2014, Day 261 - Bearded

Being allowed to release baby sea turtles into the ocean was an experience I had long been waiting for and last year that dream came true on the beaches of El Salvador.  This little guy is crusted with sand while struggling to freedom in to ocean.  Only a tiny percentage will make it to adulthood which makes me sad because they are such beautiful creatures.

Canon 1D X, Canon 100/f2.8L IS
100mm, f5.6, 1/500 sec @ 100 ISO

2014, Day 260 - Breaking

Sunrise over the lake in Suchitoto was magical and consistently a spectacular show.  Can't wait for me adventures close to the equator.

Canon 1D X, Canon 24-70/f2.8L Mark II
33mm, f5.6, 1/15 sec @ 100 ISO

2014, Day 259 - Dangling

I found this lovely while wandering around the jungle at an indigo plantation in El Salvador.  It was an interesting place and I am told that most of the indigo collected is sold to a single Japanese fashion house for high end denim.  But back to the spider.  It was tiny, the body was probably about a quarter of an inch long, and in its mandibles there is some unusual object.  I suppose it is the remains of an insect but it has no discernible form so I guess we will just have to leave it at that.

Canon 1D X, Canon 100/f2.8L IS
100mm, f5.6, 1/125 sec @ 2000 ISO

2014, Day 151 - Journey

This was a moment of pure joy, watching hatchlings make their way to the sea.  I've always loved reptiles and have been captivated by sea turtles so witnessing this was something I had waited decades to experience.  It was only after, when I thought about it, that I started to worry for the babies.  Their struggle to reach the ocean was the first of many.  Most would not make it to adulthood but it was a privilege to be there to witness the triumph of these little turtles and wish them well on their upcoming journey.

Canon 1D X, Canon 100/f2.8L IS
100mm, f5.6, 1/320 sec @ 100 ISO

2014, Day 150 - Planning

As I contemplate my next trip and enter the early stages of planning I think back on my last trip.  This photograph was taken at the fish market on the pier in La Libertad, El Salvador.  There were so many people proudly hawking their wares and when they saw our cameras they kept bringing out more and more impressive specimens.  It was like a competition for our attention, the people were so friendly and they all knew we weren't in a position to buy a twenty pound fish but they were excited to show it to us all the same.

That's what I love about travel, meeting people, even if only briefly, who are as proud of themselves and their cultures as I am interested.  It make travel exciting and very fulfilling.  The year has been a busy one and I can say, without a doubt, that I'm earning my vacation this year!

Canon 1D X, Canon 100/f2.8L IS
100mm, f2.8, 1/160 sec @ 1250 ISO

2014, Day 46 - Evening commute

Our second evening in Suchitoto and after a long day of exploring the countryside we decided to go for a walk and get some dinner.  Given that it is pouring rain and there are high winds I can't help but remember the warmth of the sun waning in the afternoon as we walked in long shadows and the slight breeze from the lake that seemed like a blessing as we walked sweating down the cobbled street.  Everyone was finishing their day's work and this woman was walking home with her basket empty of all the warm fresh breads that she was selling earlier in the day.  Soon the sounds of children playing and neighbors chatting in doorways will fill the air as evening approaches.  It is one of my lasting impressions of this small down, the feeling of community that was everywhere.

Canon 1D X, Canon 70-200/f2.8L IS Mark II
200mm, f4, 1/250 sec @ 100 ISO

2014, Day 18 - Apocalyptic approach

As the storm clouds broke and the sun started to set over San Salvador we were treated to this amazing sight.  Does anyone know what this phenomenon is called?  There was such an amazing contrast in the colors of the sky with sharp definition.

Canon 1D X, Canon 16-35/f2.8L Mark II
16mm, f4, merged layers of 1/60 and 1/30 sec @ 400 ISO

2014, Day 17 - Fillet

This guy is remarkable.  For a quarter he will fillet your fish and we watched him work for a few minutes.  In that time he was able to butcher five for six fish with clean precise strokes.  Most of the fishermen who work this dock have been doing so for decades and they all move with a graceful competence chatting and laughing while performing sometimes complex tasks as second nature.  Our stormy morning turned out great and we had a lot of fun watching the fishermen and exploring the fish market.

