alan hunter [documentary photographer]

old orchard beach [off season]. maine.

2011-10-03T15:10:00.000-07:00

[all images 2011 © alan hunter]

thou / wolves in the throne room (celestial lineage tour). thompsons point. portland, maine. 2011

2011-09-12T20:23:00.000-07:00

Ricardo. Deering Oaks Park. Portland, Maine. 2011.

2011-09-12T15:03:00.000-07:00

[ all images 2011 © alan hunter ]

portland / music / what cheer?

2011-09-10T17:19:00.000-07:00

punk-marching band, what cheer? brigade, stormed the streets of portland this evening...

feral cross "last hours"

2011-08-09T11:38:00.000-07:00

i recently did the photo work for a friend's album art...

go get this album now (http://feralcross.com/).

2011-08-09T10:13:00.000-07:00

2011-07-16T16:15:00.000-07:00

just a few snaps from a last night's wedding...

[shot for jeremy leffel photography]

don't wanna post too many before jeremy gets to editing / sharing.

from the archives: oaxaca, central de abastos, meat market

2011-07-14T10:19:00.000-07:00

lori + michael's wedding

2011-07-10T10:21:00.001-07:00

yob | el corazon | seattle | july 1 2011

2011-07-04T10:58:00.000-07:00

kickoff of yob / dark castle tour, with support from local homies samothrace (see posts below for dc and samo pics).

yob (w/ rob of dark castle on drums)

dark castle | el corazon | seattle | july 1 2011

2011-07-02T14:34:00.000-07:00

samothrace | el corazon | seattle | july 1 2011

2011-07-02T13:03:00.000-07:00

2011-06-29T12:27:00.000-07:00

brandon (drummer, addaura) screwing around at practice

aisha rose | lake kachess

2011-06-23T14:01:00.000-07:00

2011-06-21T22:07:00.000-07:00

my CVLT NATION "Seven Stories" photo feature up now!

Young Bear | The 2Bit Saloon | Seattle, WA

2011-06-13T16:28:00.000-07:00

Pics from Young Bear at the 2Bit Saloon in Ballard last night. Cody (the mastermind behind YB) was joined by my buddy Brandon (drummer, Addaura) on drums. Check out the epic, spacey, heavy, ambient drone sounds that are YB on the Young Bear Blog / Facebook / Reverbnation / Last FM / SoundCloud...

Gloom Canyon's End by Young Bear

all images 2011 © alan hunter

Rookery | The Shakedown | Bellingham, WA

2011-06-08T11:53:00.000-07:00

Brad Lockhart & Friends (Neutral Milk Hotel Cover Set) | Jinx Art | Bellingham, WA

2011-06-08T11:36:00.000-07:00

Musician / Artist, Brad Lockhart and buddies played a great Neutral Milk Hotel cover set at Jinx Art Space (Bellinham) last friday. If you get a chance, go check out Brad's awesome poster art hanging at Jinx.

featured: the burning house

2011-06-07T17:17:00.000-07:00

i was featured on the burning house today...

Addaura | The Shakedown | Bellingham, WA

2011-06-07T17:07:00.000-07:00

2011-04-19T12:31:00.000-07:00

central america : street [cont'd]

2011-04-10T20:57:00.000-07:00

more fresh scans from mazunte and panama and maybe one from san cristobal...

boy and his cigarette box t-shirt, mazunte, mexico

"the fam", mazunte, mexico

mazunte, mexico

maju, mazunte, mexico

mazunte, mexico

special ron (lunch), mazunte, mexico

beach kid, panama city, panama

bus fare, panama city

chinatown (meat window), panama city

fat dog, panama city

chinatown, panama city

livingston, panama city

man looking for his cat, panama city

meat cat, panama city

pit bull, panama city

poor man / stray dog, panama city

projects, panama city

vulture dumpster, panama city

wall for sale, panama city

dog passenger, san cristobal de las casas, mexico

pink sidekick, san cristobal de las casas, mexico

central america : street

2011-04-10T14:14:00.000-07:00

went thru a bunch of negatives i hadn't previously scanned and came across some new gems...

