Ipanema, why would you leave?

Ipanema, why would you leave?. Copacabana gets all the credit as the most touristy beach, but in reality, Ipanema is the better beach. Better surfing, less tourists, these beautiful mountains off to oen side (with a Favela on it). It's hard to compete with this beach. This is the beach we went swimming on. Amazing.. View the larger version on Flickr

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Deadly Pot of Gold

Deadly Pot of Gold. Some say there is a pot of gold at the end of every rainbo. if that's true, that somewhere in this 44,000 cubic tons of water, per second, there is a pot of gold. I'm not sure you'd live to enjoy it though. There was so much water coming over the falls, that there is a rainbo from sun up to sun down in this area. Such a beautiful view from when you walk out initially on the walkway. View the larger version on Flickr

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The Blue Monster

The Blue Monster. Another graffiti shot. Loved the art work in Rio De Janeiro. the colours were explosive, and since the walls were pretty big, the graffiti was larger than life. This is my friend checking out some of the wall, I decided to include him in the shot to show the scale. I also like how he's not looking directly at the camera. What is he looking at? the cars coming and me about to get hit? the wall? waiting for a friend... hard to say, I may have had a few drinks. ;) View the larger version on Flickr

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Argentina Iguazu Falls

Argentina Iguazu Falls. Showing my Brazil photos again last night got me thinking how amazing these falls were. I wanted to share another pic I took, this time from the Argentina side. After a walk down the side of the river, we were able to decend right to the river, in fact we even got on a boat!). The day we were in Argetina wasn't all that amazing of a day, in fact it rained so hard it took me 3 days to dry my running shoes! Oh, and we also took a boat into the water falls... :) I liked this shot because of the forground rock formations. The previously posted Iguazu falls pic was up the river on the very left of this picture, where the Brazil side of the falls are. View the larger version on Flickr

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Steps made beautiful

Steps made beautiful. 25% of Rio's population lives in a Flavela, or slum area. I had the chance to tour 2 of these locations in the city, and it's pretty sobering what conditions people live in. This particular one didn't have any crime because the rich had built 12 foot walls around it and the crime lords didn't have a secondary escape if needed. Walking around you find some parts that people have done a lot of effort to make it look nice, and others where you have a rats nest of cables. It was super interesting to walk through these places! View the larger version on Flickr

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Washing the City Away

Washing the City Away. I'm not sure how many photos I took while swimming in Rio, most of them didn't turn out, since I was mostly trying to just breath and stay closer to shore ( there was a slight undertow). This one is blurry as they come, but I really like how it turned out all the same. The wave crashing above the buildings, the bubble patterns on the wave. Had it been clear, it would have for sure been a magazine cover! View the larger version on Flickr

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Boom! it hits you.

Boom! it hits you.. So you read about the Iguazu falls, you watch videos, you see pictures on wikipedia, but when you cross into the park on the Brazil side, and you walk your short jaunt in the jungle, you come out to this view, and boom it hits you! WOW! These are the falls in the Argentina side, in fact, across the river is 100% Argentina. What you don't realize is the falls continue up the left hand side for a while and then there is another horseshoe of falls! so huge, and so much water! View the larger version on Flickr

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Trees managing to hang on

Trees managing to hang on. Iguazu falls is massive. Like totally massive, without a helicopter, you can't get the whole thing into one picture. While walking down the Brazil side of the river, looking at the beautiful falls at the end of Argentina, this photo emerged. I loved the contrast between the falls, the trees and the clay (red) rocks. Beautiful. With 44,000 cubic tons of water going over these falls, I'm surprised these trees were able to hold on! View the larger version on Flickr

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Surf's Up

Surf's Up. On Ipanema beach, in Rio De Janiero, they have 24 hour surfing.... at least so i think. The light pole in the middle of the photo comes on at dusk and lights up the waves. From what I could gather from the locals (I don't speak Portuguese) is that it's on from dusk to dawn and you can surf 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. How cool is that? View the larger version on Flickr

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Rock on the Maracana!

Rock on the Maracana!. Recently in Brazil, I had the pleasure of going to a number of World Cup games, two of which at the Maracana in Rio, Brazil. This particular shot was taken at the Columbia/Uraguay game where Columbia beat Uraguay 1-0. But at the time we didn't know that, the players are just taking teh pitch. View the larger version on Flickr

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The Light Struggles to Hold On

The Light Struggles to Hold On. Rio might possibly be one of the most beautiful places in the world. I only wish I had my nice SLR camera with me, but I was too mobile and too focused on the World Cup to lug it around with me. So I had my CoolPix point and shoot, it didn't do a half bad job. One night we were hanging on the beach, it had been cloudy most of the day, and the sun just struggled one last time to break the clouds hold, and then ultimately failed... but it resulted in this rather ominous and epic shot. View the larger version on Flickr

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Abandoned, but not by street artists

Abandoned, but not by street artists. When travelling in Brazil, the graffiti really caught my eye. I later learned (actually by a GoPro promo video) that street artists are paid to draw such beautiful, colourful drawings on abandoned walls, to cover up the "tagging" or prevent "tagging". This stuff was everywhere, and to me, it was very beautiful. Expect to see more of this type of street art come through my photo feed. View the larger version on Flickr

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44,000 cubic tons per second

44,000 cubic tons per second. I recently went to Brazil for the World Cup (yes, I left before Brazil lost, OMG!), but had an awesome time touring and watching soccer/futball!) Managed to make it to see this world wonder from both the Brazil and Argentina side on two seperate days. What a site. This is a view of the Brazillian side, and the "horse shoe" part of the falls. Off to the top right of this photo there is one just the same size on the Argentina side. What made this an epic visit was the most water *ever* that fell over the falls was June 9, 2014... which I visited only 15 days later. A lot of the Argentina side was closed due to the mass amounts of water. View the larger version on Flickr

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Into the unknown

Into the unknown. Walking along the tracks with my daugther in the rain one day, the vegitation growth here has exploded, making the tracks almost disappear. They aren't currently in use, so there are no train cars to beat back mother nature. View the larger version on Flickr

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Fly By Seattle

Fly By Seattle. Cursing myself for only having my iPhone when I took Alaska Air (Horizon Air) back to Victoria from Seattle the other day... it was a beautiful day and we buzzed the city. It's no float plane buzz, but it was a different perspective for sure. Loved this shot, just wish I had a better camera with me. View the larger version on Flickr

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