 2011, for each $10 in donations that you make to Room to Read, you will be entered to win the prize (or prizes) of your choice.

Thanks to the generous folks at YMT Vacations, whom I've had the pleasure of working with over the past year, I am thrilled to present....

5-Day Tournament of Roses Parade and Los Angeles Tour

Tour Includes (for 2 people)

4 nights accommodations based on twin/double occupancy in a luxurious Los Angeles Airport area hotel.
Rose Parade viewing from reserved Grand Stand seats, complimentary YMT seat cushion & an official Rose Parade program.
Exclusive evening of behind the scenes float viewing at the Pasadena Rosemont Pavilion.
Los Angeles City tour including Beverly Hills, Mann’s Chinese Theatre, & the home of the Academy Awards, the Kodak Theatre.
The service of a professionally trained and accredited tour driver/guide who is licensed, bonded, and insured.
Baggage handling for one 50-lb. bag p/p.
Taxes and Fees of $149 per/person.

Tour Dates: December 30, 2011 - January 3, 2012 OR December 29, 2012 - January 2, 2013

Tour starts and ends in Los Angeles, California

Important Stuff:

* The Rose Parade only happens once a year, so this prize is only valid for either of the dates indicated: December 30, 2011 - January 3, 2012 OR December 29, 2012 through January 2, 2013

*Airfare to and from Los Angeles is NOT included, and is sole responsibility of winner.

So, what are you waiting for? Head on over to Passports With Purpose Donation Page to make your $10 donation via paypal and enter to win before midnight, December 16, 2011. Winners will be announced on December 23, 2011. Good luck!

Reading with Purpose

2011-11-28T08:50:00.001-08:00

Earlier this year, I had a very powerful experience that has stayed with me, and the story of which ties in beautifully with the focus of this year's Passports With Purpose fundraiser.

It all happened in Calcutta, India, when I went to Mother Teresa's Ashram. No words can describe the overwhelming emotional impact of visiting not only the Ashram itself, but the nearby orphanage established by Mother Teresa. In her words, it is a refuge for...

"The hungry, the naked, the homeless, the crippled, the blind, the lepers, all those people who feel unwanted, unloved, uncared for throughout society, people that have become a burden to the society and are shunned by everyone." --- Mother Teresa

Before entering the orphanage, the nuns laid out one simple rule: "please don't pick them up."

I stepped into a room where knee-high children with big brown eyes surrounded me, reaching their arms up to me, longing desperately to be held and carried. This was tough. I wanted to hold them, to touch them, to love them, to let them know they were loved. I wanted to smother them with affection and motherly care. I wanted to embrace them. But I could not pick them up!

How was I going to engage with them? What could I do to connect without attachment?

I stood dazed and numb for a moment, towering over them. Then, one child came forward with something in his hand. It was a book.

From his hand to mine, a book.

I looked over at the nuns were sitting on the only bench in the room. They did not move to make room for me; so, taking the book from the child's hand, I sat down on the floor right where I stood. The kids climbed onto my lap and leaned over my shoulders and touched my hair and watched my face as I was able to engage and connect with them without ever picking one up. The nuns lost sight of me as I was engulfed in a sea of curious children, and there in my hand, a book.

This was an undertaking not for the weak of heart, and all I could think about was finding my strength in compassion and focusing on the power of love. Pure love. The Mother Teresa kind of love - love for all, and attachment to none. Because I was so moved by the emotional investment these children placed in me when I sat amongst them, I had to focus that love on one thing. The book.

Fortunately, it was a basic board book, with only one word on each page. BALL. CAR. BOY. GIRL. And so on.

I read each page as if I were reading a love letter. With each word, there was a little drawing to illustrate it, but when I read the word, there was only meaning. LOVE. Word by word, page by page, I read, and the children listened. I read, and the children watched. I read...and the children felt loved.

I somehow made it out without adopting a dozen children - although not without shedding a dozen tears. Photography was not permitted in the orphanage and I would have left the camera anyway. These children just wanted to be loved. And read to.

So there I found my own little room to read on the floor of an orphanage in Calcutta. At that moment more than any other in my life, I realized the incredible power of the gift of reading.

By sharing my story, I hope that you will be inspired to share the gift of reading wherever you are, and wherever you go, in your travels and in life. To that end, please join me in the annual Passports With Purpose travel blogger fundraiser, kicking off on November 30. The goal is to build two libraries in Zambia.

Where to start? Keep reading! Check out these 2011 blogger participants who use their gift of writing so that others may know the gift of reading. Be inspired by words, and purposeful in action. Let's do this!

Our African Wedding Story

2011-11-23T17:52:00.001-08:00

November 25 marks the anniversary of a dream come true. This is the story of our African wedding as it unfolded in the pages of my hand-written travel journal.

November 24, 1999 Ngorongoro Crater. Full Moon.

Fur blankets drape a king size bed in the Kimba Suite with glass doors overlooking Ngorongoro Crater. The moon is full and bright, and the lake below glows silver in her reflection. We are on the rim, 8,500 feet up, and below is a vast caldera crawling with wildlife. This place is spectacular. There are simply no other words to describe it.

[Earlier in the day, we had stopped at a rest point overlooking the crater. As I took in the view and held back tears of joy that I was actually here, my fiancé informed me that this is where we will get married. Not next year…..but tomorrow! He left only one small detail of planning up to me. What time. Since we had a full day wildlife safari scheduled and I didn't want to miss one moment of it, my decision was easy. Sunrise.]

November 25, 1999 Ngorongoro Crater. OUR WEDDING DAY!!!

As the sun rose and crept over the opposite rim of the crater, we were whisked off escorted by Shawnab, Francis and Shaibu. The moment we emerged from our room, Shawnab took my camera bag and handed me flowers. The other cameras flashing as we walked through the lobby was the sign of a very special event, which I soon came to realize was our wedding. I don’t think either of us had any idea just what a production this would be. Apparently we were the first non-Maasai to get married at Ngorongoro Crater, and the first wedding of any guests to the Ngorongoro Serena Lodge.

We were escorted out to the jeep with colorfully dressed hotel employees following and surrounding us, then we all piled into jeeps and drove by caravan to the beautiful large fig tree which stands tall and majestic on the rim of the caldera. Visible from most parts of the crater, this tree would mark the location of our very special event.

We arrived at the spot which was still embraced in fog. As the gentle early morning winds nudged up the crater wall, the fog lifted and revealed the incredible setting for our ceremony.

For the wedding party, I was accompanied by three beautiful women in colorful Swahili dress, and my groom was accompanied by three handsome men also in traditional Swahili attire. Waiting at the site to welcome us with song, the local Maasai villagers! We were introduced to the magistrate - a small man who had traveled by foot from his village to officiate our wedding. Knowing we were westerners, he had dressed in his very best western attire for the occasion - denim blue jeans, a red holiday sweater, and a Reebok basecball cap.

It all happened so quickly, full of colors and sounds and songs and smiles. And languages! The magistrate first spoke in his tribal language, which Killian then translated to Swahili for our witnesses, and then in English for us. As he handed us the certificates, he explained...

"There are three types of marriages: one that is monogamous, with one; one that is polygamous, with many; and one that is potentially polygamous, the first of many. You must declare which type of marriage you are making here today."

Giggles and laughter ensued, as we gave considerable thought to "potentially polygamous", just for kicks, knowing that it would only translate into one type of marriage back home. We marked the box, signed our names, exchanged vows, kissed, and toasted with champagne. All the while the cameras flashed and every one in attendance seemed to have a Swahili blessing to shout out! But the recurring word "paparazzi" strewn throughout the Swahili words was unmistakable, followed by buckles of laughter - apparently the hotel manager took great pride in being asked to take pictures with my camera for us. Had we understood more Swahili, we'd probably have been laughing a whole lot more, but as it was, we could not keep from wearing ear to ear grins. My cheeks are still hurting.

After the signing, vowing, and legalities were done with, we were presented with gifts from the Maasai guests. I was adorned with a beaded bracelet, and my husband a beaded necklace to wear, indicating he is married. Then I was handed a stick which only married women can carry. My husband was also given a stick, more of a beaded club, which he was to use for cattle raids. Then I was presented with a gourd, decorated with beads and a leather handle. They explained that this is used to hold blood and goat's milk to "nourish little ones." Thankfully, I was not expected to drink it until "later....when it is time....."

The cake arrived, and we managed to cut small pieces to exchange...but chewing it was another feat. Then a breakfast buffet awaited, with the hotel chef preparing eggs to order, and everything from cereal to fresh fruits to coffee. We could barely eat with all the excitement, not to mention everyone watching our every move and taking pictures...our wedding paparazzi party.

After breakfast, the Maasai continued with celebratory song. The men wore red kangas and had elaborately decorated earlobes and necklaces around their necks. The "elder"male leading the group had tinges of red henna in his hair. For the most part, they all stood around leaning on their sticks. The females were much younger - it seemed only the unmarried girls were allowed to attend. They sang beautifully; it was as if the melodic voices rang out from their hearts, as their faces and lips barely moved at all. They wore around their necks wide beaded disk necklaces, which flapped up and down to the beat of the men's drumming. Strings of beads adorned the girls' foreheads.

I felt truly honored that these were our wedding guests, who had allowed us to marry on their sacred land of the Ngorongoro Crater next to the giant ancestral fig tree. We were, in fact, their guests. And what an honor it was. A very special honor for which we were extremely grateful.

The wedding party escorted us back to our jeep, which they had cleverly decorated with a "JUST MARRIED" sign on the back window. Brilliant. They all squeezed into the back of the jeep with us, on laps and in bundles, singing a traditional wedding celebration song, including each of our names in the verses. A few remaining staff chased the vehicle waving palm fronds, singing, and laughing. It was so joyous, we were surrounded with music, smiles, and positive wishes and energy.

Upon arrival back at the Serena Lodge, EVERYONE was standing outside to welcome us as husband and wife. The Maasai danced again, creating a directional path for us to walk while onlookers cheered and took pictures. We felt like royalty. After a few steps I could no longer contain myself, and the tears began to flow - tears of overwhelming happiness and gratitude.

We were lead, escorted, and followed by the bouncing Maasai, the singing hotel staff, and the colorful wedding party attendants to the lobby, where even more hotel guests watched and congratulated us. We sat to sign the guest book as "Mr. & Mrs." while the young Maasai girls bounced and sang behind us. Then the entire party lead, escorted, and followed us back to our Kimba Suite, bouncing so heavily that there was concern the board planks of the walkways might break! At last we reached our door, where we turned and thanked everyone with hugs, teary eyes, and endless "Asenteni" (thanks).

What happened once we closed the door was just priceless. A split second of silence, broken by a giggle, joined by some snickering, growing into roars of laughter, then bursting loudly into song. It seemed the ceremony was to involve one more element, for which they felt thundering song, drums, dancing and voices RIGHT OUTSIDE THE DOOR would be most conducive.....

We looked at each other and burst out laughing. Who knew that changing batteries, loading rolls of film, cleaning lenses and packing filters for a full day safari in the crater would be such a festively celebrated activity?! ;-)

[The End of the story...the wedding story, that is. But the heartfelt gratitude endures and grows with each passing year. I never lose sight of the blessings in my life and my travels, and though years may fade the pages of the journal, they add glue to the binding.]

THANK YOU for reading my story, and sharing in the joy, wonder, and appreciation of a dream come true, a dream made possible by people in a far away land. Gratitude means counting my blessings, big and small, extraordinary and ordinary....and I have far too many not to pass along, share, and give back in whatever way I can.

This year, I will again be participating in the travel blogger's fundraiser event, Passports With Purpose. The funds we raise are going to make a big difference to the lives of people in a far away land, with the building of two libraries in Zambia through a partnership with Room to Read. Full details are forthcoming, meanwhile....

Here's wishing you a heart full of gratitude for blessings big and small, on Thanksgiving Day and every day. Asante sana.

Andean Skies

2011-11-10T23:04:00.000-08:00

Could the skies possibly get any more blue? I'm wondering about this as I have just returned from another part of the world where the skies took my breath away, and where I was awed and mesmerized by looking up.

I'm certain that the high altitude has something to do with the deep clear blues of Andean skies, but a blue sky on it's own is just that, a gorgeous blue sky. What makes the blue skies of the Andes all the more interesting to photograph are the clouds that float through, changing shapes and transforming the scenery as they pass. Sometimes the clouds form dark ominous storm fronts, other times they dance through as puffy white "happy" clouds. Both are stunning against the backdrop of the Andes mountains and plateaus.

As a follow up to the popular post African Skies, I present here the Andean Skies, showcasing new images from my recent journey through Peru from Cusco to Puno aboard the Andean Explorer Train.