leon, nicaragua

oaxaca, mexico

panama city, panama

san cristobal de las casas, mexico

2011-04-09T16:09:00.001-07:00

"the boneyard"

2011-04-07T20:35:00.000-07:00

here are a couple pics from the first two rolls thru the rb67. excuse the lo-fi scans. a couple shots are a tad overexposed (i was using my iphone light meter app, afterall!), but overall i'm really pleased with image quality and super stoked to put this beast to work.

went out to a spot amanda and i scouted a couple weeks ago (marckworth state forest, duvall-area) to shoot bones and trees...go figure.

animal fur.

timber sale boundary

[all images @ alan hunter]

trve.

2011-04-04T20:20:00.000-07:00

[image © peter beste]

addaura / atriarch / occult ss / broxa @ the highline

2011-04-03T16:16:00.000-07:00

here's a selection of stage shots from a killer show at the highline bar last night.

...................................... BROXA ......................................

...................................... OCCULT SS ......................................

...................................... ATRIARCH ......................................

...................................... ADDAURA ......................................

addaura : pre-show

2011-04-03T12:41:00.000-07:00

shot my buds in addaura again last night, along with some other rad seattle/portland bands (atriarch, occult ss, and broxa). as some of you know i've been shooting addaura shows for a couple years, and as they get ready to head into the studio with their sharpest line-up yet, i've been documenting the band as a whole: practice, shows, schlepping gear, beer breaks, and soon, the recording process (and hopefully a tour). here are some pre-show pics--goofing around, setting up the visual projection, loading gear--to tide you over while i edit through the show shots.

brandon standing in on invisible drums while christian and ryan set up the visuals

standing back to check out visual projection

christian's visuals to be projected over the band during their set

brandon preparing for a long journey across the desert

my posse's on broadway, sounding the horn of war...or maybe just "reese lightning's" mating call

"i got this car for my wife...pretty good trade huh?"

loading gear

practice room door stop

with jesse and heidi at work till 11, we brought jay along to help out

planet caravan

nice antenna, dude

ryan discussing worldly issues with "the gate keeper"

shredding swedish fish: trve black metal candy

addaura practice, part deux

2011-03-28T22:17:00.000-07:00

watch out now--its a big one!

(that's what she said...)

<---click for larger.

...and some outtakes...

this afternoon's practice session with addaura

2011-03-27T17:47:00.000-07:00

[all images 2011 © alan hunter]

note to self: bring earplugs to next session...

2011-03-27T09:46:00.000-07:00

self-portraits

2011-03-26T21:06:00.000-07:00

film : el valle, panama

2011-03-26T21:01:00.000-07:00

film : leon [night]

2011-03-25T16:34:00.000-07:00

night shots from leon, nicaragua...

film : san juan del sur

2011-03-25T16:14:00.000-07:00

spent an afternoon in late december at playa maderas--20 or so minutes outside of san juan del sur, nicaragua--chatting with new friends over rum and reconnecting with some folks we met previously on our journey. throughout with afternoon we were approached by a number of local characters begging or selling goods. this woman in particular was eager to sell us some of her fresh-caught lobster...

no, we didn't end up taking any home...

film : palenque

2011-03-25T13:02:00.000-07:00

images from the ruins of mayan city state, palenque, in southern mexico.

[please excuse the low quality of the scans. im just trying to get these pics organized and filed so that one day i can pick a few for print. at the moment im not too concerned with image size or cleaning...in fact, this is the first im viewing a lot of these pics, aside from holding the negative to the window...]

......

film : xela

2011-03-25T11:30:00.000-07:00

new site in the works

2011-03-22T10:10:00.000-07:00

[2011 © alan hunter]

addaura at the highline

2011-03-13T13:57:00.000-07:00

caught up with one of my favorite seattle bands, addaura, and my good buddy / founding member ryan patterson, last evening at the highline. last night was the first night with the new, and in my opinion sharpest line-up yet. i always have a blast shooting their shows; its definitely a challenge when half the band won't face the crowd and the room is pitch black, but i dig the results. thanks for a great show, dudes and dudette! can't wait for y'all to get in the studio...

