Anyway, lemme know if you’re interested in a print! might be able to hook u up

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The SVA workshop ended on Saturday w/ a party at Pools Bar. Students submitted their top 25 photos and we had a slide show. …some great shots in there!

A friend who I surf w/ in NY, Gianni, came out on Saturday as well and we stayed until weds. Waves were a bit flat, but we found some fun small ones (at least for me on a longboard) up at hobos on Monday and Tues. Also, on Tues Sandy Beach picked up to around head high. We surfed it in the late afternoon w/ a bit of chop on it. Fun stuff!

Final pics of the trip below:

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…took some shots at Domes, but waves were small and I didn’t come up w/ anything worthy of posting. Ramse took a few of us to get a demonstration from local shaper (known to everyone as) Monchito.

Monchito is a bit of a character. He doesn’t speak a lick of english and shapes and glasses boards w/ bare feet. His boards are great though! He shapes for Ramse. Also a friend of mine bought a fish from him and said it was awesome.

I had dropped off my board 2 days before after breaking off and inch or 2 of the nose at Cemetaries. …3rd time I’ve done that in PR! repair was done very well. …perfectly smooth. I had him touch up the other repairs I’d done as well. 60 bucks total, well worth it!

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…took a break from surf photography and drove an hour or so up into the rain forest. From there, hiked to a beautiful waterfall. It reminded me a lot of the tour I did in Chang Mai, Thailand. There was actually 3 waterfalls that you could hike up to, the largest being at the bottom. Ramse was the only one who checked out the other 2.

I took some shots from the water w/ my G11 which has some issues w/ water beading up on the housing port. …land shots are w/ a 1Ds Mark II.

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…into some bigger waves and stronger current! This was a different experience all together. Where before you could pretty much stand up and shoot, here it was a tough paddle out and took some effort to stay in the sweet spot. Later I found that the paddle in wasn’t too easy either! …got swept around the point and had to come in at the next break over, Indicators, w/ the help of one the instructors. A bit sketchy! Thanks J.P.!

Pics from water:

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Day 2 was up in Aguadilla. Fun Chest high waves w/ some head high sets coming in. A couple pics of Otto Flores, but most of locals, etc. I got a nice 2 hr session in early on, was fun! Dinged my board though, it’s getting repaired now in Rincon.

Fish eye lense:

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Telephoto lense (600mm and 1200mm):

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In pics:
Pro surfer Otto Flores, Ramseys (sp?), students, etc

…just testing out the incredible equipment in small waves. Tomorrow waves are supposed be 8′ at 10 seconds! Will see how the fins work in real waves I guess.

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This is about an hour drive outside of Medellin. We rented a car and took off around noon. The trip included a couple stops for breakfast and lunch, a mock pueblo, a real pueblo and of course El Peñol (The Stone). …really beautiful!

Photo Credits: Trevor Thompson and Derek Grotzinger

No need to go in a bar on a good night at Parque Lleras, the party is in the street! On this night, Medellin beat Huila 1-0 (Soccer, obviously) and that’s all it took…not even a local game!

Photos credits: Derek Grotzinger

Photos credits: Delfin Toro

It’s day 4 for me in Medellin and already it’s been action packed! My friend Delfin Toro has been showing me around and is possibly the city’s best tour guide. Our days generally consist of taking the metro somewhere interesting, checking out the sites, meeting up w/ friends, eating great food, walking many miles and then hitting up the party scene at night. I’m finding the city to be clean w/ good transportation and friendly people. Everyone is out right now for the holidays…they generally take off a good month for Christmas starting around 12/7. The city is lit up for the holiday w/ many events that the locals love to take advantage of.

I still don’t have a battery for my camera so no pics! It’s been torture since there’s good photo ops around every corner. I easily could’ve posted 100 pics by now! Del has been taking some and some video so will try to post later.

In absence of my camera, I’ll list a few things we’ve done and seen here:

Parque de leas Escultureas de Botero: Fernando Botero donated millions of dollars worth of large brass sculptures and paintings to create a park and museum. He’s the most famous artist to come out of Colombia and is still around. …wanted to go to Museo de Botera in Bogota, but didn’t have time so was glad I could go here. Admission was free for the holidays too!

Parque Biblioteca España: The current president of Colombia is Alvaro Uribe is credited with the huge transformation of Colombia from a dangerous warzone to a place that we can now safely visit. His philosophy was to increase education and public utilities, especially in the poor areas. This library is a perfect example. It’s located in what was one of the worst Pablo Escabar Era warzones!

Photos credits: Delfin Toro

There’s a saying in Colombia that the poorest people have the best views. This is because they live up in the hills outside of the cities where work is scarce and there’s a lack of transportation. Well, the new metrocable (basically a gondola) is putting an end to this. Before they had a 1 to 2 hour commute, now it’s 15 mins or so!

The view from the metrocable showed a vast ghetto teaming with life. Kids playing, cookouts, people working, etc, etc. It reminded me a bit of Direcho Bliss in Tacloban City, but definitely much bigger!

The library itself was closed but really beautiful as were the views. The barrio was full of life with kids playing, street vendors selling food, people having cookouts, etc. You still have to be careful but we didn’t run into any trouble.

Rio de Medellin: Running north to south through the center of the valley that is Medellin is the Rio de Medellin. During the Christmas holiday it’s decoration with lights (illuminated fountains this year) and there’s all sorts of venders, street art, activities, etc along one side. It’s packed with locals! …lots of fun!

Pueblito Paisa: First off, Paisas are the locals of the Medellin area and the surrounding mountains. The name comes from the spanish word “paisano” and basically means countrymen.

So, Pueblito Paisa is a miniture replica of an old Paisas Pueblo (town). I we got dinner there an I ordered the Bandeja Paisa, which is like the hardiest meal I’ve ever had in my life. lol …sausage, pork rhine (deep fat fried of course), beans, fried plantain, beef, etc! …not for those watching their weight (like me after this trip)!

The hill leading up to the pueble is decorated with lights that can be seen from far away. …also packed with locals.

more to come!