For the Love of Elephants - Sheldricks and Amboseli

2011-11-03T22:43:00.000-07:00

“It is easy to love elephants….because they will love you back”
- Caretaker, Sheldrick’s Elephant Trust

The anticipation was growing, and by the time we pulled up the dirt road at Sheldrick’s we could hardly contain ourselves. The day had come, the moment was near - we were all about to meet our adopted baby elephants face to face!

Two days before I left home to lead this very special Travcoa's 2011 President's Journey: Grand Safari to Kenya & Tanzania, my September 2011 issue of National Geographic arrived in the mail, featuring an entire article on the very elephants we were about to meet, titled Orphans No More. The baby elephant featured on the lead page was in fact Travcoa's own adopted elephant, Shukuru!

We gathered round the feeding stations where caretakers held big full bottles. Then, the first group of baby elephants came happily down the path toward us.

It all happened so fast - these were the youngest bunch, still learning their way, and the next thing we knew there was milk everywhere as the babies eagerly emptied the bottles fumbling and slurping for every last drop.

Then, they were escorted out as quickly as they came.

But wait! The next group was not far behind, and these babies had been around longer and had somewhat better manners as more of us got to hold bottles and meet our own adopted elephants.

Then these adorable kids were allowed "playtime" to wallow in the mud for a bit while we watched and took pictures and oooh'ed and awwww'd. They were simply so darn cute we just wanted to bring them all home with us. I somehow I managed to keep myself from running in to the mud to play with them....that probably would not have been so great for my camera, which I was using to make possibly the cutest elephant video ever:

Wait, there's one more baby elephant bow....

They are a tough act to follow, for sure. The good news is, you don't have to travel all the way to Africa to foster an orphaned elephant! You can read all about the elephants and select your own online here, at David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust Orphan Project.

But should you already be in Kenya, then there's no better place to learn more about elephants in the wild than Amboseli National Park, and a visit to the Cynthia Moss Research Station (Amboseli Trust for Elephants). If we could have stayed all week, we'd never have tired of hearing stories from Field Researcher Vicki Fishlock, who hosted us and enthralled us with her knowledge and enthusiasm.

Of course, there is no shortage of opportunity in Amboseli to observe elephants in the wild, and sometimes the encounters are quite close!

Whether up close or from a distance, spending some time watching a matriarch and her family is a real treat, especially when there is a very young one at her side.

I think I could go back to Africa again and again and again and never tire of watching elephants. But for as much wonder and heartfelt joy that I get watching elephants in the wild, nothing will ever compare to the few precious moments experienced with the orphaned elephants at David Sheldricks. That was truly one of the greatest highlights of my life. And guess what....I'm already planning a return in 2012.

African Skies

2011-08-05T12:11:00.000-07:00

Africa is a land where the skies stretch out endlessly in all directions, and the weather systems are as interesting to photograph as the landscape.

KENYA

Puffy white clouds dot the endless skies of the Maasai Mara, Kenya

A break in the clouds light the golden landscape of the Maasai Mara, Kenya

A rhino and an elephant seek shade under African skies of the Maasai Mara, Kenya

MOROCCO

Wispy clouds reach toward the Atlas Mountains, Morocco

NAMIBIA

Clear blue sky compliments red sand dune of Sussusvlei, Namibia

Pink skies welcome full moon rising over the Sussusvlei landscape, Namibia

SOUTH AFRICA

Stormy skies loom over windswept coast of Die Plaat, South Africa

TANZANIA

African rains approaching Lake Manyara Serena Lodge, Tanzania

Setting sun slices through dark clouds to light Lake Manyara, Tanzania

Infinite blue sky reflects in infinity pool overlooking Lake Manyara, Tanzania

Rains sweeping across the parched dry Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania

Storm clouds gather as the sun sets over the Serengeti, Tanzania

There are several reasons for this post today.

1) Weather is the theme for #frifotos (founded by Epstein Travels) on twitter today, so I thought I'd share some of my contributions here on my blog for everyone else to enjoy.

2) This post is linked to two of my favorite travel photo blog-sharing groups - where you'll find more links to travel photography themed blog posts.

Budget Travelers Sandbox's Travel Photo Thursday
Delicious Baby's Photo Friday

1) I'm getting in the spirit for my next travels, to Africa, this month! I'm so excited to be returning to my beloved Kenya and Tanzania, leading a photographic safari, and I wanted to re-visit these images before I return home with loads of new ones. Please stay tuned, as I'll be sharing my adventures right here on the Mira Terra Travel Blog!

My 7 Links - a retrospective of words and images

2011-07-13T17:00:00.000-07:00

What is My 7 Links all about, anyway?

The goal of the project, as outlined by Tripbase, is:

To unite bloggers (from all sectors) in a joint endeavor to share lessons learned and create a bank of long but not forgotten blog posts that deserve to see the light of day again.

Thanks to photographer Kirsten Alana, I have been nominated to participate by sharing my own 7 links. My blog has been around since March, 2006, but my readership hasn't. So I'm pleased to present to you now...

My 7 Links

Most Beautiful Post. Namibia - by Dune, Full Moon, and Hot Air Balloon

Most Popular Post. Landslides & Leeches: a Trekking Journal, Nepal
Transcribed from hand-written journal pages, this is my personal experience of a trek where the forces of nature took over and lives were lost. Additionally, this post is popular with Google and any search term involving leeches.

Most Controversial Post. Probably this one. Published in the Rough Guide to India!
None of my posts thus far have resulted in any sort of commentary debate or backlash. I've regretted the instances where I've participated in some controversial comment strings on other blogs. I really don't feel good about insulting or offending anyone; when I have, it sits on my conscience like a thorn. Sometimes I've hit "send" in the heat of the moment, and have thrown words like daggers. I'm truly sorry to those who were ever at the receiving end of some of my sharper words.
That said, the choice for my most controversial post is purely subjective. It was an issue which wreaked havoc in my mind; so I felt I should try to make right of it in a blog post. Here are the facts:
a) I photographed someone, without their knowledge, in a very personal moment of practicing their faith.
b) 10 years later, I scanned and uploaded the image into an online portfolio at the now defunct Digital Railroad (DRR), ticking the licensing box making it available strictly for editorial use, which means, among other things, that I had no model release (permission).
c) Digital Railroad quite suddenly fell apart and left thousands of photographers high and dry without receiving commissions earned from images licensed through their website, or even knowing which images of theirs had been purchased or downloaded.
d) a former DRR employee and mentor/friend with a good heart helped me out by providing a list of what he knew of my DRR downloads and sales, finalized or not, paid for or not.
e) a record showed this particular image had been licensed, and the payment status was "pending".
f) I contacted the publisher who eventually replied that they had already paid DRR for the image license, but failed to send me any record for proof. Because they were a big name and reputable, I took them on their word, thanked them, and asked if they would send me a tear sheet or copy of the book. They did neither.
g) So, when the Rough Guide to India was published, I rushed to the bookstore and thumbed through it. I quickly found my image occupying a full color page. My first sigh of relief came upon seeing that the image use was not in any way derogatory; in fact, I couldn't have asked for more appropriate context for putting this image in a guidebook. I bought the book, brought it home and confirmed that I was properly credited for the image. Indeed I was, a second sigh of relief.
h) Because the image and context touched on the delicate subject of religion and faith, and the person in my image was expressing his own, I felt it only right for me to expose something of my own faith. I did just that in my post (don't be fooled by the SEO-driven title): Published in the Rough Guide to India! The photo:

Most Helpful Post. Samantha Brown and Rick Steves - the Best in the Field
This post provides helpful insight for anyone in the business, or desiring to be in the business, of travel writing, publishing, and presenting (that includes you, my fellow travel bloggers!). It is especially helpful to anyone aspiring to host their own travel show someday. Apparently, I'm not alone in having that ambition.

A Post Whose Success Surprised Me. Stand Up Paddle Surf Safari...in China?

I penned this humorous little piece because I was fed up with the Hawaiians getting credit for anything and everything to do with surfing. The ocean spans the entire globe, you know, not just the Hawaiian islands! Many forms of surfing have taken place in many different parts of the world throughout history. I really didn't think people would take this too seriously, but based on traffic and search terms, I wouldn't be the least bit surprised to find SUP board rentals set up along the banks of the Li River some day.

A Post I Feel Didn't Get the Attention it Deserved. Chile: Spirit Dreams

If you read only one link from this post, please make it this one. This was my debut blog post back in March, 2006. I didn't know where to start, but I knew that every picture has a story, right? So I picked a random photo taken on my travels and then opened up my journal from that trip. Turns out I have some pretty cool travel stories tucked away in these journals, and it was time to bring them out. This is one of my favorites, which I think only my web-designer-mentor/friend has ever read.

The Post I am Most Proud of. Listening With the Lens - Filming a Documentary

It's not so much the post itself, it's finally being able see my work come to fruition (thanks to incredible editors) in my first foray into documentary film-making, so that I could share this inspiring story with others. For me, this was a profound experience, a chance to use my talent to give something back. It is a beautiful story of inspiration, which I am both proud and humbled to share with you.

Thank you for visiting, and if you were even moved to follow some of the links, I am especially grateful. Please comment so I know you've visited!

Now here's the tricky part - nominating 5 more bloggers. My first choices had been previously nominated, so I had to reach beyond the obvious....in fact, why not reach for the stars!

Here are my 5 nominations for the next participants in the My 7 Links project. They are all great sources of inspiration, and whether or not they have or take the time to participate, they are definitely worth your time to check out:

Travel:
Robert Reid
Andrew Evans
Pauline Frommer

Photography:
Art Wolfe
Gavin Gough

Enjoy the journey!

5A Reasons Why I Love the Window Seat

2011-07-07T12:16:00.000-07:00

Flight over the Andes of Ecuador

"A or F, please, preferably not over the wing."

This is my standard request when flying most commercial flights with a seating configuration of 3 and 3. I just don't get why people (without extraordinarily long legs) would choose to be bumped and climbed over in the aisle seats rather than enjoy the amazing perspective of our planet from above in a window seat. Perhaps they need easy access to the toilets? Fine, I'll grant them that, and I'll count my blessings that I can, for the most part, wait. I'll cross laps when I absolutely have to, but I'd sooner just cross my legs...especially while crossing over the Andes, the Rockies, or the Himalayas.

I love the window seat. And here are just a few reasons why:

#1A. It's my happy place, my comfort zone, and my zen place - where I can feel completely insignificant and gain a new perspective - a wider lens, if you will - on whatever trivialities seems important in my life at the time. Did I pack the right shoes? Did I remember to pay that last phone bill? From the window seat I can simply look down and think "oh yeah, there's our planet, isn't it amazing and awesome and...does anything else really matter?" Sigh.

#2F. I'm a geographoholic (dibs on wiki credit for coining that one)

- Throughout my childhood, I collected the map inserts from National Geographic, and my first dorm room in college was decorated in nothing but maps. And postcards.

- In jr. high I excelled at geography, a dreaded subject amongst my peers but not for me. There was a time when I could draw Europe freehand with all the borders in all the right places, including a two-part Berlin. Funny, I had no interest in doing the same with my own country's states - it all became a blur east of the rockies, kind of like those early cartography renderings of anything that wasn't Britain or India. There'd be California drawn with complete precision, then a few straight-lined geometric shapes to the right, then, oh who cares, just doodle some scary sea serpents instead. But, given the right circumstance I will still occasionally draw a map on cocktail napkin (and pen an entire article on a cocktail napkin too), particularly when the napkins are accompanied by caipirinhas...

- Perhaps being a native Californian and living just west of the San Andreas fault line accounts for my abnormal fascination with plate tectonics; and islands, which my part of the state may become if the rumored predictions are accurate. When I was young I actually got pretty excited over the thought of breaking off from the rest of the state to become an island nation. I've got a drawing of that somewhere too, I think it's in a box of my treasured 4th grade art projects. A waterproof firebox no doubt.

Flying over the Great Rift Valley in Africa - plate tectonics nirvana!

- Coastlines intrigue me. I'd often sit on the cliffs overlooking the Pacific with my best friend and we'd contemplate life while perched on "the edge of a continent."

Then, a year and some rains later, that perch is gone, washed away or tumbled into a rockpile on the beach below. The coastline has forever changed; and it continues to change, every year, all over the planet. Never take a coastline for granted.

#3A. It's really all just one big ocean. Kinda mind-blowing to think about when you're on a trans-Atlantic flight...or a trans-Pacific...or crossing any oceanic body of water. They all look the same from 35,000 feet. Mind blowing how that makes perfect sense.

