Peru

As humbling as Machu Picchu is to behold rising out of a sunrise mist, I think what I will always remember about this trip was the 5 day trek I took to get there. Each day was harder than the last. I thought ascending was going to be difficult until I had to go down, which was much more demandingg of my body . The mountain claimed two toenails as a fee. It was slow moving and the altitude is extremely high making every step measured, considered. When I reached the Salkantay summit at 4600 meters with my dear friend Richard Acevedo who encouraged me to take on this challenge I truly felt accomplished.

The Peruvians cleverly hid Machu Picchu from the colonizing Spaniards.who came to Central America to pillage the country’s gold. The Incas built the estate on the ridge atop a mountain outside the sacred valley around 1450 but abandoned it a century later at the time of the Spanish conquest. Although known locally, it was not known to the Spanish during the colonial period and remained unknown to the outside world until an American historian brought it to international attention in 1911.

A guard house at the entrance to the ruins

A boy in a Cuzco marketplace getting out of the noontime heat.

The residential area where 750 people were believe to have lived.

Peruvian guide leading a group on horseback up the trail

The Salkantay summit

Unesco world heritage site, Manchu Pincchu

India

There have been extensive news around the mob attacks on women in India in the past several years. News that most Indians are aware of, they claim the international news outlets are blowing ithese stories out of proportion, and would prefer not to focus on it. I had a fair amount of these type of exchanges; Don’t mind the (crippling) poverty, look at this (truly) remarkable palace instead. One could argue that as a guest in their country I could find less provocative topics to discuss, but this is why I travel to reframe my perspective and get a better understanding of the world we live in. In fairness America gets our fair share of “What’s that about?” abroad I am challenged to navigate.

India assaults all your senses, noise, beauty, smells, tastes, heat, that keeps your mind reeling trying to organize how does this fit into my delicate western sensibilities. It doesn’t, instead this country demands you be present , moment to moment, which is what I imagined, and why I have always wanted to go.

India is an amazing destination. It is endlessly engaging. It is “the cradle of civilization” , a complicated culture where I found myself wondering how did it come to this. But the best travel leaves me wanting more, and in this case I certainly do. I cannot wait to go back to explore those dark corners, and spiritual heights of India.

Varanasi was the last part of my visit and will be the first part of my next visit. It is a city that lives on the banks of the Ganges. The birthplace where Buddha first spoke, and started Budihism, it is a point of pilgrimage for Hinduism. Hindus believe that dying here and getting cremated along the banks of the "holy" Ganges river allows one to break the cycle of rebirth and attain salvation. It is the Mecca of Asia. Varanasi is the first place that I glimpse understanding India’s culture. With brevity in mind I am posting some of my photos while thinking this place deserves it’s own blog.

Hazy Ganges

A perfect gesture.

Snake worshipers celebrate the daily solstice.

Women sitting out of the sun.

The subtle dyes of a palace wall.

Facade of the Taj Mahal

A look west.

Cambodia

In 1982 National Geographic published an issue spotlighting the survival of the temples of Angor Wat. Inside was an editorial spread on these incredible structures in the jungles outside of Siem Reap, Cambodia. At the time I could never imagine going to wherever Cambodia was, I recall hearing something about it in the news, something about landmines, and military occupation. But the images were so powerful that I pulled out my plate finish bristol pad, pencils and rapid-o-graphs and did my best to capture why this place was so intriguing to me. If I can find the illustration I’ll post it here. (In the meanwhile see the original image at the very bottom by Wilbur E. Garrett) This was the first time I had a true desire to travel somewhere. To adventure and be surrounded by something so completely foriegn from what I grew up around. It set my life on a course. On December 25th 2016 I finally traveled alone to the temples to fulfill a lifelong dream. It did not disappoint. I took a taxi at 4:00 AM to the entrance, waited for just before sunrise when the caretakers open the temples. I watched the silhouettes of the spires take shape against a brightening sky. I was permitted to enter, I rushed deep into the center of the temple to feel this space alone, quietly, without footsteps or murmurs. My boyhood adventure achieved at last.

Ankor Wat is set deep in the jungle. about twice the size of Manhattan. The temples were built by the Khmer empire. It is representation of the Hindu model of the universe. It was abandon in 1430, driven out by the Siamese. Budhist continued to pilgrimage to Ankor and replaced many of the Hindu reliefs with Buddhists symbology. It was rediscovered by the French naturalist and explorer Henri Mouhot in 1860. When civil war broke out in Cambodia in 1970 the temples were closed to the outside world.

Thanks largely to Mr Garret, and Unesco, they pressured the then Kuhmer Rouge government who would be overthrown in 1979 into putting up an exhibition in the United Nations and publishing the issue that would find it’s way onto my drafting table.

A temple spire of Angor Wat

Just a few skulls of the 1.7 to 2.5 million victims killed by the Khmer Rouge genocide policies against the Cambodian people in 1975.

The distinctive banyan strangler trees of Ankor Wat.

Original photo by Wilbur E. Garrett,

Paris

Being a native New Yorker I have a love for cities that you can just walk forever through. In this context Paris does not disappoint, in fact it exceeds every expectations from culture, food, aesthetic, people, and ideology. I have been fortunate enough to go in many capacities, and I can only hope I will be fortunate enough to go many more times.