WE MADE IT TO MACHU PICCHU!!!!
The protest finally ended yesterday. So the roads were opened back up for travel. We still couldn’t take the train out of Cusco. We had to drive about an hour+ to the city of Ollantaytambo to catch the train. So our day started at 5a.m. being picked up at the hotel for our journey to Machu Picchu.
On the way to the train we would see some of the road blocks that were blocking the road the day before. It was mostly rocks blocking the streets so cars couldn’t get by.

This was our view from he train on our way to Machu Picchu

You first arrive in the town of Aguas Calientes. From there you take 20 minute bus ride up to Machu Picchu.
Walking to the bus station.

We have arrived. We were excited!

This is the view from Machu Picchu. Not bad.

We had a blast just wandering around the ancient Incan Ruins. I still can’t get over how they pulled this place off. It is so high in the mountains. These temples are built on the sides of cliffs with massive rocks. I was worn out just hiking around this place. I can’t imagine if I had 100lb boulders on my back.

I loved the wild llama’s hanging out

Stephanie is making a friend

Check out these little guys we saw wandering around the walls

I had to stop this wall from falling

So while wandering around we discovered there is another ancient Inca site even higher up the mountain. It’s called Wayna Picchu. It’s about an hour hike straight up. So we said we have come this far. Why not go all the way. We heard the view was amazing.
Here is Stephanie getting ready to take on the hike.

Almost to the top.

Keep going wife we are almost there.

We made it. Like my friend Mark would say after a long hike. We bagged Wayna Picchu.

Looking down on Machu Picchu

There are these amazing ruins up here also.

When we made it to the top it started dumping rain. It made the hike back down interesting.
A couple quick shots of us just before we started back down. We had to put the cameras away after this. It was raining way to hard.

We made it to the bottom with no injuries. Here is Stephanie pointing up at the mountain we just conquered. We were really worked after that mountain. Hiking at these high altitudes made it that much harder. But we loved every minute of it.

A few more shots before we headed out.
These stone walls are like a puzzle. They made all these stones fit together so perfectly.

One of our little friends had an itch.

We had such an amazing day. This place is a must see. Put this at the top of your places to see list.

Today we jumped on a plane for Puno. To explore Lake Titicaca. More amazing places to see. Be sure to check back soon for Lake Titicaca.

Well we were hoping to head out to Machu Pichu yesterday. But there was a little problem. There is a major protest going on in Cusco. So all the roads to the airport are blocked. We need to head to Mach Pichu by train. But the people protesting are blocking the tracks. So the trains are on hold. The people are protesting because they do not want to much commercial development near their ancient sites. The government in Cusco is trying to pass a law that will allow this. So if these were my ancestors sites I wouldn’t want them to commercialized. So we’ve just been taking in more of the city. It’s actually been a great experience so far.
It looks like the trains are going to be back in business tomorrow. We have our train ticket for tomorrow morning to Machu Pichu. Wish us luck.

Here are a few shots of the people gathering for their protest.

I was hanging out next to this woman at the protest.

So the protest doesn’t stop us from walking around the streets. There are always more pictures to take.

If you want to eat real cheap. There are a bunch of options for lunch right off the street

I love just grabbing quick shots of people on the street

Would you order this for lunch. Guinea Pig is real popular here. They serve it with the head and all.

Since we got stuck in Peru a couple extra days the hotel we are at upgraded our room. The first rom we had was fine just real small. The new room is like a loft. Seating area downstairs and the beds upstairs.

Well I’m off to explore Cusco for 1 more day. Hopefully I’ll be exploring Machu Pichu tomorrow.

Well we had a blast on our first day in Peru. Our 2nd day was even better. Out side of Cusco is what is called the Sacred Valley. More remote towns to visit. Most people do this by signing on to a guided tour. Getting herded arond like cattle from place to place. I will never sign on for that. If you just read up on an area you can do it all on your own. I decided to hire our own driver for the day. Most hotels can help you find a safe and reliable taxi that you can hire for the day. I found one for $50US for the whole day. What a deal. Then you are in charge when and here you stop and how long you stay in a location.
So off we go to explore the Sacred Valley.

Stephanie grabbed the first shot of the day. There are dogs running all over the city. This dog was just hanging out in front of this door outside our hotel.

Our driver took this picture of us as we were leaving the city. That is Cusco in the backgroud.

In countries like this you will always find children out working trying to sell stuff to tourist to help support their family. I so wish children didn’t have to do this at such a young age.

Our fist stop was a town called Pisac. There are some ancient Inca sites to hike to here.
You have to watch out for pig crossings.

These ladies still are weaving like their ancestors

We’ve started our hike.

Stephanie looking cute

Stop for kiss.

While hiking on the trail to an ancient Inca site we came across this young boy.

We decide to get off the beaten path.