...follow addaura on facebook and myspace (do people still use myspace?)...

[all images © alan hunter]

film : faith

2011-03-12T16:11:00.000-08:00

faith

2011-03-12T09:22:00.000-08:00

preston mill

2011-03-10T13:20:00.000-08:00

out doing some location scouting with amanda and we came across this old mill in preston. here are some detail shots...

san cristóbal de las casas, mexico

2011-03-05T13:36:00.000-08:00

granada, nicaragua

2011-03-04T16:31:00.000-08:00

one of these days i swear i'll start using contact sheets..i'm making this process much harder than it needs to be...

leon, nicaragua

2011-03-02T21:13:00.000-08:00

(behind on scanning) panama city.

2011-03-02T12:12:00.000-08:00

2011-02-28T21:35:00.000-08:00

blog : radio.uruguay

2011-02-28T11:20:00.000-08:00

came across a great photoblog of mostly b/w images today--radio.uruguay

[images © Dmitri Goutnik]

antigua deja vu

2011-02-28T10:02:00.000-08:00

i posted these photos months ago--when i was in/around guatemala--but i wasn't too sure about the color, etc so i did the final edit to them this morning and got em on the site (c. america : color) then thought i'd go ahead and post em here too...

[all images © alan hunter]

behind the scenes : stone crow designs shoot

2011-02-27T11:46:00.000-08:00

essay : la granja

2011-02-17T21:18:00.000-08:00

finally finished posting my photo project from oaxaca.

here are a few of my favorites--for the whole project visit my website: ahunterphoto.com and check out "la granja".

all images © alan hunter

capitol hill : night

2011-02-09T10:06:00.001-08:00

film : up close : oaxaca's central de abastos

2011-02-07T15:26:00.000-08:00

Family portrait

2011-02-06T22:12:00.001-08:00

Family portrait, originally uploaded by myiafly.

great times.

2011-02-06T16:25:00.001-08:00

portraits : mazunte, mexico

2011-02-04T01:52:00.000-08:00

maju, mazunte, mexico, 2010

ellen, mazunte, mexico, 2010

mariano, mazunte, mexico, 2010

chromes

2011-02-03T15:19:00.000-08:00

film : color : panama city

2011-02-02T21:05:00.000-08:00

film : b/w : panama city

2011-02-02T15:17:00.000-08:00

[2011 © alan hunter]

preview of things to come...

2011-02-01T15:20:00.000-08:00

a few contacts (super quick, lo-res) from panama city b/w:

hanging with nigel

2011-01-31T15:30:00.000-08:00

[nigel, triptych, 2011 © alan hunter]

shutter actuations: 24552

2011-01-29T16:54:00.000-08:00

[#24552, 2011 © alan hunter]

old school

2011-01-29T15:42:00.000-08:00

digging through old data cds loaded with old photos, drawings, and bad music i came across a scan of this gem from high school art (senior year?). i remember the librarian wanting to purchase this for display--why i never sold it is beyond me. i wonder if he's still interested...

[wolf, scratchboard, 2003ish © alan hunter]

wahwahweewah: portraiture of ellen rogers

2011-01-27T10:31:00.000-08:00

thanks to one of my favorite photogs, neil krug, for posting this link to his favorite photog, ellen rogers. and thanks to ellen for making these amazing portraits! ellen has an incredible style--i don't do a lot of portraiture, but these shots of hers definitely make me want to do some in the near future...if you can't tell, it was hard for me to pick just a few (thanks for the "bloggable" images, ellen).

this is some of the coolest stuff i've seen in awhile...

and now i'm in the mood for some coven...

