Ancient Spanish Church in Bolivia

On July 10, 2018 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn Photo Challenge, South America6 Comments

We were driving through the countryside of Bolivia outside of Cochabamba and we came across a tiny village with an old Spanish church. We stopped and talked to the locals, but apparently the church was no longer in use and they didn’t have keys to let us inside. We walked around the church and found a window with a mesh screen that was loose and peeked through to see some of the contents inside. It felt as though we were looking back over a hundred years in time.

There are times when traveling, especially when you get outside of the major cities, where you come across little pieces of history that can be as fascinating as some of the well known places. There was nothing particularly specific about this little church, but understanding how the Spanish, who once controlled the region, influenced the native Quechua people is quite interesting. One could easily imagine missionaries working from this church and trying to convert the locals who remained faithful to their existing beliefs.

We would have loved to enter the church to see if there was any artwork inside, but unfortunately we were only able to see a little bit of the altar from the little window. We could have easily just driven by this church and not stopped to investigate, but we are glad that we took the time to visit. Clearly this church is never going to be on anyone’s travel itinerary, but sometimes these unique little oddities are as interesting as the destination. Have you ever come across something unexpected during your travels that has turned out to be memorable?

Boulder Scrambling

On July 3, 2018 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn Colorado, Hiking, Photo Challenge3 Comments

If you go hiking on some of the more difficult trails, you are likely to reach points in the trail where you end having to scramble over the boulders. Scrambling is when the trail requires you to use both your hands and feet to climb over boulder fields and steep inclines. For the most part, it is actually easier going up then coming down when vertigo can make finding your footholds more difficult. Although we don’t scramble as much as we used to, it is still often worth the effort as you are usually rewarded with amazing views. Needless to say, trails that require you to scramble across boulders are usually less frequented, so you will likely have the trail to yourself. This week’s Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge is Piles or Stacks, so we have included some photos of boulders piled up to try and deter us from moving forward.

Exhausted Smile, Pile of Boulders in the Background

Creating Unexpected Results

On June 19, 2018 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn Photo Challenge4 Comments

Many of us point and click our cameras and cell phones as we are traveling and when we get a chance to look back at our photos, sometimes the photos capture something different than what our eyes actually saw. Often these are happy accidents where the images turn out to be quite special and other times we are disappointed because it seemed so special at the time. We usually use auto-focus when traveling since we don’t always have time to stop and manually focus, which means that the camera might choose to focus on something different than intended. Also, the lighting might change how the image appears once we get a chance to look back at the photo. For this week’s Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge, which is Horizontal Lines, we have decided to share some of our unintended results. Have you ever been pleasantly surprised by a photograph after you go back and look at the pictures that you have taken that day?