Flying to into the Amazon Rainforest

On April 12, 2021April 12, 2021 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn South AmericaLeave a comment

When we were in Ecuador, we had to take a flight from Quito to Coca, which is a small town in the jungle. The tour company booked our flight for us, so we really knew nothing about it until we reached the airport. We knew that our flight was on a local airline and that it would take a little over 30 minutes to reach Coca, but that was all that we knew. In general, flying does not make us nervous, but this was not necessarily a typical flight.

Once the announcement occurred that it was time for us to board our flight, we walked out onto the tarmac to head towards our plane. It wasn’t a tiny plane, but it was small enough that we consider it to be a “puddle jumper”. Being in a small plane wasn’t a concern as we have flown in them many times in the past, but we immediately knew that the flight would likely be more bumpy as that is often the case in smaller planes.

The flight itself was over some interesting terrain as we had to fly over the Andes Mountains and then eventually over the Amazon Rainforest. Again, we’ve flown over mountains and forests in the past, but being in a smaller plane also meant that we would be flying at a lower altitude. While that would give us great views of the mountains and jungle, it also meant that we would be closer to the mountain peaks than we would have preferred.

In general, the flight was fine, but we definitely experienced quite a bit of turbulence. As we neared Coca, it became evident that it was a much smaller town than what we were expecting. It also made it clear why we needed to be in a smaller plane as the airport and runway were very small. It was really more of a clearing in the jungle with a small building than a traditional airport.

It is Always a Matter of Perspective

On April 9, 2021April 9, 2021 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn Photo Challenge4 Comments

We’ve all seen photographs of places that we intend to visit and seen images of things that look very large and grand. In almost every case, the impression that one gets from the photograph either is smaller or larger than what you expected. We very often try to take photographs with people in the foreground so that we can truly appreciate the actual size of the image. Whether it is boulders, sand dunes, pyramids, artwork, etc., having people in the foreground will certainly give you a perspective on the actual size. Here are just a few photographs where we have tried to ensure that we are able to understand the actual scale of what we were looking at.

The View from Behind the Sphinx with People to Provide Perspective

Getting a Sense of the Size at Windows in Arches National Park

The Bent Pyramid (If You Look Carefully, There is a Person at the Base Giving You a Sense of the Size)

People in the Background Provide Scale to the Obelisk in the Quarry

Hikers Heading Up an Exposed Rock Face in Utah

Street Art Around the World

On April 8, 2021April 8, 2021 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn Blogging2 Comments

The sides of buildings have become a blank canvass for artists to create unique and often whimsical murals. While there is still graffiti in plenty of places, a lot of it has mostly been replaced by interesting works of art. Although not everyone is a fan of the works that can be found in cities everywhere, we have certainly seen some interesting ones. Obviously the quality of the artwork depends on the talent of the artist and the choice of subjects can be political or can sometimes offend as well. The notion of using walls of buildings to tell a visual story is nothing new as we witnessed by seeing all of the hieroglyphs on the ancient temples in Egypt. These murals aren’t restricted to the outside of buildings, it is also common to see them painted on the walls of restaurants as well. What do you think, are the paintings on the walls artwork or an eyesore?