We are headed to this site

We made it. We are getting good at the self timer shots.

Stephanie sneaking a picture of me.

This is fun

At the end of this hike we needed some food. How about a fresh corn on the cob.

There are always great pictures in the Pisac market place.

Next stop Ollantaytambo

There are these amazing Inca fortresses build in the mountainside.
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The bike looks a little big for this kid. But he was flying through the streets

This old town has a great drainage system that funnels water from the mountain around the town.

You see these bulls on all the rooftops. They are good luck.

Next stop the town of Chinchero

I loved this guy

So after Chinchero we headed back to Cusco. We had a blast today just wandering around towns. I never get tired of this.

Well here we go again on another adventure. When we 1st got married we decided that on our anniversary we don’t do gifts. We travel to a new and exciting location around the globe. So every anniversary we will have a picture of us somewhere new in the world. Last year we did London. How we decided where to go this year was all because of a book I’m reading. It’s about the couple that started Lonely Planet. There is a picture in there of their kids getting pushed through the streets of Peru. That is what sparked our interest in Peru. So we said lets do it. We want to go everywhere so why not Peru for our 3rd anniversary which is Feb 22nd.
We headed out early Monday morning. We arrived in Lima about midnight. So we stayed at a hotel close to the airport. We had to back on a plane the next morning for Cusco. We wanted out journey in Peru to start in Cusco. It’s a good starting off point while we make our way to Machu Pichu. Mach Pichu is at a very high altitude. So we want to stay in Cusco for a few days to get used to the altitude before we started hiking Machu Pichu.
1st Stop Cusco Waiting on our flight. Day 1

On the plane to Cusco. The fist picture of us together in Peru.

Walking the streets of Cusco we found this lady just hanging out with her Llama.

Whenever you are wandering the streets of old towns like this you find great things to photograph.

Stephanie making friends

I love the smiles

You will see many woman spinning wool into yarn.

time to stop for a kiss

There are all these cool heads sticking out of the buildings

You get tires quick walking up and down these steep streets in the high altitude. I had to stop for a break.

Stephanie made some more friends

Stephanie needed a break So we stopped in The Plaza De Aramas. The main square in Cusco

It is so beautiful at night

Check back in for more real soon

I’ve always loved to travel. In fact I plan on traveling much more in the future. In fact I’m going to set my life up so I can travel for a few months at a time. I am busy most of the year. But December through February is my slow time. So I hope to be able to travel around the world doing volunteer work. Photographing poor families that don’t have all the benefits we do. It is so great to experience other cultures. My recent trip to Egypt really made me realize how much I enjoy that. I’m posting some images of a trip I did a couple years ago with my son to Thailand. As you will see from many of these images,so many smiles from people that have very little. It’s so inspiring.
I’m not one for tours. But before this trip to Thailand I was looking for an adventure vacation. I did some research on the internet and came across this great company called Backroads. I’m so happy I did. This company operates all over the world. They take you off the beaten path for much of the trip. You really get to experience the people and their culture. This was a mountain bike tour. We mountain biked all over Northern Thailand.
I would highly recommend this company to anyone. Be sure to check them out.
www.backroads.com
They even used one of my pictures from my trip with them for their 2007/2008 Exotic Escapes Catalogue. They used it for the cover.

When we first arrived in Bangkok we read about this floating market. Very cool place.

This woman was selling these birds to be released. They say if you release them it brings you good luck.

Riding through the farms

I needed to rest. Most of our rides were around 60 miles a day.

My new friends

Time for an elephant ride

Travis found a new pet

This is the shot Backroads used for the cover. I turned it sepia.

While riding through a small town I came across cock fighting

Towards the end of the trip we ended up at the Golden Triangle.
We crossed over to Myanmar which used to be called Burma

This was our transportation around town.

I’m heading home in a few hours. It’s been a crazy couple of weeks. It was such an amazing trip.
Here are a few more images from our trip.

Prayer time

After leaving Luxor we had to join an armed convoy to drive us across the desert. We were headed to the city of Hurghada on the Red Sea.
One did get to make one stop on the way there. This lady was walking around with a goat on her horse trying to make some money off the tourist.

Sunrise on the Red Sea. We didn’t do much while at the Red Sea except just relax. It was a nice break in the middle of our trip

Back to Cairo

This guy needed a shave right in front of his store

Need some spice

We decided to do a day trip to Alexandria. So we jumped on a train. That was an experience. I can’t belive what we went through just during the buying a ticket process.

When the trains pull in people just jump off rather that walk off the correct exit on the loading docks.

These are working hard. I saw a lot of this,men just sitting in chairs not doing much.

