2015 was a year where I visited a huge number of new places and, many more of my dreams were realised. In the 4 countries I travelled to during the year, Chile became my 48th - not much to some but to me, 48 countries with countless stories and experiences!
I've selected some of my favourite shots from each month of 2015 but this was quite difficult as the most memorable moments don't always have a photo. Anyway, I hope you enjoy sharing these with me and may it inspire somebody to also follow their dreams - it's not always easy but damn! It's certainly worth it!
January 2015 - I left Ecuador for Colombia, a country I had always dreamt of visiting. Not getting further than the Nariño Departemento in the south, I was just overwhelmed by the beauty of the country and amazing people. The cherry on the cake, as some of you might know, was falling in love here with the lovely Isabel Cristina whom I can now share my experiences with.
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| Las Lajas: Probably one of the most amazing feats of engineering I've visited in a long time, especially considering it was built by hand. |
February - March 2015 - Nariño, Colombia: exploring more of the areas around the village of Chachagüí (where the airport for Pasto, capital of Nariño, is situated). This was also possible with the kind help and support of the Paredes family with whom I was also working on some photography and marketing projects.
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| A little known waterfall at the edge of Chachagüí village. |
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| View on one of the trails of a mountain-bike race I photographed. |
April 2015 - Nariño, Colombia: a busy month where I was photographing a few sports events, hiking new trails that very few people other than land-owners and their friends knew of and then, the launch of a magazine/directory (the print version has been temporarily halted) for Chachagüí which went with TV interviews etc.
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| Stunning views towards Pasto from a trail in the La Joya area of Chachagüí. |
May 2015 - Nariño, Colombia: this was a very busy month photographically where I followed a variety of sports and activities in addition to visiting more "new" areas with potential for development as walking trails. The sports included moto-x, karting, motorcycle races, football and then the Patron festival period of Chachagüí as well.
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| Moto-x at the Comfamiliar track outside Chachagüí. |
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| Sunset on the Chachagüí square during one of the festival days. |
June 2015 - Nariño, Colombia and then through Ecuador to Lima, Peru: A large tourism event marked this month in Chachagüí where I worked and helped with the municipal and Regional tourism authorities. It was also sadly the end of my 6 months tourism visa in Colombia and it was time to head off to Peru where I had some work waiting for me. My girlfriend was not able to come with so we had to say bye for a few months - sad moments indeed!
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| View over Chachagüí during sunrise. |
July 2015 - Lima, central and north Peru: I started working as driver and intern guide for Kolibri Expeditions on tours throughout the north and central Peru. Almost daily I was visiting new places, seeing new birds (and animals) - I couldn't even start to photograph everything!
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| Along the shores of Lake Junin in central Peru at 4,100m altitude. |
August 2015 - Lima, central and north Peru: still travelling with birdwatching clients, I tried to capture some of the beauty of these places which were in some cases very much off the beaten track for the average traveler/tourist in Peru.
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| Flowers at the high-altitude forest of Unchog near Huánuco, Central Peru. |
September 2015 - Lima, Peru & Arica, Chile: Between the travels in Peru, it was time to renew my Peruvian visa which can only be done by leaving the country and re-entering. This time I went to Arica in the north of Chile - my 48th country for my 48th birthday! What a pleasant visit this was!!
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| The city of Arica in northern Chile. |
October 2015 - Lima, central and north Peru: This month was packed with new places including explorations of new birdwatching sites for specific species. The highlight was flying into the northern Amazon of Peru on the banks of the great Marañon River - this was like being in a National Geographic documentary being shot.
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| Flying over the Amazon of Northern Peru. |
November 2015 - Lima, northern Peru: pretty much the whole month was with a birdwatching group covering the north of Peru fairly extensively. So once again into the Amazon but with 4x4's this time (also done in October). The forest highlands are always rewarding for animal and bird species and this trip was no exception.
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| Driving into the Amazon in Northern Peru - the locals consider this "dry" season. |
December 2015 - Lima, Peru - Tulcán, Ecuador - Chachagüí, Nariño, Colombia: lots of travel and first it was to Tulcán in northern Ecuador where I spent a few days with my girlfriend before we entered Colombia to her home. I had 3 days credit on my tourist visa so had to exit again to Tulcán from where I'll return to Colombia on the 1st of January 2016.
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| Dancers in Tulcán, Ecuador during the celebrations on Dia de Los Santos Inocentes (28 December). |
Keep in mind that these photos don't specifically represent the best photos technically but are snapshots from a heap of experiences and places.
Prosperous and Happy 2016!!
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