[all images © ellen rogers]

2011-01-19T14:10:00.000-08:00

goat skull, study, 2011 © alan hunter

editing : favorites : oaxaca

2011-01-19T11:43:00.000-08:00

editing. editing. editing. now equipped with the proper hardware/software i've spent the last couple mornings reviewing the digital photos from my travels. i posted quite a few on my blog while traveling but thought of most as simply quick, rough edits for fam and friends to say "oh, that's what he's doing..."--today i've gone back through some of my favorites from oaxaca and given them a more permanent edit, although i suppose that could change as i discover new pics or just decide something needs to be tweaked. here is a selection of a few favorites, strictly from oaxaca...

nala leaving the ranch, 2010

kitten chicken dinner, 2010

humberto, driver, 2010

girl at cemetary gates, dia de muertos, 2010

panteon general, dia de muertos, 2010

hugo's feet, 2010

dogs on the ranch, 2010

abastos meat market, 2010

street drinkers, dia de muertos, 2010

hugo, dia de muertos, ("salud, maestro"), 2010

home sweet home

2011-01-18T16:32:00.000-08:00

the travels are over, but i've still got plenty of surprises headed my way in the 100 rolls of film waiting to be developed!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

almost dinner time!

fine dining

2011-01-15T14:27:00.000-08:00

some of my favorite ~~foods~~...err, snacks of central america...

mama ding's chinese tacos!

world famous bar amigos' "sausage fries"...frozen fries w/ hot dog sections...mmmm

ginger nuts. really?


squiz! for the thirsty traveller.

and last but not least, my personal favorite and by far the most delicious...

creme betweens! peanut butter flavor. i have no words.......

casco viejo, panama city

2011-01-13T17:27:00.000-08:00

snapped a few pics with the old iphone, wandering the casco viejo neighborhood of panama city. theres a great contrast here between beautifully restored old colonial buildings and rotting, decripit colonial ruins. the neighboring hood is a bit sketchy, but its home to [what is left of] the oldest chinatown in central america and should make for some great photos.

tomorrow's itinerary:
- a bit more wandering in casco viejo
- chinatown / lunch at kwang chow (one of the few remaining authentic cantonese rest in chinatown)
- downtown / financial district
- baseball game

boquete, panama

2011-01-10T12:22:00.000-08:00

chivos

2011-01-09T07:53:00.000-08:00

casper dalhoff's "the dark side"

2011-01-05T13:08:00.000-08:00

some of my favorites from danish photographer, casper dalhoff's incredibly moving and haunting body of work, the dark side.

cruisin' puerto viejo

2011-01-03T19:38:00.000-08:00

went for a bike ride around puerto viejo and manzanillo this afternoon--it was a good way to take in some of the beaches, sights and, fortunately for us, wildlife. saw a toucan, a bunch of howler monkeys, a sloth, and some hawks and vultures (per usual). soak in the pics...

[no pics of the wildlife. not equipped for long-range photography.]

hot doggin'

sweet whip

even sweeter whip. im sending this pic into lowrider bike magazine...

getting tough on my sick cruiser. check out my sweet custom kick-stand--its a stick.

road dog

manzanillo

surfers, playa negra, puerto viejo

beached banana barge, playa negra

hola perro

"the tree"

2010-12-29T12:58:00.000-08:00

went tree-climbing this afternoon. this tree is really wild--it's part ladder, part tunnel and extends about 90ft out of the hillside. its apparently full of scorpions and tarantulas, and gets a bit cramped as you get closer to the top, but we managed to climb a good ways into it. cant wait to get back the film pics.

looking up the side of the tree

the whole tree. you climb inside the lattice-like section over carson's head.

looking up the inside of the tree. it starts out like a ladder and turns into more of a tunnel the further up you get.

nerd alert: iFun in the costa rican cloud forest

2010-12-28T16:44:00.000-08:00

some iphone pics from the monteverde reserve, monteverde, costa rica.

that gray is the reason its called a "cloud forest"...low visibility...so much for a viewpoint!

i swear i have a nicer tan than this picture leads you to believe.

click pic to biggensize

volcanoes and motorbikes and turtles, OH MY!