Made it to Alexandria

Alexandria is right on the Mediterranean Sea

Korynn and her boyfriends. It was funny,guys kept on asking me how many camels for my daughter

A beautiful day on The Mediterranean

Back at the train station,getting our ticket back to Cairo was tough. This is Katy trying to get to the ticket window which took about 45 minutes and she was 2nd in line.

We finally made it on the train

Back in Cairo
This guy was selling scarves. He liked us.

Today we visited what they call Garbage City. I wish I would of had more time here. We were only ably to drive through it. I plan on coming back someday soon just to spend a few days here photographing families. Cairo has a major trash problem in some areas. In this area the trash just gets dumped off and people actually live in the middle of al this trash. They go through the trash to see what they can salvage. They actually turn a lot of this trash into beautiful stationary and various paper products. I couldn’t believe it.
I also could not believe these living conditions. There were kids everywhere in this area. I’ve never seen nothing like it. Woman just sitting in piles of trash digging through it with their bare hands. And the smell in this area was so bad. I still can’t believe it.
This is right in front of the doors of all their living spaces.

This is a shot from above. The trash is also pilled up on the roof of all the buildings. Like I said these people live right in the middle of trash. There are also pigs and goats living with them also.

Here is a couple of shots of the women digging through the trash

Here is another woman digging through the trash while stray goats are eating what they can.

We left garbage city to go by a neighborhood that Katy used to leave in

Final shots of Cairo

I just arrived in the city of Hurghada. It was a 4 hour drive through the middle of the desert from Luxor. We are staying at a beautiful resort right on the Red Sea. I can’t wait to jump in the water tomorrow.

More of what we were up to in Luxor

We got to go on a sunrise balloon ride. It was an early morning but worth it.

They mostly farm sugar cane in this area.



I love how the green just ends then it’s desert for miles

Stephanie bought this Egyptian decorating book and while looking through it she saw pictures from this beautiful hotel just outside of Luxor. We gave then a call they rooms available so off we went. It was so beautiful.

Back to exploring the area
This little girl was so cute.

This is another typical family home near the tombs of the nobles

Stephanie loved this little goat

These little girls followed us al over the place while we were visiting where Katy worked for the last few months

While backed at the hotel I decided to walk out in front of the hotel. The hotel is off the beaten path. It’s funny. It’s this over the top beautiful hotel and right out side of it you have this poor little village. I saw a couple kids playing out front of the hotel so I thought I would grab a couple of pictures and give them some pens. Like i said before the kids love pens. Once I gave out a couple pens kids started coming out of the woodwork. I was getting attacked by kids. The hotel security saw what was going on so he came out and took over.
Most of the homes that these kids live in don’t have running water. I love the smiles that these kids give you. It really puts things in perspective.

Look how excited these kids are getting just to get a pen.

Back inside the hotel

Off to another temple

Time for a donkey ride

We went to the top of this mountain on the donkey’s,don’t jump Korynn

Katy’s donkey decided to relax or a moment

The donkey’s took us through some small farming village on the way back
These kids hanging out in front of their house

Our friend Ali in front of the entrance to his restaurant Africa. We had lunch there just before we left Luxor today.

I finally tracked down some internet. Over the last few days I’ve traveling down the Nile. It’s been amazing. I’m currently in the city of Luxor. Luxor has been my favorite city so far. I’ve seen some amazing temple’s and tombs that are 1000′s of years old. But I have to say my favorite part of the trip has been spending time with some of the local people. It has been such a great experience to see how other cultures live. The Egypt people have been so great.

How is our Egyptian pose

The girls hanging out on the boat with the Nile in the background

Just walking around the streets

Hanging out at the temples

Korynn wanted a new outfit for when she gets home.

Back to the streets

Back to the Nile

This is the typical rooftop in the small towns. None of the roofs are ever finished. If the family leaves their roof unfinished they don’t have to pay taxes. So none of the buildings are finished. Then as the family grows they just add another floor and leave that unfinished. If you look in the corner of this shot you will see a man smoking his hookah.

Walking through the desert

All the holes in the hill behind Stephanie are tombs.

While walking around this tomb area there was a very small village. At these small villages when they see a foreigner they usually want to sell you something. The kids are the best sales people. They get the kids stated early at the selling. They are so cute though. So we came across this family selling dolls. They were fun to talk to. I actually took some pictures of the family and returned the next day with prints for them. They were very excited. This is my favorite part of this trip. Hanging out with locals. This family lived in such a smal little clay brick house with no running water. But they still had smiles on their faces.

Stephanie picked out a doll.

This is grandpa hanging outside of the house

We took what they call a country taxi to our next stop. It’s small little trucks that they pile everybody into the back. Here is some of the people we were riding with on the country taxi.
I think they enjoyed having us on the taxi with them.

I had to post this. This is a drinking bucket that is on the street in the town. Anybody walking down the street can just grab that cup dip it in and take a drink of water.