Reefs of Bora Bora in the South Pacific

#4F. Let's be practical for just a moment. Sleep. You might actually want to sleep. Just because you're in sardine class doesn't mean you enjoy having to remain upright while your jaw drops open and drool trickles down your chin. Well, when you start to doze off and your head flops over onto the shoulder of that poor soul in the middle seat - if you're in the aisle seat, you're out of options. The best chance you've got is to take advantage of the fact that they are probably too unassertive to say anything (after all, they did end up in a middle seat). But if you have the window seat, you also have a wall, an alternative place to prop that ridiculous excuse for a pillow. And there's a bonus! The wall serves as support reinforcement should that middle seat occupant flop their head, along with their entire upper body, your way. Don't panic. You've got that wall - use it to leverage against as you flick your elbow with a whallop and send the startled soul flying toward, you guessed it, the now-regretful drooling dozer in the aisle seat.

#5A. Back to me. I do a great deal of writing while I'm in flight, and when I look up to compose my thoughts, I find it difficult to source my inspiration from tray tables or tv screens. I need open space - emptiness - to watch my ideas swirl around, bounce off puffy clouds, and settle...gently...like snowflakes....somewhere on the crust of that great planet below.

Roof of the World - The Himalayas

Some of my "thoughtflakes" will top majestic mountains...others will melt away into the deep blue sea. Some will run the meandering course of a river...others will stumble over skyscrapers and land with a "flakeplant" on the pavement. No matter where my thoughts settle, they start in the nothingness of space. And that's often the only thing I see when I look out the window - a perfect blank canvas on which to paint a picture with thoughts and words.

Picture? Did I just say picture? What a convenient segway into sharing more photos! Okay, so that's really a rather abrupt transition - more like turbulence. Please remain seated with your eyes on the screen until it is safe to move about the internet again. And here, I'll even let you have the window seat.

More reasons why I love the window seat (in pictures):

Visual Co-Piloting:

How close the pilots navigate downtown on approach to SAN

The harrowing sharp bank upon take off from Paro Airport, Bhutan

Gaining a better perspective of what the shipboard naturalist gets excited about:

Amazon River "Meeting of the Waters" from above

Including parts of plane for context of place:

Nature Air flying over Costa Rica

Southwest Air flying over Arizona

Observing Patterns of Man:

Rice Terraces near Chongqing in China

Observing Patterns of Nature:

Fairy Circles of the Namibian Landscape

Which brings me to another segway. The above photo was actually shot from a Hot-Air Balloon.

Sometimes you get a nice aerial view from a balcony:

Balcony View from the Kahala Resort in Hawaii

Or from a gondola!

The Great Wall of China at Badaling

And no aerial blog post would be complete without mention of helicopters. So, before landing, here's a small selection of aerial images from helicopters to enjoy:

Helicopter Flight-seeing in Alaska allows for landing on glaciers!

Canyonlands National Park, Utah

St. James, U.S. Virgin Islands

The ultimate perspective of Iguacu Falls, by helicopter:

What's next? Some day I hope to add to my aerial image collection from this perspective:

The ultimate aerial window seat!

Be sure to check out the full gallery of aerial images to see more of Namibia, Costa Rica, South America, and more from above!

Happy Flying!!

Cardiff by the Sea 100th Birthday Celebration

2011-07-03T18:11:00.000-07:00

Falling on the heels of Canada Day (July 1), and preceding American Independence Day (July 4), my local community of Cardiff by the Sea, California, celebrated its centennial birthday on July 2, 2011. That's like 100 years old, dude!!

One might think it would be totally overshadowed and lost sandwiched between two nation's birthdays, but in these parts, it was the biggest event of the weekend, and a grand cause for parades, picnics and parties.

In case you're feeling pangs of agony and remorse for missing Cardiff's big birthday bash, I've compiled a few of the highlights - so feast your eyes and take in the atmosphere of a small laid-back surf community's centennial celebration!

Grand Marshall of the Parade: Marion Ross

That's right, it's Mrs. Cunningham from television's "Happy Days"! Now, who doesn't love Mrs. C? She's everyone's favorite mom, and she's Cardiff's dearest resident. You know when Mrs. C. lives on your street, you're in a great family neighborhood!

Speaking of families, here's one you see a lot of around town: The Machados

Of course, Rob Machado, the world-famous surfer/guitar player, grew up in Cardiff and has never lost touch with his roots. He gives back so much to the community, particularly the schools, and you can read and see more about his contributions to the Cardiff Education Foundation in this post from 2008: Rob Machado: Because He Cares.

Clearly, classic cars were a theme in the parade - given that Cardiff sits on a stretch of the Pacific Coast Highway 101, a favorite for Sunday cruises. The parade included many models from a 1917 Model T (San Dieguito Heritage Museum) to a 1970's Hot Rod.

What I loved about this particular parade entry is that it almost looked like a local resident accidentally turned in to the parade route...classic cars with boards sticking out are an everyday sight around Cardiff:

A few of the more active parade entrants choosing to go on foot include:

Cardiff 100th Birthday Parade - Images by Kymri Wilt

Plus, an honorable mention for the Costume Contest Winner: A Walking Sandcastle!

If there's anything we Cardiffians love as much as, or perhaps even more than, classic cars and surfing, it's walking our dogs. So naturally the parade would have to feature lots of them - worthy of their own slideshow:

Dog Days of Cardiff - Images by Kymri Wilt

Of course, there are many great places in Cardiff that the dogs love to explore, and Cardiff wouldn't be nearly so beautiful were it not for these two organizations in particular:

The Cardiff Botanical Society - responsible for the beautification of public areas such as Carpentier Parkway, which was officially dedicated April 30 as part of Cardiff's centennial celebration:

The San Elijo Lagoon Conservancy, which looks after the coastal wetlands and backcountry of San Elijo Lagoon Ecological Reserve:

The parade route finished with a big party in Glen Park, and while the linked article covers it nicely, I wanted to share two of the more artistic aspects which caught my eye:

Cigar Box Guitars and Ukuleles by local artist Smokebox Bob:

And this guy, Dylan Barmmer, performing "Random Acts of Poetry" - another local artist passionate about the community, be sure to check out his Ode to the Surfing Madonna video.

Follow this link for the full gallery of images from the Cardiff by the Sea 100th Birthday Parade.

For more information about visiting Cardiff by the Sea, please check out the Chamber of Commerce site, Cardiff 101, and Beach California. You can always contact me for tips and suggestions as well!

Have a Happy Holiday Weekend!

Oh Canada! (My Top 5 Highlights of Travels in Canada)

2011-07-01T09:26:00.000-07:00

Happy Canada Day!

It's no secret that I'm a big huge fan of Canada, and will find any excuse to travel there at the drop of a hat. I've been several times to several parts over the years, and frankly, I've never met a part of Canada I didn't love. But I realized, I've only blogged about it a couple of times since I started this blog in 2006, but it's worthy of so many more articles that I just haven't found time to compose, and photos that I haven't taken time to edit. In fact, the image archives consists of:

*A photo album from my first venture to Canada (Saskatchewan) in 1981 - a couple of quick scans are included in this feature. like the one above from the RCMP Museum.

*Several boxes of slides sitting by the scanner labeled "CAN-Yukon & Northwest Territories", "CAN-Canadian Inside Passage Cruise", and "CAN-Montreal, Quebec"

*CDs from my early days of digital archiving (and early days of motherhood) labeled "CAN-British Columbia" - you'll find more of these later in this feature, but this one of my daughter meeting a carriage pulling horse is a favorite of ours.

*Back-up hard drives with various Canada file folders, including "CAN-Toronto, Ontario".

I keep telling myself one of these days I'll get them all fixed up to present online. Well one of those days has come in the form of a very spontaneous realization that Canada Day is....today!!! So I better get cracking. For starters, I've created a new online gallery of Canada images containing some favorites and several previously unreleased images.

But for this post, I'm going to use more words than images, and tell a few stories.
There are just so many to share of my travels in Canada, and images too, each worthy of their own blog feature. But for the sake of my last-minute effort, here are a few of the more memorable highlights.

These are my TOP 5 highlights of travels in Canada, plus an honorable mention:

Honorable Mention: Frostbite in Edmonton

Yes, you read that right, frostbite. It was my first trip to Canada - I was visiting my sister who married a Canadian hockey player from Regina, Saskatchewan. I flew from a beautiful balmy 80 degrees in San Diego to 40 below in Edmonton, Alberta (where I had to change planes to continue to Regina). It was my very first winter away from home (San Diego), and my first time in snow (real snow with real snowflakes that stayed frozen on the windshield). I had no idea that stepping outside in my warmest California-poser-ski-bunny-fashion-statement-gear would result in mild frostbite on my derrier.

I'm not joking. Here's what happened - I strolled outside of the terminal with my camera determined to check out Alberta's scenery. Within moments a patrol car pulled over and the officer rolled down the window and said "Give your bum a slap, miss". Surprised by this odd run-in with Canadian law enforcement, I did as I was told. "Feel that?", he asked, to which I replied "feel what?". His reply: "Exactly. A minute longer and you'll have no sensation at all back there. It's called frostbite. Now get in the car." So I guess that was my first exposure to both the harshness of Canadian winters, and the kindness of Canadian people. He probably saved my life, and had a good laugh as he did so. He made me laugh too, at myself, and that skill would remain an important one throughout my first Canadian adventure...and the rest of my life for that matter. But this first impression really stuck, and I've never gotten over that Canadian sense of humour (see, I can even spell it in Canadian).

#5 - Becoming a member of the Sourtoe Cocktail Club in Yukon

Well, the title tells the story, and I rarely find an audience who want to hear elaborate details, but if you must know more about this concoction, here's an introduction to the Sourtoe Cocktail. And as soon as Captain Dick assembles the comprehensive membership list online, you can look me up. And someone out there has a photograph of the event: I done drank a real Sourtoe Cocktail. Now if that alone doesn't make me an honorary Canadian, well, nothing will. And before you ask, no, there was not a vegetarian toefu option...(ba da boom).

#4 - Skiing in Banff

Remember my sister's husband the Canadian hockey player? Well, he had 6 brothers (and a sister), and they all played hockey (the sister too). They even set up a mini-rink in the backyard and taught us a few moves. Here's me trying to get a puck past my sister:

It was a good laugh for sure, but it was nothing like our big ski trip to Banff.
See, the brothers decided it would be an even better laugh to teach these two Californian sisters how to ski, so we all piled into the van and headed west from Regina. For those who don't know, Saskatchewan is the midwest of Canada. It's flat. Really flat. My sister and I had heard of Banff, but at the time having been subject to our California education system, we were horribly ignorant of Canadian geography. So when these brothers told us we were going to drive to Banff to ski, and it was just down the road, we totally believed them. We were so excited, the ultimate Canadian experience - skiing in Banff - was going to be ours!
We got to the slopes and got all fitted up with boots and skis and such. Now, their idea of teaching us the ropes consisted basically of a "how to catch the ski-tow" exercise, which I passed remarkably well. But when I reached the top of the lift, they were gone, nowhere to be found, and I had to figure out my own way down the mountain. Little did I know they had positioned themselves at various points on the way down to help me along. But I failed to see them. I took to that slope like nobody's business and flew down the hill. Fast. Really fast. I was gleaming in pride and feeling like an Olympic athlete, imagining the crowds roaring as I would swoop to the bottom and apply my Olympic sponsor's chapstick with a big smile as the cameras flashed. But when I noticed the dot of the distant lodge growing bigger and nearer, I realized I hadn't learned one minor detail in the sport of downhill skiing....how to stop.
I didn't even know how to slow down for that matter. Funny, but in that split-second of realization, my whole life flashed in slow motion before my eyes, but my body was going fast. I froze on my skis, but the skis kept moving. I watched the line for the ski-lift part like the red sea and I shot straight through, past the lift station, past the lodge, and somehow ending up in a frozen creek bed with my skis stuck in the bushes. Eventually the Canadian hockey-playing brothers found me, lifted me up, and carried me back to the lodge like some kind of trophy. I've been blessed with many miracles, and this was certainly one of them - I didn't break anything.
Before I knew any better, I was back on that ski-tow. But this time, the brothers gave me a demonstration on zig-zagging to slow down, before they sped off down the hill. So for my second jaunt down the slope, I zigged, fell to my bottom, rested, then zagged, fell to my bottom, and rested. Repeat pattern. I don't remember how long it actually took me to get down the hill, someone said they clocked me at 2 hours 21 minutes, but all the brothers (and even my sister) had passed several times, and I noticed the sun dipping quickly toward the horizon. The fear of frostbite and Canadian law enforcement kicked in, and I finished with a beeline for the lodge, lured by the fire burning inside and the odor of smelly woollen socks roasting away.
It wasn't until I returned home to California and began boasting to everyone that I'd been skiing in Banff when I learned that it was, in fact, a little bunny hill slope in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Damn those Canadians, they pulled one over on me big time. But at least they had the courtesy to send me off with a good story to tell. And there's my Banff Ski story. I haven't been downhill skiing since. Nor have I ever, really, been to Banff. Yet...

