Two Beers and a Pretzel

Last night I was invited to go out with multiple groups, but that soccer game drained all the energy from me.  I overheard a few guys talking about cocaine and figured “Aha!  That’s how they have the energy.”  I slept from about midnight until 1:30 pm this afternoon.  I feel much better.

Aside from blogging and recharging my computer, I’ll probably just catch up on some reading.  I bought Henry Kissinger’s book Diplomacy back in Copan, Honduras, and have been reading it on the long bus trips.  It’s pretty good, but I haven’t gotten to the part where he was actually active in government yet.  I’m up to the Suez crisis right now.

After my previous post about my steak experience, my Uncle scolded me that I did not go to a real Argentine Steakhouse.  So tonight I will try the “real” thing with a couple of Brits.

I did go out for a while looking for new, cheap headphones for my iPod.  No luck there, but I found a pretty cool mall that had an entire level dedicated to an art exhibit.  Some of the art was pretty cool.  A big theme was industrialization destroying the environment.

And, for everyone back at my old job, they have a GAP in Buenos Aires – just a perfume kiosk, but it’s there…

Then, on the way home I finally snapped a pic of the “Open 25 Hrs” shops that are on every block.  Essentially a convenience store that doesn’t really have anything convenient unless you want candy or soda pop.

Tomorrow I fly to Brazil to meet up with my Aunt, Uncle and cousin for the holidays.

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Camera News.

The Olympus 1030SW is holding up very well, minus the paint chipping off.  It’s a little limiting for the artsy photos I like to take, but it’s nearly indestructible and makes a decent weapon in a pinch.  That, and Ingrid & Erinn helped prove the value of a submersible camera to me at Tabacon!!  Those water-slide videos are priceless.

My Canon G9 made it to my Uncle without the $200 tariff I might have had to pay.  Tomorrow I’ll have a manually controllable camera (exposure, shutter speed, aperture, etc) that can capture RAW files, has optical image stabilization, 35-210mm equivalent zoom range (6x), wider aperture (f/2.8-4.8) but still highly portable.  It actually has auxiliary wide and telephoto lenses that you can add on, but I’ll try to resist temptation…  I will need to get a spare battery and a car charger – possibly a spare memory card, but that’s all minor stuff.

The best news is that my monster 15 pound bag of SLR gear made it home without incident.  It was all fully insured, but I  was still dreading the prospect of explaining the loss of $4000 of camera gear to my insurance agent.  I’m very glad that I did not opt for the latest and greatest of everything before I left (Canon 50D with L quality lenses).  It’s way too easy to get into the consumer mindset back home where you want the ‘best’ of everything.  Yes, the SLR takes much nicer photos, and I loved having it in Europe and California, but it’s a whole different atmosphere here in Central and South America.

Every time I see anyone toting all that camera gear, I think “boy am I glad I sent it all back home”.  Aside from looking like an obvious tourist and target, they also seem detached from the moment they’re living in.  Perhaps I’m just realizing that a snapshot and having fun with new friends is more important to me than spending 50% of my time trying to get the perfect photo.  Don’t get me wrong…  I’m not knocking anyone who really enjoys taking pro-quality photos.  It’s just not practical for me on an around the world trip.

I just need to see another active volcano with the G9 to get ‘that’ picture, then I will not regret any of this camera indecision.

Well, it’s raining in San Jose today, and I’ve been trying to take care of some business and couldn’t catch the bus to the volcano, but I’ll be going tomorrow morning.

After dragging 2 Digital SLR’s around for two weeks, I had only used them once.  However, I’ve used the little waterproof Olympus constantly… so, I’ve shipped all the bulky and expensive camera gear back home.  Whether it makes it there is another matter, but it is insured.

Copan Ruins in infra-red

The biggest lemon I’ve ever seen.  I found it on the hike in Copan…  never saw the tree, but we were on a steep hill, so it must have rolled down from somewhere.

The border in Nicaragua.  An impromptu market and a lot of people giving you a horrible exchange rate between Cordobas and Colones.  That’s a constant at any crossing.  When I crossed from Honduras into Nicaragua, they were offering 70 Cordobas for 100 Lempiras (appx $5.29) while the correct exchange rate was 95 for 100.

And then Costa Rica…  everyone had to open their bags for a very brief inspection.  This was slightly more modern with a convenience store integrated with the immigration office.

Being an amateur photography buff, a lot of my co-workers and friends end up asking me questions about camera gear. I bought a Canon 20D back in 2005… not because I’m opposed to the Canon Digital Rebel, Nikon or any other brand, but simply because I liked the way the 20D felt and really liked the user controls, and wanted 8 megapixels.

I started with the 18-55mm kit lens (3x zoom) and quickly upgraded to the 17-85mm (5x) image stabilization lens, added the 100mm macro, 50mm, 10-22mm superwide, and 70-300mm tele-zoom with image stabilization. Of all the lenses, I think the 17-85 is the only one I currently want to upgrade, but for an around the world trip, I’ll stick with it.

I thought about upgrading the camera for this trip to either the 10 megapixel Canon 40D, or the new 15 megapixel Canon 50D. I decided against both. I don’t like the button layout of the 40D, but the anti-dust features would be nice. The 50D… well, I shoot RAW whenever possible, and I’d eat up a lot of memory on those large images. Considering the max full frame equivalent focal length of my rig is 480mm (300×1.6) I really don’t need the ability to crop.

My photography related goal for this trip is to get better at framing a shot through the viewfinder. A new camera is always fun, but I’d rather improve my technique and take better pictures than rely on the newest technology.

With that in mind, I did splurge a little bit and bought a used Canon 10D (6 MP) and sent it to LifePixel.com to have it converted to Infra-red. It’ll be specifically for landscapes, but I’ll try some artsy shots, and some astrophotography. I can’t wait to get this thing back in a week!!

The one thing I’ll be leaving behind will be my 15″ MacBook Pro. I really like the Aperture 2.0 application for categorizing and editing photos. Nothing against Adobe Lightroom, but I just preferred the layout of Aperture. Either way, I won’t have it with me on my trip, so I’ll rely on a cheapo Ultra Mobile PC loaded with PhotoShop Elements and some portable USB hard drives. I think I’ll miss the multitouch trackpad the most.

Oh yeah… to keep it all safe, I got the LowePro Flipside 400 AW (all weather). It has a very comfortable waist belt and waterproof cover. You spin the pack around your waist to your chest, then it lays like a table attached to your belly. You open up the side that was formerly against your back, so it’s very secure (at least from pickpockets). it also looks more like a backpack or large daypack than a camera back, so you hopefully don’t look like a typical tourist carrying expensive camera gear.

A few people have asked where I got the sun picture for the banner photo… I took it on July 11, 2007 from Moro Rock in Sequoia National Park.

Here’s a similar image I shot with a lot more in the foreground…