2010-12-28T10:15:00.000-08:00

after a grueling nicaragua-costa rica border-crossing on sunday (day after xmas, go figure!) we've made it to santa elena, costa rica in the cloud forest--where everything is made of cloud. actually everything is made of green and mist. we'll head into the monteverde reserve today to do a bit of hiking and exploring. hopefully the sun stays out for the animals. no plans for new years yet, but we definitely had a busy, fun-filled couple of weeks in nicaragua...

it's be awhile since i posted (and i haven't been shooting digital) so i figure i'll catch you all up on our adventures in nicaragua:

after leaving guatemala we made a quick trip through el salvador, but with no real guide book or plans for el salvador and days ticking down we decided to pass through e.s. and head straight for leon, nica. in leon we met a nice nicaraguan, ariel, who took us under his wing during our couple of nights, introduced us to his good friend, lennon, and showed us where the locals hang out, get a late night snack, and how they drink their rum. after a late night of partying the nicaraguan way, he even picked us up early the next morning and drove us to the beach to relax and recover in the sun. although pretty and quiet, i wouldn't exactly call the nicaraguan coast outside leon paradise...rustic might be a better term. we stayed at a hostel in leon called bigfoot whose claim to fame is their "volcano boarding" tour. if you've watched survivor lately, apparently they partake in the boarding. needless to say, so did we. the cerro negro is the only place in the world where one can hop on a wooden plank and surf (or ride, sitting, the safer option) the volcano's black wave of volcanic pebbles at speeds over 45 kph (the record, set by a female: 87kph!! by the way, that ended in stitches.). if you went to nautilus as a child--remember the "red field"? yeah, the rocks are about that size and consistency and hurt just as bad should you fall...which we all did. after our volcano adventure we spent a few more days hanging out with ariel and his buddy in leon then headed to granada.

not much to write about granada. its another spanish colonial, with beautiful, colorful, old buildings, but that's about it. a bit expensive, a bit boring, a bit too ex-pat populated. don't let all that deter you, it is still worth a day or two if you're making the trek though nicaragua. we did have a good night at a seedy, local's pool hall that was a great way to see granada's local nightlife, without all the backpackers, and learn a bit of nicaraguan pool, not that i understand the game at all.

after granada, we headed to the beautiful volcanic island in the middle of lago de nicaragua, isla de ometepe. ometepe is gorgeous, secluded, and pristine. we stayed at a nice little hospedaje in santo domingo, at the waist of the two volcanoes. had this been a few months ago, our hospedaje would've been right on isla's sandy beach, but after a massive rainy season, the lake--one of the largest in the world--rose 2 meters and now there are no beaches. that's a lot of damn rain, but the locals expect it and even with some businesses under water, life goes on. neither of us were up for hiking the volcanoes, but we did spend our one full day cruising around volcan maderas (the smaller of the two volcanoes) on crappy, chinese-made motorcycles. as most of you know, i've never driven a motorcycle, but after jumping the clutch a couple times it was a breeze to figure out. the roads out there are hardly roads--they look more like dried-up river beds, full of boulders, ruts, loose gravel and sand. it was certainly a challenge getting the underpowered bikes around the volcano, but neither of us crashed and for the most part the bikes survived. we woke up around 5 the following morning, and alongside our new norwegian and german friends, headed to the beach at san juan del sur.

we spent our first afternoon in san juan at playa maderas, just north of the town, enjoying the sun and surf and flor de cana (rum). our new european friends left the next day to spend christmas in granada and carson and i decided to take it easy for christmas eve. we had a sorry excuse for christmas eve dinner at the hostel, but spent christmas day poolside at pelican eyes resort in the nature reserve outside of town. like vegas, you pay a little fee and have access to the resort's multiple infinity pools, bar and restaurant. the money is dwindling so it was nice to feel rich for an afternoon. christmas night, however, was the highlight of san juan, and maybe nicaragua...it involved sea turtles and lots of them!