#3 - Camping in Ontario

We were living in Chicago in 1997, and Labor Day weekend was fast approaching. That meant 3 whole days to get away from the city and go camping.
We knew we wanted to camp, but we hoped desperately to avoid the crowds of Labor Day weekend which invaded state campgrounds in the midwestern US. Little did we realize that Canada celebrates a similar holiday over the same weekend, only they call it Labour Day.
Well, after we'd lived in Seattle for 3 years and had been in the habit of escaping to British Columbia on a regular basis, when we moved to Chicago, we pretty much followed the same pattern and escaped to Ontario. Canada is Canada, and if it's within reasonable driving distance for a 3-day weekend, we're there.
This particular weekend was memorable for two reasons, neither of them humorous. We never imagined that Canadians could ever possibly be as loud, rude, and obnoxious at campgrounds as Americans, but we were so very wrong (clearly we hadn't seen them lose the Stanley Cup yet). The sound of drunken youngsters breaking beer bottles against boulders and then falling and breaking their own limbs will forever haunt any notion of peaceful camping in a state or provincial park.
The next day found us driving aimlessly throughout lower Ontario in search of any camping spot favored by the slow-moving over-60 retired crowd. We found one, later, but it was that aimless meandering drive that set the stage for one of the most shockingly memorable days I've ever known.
We were driving on this seemingly endless stretch of road through Ontario when I popped the cassette out to change it and the radio popped on - the news: Princess Diana is dead. He slammed on the brakes and pulled over. I burst into tears like I'd lost my own best friend. Neither of us spoke. We sat in shock listening to the radio reports - every now and then he would change the station to see if perhaps we were just imagining it, perhaps the news would be different on AM. No. Every station was reporting the same news: There'd been a car accident, and Princess Diana was dead.
There are certain events in history for which most people remember precisely where they were and what they were doing when they heard the news. For me, this was that event. And I was on an otherwise insignificant road in Ontario.
Well, fate being what it is, eventually I looked up from my soaked tissues to see, just a few yards ahead, the perfect place to camp for the night. That was another miracle - because neither of us were really fit to be driving on .5 hours sleep compounded by the shock of tragic news. To be honest, I couldn't tell you if it really was truly quiet in that campground of retirees and motorhomes, or if I was just completely numb. But I slept deep and long that night.
So that one weekend in Ontario was memorable for both the noisiest and the quietest nights of camping I've experienced. And the news...the shocking news...

#2 - Chasing Bears on Vancouver Island

Well, I've already blogged this up so you can read the full adventure at the link below. But most memorable from this trip was the fact that we were bound and determined to see bears, and did all kinds of fantastic nature and wildlife outings with naturalists in the hopes of catching a glimpse. But alas, our whole time spent scouring the rugged west coast of Vancouver island turned up no bears. Deflated, we packed up and headed out on the long Highway 1 back across the island to catch our flight. Of course, who should appear right on the side of the road casually foraging in the bushes? Yep, a nice big beautiful black bear. We pulled over and took some pictures and video, and then just stared in awe at this beautiful dog-like beast eating dainty little berries. We could hear him munching...tiny little berries...one at a time, actually savoring them, swishing them around with his tongue. It's a sweet sound that I will never forget, and a definite highlight of my travels in Canada. You can read the full adventure, and watch the video, in this post all about Ucluelet, Tofino, and Wickaninish.

#1 - Victoria, BC (anything and everything)

The quaint and beautiful Victoria, BC holds so many memorable experiences that it has earned first place in my Highlights of Canada list. From the first romantic escapade on the Clipper from Seattle - it was my first trip abroad with the man who would eventually marry me - to the many happy returns since with our daughter, Victoria has retained it's romantic charm and character throughout and has just so much to love about it!

Left: Exploring Totems with my daughter. Middle: Arriving in Victoria by float plane. Right: All decked out in her Canadian ROOTS gear.

The Inner Harbour waterfront is intimate and entertaining - we enjoyed watching the float planes take off and land as the cute little water taxi bumps around points in the harbour.
One of my favorite museums is in Victoria - the Royal BC Museum - with fantastic exhibits of natural history and a captivating First Peoples Gallery.
Victoria also has wonderful restaurants - so many delicious and healthy dining venues - as a vegetarian family of 3, there was never a lack of options.
And shopping!!! Government Street is a good bet for both native arts and anything British, of which Victoria is quite fond.
In that regard, it doesn't get any more British than at the Empress Hotel in Victoria, where you can experience a classic afternoon High Tea.
I could go on and on, but perhaps Victoria is my number one Canadian highlight for no greater reason than my own grandmother. It is due to a faded kodachrome slide I found of her as a young woman which really hit home. I had remembered seeing this picture in my childhood, reading the word "Empress", and imagining that my grandmother was a Queen. Now here I was as an adult, going through the slides and diaries she left behind, and finding it again. This slide of my Grandmother, "the Royal Queen of Victoria", sitting in the gardens of the Empress Hotel in Victoria, BC, 1947.

Happy Father's Day!

2011-06-18T13:02:00.000-07:00

In celebration of dads all over the world!

Fathers - Images by Kymri Wilt

Travel Photography Nirvana (illustrated with images from Bhutan)

2011-06-08T10:42:00.000-07:00

Buddhists in Bhutan believe that when a circle appears around the sun, an incarnation of Buddha is born.

Nirvana is a destination for some, but not a specific place. It is loosely defined as a state of being free from pain, worry, and the external world. I have never reached nirvana, and frankly, I'm quite happy not to. I LOVE the external world - the "sensual world" that I can smell, touch, taste, hear..... and see through the lens of my camera.

Colorful prayer wheels line the public square of Thimpu.

So why do I use the word nirvana? Because in all my travels, there are these moments...moments that simply take my breath away. Moments when nothing else matters - when worries and pains all disappear - and all that matters is being present in that moment. Sometimes I don't have a camera...or I forget I have a camera...and those moments are etched in my soul and preserved in the rich vivid kodachrome of my mind's eye. But sometimes I do have my camera...and I remember to use it. When I can capture that moment, and immortalize it to share it with others, well, that is something I like to call travel photography nirvana.

Young boy monk runs amongst the prayer flags at Chimi Lhakhang.

For a travel photographer to find these moments, there isn't a map, a compass, or a GPS. There isn't a schedule to keep. There isn't really anything concrete and obvious about exactly when and where these "moments' will pass through one's consciousness and in front of one's lens. The point is to be ready. Be aware of all of the senses. Be completely in the moment. And boom, next thing you know, time has stood still long enough to push a button and capture a slice of it. That's what I'm talking about.

Traditional Bhutanese dancers leap effortlessly high off the floor.

I suppose traveling in Bhutan is perhaps more conducive to such experiences for a few reasons:

* the geography of the country - it lies in the Himalayas, averaging in elevation around 8,000 feet above sea level.

Above: Snow-capped mountains greet morning light. Below: Taktsang Monastery perched in a cliff high above Paro.

* the religion - Bhutan is a primarily Buddhist society, and it is filled with monasteries and monks on a spiritual path to enlightenment.

Nun at Sangchen Lhuendrup Cholin

Buddha Dordenma Statue

Monks going to puja at Punakha Dzong.

* the politics. Politics? Yes. The government of Bhutan, which is headed by a King, has specific branches whose job it is to develop and monitor the Gross National Happiness of the Bhutanese citizens.

I met a Planning Officer of the GNH Commission, and that was literally his job, to monitor Gross National Happiness. Can you imagine having that for your job title? Wow. I wonder if they have an official photographer whose job it is to document the Gross National Happiness with a camera...carrying a GNHC Press Pass....that would sure be enlightening.

Furthermore, there are four pillars against which Gross National Happiness is measured:

1) promotion of sustainable development

Farm Fields of Paro

Bhutanese Farm Owner

Locally grown produce at market in Wangdue

2) preservation of cultural values

Bhutanese Traditional Arts and Culture - Tangka Art, Weaving, and Archery

3) conservation of natural environment

Buddha Dordenma

4) establishment of good governance

Bhutanese men pay respect to Royal Kings of Bhutan

Given all these parameters, unless you are a photographer immune to spirituality, culture, and happiness, then you are bound to experience some sense of travel photography nirvana in Bhutan. It can happen anywhere - I've experienced these moments in other iconic settings such as Machu Picchu in Peru, Ngorongoro Crater in Tanzania, and at a calving glacier in Alaska. But I chose Bhutan because that's where I experienced the moment when those three words just escaped from my mouth, one after the other. Travel..Photography..Nirvana. That moment was upon reaching the final leg on the hike to Taktsang Monastery.

The picture of the Monastery is nothing special - it's the same picture everyone takes who makes this journey. But it's that moment of arrival, that moment when nothing else matters and you say to yourself, I made it it. I'm here. I'm in heaven on earth. And I remembered to take the picture.

That is simply...travel photography nirvana.

For more from Bhutan, please visit the Bhutan Image Gallery.

Mexico's Eye Candy - food for the camera

2011-05-31T22:34:00.000-07:00

I've been feeling very Mexico lately - no reason really. I haven't been south of the border in ages and I have no plans to go in the near future. But I've been dreaming about it, so I decided to feature a few photos from Mexico for this week's Wanderfood Wednesday (and TravelPhoto Thursday, and Photo Friday!), to indulge my camera's appetite more than anything. Enjoy some eye candy from Mexico!

Frutas

Verduras Marinadas

Salsas

Helados y Sorbetes

A Taste of Darjeeling

2011-05-24T06:43:00.000-07:00

So, if you're like most people, you hear Darjeeling and you think tea. As well you should! Darjeeling is best known for the tea, and also known for the best tea. The finest tea, in fact, whose flavor is not replicated anywhere else in the world.

Darjeeling tea plants cover the slopes of this Himalayan region of West Bengal. I managed a glimpse of the tea pickers with my iphone from the car as we rounded a bend - as you can see the tea plants cling to the hillsides....so do the roads, and apparently, so do the tea pickers!

Here are the goods freshly picked:

Here is the tea being measured for prefect brewing:

And here are the cups poured for tasting:

A visit to a plantation factory in the region is probably not worth all the hype. You'd have to visit early in the morning to see the activity of sorting, and without a guide you'll have no clue what goes on in each of the machines. Fortunately for our guide, we did happen to catch a few workers loading a conveyor with fresh leaves for drying:

And that was just one load.....of many:

But tea isn't the only thing you'll find to taste in Darjeeling. They also grow plenty of other good stuff, namely, spices (including saffron), nuts, and berries.

These food vendors are perfectly situated along the long walk up the hill to get to the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute and the Darjeeling Zoo, well worth the effort even on the hottest of days.

Yes, those peanuts and berries were wonderfully familiar...and delicious! But what really got my attention was this roadside snack mix I saw being served up in rolled paper cones (like above), and being gobbled up by local kids on their walk home from school.

Basically, you get a scoop of this stuff, to which you can add an optional mix of fresh chopped onions, peppers and cilantro. Then, to seal the deal, fresh lime juice is squeezed all over it! I couldn't tell you exactly what it was - kind of breakfast cereal flakes with the crunchy texture and flavor of corn chips. But when you add the lime juice (a must!), and the fresh onion/cilantro mix (I know, I know, last thing you want to eat from a street vendor in India - but I didn't get sick, I promise!), you've got yourself a perfect taste of Mexico right in the heart of the Himalayas. For this Californian, a taste of home was more than welcome, and such a delightful break from Indian. Only thing missing was guacamole!

So there you have a taste of what there is to taste in Darjeeling. I can't stop thinking about this snack mix, it's delightfully addictive, and I'm craving it now! Almost to the point of begging anyone who might be headed to Darjeeling to bring me back a sack of it. Or better yet, if anyone knows how those flakes are actually made and what goes into them, please share a recipe!

Had I been in front of rather than behind the camera that day, I might have looked something like this Himalayan Bear (as observed at the Darjeeling Zoo):

This post was prepared especially for sharing on Wanderfood Wednesday - be sure to follow the link to find other wanderful foodies and blogs about food!

Calcutta the Beautiful

2011-05-10T08:18:00.000-07:00

When you think Calcutta, do you think slums, poverty and filth? Or do you imagine art, joy and beauty? A visitor to Calcutta will see what they want to see, but the camera never lies. It's all there. Open your eyes.

Children of Calcutta

Upon landing by air in Calcutta, I couldn't help but notice the lush green surroundings - a rather surprising twist on my preconceived image of a sprawling, polluted, crowded city in West Bengal. I was whisked away by a comfortable air-conditioned vehicle to the luxuriously comfortable and air-conditioned Taj Bengal, where I looked out over a green landscape dotted with purple bougainvillea and bright red flame trees. I was further enchanted by lovely tweeting birds nesting in the plants of the window box. I grabbed a few quick shots with my iphone....

