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  Here is a nighttime view of the cityscape in Quito, Ecuador.  Taken through the hotel window, I had to turn off all the lights in the hotel room to eliminate reflections.

One the terrific hotels I stayed in during last month's trip to South America was the Aranwa Sacred Valley Hotel & Wellness.  It is located along the banks of the Vilcanota river about a 1.5 hour drive from Cusco.  It is also 40 minutes from the train station in Ollantayambo which is where you travel to Machu Picchu.   The hotel, on the grounds of a 17th century hacienda is quite spectacular with beautiful surroundings and large rooms. 

The Monasterio is a Belmond hotel in Cuzco, Peru.  It is a former monastery, now converted to a fabulous (and photogenic) high end hotel.  During last month's trip to South America, I spent a couple of nights at this hotel and must highly recommend it. 

While in Lima, Peru and waiting for our guide outside the Larco Museum, I had the opportunity to play with the iPhone's built-in macro.  Here are a couple of macro shots of Western Honey bees enjoying the beautiful flowers on a warm, sunny day.  

Ok, it's a llama not a dog and it is much friendlier than a guard dog would be.   Anyway, it is fun to see these guys wandering around amidst the tourists at Machu Picchu.

What an amazing site it was!   It has been on my bucket list for many years and it was worth the time, expense and effort to finally see Machu Picchu in all its glory.  

Here are a couple of views from on board The Infinity, the luxury yacht that takes people to various islands in the Galapagos.  The sunsets were a beautiful orange and the white sandy beach was a perfect place to see the birds and animals.  

Getting between the Galapagos Islands was done on the luxury yacht Infinity.  Getting to and from the ship each days was done by dinghy, some days with a dry landing and others as a wet landing on a beach.  Here are a few of my favourite shots from on and off the Infinity.

This photo doesn't do justice to the beauty of this Spotted Eagle Ray, lying by the ocean floor.  If I had scuba gear, I would have dove down to get a better shot, but the wet suit and salt water made it difficult for this snorkeler to dive down to any significant depth below the surface.

I knew we would see many bird species on a trip to Galapagos but I must admit that I didn't expect to see penguins!  These little fellows were the fastest swimmers of any creatures that we saw on the trip, zipping back and forth more quickly than dolphins or sea lions.  Tt was difficult to get a photo of them while they were swimming but I did manage to get this one.

These shots are from a large pond a short hike from Bachas Beach in the Island of Santa Cruz in the Galapagos.  It is home to many beautiful flamingos.  This was a nice stop on the way to see the nesting grounds of the green sea turtles.  

While visiting Galapagos, we saw a large number of (large) sea lions.  Many were lazing on the beach, but we also swam in the ocean with them.  Here are a couple of beach beauties.

Along the shores of Santa Cruz Island in the Galapagos are black volcanic rock and the darkness of the rock really shows the beautiful red colour of the multitude of red crabs.  Younger crabs, more vulnerable to predators, do not have the red colouring so that they can be more discreet.  But larger crabs, like this fellow, spend their days moving along the rocky shoreline.

One of the first things we did when we arrived at Galapagos was to visit the El Chato Ranch on Santa Cruz Island.  This place is a natural reserve with many enormous land tortoises in their natural habitat. These giants can weigh between 250 and 300 kg and they can live up to 200 years. 

How beautiful is this guy?  (Well, maybe his mother thinks so.) This is a marine iguana who seems to think that he is in charge of the beach at Santa Cruz Island in the Galapagos.   He is perched up at eye level on a lava outcrop and he is eyeing everyone who passes by.  I love the texture of the skin and the spikes on his head.  Thankfully all of our papers were in order and he allowed us to pass!

It's been a while since I have made a blog entry, in part, because I have been travelling for the past few weeks in South America.  With visits to the Sacred Valley and Machu Picchu in Peru and also the Galapagos, I have taken about 1,000 photos.  Most were on my iPhone 14 Pro Max and I used an Olympus TG-6 for underwater shots.  I will post photos from the trip in this blog and will also upload photos to my photo gallery at www.fourlens.ca.  To get the ball rolling, here is the wonderful expression on this Blue-footed Booby.  We saw many of these birds (and many other bird species while at Galapagos) but this is one of my favourite shots.  This was taken near Floreana Island.

I haven't been blogging in a while, busy with post Christmas and New Year plans.  Here is a lovely Midjourney-generated image of three lions.  It reminds me of my trip many years ago to five game parks in Kenya and Tanzania.

A few years ago, I happened to be in Monument Valley where my wife and I were led on a very interesting tour by an elderly Navajo guide.  I asked Midjourney AI could render similar images and here are two that were produced. 

I'm trying to learn more types of AI generated styles and this image from Midjourney combines a double exposure (lion and trees) with a watercolour style.  It really does remind me of when I was on safari in Tanzania and Kenya.

On my bucket list is a trip someday to the hot air balloon festival in Albuquerque, New Mexico.  I asked the Midjourney AI engine to render me this image of what it could look like.