Land of Freedom

Thailand is a country so full of culture it makes your head spin.  Before arriving in Thailand, I thought little of Southeast Asia.  I never expected to find much of interest.  But as soon as I arrived, I found, to my enjoyment, that I had been quite wrong.  The first day I arrived in Thailand I got to pet an elephant that roamed Bangkok and ate a bag of fried crickets and locusts.  I toured a Buddhist monastery in Thailand, which began a period in my life when found truth where I least expected to find it.  Sometimes the most beautiful truth is found in the last place we would ever expect it.

East London

South Africa is a wonderful country.  I am blessed to have this country in my repertoire.   There are epically beautiful deserts.  The Drakensburg mountains in the center of the country are supposedly where J.R.R. Tolkien was inspired to create the Lord of the Rings.  Lions, elephants, hippos, rhinos, hyenas, the wildlife is world renowned.

This photo was taken on a road trip around South Africa in the port town of East London.  A few of us drove in at ten at night with no place to stay.  We stumbled into a random church, asked them about lodging, and were given a house to stay in all to ourselves within minutes!  This photo was taken the following morning when we could actually see how lovely a town it was.

Remember

Some photos are easier to look at than others.  This is one of my favorite photographs, but not for the aesthetics.  There is something in the face of each child here that grips me.  It reminds me that I cannot forget what is happening around the world every day.  Every day a child is on the brink of starvation.  Every day a young girl is held against her will to do unspeakable things.  Every day, all over the world, there is an injustice.  I believe that as a Christian I am charged to not forget, and to fight for those whose voice often goes unheard.

This photograph is a reminder to me that there is more to life than what I so easily get caught up in.  It is easy to worry about bills, saving for a vacation, and any number of things.  And its not that those things are not legitimate, its just that sometimes it feels like that is all that matters in a day.  But today I am thinking of these children I saw in a refugee camp in Mozambique.

Old and New

The Andes Mountains are perhaps the most impressive mountain range in the world*.  Unlike the Rockies, the Andes are a young (relatively speaking) range.  The Rockies, while incredibly beautiful, are essentially crumbling away into a pile of rubble.  The Andes, on the other hand, are still on the rise (even more than the Jonas Brothers).  Take a look here.  This spire of rock violently stabs at the air, the cliffs fall away into cavernous ravines.  It is a truly stunning place.

In this photo: Cordillera Blancas, Ancash, Peru

* only mountain ranges which I have seen, (which excludes  the Himalayas)

To Set a Scene

Our guide looked back over his shoulder to see that we were keeping a good pace.  We had ascended several thousand feet and could see across the expanse of Guatemala City.

“Estan bien?” Our guide asked.  We nodded and kept trudging.  We were still several hundred feet below the upper cone of the volcano and already we could feel the hot wind coming down the ridge.

“Quieres un caballo?”  One of the boys asked, offering an easier trip to the top.  The older man, who I suspect was the boy’s father, was inspecting the horse’s saddle, as the boy tightened the straps.  The young horsemasters had been following us in case one of us grew too weary to continue.

“No gracias.”  I said.  “Estamos fuerte.”

The sun was lowering into the clouds and cast a golden glow upon the strange scene.  Below us, the earth was rich and green, alive with vegetation.  Above us, the earth had vomited its bile and had yet to recover.  Sharp, violent rocks were strewn about as if an explosion was still fresh in the mountain’s mind.  We continued upwards, into the hot, sulfury wind.

(The scene of the photograph, Pacaya, Guatemala, 2007)