...before pulling out my camera gear to charge batteries, change memory cards, wipe lenses, and do all that not-so-glamorous maintenance work of a travel photographer.

So this is Calcutta. Through the window....it looks like a beautiful dream.

While it's certainly more comfortable to sit in an air-conditioned room or vehicle watching everything from behind the glass, you'll barely scratch the surface. And it's easy to be bothered by the heat, groaning every time you step out into it and focusing only on how uncomfortable you are. I've seen it happen, I've watched, and listened to, others do this. Three words: Get over it. The people of Calcutta live in this heat every day, with no A/C in their homes, cars or rickshaws. Your body will acclimate, you'll adjust, and you'll be glad you made the effort to accept it and immerse yourself into everything that is Calcutta.

Once you've successfully crossed over into the realm of being completely at one with the hot sticky humid environment of Calcutta, you're home free. You're no longer just a visitor.... you're a part of life....

The afternoon was dedicated to visiting the "must-see" of this off-the-beaten-tourist-track city, Mother Teresa's Ashram. No words can describe the overwhelming emotion of visiting not only the Ashram itself, but the nearby orphanage established by Mother Teresa. In her words, it is a refuge for...

"The hungry, the naked, the homeless, the crippled, the blind, the lepers, all those people who feel unwanted, unloved, uncared for throughout society, people that have become a burden to the society and are shunned by everyone." --- Mother Teresa

To step into a room where knee-high children with big brown eyes hold their arms up to you, longing desperately to be held and carried, and to be told "please don't pick them up" was a real test of my maternal heartstrings. But I found an agreeable compromise by sitting on the floor to read a book while the kids climbed onto my lap and leaned over my shoulders and watched my face as I was able to engage and love them without too much emotional bonding. This was an undertaking not for the weak of heart, and all I could think about was finding my strength in compassion and focusing on the power of love. Pure love. The Mother Teresa kind of love - love for all, and attachment to none. I somehow made it out without adopting a dozen children - although not without shedding a dozen tears. Photography was not permitted in the orphanage and I would have left the camera anyway. Some things are to be experienced with only the widest aperture of heart, not lens.

The next day, Calcutta revealed even more beauty than I could ever have imagined, with a visit to the Calcutta Flower Market on the banks of the Hooghly River. I always make a point of visiting local markets wherever I travel, for purposes of both cultural immersion and photographic opportunities. To simply walk through snapping pictures does not the experience make - the photographer must engage all the senses, listening and smelling and touching, in order to capture the image that tells the story.

I'm not so sure I succeeded in just one shot, and I really wish cameras were equipped with a scent-mic, in order to record smell. Sound, however, can be shared in a video clip, which also gives a good sense of the pace of activity in the flower market.

Now, what the video doesn't show, and the camera can't really capture, is the temperature. It's hot. The outdoor temperature is in the upper 90's (and it's early). As if the heat in itself weren't enough, it's humid too. Like, candle-wax-dripping-wet humid. Now imagine that heat and humidity while under tarps in a crowded space, where you can't walk more than a few steps without brushing, or being brushed by, a hot sticky body of someone else. And there's your sense of touch put into words.

Still with me? Good. I spent way more time exploring this market than I had anticipated, and I savor every moment of that experience. The hustle, the bustle, the voices, the sounds, the scents, the odors, the feel, the life.....oh, the life. At times it was like walking through someone's hot tired breath, but with wafts of freesia and roses. I was fascinated by vendors who spent hours of their market day just sorting and picking through flowers - imagine, doing that for your living. Working with flowers, nature's beauty, and never taking a single one for granted.

Calcutta Flower Market - Images by Kymri Wilt

As it turns out, there are flowers and art everywhere in Calcutta, sometimes obvious, other times, not so obvious. Here, a streetside tattoo artist creates flower tattoos on the arms of a young man, which are then dusted in bee pollen to prevent infection.

A trip to the northern quarter of the city called Kumartuli, also known as the potter's village, revealed more arts and more body parts. Here sculptors and artisans work to create clay idols of Hindu gods and goddesses, for use in shrines and festivals all over India...and the world.

So now, if the thought of Calcutta conjures up images of joy, beauty, and art, then I have succeeded in shedding light on this amazing and wondrous city of India... with my images, with my words, and with my heart and lens wide open. Namaste.

View more:

Calcutta Flower Market Gallery

India Image Gallery

Favorite Guidebook for India

Puerto Ricotecture

2011-05-01T18:20:00.000-07:00

The Caribbean island of Puerto Rico is a popular cruise destination with many national historic sites as well as interesting architecture of the capital Old San Juan, which I call "Puerto Ricotecture".

USA - Puerto Rico - Images by Kymri Wilt

What most cruisers don't realize is that the sites are quite accessible without boarding a large tour bus and elbowing your way amongst 50 other visitors struggling to get on and off and rush through according to a schedule. Delightfully, San Juan is an easy place to stroll around on your own and visit sites in your own time.

AAA magazine cover shot: Machu Picchu

2011-02-17T16:56:00.000-08:00

So I finally got my digital hands on a digital version, and here it is!

The current JAN/FEB 2011 cover of AAA Home & Away magazine (Ohio edition):

Like it? You can find this image

and many more available for licensing at:

Mira Terra Images Travel Photography & Services

Or, take a look at my Danita Delimont collection. Many thanks to Danita!

So if you wish to simply appreciate the image for what it is, read no further. And if you're hoping to find the inside scoop on the technical details of exposure, ISO, focal length, and all that, look away now...you won't find it here.

Still curious to know how this image came to be? Read on.

You see, my preferred camera to shoot with is the Canon 5D Mark II, backed up by the Canon 50D. But I also carry a small Panasonic Lumix which I've had forever, before the 5D came along, simply to shoot video clips for quick'n'easy web posting. It just so happened that when I saw this moment - the solo traveler in the mist overlooking Machu Picchu - I had been shooting video with the Panasonic. No matter where I am, I am constantly composing everything I see in my mind's eye. So I snapped a couple of stills with the Lumix before switching the lens on my Canon 5D Mark II to get the same shot. Well, by the time I had done so, the person moved on, or was joined by a crowd, or the mist moved in, I forget exactly what changed, but the "moment" was gone. So this was it. And here's my big secret. The above magazine cover was shot with an everyday point and shoot Panasonic Lumix.

It just goes to show that the camera doesn't really matter all that much. The camera is simply the tool with which a photographer composes and records a moment in time. Had I not shot the moment with the Lumix I had in hand, and instead only fumbled around to grab the right lens on my Canon SLR, then there would be no cover shot, no license, no sale, and no point in this blog post.

Recognize the moment, compose, create.

Finally, before you scream "dumb luck", here's a moment that I did manage to capture with my Canon 5D Mark II which got it's turn in the print publishing spotlight, featured in National Geographic Adventure magazine 2008/09, and re-licensed for National Geographic magazine (France's publication) in 2010:

Various other versions and images from this shoot have also been published by Destinations & Adventures International, Wilderness Travel, and a few others. Here's my favorite frame as it appeared in a 2-page spread in Cathay Pacific's in-flight magazine "Discovery":

There's no question that Machu Picchu is a special place for me...and my camera. If you'd like to experience it for yourself, perhaps even with me, here's information about two trips Ill be leading to Peru in October 2011:

TRAVCOA's Galapagos & Machu Picchu - October 5
TRAVCOA's Peru & Bolivia - October 12
*note: the dates overlap and you can combine both itineraries into one comprehensive journey of Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia. How's that for convenient?

Both of these journeys include an overnight at the Machu Picchu Sanctuary Lodge, allowing for early access to the citadel before the buses and crowds arrive. No matter who you travel with or how you get to Machu Picchu, fork it out and DO THIS. You'll be so glad you did and you'll thank me later!

I'm very much looking forward to returning to Peru again this year. No matter how many times I've been, I'll never tire of Machu Picchu - it's always a new and wondrous experience. I hope you can join me...and be sure to bring your camera (any kind)!

Remembering Egypt - Part III

2011-02-05T11:25:00.000-08:00

Continuing Preface: Much has happened in the few days since I posted Parts I and II. If you haven't yet, please read them here:

Remembering Egypt - Part I
Remembering Egypt - Part II

Mainly, I got news that my upcoming February assignment in Egypt has been cancelled, for obvious reasons. I heard from my colleague who described in great detail the ordeal they underwent getting out of Egypt mid-tour, and I count my blessings. But now it's a few days later and things seem to be settling down over there. Call me crazy, but if I weren't a mom, I'd probably still get on that plane. It is my nature to project positively - that there be a smooth transition, that there be peace on the streets and in the hearts of all Egyptians, and that soon we will again be visiting the land of the Pharoahs, welcomed with the gracious hospitality of the locals... Insha'Allah (God willing!) إن شاء الله.

This was my favorite picture, and favorite memory, of the entire journey - when watermelons became the favored source of drinkable water.

In the lower left of the photo is the top of a jar of TANG which we used to make the bottled water more palatable. I couldn't tolerate it and was so grateful for watermelons, although watching the young boy wielding a machete to split them open was unnerving.

Remembering Egypt – (journal series, part III)

Day 5

Hello Nile. Hello felucca. Here we go, sailing down the Nile.

Of course, the felucca we were shown yesterday was twice the size of this one that we are actually sailing on. I’m irritated, but I’m just too hot and relieved to be getting out of Aswan that I don’t even bother complaining. Good riddance. Of course, the dudes had to have their hooka smoke before we set off.

There were 8 of us total: Marie and myself, the two Danish dudes, two Swedish girls, our captain Kimo, and a small boy of about 7 or 8.

We headed out in a nice wind, but it was blowing up river, so we had to tack. This meant shifting from one side of the felucca to the other in order not to slide off. There was no getting used to this, especially having to hang on to all our belongings (cameras, backpacks) as well as keeping ourselves on the boat! But on we went in this manner – just as all 6 of us got comfortable on one side, we’d have to shift again, back and forth, from one side to the other, and try to get comfortable again. It was impossible to just lay down flat because then the blood would rush to your head (I tried this, just take my word for it).

We sailed down and I waved goodbye to that terrible place Aswan. I never want to go there again. It was such a relief to watch it grow smaller off in the distance.
The lights of the city began to twinkle as the sun moved down over the desert-y west bank of the Nile. It was a beautiful sunset, the sun sat on the horizon as a big red ball.

As we drifted away from the city we began to hear many different noises coming from the banks of the river. The crickets were a constant buzz, and above their hum sounded the frogs. There must have been millions, big ones at that, as their croaks were most prominent! An occasional donkey cried, and the cows, bulls and camels could be heard settling into the night.

The moon was already high in the sky when the sun slipped over the horizon. The silhouettes of the palm trees against the orange sky were the only visible signs of life. But the air was full of sounds and noises, reflecting all sorts of life happening along the river banks. It seemed all the villages were alive with celebration. Drumbeats were faint in the distance, but as we sailed along the drumbeats grew louder and were accompanied by many chanting voices.
“What’s going on?” we asked our captain. He told us they were celebrating because there was a sheik from the village who would be traveling to Mecca the next day.

We drifted ashore and tied feluccas together for the night. While the night was calm, the air was full of noise and it was hard to fall asleep. Or stay asleep. Or get comfortable.

Day 6

This morning our felucca was joined by a New Zealander from the other boat. I was in a terribly crabby mood as I’d not slept well and I wanted only to stretch out flat. Any time I settled somewhere, it seemed everybody on the boat decided to crowd around me, Jeff in particular, with his bad snoring and bad breath. Then when I was finally in my own space, the little Egyptian boy decided to make house and had to rearrange all the blankets on the boat. Which meant I had to move. Again. I gave up sleeping at all and sat up writing in this here journal.

Today was a long, hot one. We had to drift a great deal because there was scarcely any wind worth putting up the sail. With their Third World tape player, the Egyptians played Arabic music nearly the whole day. At first it was bearable, almost interesting even, but then it quickly got irritating. Especially when the tape was ejected and turned over several times and the rhythms were forever scratched in our eardrums.

We seemed to stop at every shore for one reason or another, and some of us were getting impatient. Eventually we set sail, and did a few hours of the shifting routine throughout the afternoon.

Our Egyptian crew prepared us a meal. It was hardly edible for our systems, but we were soooo hungry and we needed to eat something. The utensils and vegetables were rinsed in the Nile river, and I kept thinking “if they can handle it, so can I, we’re all humans, right?” As for Marie and the Europeans, I think they preferred to stay in denial (de Nile...haha).