Canon 1D X, Canon 100/f2.8L IS
100mm, f4, 1/125 sec @ 160 ISO

2014, Day 14 - Loitering

It seems we sometimes forget the simple pleasure like good company.  Our days are so hectic and we often fail to make time to socialize.  Yes, we turn to the internet and social media as a convenient all-hours alternative but it isn't really the same.  Laughing and sharing a laugh are totally different experienced; you cannot recreate the infectious nature of laughter on the internet.  And virtual socialization lacks the companionable quality of time spent with people face-to-face.  I sometimes think that a more basic life may be harder and there may be more challenges but there is possibility for a different kind of richness that comes from friends and family in close contact that our busy bustling lives sometimes lacks.

Canon 5D Mark III, Canon 100/f2.8L IS
100mm, f4, 1/320 sec @ 100 ISO

2014, Day 13 - Sitting

I've said it so many times, but it is worth repeating, markets are fascinating places.  It is a place of equality, people from all economic backgrounds shop there to get the best foods possible.  You can see what the people eat, what is special and what is common.  There are so many new smells and although not all are pleasant they're all interesting.  We watched a man making sausages, a woman filleting liver, a group of woman fine shaving cabbage to name a few.  Some foods we were given samples to try and everywhere you looked there was something interesting.  Because we were in San Salvador and had an apartment at our disposal we bought tons of fresh fruits and vegetables and I think we ate almost everything we bought too.

Canon 5D Mark III, Canon 24-70/f2.8L Mark II
70mm, f2.8, 1/400 sec @ 100 ISO

2014, Day 12 - Concealed

This is another photograph from El Salvador.  It is a country that is literally riddled with volcanos and here you can see a number of small ones in the distance hidden by clouds.  The weather on this particular day was mixed, it was rather cool and for much of the morning we were in low clouds and fog.  It didn't break until about noon and this was our view.

Canon 1D X, Canon 24-70/f2.8L Mark II
24mm, f4, merged layers of 1/640 and 1/160 sec @ 100 ISO

2014, Day 11 - Crabby

I wonder if I miss things sometimes when I am focused on little details.  Missing the forest for the trees, so to speak.  This is one of many crab spiders I found while in El Salvador and Mexico last fall.  They were everywhere and every time I found a bigger one I wanted a picture.  They all look pretty similar but I can't help myself.  This guy was eating something tasty and didn't mind having an audience at all.  I don't know why he has a triangular abdomen, it must aid in camouflage but I can't imagine how.

Canon 1D X, Canon 100/f2.8L IS
100mm, f8, 1/320 sec @ 3200 ISO

2014, Day 10 - Grinding

On our second day in Suchitoto, after visiting a couple farms and exploring the countryside, we had a free evening in town.  Like the previous night we left our hotel and just started to wander.  Suchitoto is a small town and quite safe so we explored all the interesting streets and alleys when we came upon the town's mill.  This is where you bring your corn to have it ground and the picture below is the gentleman who runs the machinery.  After many years he was rather hard of hearing but quite welcoming and happy to show us how it all worked even though he was getting ready to leave for the day.  That is how things were in El Salvador, people were generous with their time, happy to share their knowledge, and quick to smile.  It was an interesting place to visit and I look forward to going again.

Canon 1D X, Canon 24-70/f2.8L Mark II
70mm, f2.8, 1/320 sec @ 16000 ISO

2014, Day 9 - Loafing

I found these kittens sitting on their doorstep on an evening walk through Suchitoto.  We had just arrived and despite being sleep deprived we wanted to take a walk through the town.  It isn't big and as the sun started to set the temperature dropped to an almost comfortable level.  There were children playing in the street and people were chatting in doorways.  It was nice to see such a strong sense of community.  Even the cats and dogs joined in.

Canon 1D X, Canon 24-70/f2.8L Mark II
65mm, f5.6, 1/250 sec @ 2000 ISO

2013, Day 344 - Breaking

This was the beach just outside La Libertad, El Tunco to be exact, where we stopped to have breakfast during our trip to El Salvador.  It had been a stormy morning and we were hoping that the rain would stop so we could enjoy our day at the beach.  Things weren't looking especially promising but after I ordered my food I grabbed my tripod and wandered down to the beach for a better view.  The waves were erratic, many small but some quite big and when combined with a long exposure it gave the ocean an interesting smokey view.  Amongst the debris washed onto the black sand beach was this piece of wood worn down by the sand and water which became the foreground focal point and the iconic rock formation is the background is used to anchor the upper portion of the composition.  I can still feel the warm water washing over my feet as a light rain fell on my face.

Canon 1D X, Canon 16-35/f2.8L Mark II
30mm, f2.8, 10 sec @ 200 ISO

2013, Day 340 - Demonic view

This is the view from Puerto del Diablo, the Devil's Door.  The legend says that when the daughter of a noble family started fell in love with an evil spirit her father discovered the relationship.  He set out after the spirit and the agent of evil in turn split that enormous rock formation and descended safely into the underworld.

On one side of the Devil's Door is San Salvador and on the other is Panchimalco.  Panchimalco is a small community where the indiginous witch doctors still practice their craft.  It is said that people seek out their services for the casting and removal of curses as well as to aid in unrequited love.  They can cast and remove the evil eye, provide charms to ward off malevolent magic, and one particularly sadistic curse will cause a toad to make its home in the victims stomach where it will grow until they die is agony or another powerful witch doctor is able to counteract the magic.  We had rather hoped to visit the town and investigate the brujos but ended up short on time.

Funny how two places steeped in lore and magic are in such close proximity, I am sure it isn't chance that brought them together.  It is a beautiful location and apparently it is quite a popular place for young couples to do on dates.  I suppose if it ends in heartache you can always head down to Panchimalco.

Canon 5D Mark III, Canon 24-70/f2.8L Mark II
24mm, f5.6, 1/500 sec @ 100 ISO

2013, Day 336 - Filtered

My favorite thing to do when I travel anywhere is to go to the market.  This is the Central Market in San Salvador and we had a blast.  I love seeing the variety of food available and when we visited kindly woman making chocolate happily gave us samples.  It was still warm with cinnamon and chile powder; delicious and it was so cheap we had to buy some.  By the time we left we had about forty pounds of food and produce and I think we spent less than fifteen dollars.  And, as a nice surprise, we paid the same prices that locals pay.  I've found that when you travel sometimes the vendors at the markets charge foreigners more but the generous people here didn't seem to know about that custom.

Canon 5D Mark III, Canon 24-70/f2.8L Mark II
24mm, f2.8, 1/400 sec @ 100 ISO

2013, Day 335 - Pure

This is the Iglesia Santa Lucia Suchitoto and the restoration work was completed this past spring.  Although small compared to some of the other churches we saw this one is nicely scaled to the size of the town and to the central plaza which it borders.  They ring the bells to call the city to mass and given that El Salvador is a very observant Catholic country the ringing becomes quite insistent as the time for mass draws closer.  It is a beautiful building and very well maintained although I wonder how long that will last with all the pigeons perched along the facade.

I took this photo the morning we left Suchitoto and it was absolutely beautiful backlit by the clouds and the sun started to crest the horizon.  It it is one of the enduring memories I have of our time in Suchitoto.

Canon 1D X, Canon 16-35/f2.8L Mark II
16mm, f4, merged layers of 1/500, 1/250, 1/125, and 1/60 sec @ 100 ISO

2013, Day 329 - Community

We met this little boy in the town of Cinquera.  It is a small mountain community that was a stronghold of the rebels during the civil war.  Today there are monuments throughout the town that commemorate the fight and lives lost.  In the town square the gardens are fenced in with rusting assault rifles, there is the tail section of a downed helicopter on a pedestal, and there are multiple deactivated bombs in the churchyard.  These are people whose lives were ripped apart by the war and who are careful not to forget the past but the community is also looking to the future.  They have multiple business initiatives that they are working on two of which are solar powered manufacture of dried tropical fruits and the breeding of iguanas.  Thus far they seem unsure what to do with the iguanas but apparent step one is breed iguanas and step two is figure out what to do with all the iguanas.  Still, it is wonderful to see people capitalizing on their resources to build a stronger more stable community.

Canon 1D X, Canon 100/f2.8L IS
100mm, f5.6, 1/320 sec @ 125 ISO

2013, Day 328 - Defiant

During the civil war in El Salvador the government set fire to almost all the buildings in the rebel held areas, the house pictured below is one of the few still standing.  The plan to displace the rebels with this tactic proved ineffective and the during twelve years of civil war the UN estimates that 75,000 people were killed.  Before hiking through this farm Francene and I enjoyed lunch at a little roadside stand with our guide Robert.  While we were waiting for our food we met a gentleman who had been displaced by the war.  His parents were killed and government soldiers took his and sold him to an American couple under the guide of an "adoption."  After living in the United States for a year his extended family was able to utilize a non-profit to find him and bring him back home.  Now he had children of his own and his experiences are reduced to an anecdote told casually to interested strangers.

Canon 1D X, Canon 16-35/f2.8L Mark II
16mm, f8, HDR of 1/250, 1/125, 1/60, 1/30, and 1/15 sec @ 100 ISO