From Santiago to Mendoza by Bus

I'm officially back in Santiago and the search for work and an apartment is on. I will continue working for www.airbnb.com while here but it is certainly not the same market as New York City and I will need (and obviously want) more work. As far as the apartment goes it is a great feeling to be able to afford an apartment in the neighborhood I want to be in. Not to have to pick a neighborhood in NYC based on the affordability, which is still too damn expensive. Here I can live in Bella Artes or Barrio Brasil with great parks, restaurants, bars and museums right outside the door.

Last weekend I took a trip to Mendoza, Argentina, mostly to renew my visa and of course to visit another Argentinean city. The 6.5 hour bus ride from Santiago is an experience in itself. It's beautiful mountain, river, lake and vineyard vistas the whole way. Right after crossing the border into Argentina you get a glimpse of Aconcagua (22,841 ft), the highest peak in the world outside of the Himalayas. I could write about the beauty of it all, but it will do it more justice to show some photos. From Santiago to Mendoza:

Just outside of Santiago

Getting into the mountains and away from the city

Chilean Vineyards

Local on the side of the road

Driving through The Andes

View from Chilean Border Control of Portillo Ski Resort

Switchbacks on the Chilean side

Heading into Argentina

Close to Mendoza

Beautiful lake just outside of Mendoza

Photo(s) of the Day

I'm in heavy work mode trying to edit photos from 19 different apartments before Camila comes on Thursday. But I need to balance some work editing with some for my own personal interest to help keep sanity. The drive from LA to SF on the 5 is usually quite boring, but every once in a while the weather is pretty unique and offers some fun photo opportunities. The five hour drive really flies by when you are shooting photos out the window for most of the trip.

I have been on three cross country road trips in the last year including this last one with 13,000+ miles in five months. Each trip I have done alone and to keep myself occupied I have always shot photos out the window as I go along.

Cruise control set at 80mph, one hand firmly on the wheel, shutter speed as fast as can be, a steady hand and luck produced thousands of images (many sloppy and blurry). When I first started shooting out the window I rarely produced a decent image. It can be tricky capturing a sharp and well framed image speeding along at 80mph. Yet 25,000 miles of practice has made me able to time everything right and capture level, well framed images. From the beginning I've always wanted to create a portfolio of these images titled "Shot at 80" or something similar. So here are a few images to get me going in the right direction:














Photos from San Diego and LA up soon.

random panoramas

I recently browsed through past photos that I hadn't looked through in a while and realized I had some pretty good stuff hidden around. At the very least it was memorable for me. It's amazing how much I remember of what was actually happening in and out of each of the photos I took - even from years ago. I remember exactly where I was, what the weather was like, who was around and what was going on that day. Due to the large number of poorly titled folders on my desktop, it is a difficult task of finding anything. But it makes for an interesting adventure. Feeling the need to get out and travel a little bit, my search led me to photos from my cross country road trips. I found some photos I liked and made some randomly sized panoramas just messing around for a couple hours and figured I'd post them. I guess that's why I made this blog in the first place, I might as well actually post on it.

Somewhere in Oregon


Interstate 5, Oregon


Crater Lake, Oregon


Crater Lake


Oregon

Leaving Crater Lake


Bryce Canyon Airport, Utah


Northern California

There will be more panoramas soon. But it is late and I have work tomorrow, so no more for now.