after returning from our relaxing afternoon at pelican eyes we met up with about 20 other travellers and set out on one of the most, if not the most, amazing wildlife viewings i've ever experienced. between july and january the olive ridley sea turtles arrive en masse (arribadas) to wildlife reserve la flor, a few kilometers south of san juan del sur, to lay their eggs. they're one of the only species of sea turtle that arrive in large groups to give birth. often, sea turtles are very solitary creatures. the night before our expedition (xmas eve) some 4000 mother sea turtles arrived at la flor--you can only imagine how many thousands of turtles were there laying eggs when we arrived the next evening. lit only by the stars and minimal red lights we were able to witness a mother crawl from the ocean, dig her nest, lay her 100-or-so small, white eggs, fill it all back in and return to the sea. we missed a large hatching the day before (the eggs hatch 50 days after they are layed), but we did rescue a few little guys trying to make the dangerous, 30 meter journey from nest to sea. we took the confused babies back to the reserve where the volunteers keep them under watch until assisting in their release, safe from birds and predators the following morning. i think for the most part everyone was at a loss for words when we stepped onto the beach that night and its still a bit difficult for me to describe what i truly witnessed, but i hope you enjoy the following pics. it was incredibly difficult to take pictures in the black of night (absolutely no white light or flash can be used around the turtles), but i was able to get a few under red light and some [really, really, bad] ones at high ISOs. although lacking in quality, hopefully these pictures do some justice to the unbelievable sight we experienced on christmas night...

that days hatchlings await their release under the safe watch of la flor's volunteers

"mama tortuga" digs her nest. the dexterity in their fins is quite impressive. this photo is taken from her rear--its not a good idea to cross her path of sight while she builds the nest. red light is used because it doesn't frighten the turtles like white light and flash.

eggs in the nest. she is laying the eggs at this moment. our guide dug a hole adjacent to her nest so we could actually view the laying of the eggs. quite amazing i must say. that's mama tortuga just above the eggs.

a terribly out of focus image from sticking my camera as close to the nest as possible.

mama tortuga's back flipper as she fills in the nest, pats it all down, and fluffs the sand to disguise it from poachers (sadly prevalent in the area) and predators.

exhausted, she begins her journey back to the sea, about 30m away.

although blurry and grainy you can make out a few "lumps" in the photo. they're all turtles. i'd say there are about 8-10 in the photo. that's a tiny fraction of the thousands we saw that night!

a few more tortugas dig their nests and head back to the ocean.

i rescued this guy as he wandered towards the water. i call him, dale...dale is going places. he's a bit squirmy in the pic, but he looks exactly like the others in the first two photos. it was unsafe for the babies to enter the water that night with so many adult turtles coming out to lay eggs and visitors wandering the beach. its better if the volunteers assist in their initial journey to the sea as only a small number of the hatchlings will ever make it to adulthood.

antigualls (this post is for you, mom)

2010-12-20T09:14:00.000-08:00

the antigua picture-post that never was...

2010-12-17T08:16:00.000-08:00

below are pictures from antigua that i never got around to posting. although, you can see these and some more from antigua (and my travels) in my flickr photostream...

flashbacks

2010-12-12T15:04:00.000-08:00

as you all know i'm constantly taking pictures while travelling, but i've also made it a point during this trip to get copies of some of the fun photos my travelling buddies have taken. carson and i are sharing space on this computer so we'll no doubt be trading images in the end, ellen is on flickr so we're able to share that way, and before parting ways with maju in mazunte i made sure to transfer some of her pics to my drive--she's pretty much glued to her viewfinder too. sitting here in the our hostel in antigua, knowing we'll be parting ways with ellen tomorrow morning, i got a little nostalgic for the past couple months and decided to pull some photos from maju's folder (from oaxaca/mazunte)...

*this post is also to serve as proof that carson and i have actually been travelling and not just posting found images of exotic places from an apartment in lakewood.

thanks for the pics mamacita!

myself. heirve el agua. (i love this pic)

ellen and i goofing around. dia de muertos. oaxaca.

micheladas in the zocalo. oaxaca.

dancing with the ostrich

the fam at hierve el agua

tuff enuff

carson and i. hierve el agua.

ellen and i still goofing around. oaxaca.

from left to right: myia, ernesto, myself, mariano, ellen, carson. watching the sunset in mazunte.

nerds in san pedro

2010-12-12T10:24:00.001-08:00

crazy faces, originally uploaded by secret.emur.

