A little blissful morning bus travel through the Ecuadorian Andes en route to the volcanic caldera of Quilatoa.
For me, this photo screams L-I-B-E-R-T-A-D!!!
I like to think it captures a certain feeling of freedom, that certain kind of slipperiness and looseness and possibility enjoyed by those who, well, like to move!
“I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel’s sake. The great affair is to move.” — Robert Louis Stevenson
The character you see hanging his head out the window is my mexicano-friend Luís, whom I had originally met in Armenia, Colombia.
We were able to link up further down the road in Quito, Ecuador, along with another traveler-friend from Boston, Reeve. We all broke out for a few days to go hike around Quilatoa — a massive volcanic caldera filled with almost mystic, deep blue and green waters, which can be amazing to photograph on just about any day of the year.
I plan on publishing more photos from Quilatoa further down the line, but I just couldn’t help to kick this post off with this image taken from one of the many bus rides we took to get to the caldera. As you might be able to tell, the weather was amazing — the skies were big and blue, the sun was shining hard, the wind blowing strong, and the Ecuadorian Andes were just dominating everything in the background. Demasiado Hermoso…
For this photo, all I had to do was hang myself out the window, like Luís, and use a fast shutter speed to freeze the motion of the wind blowing through his hair, the reflections of the mountains on the windows, and what I like best: the satisfied grin on Luis’ face as we snaked our way through the mountains, enjoying every second of the ride.
I. Must. Go. Back…
Location: Quilatoa, Ecuador
Camera: Canon Rebel T1i
Lens: Sigma 17-50mm, f/2.8
Exposure settings: 1/400 sec at f/13, ISO 400