I began to take interest in the Kiwi dude, Joost. He was really quite nice, and funny too. He had a great way of making me laugh out loud even as I tried so hard to continue being p.o.’d at the whole situation. Yes, I really wanted to cling tenaciously to being irritable and moody, but he somehow got around that and broke through to the point where I was actually having FUN. I figured he’s nothing short of a magician, and I was intrigued by what might be up his sleeve.

We were talking a lot about people. And mosquitoes. And the fact that there were flocks of mosquitoes along the river just hovering and waiting to prey on sweet-blooded people like me. At one point Joost offered to share his sleeping bag so I wouldn’t get bitten (by the mozzies). It sounded like a good prospect because he was genuinely nice and didn’t seem the type to try anything (maybe even gay, not sure, but that would explain his ability to have me in stitches).

But as everyone on the felucca began to settle in, Marie and the tall Danish dude Henry rolled out their full length mat/bed around which the rest of us had to conform, and she kept bitching that there was no room on our boat even for a Kiwi (haha, but humorously rude). He heard her no doubt, and felt unwelcome enough that he went back to the other felucca to sleep. I was beyond upset, so angry I couldn’t even speak, and just had to sleep with only Marie’s skirt as a cover to protect me from mosquitoes.

Day 7

When I woke in the early hours from a sound sleep, both my legs were numb. I had fallen asleep laid out flat, but I woke up with Marie and Henry sprawled out flat and and my legs squished and curled up tight with no room to stretch out. How did that happen? I swear Marie was next to me when I fell asleep, but I rolled over to find Jeff right next to me in my face breathing like a horse. Enough. I got up and moved to the front of the boat and just crashed out on the deck, no covers, nothing. Alas! I had discovered the most comfortable place to sleep on the entire felucca! Too bad everyone woke up only an hour later and we began to move.

This was our last day on the felucca. Eventually we reached Edfu, where we got off. We took a taxi to Luxor and immediately got sold by an Egyptian “friend” to stay at his brother’s hotel. I remember Marie saying the rooms were ok, but then later refusing the sheets. I was wishing we had just gone to stay where we planned, but everyone was tired and lazy and just slept from the moment we got there. I really wanted to go out and see some sights but no one else was interested. I listened to tapes on my Sony walkman (King’s “Alone Without You”, OMD, the Cure’s “Boys Don’t Cry” and some early U2).

Eventually our “lunch” was ready at 4:00pm, so up we went to the roof garden cafeteria and looked at the food in front of us. Ugh. I guess the felucca Nile meals did me in, as I had to force myself to eat something.

Days 8 - 12

We finally motivated ourselves to go somewhere, so we took the hotel’s “special service taxi” (which was, of course, another brother’s old car). We visited Luxor Temple, which I found extremely interesting.

Then we went to Karnak for a few hours, most of which were spent outside drinking cokes. I was never a coke drinker but in Egypt the glass bottled coke was safer than plastic bottled water, and ironically coke became the most nutricious meal I could swallow, and only one to stay down.

Editor's Note: Yep, I was most definitely getting sick, and sicker with every day. I think the technical medical condition was “pharoah’s revenge”. In fact, my journal stopped blank after the above entry.

My ticket stubs and pictures remind me that we went to sites of Deir-el-Barhi (which I had really wanted to see based on a b/w picture in an ad), and the Valley of the Kings, where we wandered into a few tombs, one of which belonged to King Tut. It was anti-climatic. It was also hot and dry. I think my failure to appreciate the history stemmed from the bug wreaking havoc in my guts forcing me to always be here and now (and mindful of the nearest pitstop).

Eventually we got back to Cairo. I don’t remember how. But I remember staying in a hotel with several beds in a large room, and windows looking out over the square across from the Mohammed Ali Mosque.

I remember looking out the window after dark and watching a whole black market taking place right outside – men selling knock-off t-shirts and knives and other things that you don’t see by day. It looked extremely dangerous with lots of shady characters, and I understood why we were told not to leave the hotel after dark. Then in the early hours of the morning they disappear, and as the sun rose I would look down to see people waking from their slumber on rooftops and patches of grass. I remember the guy selling shoes never left, day or night. I remember staring out this window endlessly as I recovered from my bug. And I remember questioning religious faith - theirs, and my own.

I vaguely remember at one point (during daylight) I decided to venture out into the souks to try to shop, feeling dizzy and faint, and refusing beckons to “come inside to my store in back”. I was lost. It was hot, I was severely dehydrated, and only by a miracle did I somehow end up back at the hotel without any trouble. Beyond the gastrointestinal one.

The next journal entry is several days later:

Finally, back in Greece. I never thought I’d be so happy to see Athens! Now I’m back on Ios. The day is Tuesday the 22nd, and I somehow spent my 22nd birthday in Cairo, but it’s not even worth mentioning. So here I am, having walked across the beautiful Milopotas Beach to Dracos Taverna – my home sweet home away from home…away from home. Oh it’s good to be alive! How lucky am I.

This concludes my "Remembering Egypt" journal. Rather abruptly, I'm afraid, but there you have it. I did fully recover by the time I was back in Greece, and I'm certain the river water was at fault. The food itself in Egypt was excellent, and the entire experience was not so bad that I wouldn't go back.

I have, in fact, returned in recent years, and took my husband and daughter (who was almost 3 at the time) to see the Pyramids.

It was a very different experience, and too short, with time only to visit Cairo and Alexandria. My daughter still has memories of our trip, but not of the Pyramids or the Nile or the other amazing sights we saw.

What she remembers, with great vividness of senses, is nothing more than...the sounds of the burping camels!

We all still have the dream to return and cruise the Nile together in much better circumstances, and I am certain this won't be the last of my Egypt blog posts. I will return. Some day.

Thank you for coming along on my journey through the archives of my travel journal. If you would like to share a link of your own travels to Egypt, I welcome you to do so in a comment below!

Remembering Egypt - Part II

2011-01-31T09:15:00.000-08:00

Continuing preface: My initial intent with this series was to document my first visit to Egypt 25 years ago in order to compare with my upcoming assignment in Egypt scheduled for February. Obviously, since I posted Part I last week, circumstances have changed dramatically! My purpose is not to cover or coat-tail the current events, but I cannot ignore them either as I publish these posts. When I began publishing this series last week, a colleague of mine had been in Egypt with a group, and they were safe on the Nile in southern Egypt as of Friday. I have just learned this Monday morning that they have been safely exited and are now in London, so I can put my focus back on digitizing my journal here. If you haven't already, check out Part I of Remembering Egypt.

REMEMBERING EGYPT (journal series, Part II)

Day 3

Ugh, This morning was full of running around getting things done. Worth a mention was the visit to the train station to ask about tickets. From the moment we walked in we were stared at - Marie's bare shoulders, my light hair - we stood out like sore thumbs.

As we entered the station, there were men putting down large red carpets in the corner of the room in preparation for prayers. Only the men could pray publicly. If the women wanted to pray, they must not be seen (our guide tells us). I remember even in the mosque yesterday that there was a special area in the back of the room for women to pray without being seen; and even so it was only recently that they were allowed to enter the mosque at all!

There weren't many women to be seen at the train station. When we went to get in line, our guide (still the taxi driver from yesterday) told us that we must wait by the wall because women were not allowed to wait in line. He was going to do it for us. I didn't like the whole situation and I kept nagging Marie that we should have just gone to the travel agency suggested by the paper I got before leaving London months earlier. But we were already there and our guide did as he promised. Who knows how much we may be getting ripped off in the process but oh well. Fear and trust don't mix well, so I opted for trust.

So off we went from there to the Pyramids. On the way through the city the front tire blew out on our little taxi - a minor inconvenience and we just had to go with the flow, ultimately taking another taxi.

At the Pyramids we found our "friends" (they always greet us and add "my friend" to every sentence when they're speaking to us), and they were waiting to take us by horseback to Sukkara. I couldn't go more than 2 meters without the guide changing my horse! By the end of the day I'd been on all four horses. Despite these problems, the journey was incredible!

We first rode on a path alongside the banks of the Nile river. There were stray dogs at several crossroads who would growl and looked extremely vicious. I was scared enough that I really appreciated being up on a horse! We went by small farms and villages. We passed by so many military posts. I was so curious as to what they did there. Eventually we cut across down a side street and into the desert.

We rode along the edge of the desert for quite some way, me with the guide who was keeping close watch on my horse. It was so neat to watch the rolling hills of sand sweep by as we galloped through. I lagged behind but finally got the feel of rhythm with my horse as we reached the end. We checked out the step pyramid and rested a bit.
Lo and behold there was our original taxi driver waiting for us with a brand new tire and all set to drive us back to Cairo.

We drove back on Sakkara Road (I think?) along the river through rural farmlands. We stopped at a busy corner to have some drinks, and the locals were quite intrigued with us. Children were working - pulling oxen or riding donkeys with loads of farm harvests. One small girl wearing pink was smiling in curiosity as she'd never seen foreigners before. After a lengthy communication ordeal, we took a picture with permission and encouragement from her father. We thanked her by buying her an ice cream, and her father beamed. She was too cute! But the women covered head to toe in black were downright frightened of us, disappearing anywhere we went.

We got back to the train station in plenty of time, and observed people on the platforms as they observed us. I wondered what it must be like for them, living in poverty, to see us boarding a First Class train to take us overnight to Aswan. For them, the journey would cost one pound and take 4-5 days on a dirt-floored train with no windows or doors, that stops at every village for anyone to get on with any of their animals. They look at us but show no expression. They must hate us, I wouldn't blame them. They only watch and wonder about our lives as we do them. I was intrigued by three men in particular - they stared at Marie but said nothing. Their eyes said so much though. After they'd had their fill of watching us, they looked away, up to they sky, as if they were reflecting, or praying even. What was going on in their minds? What were they thinking? Where were they going? I took one last look at them then boarded the train, stepping out of the filth and dirt into a world of clean luxury. I stepped into a different world, and these three men were soon far from my thoughts.

Day 4

The train ride was excellent. After dinner, Marie and I went to our friends cabin and had some drinks. After a bit, the discussion turned to politics. This was troublesome and I won't get into detail, but at one point they were drunkenly singing "We are red! We are white! We are Danish dynamite!", and that should give you some idea of their ethnocentric view of the world. We woke up in Luxor, hungover and unmotivated to get off, so we decided to continue with the Danes all the way to Aswan. What a horrible mistake that was. What a horrible place.

The temperature was well over 110 degrees in the shade when we found a travel agent. We got a s#%& deal, but managed to visit the Aswan High Dam. It was so hot out there. I know this huge dam out in the middle of the desert is a remarkable modern feat of engineering, but it still looked grotty (is that a word?) and old, not at all what I pictured from Dr. Kim's lectures. I took pictures for his sake anyway, after all he praises that dam for saving lower Egypt from constant flooding or something (I'm not in the mood to sound intellectual, sorry, it's hot and I'm on vacation).

Anyway, from there we took a motor boat to an island of the Philae Temples where there stands a Temple of Isis (God of Evil), appropriately. It was really too hot to appreciate the 4000 BC temple.

And the people there - who were demanding us for some money even though we'd already paid the seedy agent - really put us on edge. So our unfinished tour ended at the unfinished obelisk, which closed at 4:00PM. We were really p.o.'d.

The rest of the day was S(expletive), but we managed to arrange a felucca for the next day. Wearily, we walked through the market streets busy with locals doing their shopping. It was so dirty and filthy...and smelly. I was sickened at the fact that we had to buy our food there. Oh, and conducting business transactions with children was most odd.

Our first hotel was horrific and frightening (and unsafe with broken locks and obvious signs of forced entry). I won't even mention the toilet facility, if you can call it that. We left in darkness and found another hotel, more expensive and a slightly better quality, and we finally fell asleep out of sheer exhaustion and relief in knowing that tomorrow we would be leaving this dreadful place.

- to be continued -

Please return for the third and final Part III, when we cruise the Nile for 3 nights on a tiny open-air felucca, and I celebrate a most unmemorable birthday in Cairo with "Pharoah's Revenge".

Remembering Egypt - Part I

2011-01-27T12:23:00.000-08:00

Preface: As I prepare to head to Egypt next month, I thought it would be an opportune time to reflect back upon my first trip to Egypt, over 25 years ago, and to share some of my early days of travel, writing and photography.

While many things have changed, and continue to do so on a daily basis - particularly in Egypt right now - much of what I read from the pages of my journal is a classic and universal “first time off the beaten path” perception of a 21-year-old backpacking penny-stretching college kid determined to see the world.

While other college kids were backpacking through Europe, that simply wasn't exotic enough for me and my friend Marie. So when we'd had enough of sunning on the gorgeous beaches of Ios in the Greek Isles, we decided to get on a plane to Cairo and check out the Pyramids…in hottest July (what were we thinking?). With no return tickets and no set plans and no idea where we would stay, off we went with a “Let’s Go” guidebook, tiny backpacks slung on our backs with cheap straw beach mats we’d picked up in Greece, flip flops on feet, and cameras in hand. And journals, of course.