lanquin / semuc champey

2010-12-12T07:29:00.000-08:00

after a crowded, crowded van ride, we arrived in lanquin early wednesday night, got settled in our awesome little cabin/hostel, wandered the town, and woke up early thursday morning to catch a ride out to semuc champey. our guides through semuc were a couple of young K'iche' guys from town (K'iche'--meaning "many trees"--is the mayan language and people of guatemala's central highlands). they took us swimming and cliff jumping in the turquoise pools of the park and were totally amazed with carson's underwater camera--we got some hilarious photos that i'll share when carson uploads them. after swimming and hiking through the park we did a quick tube down the river, ate lunch, and then met up with our caving guide. there's a massive cave system in the mountains surrounding lanquin and semuc--most of which is still uncharted. we swam through the caves by candlelight, climbing from pool to pool (as theyre elevated and connected by waterfalls), and at one point even stopped to do some cliff jumping...yes, cliff jumping in the cave. after the tour we waited around for our ride back to lanquin (11k away), but they didnt show after an hour and a half so we just started walking. the clouds were rolling in and it was starting to get dark, but we made it about 6k before running into "our ride" who was headed the other direction. he said he'd drop his car-load of people off, turn around and meet us down the road. it started to rain so we waited another 25 minutes and when he didn't show we just hopped in the back of a cargo truck and got a ride the rest of the way. you really cannot expect anyone to be on time here; their clocks just dont run the same way they do back home. all in all it was an exhausting day, but a great adventure and a total blast! guatemala is no doubt one of the most beautiful countries i've ever visited--i will certianly be coming back in the future. tomorrow: playa el tunco, el salvador.

just a few "out-the-window" pics from guat city...not a place i'll be spending time

taking the goats for a walk in the city

our "hostel" in lanquin

everyone in lanquin is super friendly. guatemalans in general are very friendly.

the view of semuc's pools from the mirador.

just about stepped on this little guy on the trail

our guides in semuc champey

antigua, guatever.

2010-12-07T12:10:00.000-08:00

we're in antigua, guatemala currently. got in yesterday afternoon, but haven't had much time to explore this old colonial. atigua's colonial architecture, colorful stucco and decorative tile-work is beautiful--reminiscent of san cristobal--but its definitely not representative of guatemala with its clean cobblestone streets, (mostly) hidden powerlines, and well developed tourist infrastructure. can't wait to really get out and explore.

-- mom, there will be plenty of wall/door/window photos for you from antigua.

between the loud-talker on the terraza outside our room, the lack of mattress, the snorer in the next bunk over, and the noisy packer early this morning, last night was some of the most miserable sleep i've had since the start of my travels. needless to say, we found a much more pleasant hostel this morning--complete with kitchen so we can save a bit on food.

tomorrow, carson and i will head to lanquin and semuc champey for a couple nights. semuc has a large, natural limestone bridge surrounded by beautiful waterfalls, swimming holes and caves. we're not totally sure what the tour includes, but the price was right so it should be a great way to see a pretty rural and pristine part of guatemala. we'll return to atigua friday afternoon, most likely spend a couple more days, then head to el salvador, a sunny place for shady people (just kidding! i hear the people are incredible.) and a country we know nothing about...

panajachel

2010-12-03T09:26:00.000-08:00

we're still in san pedro--carson's been taking a spanish course all week and ellen and i have been relaxing and checking out some of the sights.

yesterday, ellen and i took a very, very choppy boat ride to panajachel ("pana" to the locals) on the other side of the lake. its significantly larger than san pedro and serves as a center for tourism around lake atitlan. in other words, its a popular jumping off point for visitors to the lake's many villages, but i certainly wouldn't stay there more than a night if i could avoid it. it's a dumpy, depressed town. the tourist season hasn't quite picked up in atitlan, and most backpackers prefer san pedro or san marcos, so pana was a ghost town. in 2005 a hurricane ripped through the area and a resulting mudslide destroyed hundreds of homes along rio de panajachel--the effects are still very evident and when i get the film back i'll be sure to post some pictures. its sad to see some of these areas in disarray. it really makes you wonder how people survive on so little.

we'll be heading to antigua early next week (monday/tuesday).

shooting more film lately so not a lot of pics to post, but here are few randoms from sp: