A playing card I found, thrown by the road, in the Peruvian mountains near the entrance to Manu National Park. Card was photographed at home, as the camera had run out of battery when the card was found. Apparently the diamonds suite stands for "wealth and health".
A happy surveillance camera, looking out over Sergel's Square.
This is a cute video, but I think it misses the point. Whether models are 'shopped or not doesn't matter as far as driving female beauty ideals are concerned. Pin-up paintings are entirely artificial, everyone knows that, but yet they promulgate a message of "look like this to be successful". This is why I think that warning labels, like "this photo has been altered", ultimately miss the point.
This Australian couch bar has some great concepts and great food, but fumbles much of it away with poor service. Forgotten orders and waitresses busy with Facebook instead of their guests takes their toll on the enjoyment.
You can get the regular taxi, or you can get the Batman taxi. Taxi drivers - especially mototaxi drivers - decorate their vehicles with pop-culture logos: Batman, Thundercats... you name it.
View of the mountains and red soil on the way to Urubamba.
You may not have heard about Gastón Acurio. That's fine - he hasn't heard about you either. However, if you are into food in Peru, you probably will end up hearing about him. He is the person who ignited the Peruvian food revolution.
I didn't think much of Cusco when I got there - a small mountain town, heavily geared for tourism.
A cross carved into a hillside above Chivay.
View of the smooth hills from Highway 34A.
When entering Arequipa from the north, at day or night, the road takes you past this cement plant. At night is it lit up like some kind of industrial city, and at day it towers above the surroundings.
Mirador Cruz del Condor is a lookout spot where condors are known to congregate. It is up for debate whether it is a place where people watch condors, or where condors come to watch people.
This is the Altiplano, or high plateau of Peru, at 4800 meters above sea level. A fairly cold and desolate place. As we reached this spot the temperature was -5 degrees C. When we passed it in the afternoon it had climbed above zero, but not by much - meanwhile the temperature in the valley had soared.
A nice flashpacker hotel.
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