Remember, this was long before iphones, digital cameras, laptops and other tools of the modern-day blogging nomads. There were no ipod buds in my ears, rather, I wore the clunky headband of a Sony Walkman and carried a few cassette tapes in the backpack to remind me of home. I took pictures with this stuff called "film", and composed on something known as a "notepaper" with an instrument called a "pen." It is the pages of my handwritten journal that I have transcribed to share here.

The year is 1986. The U.S. had just retaliated against a Berlin discotheque bombing by conducting airstrikes over Tripoli in neighboring Lybia, and U.S. relations with Qadaffi and the Middle East were tense all over (sound familiar?). But at 21, we were convinced that our mere presence would constitute an international peace-keeping mission, and off we went.

REMEMBERING EGYPT (journal series, Part I)

Day 1
EGYPT??!! Oh my God (Allah?) I’m in (expletive) Egypt! Hello Third World. Hello Pyramids. Hello Arabs. Hello poverty. Hello camels. It’s all here! This is the place! The real deal!

Our flight from Athens was something else, if that didn’t frighten us, nothing will! The people crammed on to the Egypt Air plane as if it were a Stones concert or something – there was no specific seating, no non-smoking section, just take what you can get. The landing was more like being flung down a bowling alley, but we made it. We headed to a good, reasonable hotel in Heliopolis where we met some travel buddies – two guys from Denmark, who invited us to share the cost of their Cairo taxi tour the next day. Cool.

DAY 2
Our first adventure in Cairo is the TRAFFIC. No lights, no signs, no lines, and apparently no laws! Just lots of horns. That’s how it’s done in Cairo, you just beep your way through the streets and intersections, and our taxi driver played his horn in the orchestra of Cairo like a skilled musician.

When we first began driving I kept thinking to myself “this must just be the bad part of town” and waited for the nicer parts of town to appear. As the day went on I realized this IS Cairo. This IS the way they live. It’s ALL like this. Half-finished housing, broken windows, dirty dirty streets, and poverty everywhere – there IS no nice part of town!

The most fascinating observation about the people is that wherever they are at the time of prayer, they stop everything, throw down their rugs, and pray. In the streets, in the train stations, in the markets and the cafes. You can hear the call to prayers over loudspeakers throughout the entire city. Five times a day. Every day.

We went first to see the Muhammed Ali Mosque – we had to remove our shoes and cover our shoulders and legs. In every part of the mosque there was always someone to tell you about the room then ask for your money. We so wanted to learn everything we could, but we’d never have lasted beyond the first day if we kept this up! So we learned instead to be politely rude and to refrain from smiles and eye contact or appearing even remotely interested because then you get hooked in to listen and it costs ya!

From the citadel there was quite a view – but as far as the eye could see was nothing but pollution, crowded streets, traffic, dirty buildings, dotted with colorful garments of clothing hanging outside windows to dry. Miles and miles, endlessly, this is Cairo. This is how it really is.

We drove on beeping our way through traffic to “Old Cairo”, which quite frankly doesn’t appear any older than the rest of the city. We walked down the market streets (souks). So many things to see, so many things to resist temptation to buy. (Darn! Why didn’t I save more money?!). We sat and had a drink at a café on the street. Our (taxi driver) guide smoked from a giant pipe about 4 feet high. After a rest we moved on to the Egyptian Museum for a quick browse,

then off to a restaurant to eat….

Real authentic Egyptian food! This place was cool and interesting. The floor was laid with large rocks lined with smaller pebbles (I was barefoot so I noticed these things). The roof was thatched up with some sort of palm fronds, and the walls of opaque glass were painted with scenes of Egyptian customs.

Ah, the menu! Finally, a real authentic meal of pita bread and those other foods I usually make from a box mix at home. First came the light salad and dips – tahini sauce, and a hummus flavored with mint leaves. I ordered falafel and rolled vine leaves and Marie had foul with sesame. All of it was sooo good!

After lunch we beeped our way through the city to the Pyramids. You could see them right there beyond the dirty city buildings, as if they were in the center of a downtown street. But as we got closer, we saw that they stood on the city outskirts and on the edge of the desert. THE DESERT! The Lybian Desert, which forms the edge of the Sahara Desert stretching across all of northern Africa! Wow. Just think, this sand I step on is the same body of sand that Qadaffi hangs out in. I’m cool with that.

There was no way we were going to visit the Pyramids without riding a camel. So we found ourselves 4 camels and a little boy to guide (?) our caravan. I got along really well with my camel, which I named “Filter”.

We wandered up to the Pyramids, past the Sphinx (or “swings” as our Danish buddies pronounced it), and took pictures on our camels, with our camels, off our camels. I really enjoyed it – my camel was pleasant (as far as camels go) and comfortable.

However, the exciting part was taking off and landing. Yes, I’m referring to the camel! Like any mammal, a camel has four legs. But the camel can only bend two at a time to sit down, and the front ones go first! This is when you realize that the camel is a really tall animal with really LONG legs! Try to stay on a camel when he is kneeling without sliding down his neck. Fun stuff.

So we watched the sunset from the Pyramids and then went to a shop and paid a ridiculous fee to see the “Sound and Light Show” at the Pyramids, what a rip off! But there we sat like tourists listening to the voice of the English-speaking Sphinx and getting eaten alive by mosquitos.

Finally back to the hotel after a long day. Tired, hungry, and a headache to boot. Watched a bit of Arabic tellie to get an idea of the media here – just as crazy as the traffic! Too weird. I really wonder what they're saying. I really wonder....

- to be continued -

(Editor’s Note: I’ve decided to break this out into a series of several posts, given my tendency for wordiness and an admitted lack of skill at editing my own journals. Hey, it’s a journal, not a 1500 word article feature that anyone has hired me for. And this is my personal blog!)

I hope you’ve enjoyed this enough to return for Part II, when we ride horseback through the desert to Sakkara, visit a train station and splurge on a First Class overnight train cabin to Aswan! In Part III, I chronicle our felucca cruise on the Nile and visits to Edfu, Luxor, and Karnak. And hey, if you happen to have a blog of your first trip to Egypt, are a 20-something modern day backpacker, or are currently blogging from Egypt, I welcome you to share your link in the comments!

Looking Ahead at 2011

2011-01-22T10:45:00.000-08:00

I usually finish up a year with a look back to see where I'd been. In a nutshell, my travels in 2010 took me internationally to England (twice), Mexico, Ireland, Brazil, Argentina and Chile; and domestically to Seattle, Chicago, Boston and Los Angeles (too many times to count). I invested a great deal of time and focus on learning new things and expanding my skills. I saw the efforts of shooting my first documentary come to fruition, and while that was deeply rewarding, I still have footage that is meant to be seen, stories meant to be told, pictures waiting to be shared, and journeys yet to complete. Many of these projects are long-term, take commitment and dedication, and are still in process. Sometimes I fear they will never see the light of day, get lost in the shuffle, or slip off into they abyss of "someday...". I'm in a constant state of self-forgiveness, realizing I am just one person and can only do so much. I need an assistant, a staff, a crew, a team, a village. But right now, all I have is me, and a trusting relationship with the universe that continues to propel me forward through doors of opportunity in this fantastic journey of life as a freelancer. So looking ahead instead of back, here's what's on the schedule for 2011 as of now.

January
This month (year) began with a major Press Release announcing Travcoa's President's Journey Grand Safari which I will be leading, and an online travel webinar that I created and presented about it. Within days the journey sold out and has a waitlist enough for a second group departure! So things are off to a good start already in 2011!

February/March
Working as a Travel Director, I will be taking a small group to Egypt for one of Travcoa's most popular journeys - The Nile Revealed, including a luxury cruise and flights to Aswan and Abu Simbel. When I think back to my first travels to Egypt 25 years ago, the circumstances were quite different. The journal and photos from that experience will soon make their way into the digital realm and will be published on this blog. Meanwhile, you can check out this gallery from a more recent trip to Egypt. Oh, and there's still space for more on this February 20 departure if you'd like to join me!

April
This month I will be heading back to one of my favorite regions in the world - the Himalayas, on an itinerary that includes Darjeeling and Sikkim in India, and a journey through the fascinating Kingdom of Bhutan. I am working out logistics to add a few days in Kathmandu, Nepal to collect more footage for my continuing documentary work, and to visit my wonderful family of nieces and nephews at the orphanage of Loving Arms Mission.

May/June/July
Other than a few more travel webinars on the schedule to create and present, I'm open at this point for travel and/or photography gigs. (Please don't everyone call at once though - December was crazy!) As long as nothing conflicts with my good friend's wedding in July. You see, the wedding ceremony plans involve surfing and acting, and I've got a really great part to play, and it's not "wedding photographer"! I'm so excited, happy, and honored to be part of what is sure to be a spectacular event.

August/September
SAFARI SAFARI SAFARI!! This month I'm headed to Kenya and Tanzania to lead the small group luxury photographic safari (mentioned above). With the August 20 departure already sold out and wait-listed, plans are underway for an additional date in September. This is prime MIGRATION season by the way!

October/November/December
Do you think I'm not going to save a few surprises? Yes, there will be more travels in the fall, most likely in Europe and/or South America. I'll keep you posted!

I really hope to blog more this year too. For the record, my blog is (obviously) not a commercialized source of income (when I'm paid to write, I'm paid well and write well); rather, the purpose of this blog is simply a creative outlet to share my passions: 1) Photography - I started this blog in 2006 as a place to share some stories behind the images I create. 2) Travel - it is also where I share travel experiences. Sometimes there are more images than words, and sometimes there are just words. But there's always passion for photography and travel. And this year I hope to re-format this blog so content can be more readily accessed by destination, theme, etc. Meanwhile, thank you for stopping by to see what I'm all about; thank you for comments which remind me that people actually do read; and a big huge thank you to my followers. I really appreciate you, and look forward to holding your interest in 2011!

The Top 20 + 10 Viewer's Choice of 2010

2010-12-21T17:29:00.000-08:00

Thanks to all who have visited Mira Terra Images this year! In this post I present the Top 20 and 10 (Top 30) images of 2010, based on visits and views by YOU, the internet public! What's interesting about this list is that it doesn't reflect the most licensed, sold, or published images; and perhaps it more accurately reflects a list of images which ranked highest in Google search results. Regardless, however it was viewers got here, these were the favorites of 2010, starting at #30:

30 -Husky Kiss

29 - Brazilian Dance Performers - Rio de Janiero, BRAZIL

28 - Roxy Surf Girls - San Diego, California USA

27 - Penguin Kiss - Simons Town, SOUTH AFRICA

26 - Girl with Hat - Bathsheba, BARBADOS

25 - Portofino Coast - Portofino, ITALY

24 - Misty Machu Picchu - PERU

23 - Native American Pueblo - Santa Fe, New Mexico USA

22 - Home on the Amazon - BRAZIL

21 - Dia de los Muertos Skeleton Party - MEXICO

20 - Kinkajou - Golfo Dulce, COSTA RICA

19 - Maasai Boys - Ngorongoro, TANZANIA

18 - Ecuadorian Dolls - Otavalo, ECUADOR

17 - Architectural Detail - Brasilia, BRAZIL

16 - Cheetah Mealtime - Kwandwe, SOUTH AFRICA

15 - Samba Dancer - Rio de Janiero, BRAZIL

14 - Adobe Home - Santa Fe, New Mexico USA

13 - Daily Life on the Amazon - BRAZIL

12 - Mayan Calendar - Antigua, GUATEMALA

11 - Cathedral - Brasilia, BRAZIL

TOP TEN VIEWER'S CHOICE

10 - Namaste - Kitipur, NEPAL

9 - Itamaraty Palace Interior - Brasilia, BRAZIL

8 - Snow Bicycle - Amsterdam, THE NETHERLANDS

7 - Peruvian Textiles - Pisaq, PERU

6 - Samba Carnival Dancer - Rio de Janiero, BRAZIL

5 - Fu Dog, Forbidden City - Beijing, CHINA

4 - Lucky Bamboo Christmas Tree - Chonqing, CHINA
(this soared into the Top 10 just this past month - apparently Google's search term "Bamboo Christmas Tree" didn't get many image results)

3 - Itamaraty Palace Staircase - Brasilia BRAZIL

2 - Fu Dog at Forbidden Palace - Beijing, CHINA

and the NUMBER ONE VIEWER'S CHOICE IMAGE OF 2010:

1 - Mexican Gray Wolves Mating - Sonora, Arizona USA

Which is your favorite? Please share and comment below! Thanks and have a Happy New Year!

