This was my first adventure to Peru but my second time in South America....Argentina and Aconcagua having been my first. I ventured to Peru for two weeks and traveled through the country with my then girlfriend and another couple who were close friends. We started out by landing in Lima but only stayed there for one night and then immediately left for Arequipa where we had arranged to hike down into "Colca Canyon", famed for being deeper than the Grand Canyon in Arizona. Condors sail through its wind currents and although it's dry and dusty there was a beautiful oasis at the base of the canyon near the river where we stayed for a night. After hiking up out of the canyon we traveled overland by bus to Puno and visited Lake Titicaca and the famous "floating islands" made from thatched reeds. While it is certainly one of the most unique lakes in the world it is also one of the most touristy areas of any country I've ever been to, but we enjoyed ourselves while we were there. From Puno we flew into Cusco and then bussed into Ollontaytambo...in the "sacred valley" and we walked some of the ancient fortress sites. We then hiked the four day "Inca Trail" and went through the sun gate into the lost city of Machu Picchu. The last section of our trip took us to the jungle along the Tambopata river where we stayed in an open walled jungle hut for several nights. It was in interesting place to bed down for the night...to be sure. Peru is a lovely country and has many beautiful sights and photographic opportunities. For this trip I took my Canon 5D Mark III, my 24-105 f/4.0 L, 100-400 f/4.5-5.6 II L, 16-35 f/2.8 II L, and 24 f/1.4 L lenses. I post processed a variety of the HDR images with Photomatix.
© Steve Tambosso - "The Wandering Fireman"
