Photos – Solo Female Cycling Around The World

Big Bolivian Photo Show

You are going to die” The man shouts and raises his hand to gesture a knife cutting his throat. He is well dressed. His blue button down tour operator shirt appears freshly cleaned. His belt bunkle shines in the sunny glare.

“Thank you sir, will you come to my funeral? I like purple flowers” I mumble while giggling at the dramatics that are unfolding.

“I sort of just wanted to know how locals navigate on a wet high altitude Bolivian salt lake. There´s nothing to follow, the tracks have been washed away.” I say

I do not have a GPS (global positioning system) but the GTL (Global Locals System) usually works… well everywhere but here I think to myself.

“We don´t do tours to the island in the rain season, too much water” He says, a grin softens his right cheek. His eyes begin to sparkle.

“So where is the lake at? Is it there or there?” My gloved hand points out over the vast expanse of a white plateau.

I am willing to walk if the water is deep I think to myself

“You are going to die, and alone!!!” He says less loudly then the first time. His smile is expanding. My grin is reaching flirtatious proportions as I patiently wait for some instruction on how the locals find the dry camping island.

“Thank you sir, have a good day, I am going to just go west, there is a island out there somewhere….” I say while I peering out through my weak sunglasses at the sea of salt. I shift my feet in the slushy wet salt. I am strattling Pandemic, my green bike. It is speckled with white dots and salty chunks, a perfect look for a bike called Pandemic.

“The Sahara desert in North Africa, looked a lot like this. I really enjoyed cycling alone in Africa.” I say.

Boy am I really shining it on now I think to myself. Maybe if I tell him scary Africa stories this dude will give up which bump out there on the horizon I should aim towards

“Did you know that my small wheel here fits inside a lions mouth” I grin while leaning down and brushing the salt off my wheel.

“That giraffe I cycled with, I can´t believe how fast he could run. How do you say zebra in Spanish, sir?”” I grin and chuckle even enjoying my own sarcasm at this point.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE OF THE BIG BOLIVIA PHOTO SHOW

“You see that volcano there…” I am abruptly interrupted like a mouth full of soap.

“Keep the vocanoe on the right and those mountains on the left. Look for 3 bumps on the horizon, aim for number 2. The island will appear in 55 km on the left.” He is using his figure as a pen. His clean shirt tightens over his back as he crouches down over the salty puddle. His hand drawn map of Salar de Uyuni and Salar de Copiaso, the worlds largest salt lakes appears before me.

“Buenos Viajes (safe travels)” He says

“Thank you sir . The GLS (Global Local System) works everytime. I say as I adjust my sunglasses, tighten my face bandanna and head off though Bolivia´s Inter-salar (salt lakes) Rt 1 to the inter- volcano route and eventually to the capital La Paz.

Peru…Photos and Gringos

Absolutely beautiful kind old woman who I befriended today. She grabbed my hands gesturing hello and tapped me on the shoulder with a huge grin when I met her on the street twice today!

“Gringo (foreigner in a disparaging sense)” I hear growled from the roadside market stand. The ladies rough holler captures my attention about as fast as the site of what she is selling at the market in Peno, Peru. Her beige sombrero hat hardly shades her from the grouchy scowl placed across her face.

A stark contrast to her nearby market vendors, smiling toothless welcomes. They wave their bronzed sun aged hands over their goods displaying coco leaves, dried llama fetus and every other remedy used for Peruvian traditional medicine. The locals market in which I wondering with my camera isn´t exactly in Peno´s tourist brochure.

I love this woman´s style. Notice the coco leaves stuck to the side of her face. After taking her photo, I showed her my pictures, her toothless kind energy put a huge smile on my face

“Gringo” The one woman persists and chuckles with the insistence of a harmless 8 year old school yard bully.

“Well, At least I am not selling llama fetuses…selling llama fetuses now that´s weird” I chuckle to myself as I continue strolling, my camera strap dangling on my wrist.

Rambling On and On and On…A Photo Show

As anyone who has met me knows, occasionally I suffer from verbal diarrhea. Babblying my way to babbleon, a favorite pass time of mine. Rambling on and on and on, often, I could frighten a coma patient with my energy level. Sitting still has never been my strength. Sometimes, I (and all those aching ears around me) are lucky enough to encounter scenery so phenomenal that it is best expressed in the silence of a photo.

(70 Km from Ushuaia, Argentina)

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Lahore Never A Bore…The Photo Show

The city of Lahore is never a bore

My camera and spirit adamantly beckon for more

Green sunrises are in bloom as the smell of pollution shifts and looms

However, my soul cannot be full of gloom

The streets are in a hustle, and crossing the street is a death defying shuffle

With fresh visas is hand, Northern India calls me like an opening band

Pakistan I will miss and is definitely worthy of a goodnight kiss

My last night in Pakistan, Pandemic The Magic Bicycle awaits and the bags are packed

For in the morning, I will be pedaling to India with the 40 (104) degree temperature hovering upon my perspiring back!

The Tibetan Camera Carnival

The Tibetan plateau is as alive as can be

Dotted with nomads and proud people to see

The Tibetans are spirited, gorgeous and photogenic

The magic is as large as the heart can be

Camera shy they are not, willing smiles they have got

Perhaps it is all part of the international plan

After all the Dalai Lama is their man

A welcoming glow, a handshake, and a shared laugh on the go

It’s a spectacular show

Memories to cherish of a people so grand

That only the altitude brave can stand

Best be conveyed in the silence of photos

Any more of this rhyming nonsense a definite no go

Therefore, I hope you have enjoyed this picture show!

The Killing Fields, Slide Show of Cambodia’s Genocide

As I stand at the killing field’s memorial site I am reminded of the brutal capacity of the human spirit. During the 4 year period of 1975-1979, the Kumar Rouge governmental party took power of Cambodia and implemented a genocidal new regime, comparable to the brutality of the Nazis in WW11. And similar to the Nazis the Kumer Rouge meticulously documented the brutality with photos and records of their killing and torturous methods. The “museum” or Killing Fields site are preserved as they were found in 1979.

It was believed by The Kumer Rouge party in power in Cambodia in 1975, that the new regime began the world a new at year zero. During year zero and the 4 years that followed, the Khmer Rouge party implemented a mass exodus out of the cities and attempted to place the entire population in reeducation camps in the country side. The following photos were taken at the S-21 the school in the city of Phenom Pehn that was turned into a prison and torture camp. The second and third floor of The S-21 school was covered in barbed wire so people could not commit suicide which was a common issue at the S-21 prison/school.

Additional photos were taken at the Killing Fields memorial site approximately 10km south of the city where millions of people were transported to be killed and placed in mass graves. The mass graves usually consisted of dumping the bodies into trenches and streams. The bodies dead or alive where first covered in acid to cut back on the smell. Hundreds of “Killing Fields” sites exist all over Cambodia and The Killing Fields story has also been documented in the award winning film “The Killing Fields”. The remaining members of the Khmer Rouge party have still not been persecuted; the trial began in 2010 and is still being litigated today.

Click the photo to begin the slide show but before you do I must admit that I threw up behind a tree at the Killing Fields site after looking at teeth and bones that have been washed to surface of the site grounds after recent flooding. Therefore, some of these photos might be a bit graphic.

To Start The Slideshow Click Here

After watching the slide show, a historical overview of life under the Khmer Rouge party can be found here

Historical Overview Of The Genocide in Cambodia