Off to visit another family

This is Katy and her friend Ali. He is such a funny man. Always smiling. He took us around to visit some of the locals. It was so great. Ali owns an a great restaurant in Luxor on the West Bank called Africa. So if you are ever in Luxor this is a must stop to eat some amazing Egyptian food. We are going to be eating there for our 3rd time today before leaving Luxor.

We brought a few small things to hand out to the kids. We brought a bunch of pens. Believe it or not Katy said they loved pens. She was right they did. We also brought some paddle balls. They really had fun with those.

Time for some group shots.They were so excited that I did these group shots for them. I delivered prints the next day. It was so great. I think I’m really going to start traveling the world and doing more of this in the poorer countries. They never get a cance to get any pictures. People I’m sure take many pictures of them from time to time but they never get to see them. So it was so great to actually be able to deliver them a copy of all the pictures. I had one older man so happy he came up to me and shook my hand with a big smile on his face. He didn’t show much emotion before that.

This family had about 30 people living under one roof. All the kids and their kids. It was crazy. This is a shot of the parents that started it all.

My new friends

This is a shot of their living room. Behind that door is chickens. So when it’s time for dinner they have fresh chicken.

There were actually pigeons that lived right in tehir living room. I couldn’t believe it when I was standing there and they just flew in. They had an unfinished roof so birds could fly in whenever they wanted.

This is a view from the second floor of their house down to the first floor.

Time to go. I’m off to ride donkeys over the mountain of the Valley of the Kings. Should be a blast. Then we are off to the city of Hurghada on the Red Sea. Many more pictures to come.

I have many more pictures to add to this post. But internet is so slow here. I have to get some sleep. I’ll add some more next time I come across internet.

I couldn’t sleep so I thought I would throw a couple more images up.

This is the view from our hotel room. That’s the Nile running through Cairo. I can’t wait for our cruise up the nile starting later today.

This is the location of our first taxi breakdown. Everybody still has smiles on their face.

The kids around the pyramids really tried to work you for some money. They were so cute. Katy told us they really love pens So we brought a bag of cool pens to hand out. They loved it. This kid wanted another pen.

Stephanie got this great shot while on the back of the horse

I love the pyramids. I still can’t believe we are here.

I love just walking the streets. You never know what you might come across.
Dodging traffic crossing the streets is an adventure

This guy had some kind of real stuffed animal in his back window

Everywhere you turn you will see men hanging out on the street smoking their Hookahs

A typical street corner in Cairo

This guy is just walking down the street. He stopped to pose for me.

Another cute kid on the street

I had to show me getting off the camel. I was cracking up

I’m off to spend a few days on the Nile. Check back soon.

Well Sunday I left for a long awaited vacation to Egypt. I’ve been looking forward to this trip for a long time. My longest and very first employee I ever hired lives in Egypt working in tombs in Luxor among other things. Her name is Katy. She still works for me designing albums all the way from Egypt. It’s so much better to explore the world when you have a personal connection with somebody who actually lives there. So I had to make this trip before Katy came back to the states. So my wife Stephanie and my daughter Korynn are exploring Egypt for the next 2 weeks. Today was our first full day. The highlight of the day was the Pyramids. It was so amazing to be standing right along side these amazing Pyramids. We had such a blast.
Another adventure of the day was actually getting to the Pyramids. I’ve never seen traffic so bad. I’ve been many places. I’ve spent time in China, Thailand and of course I live in Southern California. The traffic here is so out of control and there doesn’t seem to be any traffic laws. It’s a free for all out on the road. Everybody just ignores the lanes. It may be a 3 lane highway but there are 6 cars across those 3 lanes. On top of that we had 2 taxi’s’ breakdown on us today. 1 on the way there and another on the way back. It was so funny here we are 4 Americans broke down in a taxi in the middle of Cairo. I loved it. We could of been on a nice safe tour bus but I hate tours. I much rather just go for it on my own. It’s such a better experience.
I’m just posting a couple images of us having fun at the Pyramids. I want to blog more but it’s late and I have to be up at 6a.m. to catch a plane to somewhere in Egypt to catch a boat up the Nile for a few days. So no internet after tonight for a few days.

Just arrived at the Pyramids
Korynn,Myself,Stephanie

That’sKkaty on the right. Katy is making this trip so great. She has lived in Egypt for about 8 months now. She speaks the language so well. Plus knows all these great little places to check out in the city. Places we would of never come across with out her.

Check out our camel skills. What do you think of that back drop.

Stephanie opted for the horse

For lunch today we ate at this great little local spot. The only had 1 thing on the menu. It was great. I don’t remember what it was called but I loved it. So did everybody. I couldn’t believe the price.
We each had a bowl like you see below. Which filled us up. All 4 of us for only $2 us dollars. Amazing.

Korynn loved it

I hope to blog more real soon.