Around the Tree and Around the World

2010-12-09T09:07:00.000-08:00

This is such an exciting post for me to share for many reasons. First and foremost, I absolutely LOVE the holidays....almost as much as I love traveling! Second, this collection has taken years to accumulate, and I'm thrilled now to have so many regions of the world represented, with many more to go! And being highly sentimental, each ornament has a story and brings a memory.

I have posted previously about my favorite souvenirs to collect while traveling. Well, truth be told, I collect more than textiles. I collect ornaments, too. NO WAIT! Before you imagine a tree covered in tacky plastic Eiffel Towers, Pyramids and snowglobes, hang on. One of the reasons I love textiles is that they are made of natural materials and often by hand in the country of origin. I have the same criteria for my ornament purchases, pretty much. I'll consider anything that is not mass-produced or made of plastic. Ideally, hand-made, hand-painted, ceramic, glass, wood, metal....but most importantly, representative of and made in the country where purchased!

Where to start when you're covering the world? I've decided to break it out by continental regions, and here I've created mini slideshows for each one. I hope you enjoy your trip around my tree...and around the world!

AFRICA

(includes ornaments from Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa, Namibia, and Morocco)

Africa Christmas Ornaments - Images by Kymri Wilt

ASIA

(includes ornaments from Japan, China, Hong Kong, Nepal, Indonesia, Thailand)

Asia Christmas Ornaments - Images by Kymri Wilt

EUROPE

(includes ornaments from Italy, Russia, Spain, Greece, Finland, Hungary, Germany, Czech Republic)

Europe Christmas Ornaments - Images by Kymri Wilt

SOUTH AMERICA

(includes ornaments from Peru, Chile, Argentina, Ecuador, Brazil)

South America Christmas Ornaments - Images by Kymri Wilt

CENTRAL AMERICA/MEXICO/CARIBBEAN

(includes ornaments from Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, St. Martin, Netherland Antilles, St. James, USVI)

Mexico/Central America/Caribbean Christmas Ornaments - Images by Kymri Wilt

NORTH AMERICA

(includes Christmas ornaments from Canada and the United States)

North American Christmas Ornaments - Images by Kymri Wilt

The Twelve Lights of Christmas

2010-12-06T09:53:00.000-08:00

This is a re-post from last December, back by popular demand! I wanted to share the fun and enjoyment of a visit to Walt Disney World in December. It would have been too easy to post a bunch of pretty holiday light pictures, so I gave myself a challenge. Featuring the Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights in photos, I present here...

THE TWELVE LIGHTS OF CHRISTMAS (verse 12)

On the 12th Day of Christmas, the Osbornes lit for me...

12 Angels Spinning

11 Red Lights Blinking

10 Pretty Windows

9 Toy Soldiers

8 Reindeers Flying

7 Angels Flapping

6 Golden Arches (no, not those ones)

5 Car-o-lers

4 Halos'n'Wings

3 Shooting Stars

2 Mischievious Elves

And a PEACE ON EARTH message to ALL!

Happy Christmas, Hannukah, Muharram, Kwanzaa, Festivus, Whatever-it-is-ious to all of you, all over our beautiful planet, from Mira Terra Images!

Clams & Cockles of Chile - Puerto Montt

2010-11-10T06:26:00.000-08:00

There's more to picturesque Puerto Montt than brightly colored boats decorating quiet little harbors. A closer look reveals people living and working on and around those boats, so I decided to follow along with my lens and see what life was all about for these people.

Clams. That's right. Clams. And Cockles too. Mussels, scallops, urchins, and a few other crustaceans were evident, as were freshly caught Congrio and Salmon. But mostly, for the purpose of this post anyway, it's all about the clams. And cockles.

Basically they'll come off the boat carrying a big load on their back, then they take it right into the market where it is put out for sale. It really doesn't get any fresher than that, does it?

At some point along the way, some lucky clams and mussels get picked to be dried and smoked for later consumption. As I wandered the market stalls, I nearly tripped over this lonely little hot smoking pot next to a stand - whether or not it actually has anything to do with the smoking process or if it just stood as a foot warmer, I really don't know - but if you do, please share in a comment!

Ultimately, the dried molluscs are strung and hung like garlands throughout the market street. Although I didn't have a taste, I certainly thought they made worthy eye-candy for the lens!

More:

Chile Gallery

Visit Puerto Montt with Travcoa

Hope your eyes enjoyed a taste of southern Chile! This post has joined the gang of food-related posts over at Wanderfood Wednesday, check them out! And if you missed that, it's also posted over at Delicious Baby's Photo Friday!

Beyond Rio....a look at the favelas

2010-11-04T19:02:00.000-07:00

Most visitors to Rio do their sightseeing by checking out views from Christ the Redeemer, Sugarloaf, or the deck of their hotel overlooking Copacabana or Ipanema Beaches. Well that's all fine and good, but did you know that some of the best view properties in Rio are rarely visited at all by camera-toting tourists? What are those brightly colored buildings clinging precariously to the hillsides, anyway? Aren't they the slums - the favelas? Aren't they ridden with crime and poverty and machine guns and drug lords?
Actually, favelas are neighborhoods with people and kids and schools and stores and restaurants and businesses, much like any other neighborhoods. Sure, they have a crime-ridden reputation which is based partly in fact, but which is widely exagerated by films and media. Yes, they can be dangerous, and you wouldn't want to go wandering into a favela on your own. But if you so desire to see "the other side of Rio", then book a favela visit with an experienced and reputable outfit, such as Marcelo Armstrong's Favela Tour.

Of course, there are the views of Rio you don't get elsewhere.

But the best experience is to wander through the streets and alleys and get a glimpse of every day life in a favela. I did just that, and was charmed by the colorful buildings and people who make the favelas their home.

For more:

Feathers and Food (Rio and Carnival)

Favela Photo Gallery

Brazil Photo Gallery

Fall in Japan: Food, Festivals, and Foliage

2010-10-05T09:00:00.000-07:00

The fall season is evident everywhere in Japan, so here I've picked three elements and three places to experience them.

FOOD - Tokyo

For the Japanese, food presentation is as important as quality and taste, and everything looks so incredibly good! Here are some tasty pictures from the food halls in the basement floors of Tokyo Department stores, where presentation is everything, and everything is presented in the seasonal theme: AUTUMN.

FESTIVALS - Kurashiki

This festival just seemed to spring up out spontaneously out of nowhere, and the whole town poured out to participate.

FOLIAGE - Nikko

Where else but Nikko National Park to capture the colorful changing of leaves in Japan? I imagine this place is beautiful any time of year, but to catch the fall foliage was an incredible treat for my senses!

Fall Foliage in Nikko - Images by Kymri Wilt

This feature has been posted to WanderFood Wednesday, where you will find more tasty links and blogs featuring food!

International Day of Peace - September 21

2010-09-21T08:27:00.000-07:00

One image. One child. Peace.

International Day of Peace

Peace One Day

What Will You Do?

Travels by Textiles - My Guatemalan Sleeping Bag

2010-09-14T13:29:00.000-07:00

I learned a long time ago that the best souvenirs to bring home were things that were easy to pack, wouldn't break, and didn't weigh too much. In my shopping abroad, my further requirement was that souvenirs be specific to the country where obtained, and ideally handmade as opposed to factory produced in China (unless I am, in fact, at a factory in China). It was during a solo backpacking trip through Central America, many passports ago, that I discovered and purchased my first such souvenir. A textile.

With this blog as my loom, please join me as I thread the writer's needle and weave some travel tales around images of textiles. I'll start where my collection officially began, Guatemala. I hope you enjoy.

MY GUATEMALAN SLEEPING BAG

When I stumbled off the bus at Chichicastenango in the highlands of Guatemala, all I could think about was getting to the market to take pictures. I was wandering with all my senses, seeking faces to immortalize, moments to freeze, and scenes to turn into art. I was fully absorbed in my mission when, through my lens, I noticed a color - a green unlike any green I had seen before. A green that even the Velvia film in my camera could not do justice. A green that simply had to be touched to prove its existence.

I approached the green object billowing in the gentle breeze. Nearer inspection revealed that it was a quilt of sorts, a bedspread or blanket, and the closer I looked, the more enchanted I became. The green I saw from a distance was in fact comprised of several small multi-colored scraps - "pixels" of fabrics - each in itself providing a different tone and texture which, sewn together, harmonized with the others and orchestrated this incredible magnificent green.

My eyes still questioned it all, so I explored it by hand. I shut my eyes, and felt my way along a row of "pixels". Sure enough, each color and each fabric scrap had it's own feel, and no two were alike.

"Te gusta? Tengo otros colores..."

I was seeing colors, touching colors, and now, I was hearing colors too.

"rosa...maron...azul..."

I glanced at the others, all beautiful and unique, but none moved me like this palette of green.

"Quando cuesta?" I asked, ready to sulk away at the cost of such an extravagance. As it so happened, I really needed to replace my sleeping bag, but I didn't want to be spending my travel budget on an item I could easily buy at home. I had put it off for days, but now here I was about to blow my sleeping bag budget on some fancy bedspre...BUT OF COURSE!!

I did my bartering, claimed my souvenir, rolled it up and stashed it in my backpack - using it as necessary, though sparingly, during my journey. Together we shared crowded bumpy overnight buses from the capital, Guate. We lazed in hammocks on the Caribbean coast in Livingston. We absorbed the smells of home cooked Guatemalan meals in Panajachel. We fended off throngs of ferocious mosquitos in the jungles of Tikal. By the end of my travels, every patch on that bedspread represented another experience, and together symbolized the whole of my Guatemalan adventure.

When I got home, I hand washed it in cold salt water (as advised to preserve color), and transformed my simple bed into a cultural exhibit and conversation starter. I'd backpacked through Guatemala. And this textile tells the tale.

This post is part of Photo Friday at Delicious Baby, check it out!

Listening with the Lens - filming a documentary

2010-09-02T08:05:00.000-07:00

As many of you know, last October I had the incredible opportunity to travel to Nepal as a videographer/filmmaker, to document the story of Loving Arms Mission Orphanage. It was a profoundly moving experience, much of which I have previously blogged about (see links at end of this post).

This was my first effort at documentary film making. When the opportunity arose, I had only a portfolio of still images and my passion and enthusiasm to offer...not to mention my camera - the Canon 5D Mark II, with the technology to shoot HD video in addition to stills. Fortunately, the experience mattered less than the ability to dedicate my heart, mind, and spirit into my work, and for me, that's just a given in everything I do! So after only a short 2-day intensive film making workshop with Pat Darrin, and a significant investment in audio equipment, I was on a plane to Kathmandu.

Today, I couldn't be more honored and proud to share with you these three shorts, produced and edited by the team at Loving Arms Mission. Each is about 6-8 minutes long, and all three are different. I had no idea what the final pieces would be like, there was no specific shoot list nor storyboard; I was entrusted with full confidence to simply shoot what I saw and let the camera "tell it like it is", which is what documentary film making is all about. As I began taping, the story just began to tell itself, and all I did was listen...with the lens.

1) Stranger in a Strange Land Part II

Notes:
* THIS IS MY PERSONAL FAVORITE - the children are truly inspirational for their triumphs and resilience; and to see their joyous spirit now, their love for music, their complete comfort with self and others, well, listening with the lens couldn't have been easier!
* 4:00 minutes in - this song echoed through the home as the girls rehearsed, learning the lyrics off an ipod

1) Stranger in a Strange Land Part I

Notes:
* .30 seconds in, camera on tripod, you'll see me on the right - the joy of being welcomed into the family as "Auntie Kymri" and to both document and participate in everyday life at the orphanage was truly a special experience.
* 3:45 minutes in, this was how dinner happened every night, with all the children helping with the cooking and serving and cleaning. Shovah, the mother, is a wonderful cook of tasty and healthy vegetarian meals.

3) Stranger in a Strange Land Part III

Notes:
* Opening - the longer I was there, the more I relied on the tri-pod, because too often I'd be drawn out from behind the camera to be included in this amazing loving family.
* 4:50 minutes in - nice montage of still images to tell the story.
* throughout - more great scenes of life with the children

In the end, it is Kent's words that sum it all up best, for himself, for the children, and for my own experience in the making of this film:

"...to embrace life without fear....is just a great, beautiful reward"

Indeed it is.

And, like Kent, I wouldn't have it any other way.

More:
Kids Around the World: On Location in Nepal - my story in stills, behind the scenes
Goats and Gods - the celebration of Dashain and a vegetarian alternative to slaughtering a goat
Kathmandu, Nepal: Homecomings - the simple things which keep me feeling at home away from home
Kids Around the World: Orphans with a Home - my Nepali nieces and nephews
Landslides and Leeches: a trekking journal, Nepal - after the filming, the crew were rewarded with a 7-day trek, and here I share my journal and experience