“This large and modern building is located in the north-central part of the city. It gathers together the best of Ecuadorian art. Each room or space reflects a different theme, such as ethnography, sculpture, music or painting. From time to time there are shows and exhibitions featuring local and foreign artists. This museum has facilities for artistic performances, exhibitions, film screenings, dance shows and other types of events. It is permanently open to the public and allows the visitor to enjoy a wide range of shows in one place.” ~ Yahoo

The Maras Salt Mines are located just 30min outside of Cusco, Peru.  Entrance to the place is only $1 (as of Oct 2009) and is well worth a visit.  It’s been there before the Incas and has been owned by the same family for the last 4 generations.  It used to be a horrible place to work and own because it made very little money.  Then about 5-10 years ago with the boom of Machu Picchu, a few people took some tourists there.  They thought it was an easy way to add a tour stop and make a different tour than what the rest were promoting (which everyone at the time was pushing nothing but Machu Picchu).  The family who owned it quickly found out they could make more money by charging tourist a $1 to see the place vs the money they made from the salt.

It’s located in the Sacred Valley of the Incas in a small little village called Maras.  Over time the salt has pooled up and made these little pools along a cliff side.  It all comes from a little spring that is heavy in salt content located at the top of the hill.  People who work there harvest the salt by hand and it’s a back breaking job where a cut on the ankle leads to a painful days work.  Even for the bad work conditions this is a perfect example where tourism brought a new market to a company that would otherwise be making very little.  Since the boom in tourism conditions have been better and pay has increased.

If you’re a photographer and want to get something different in Peru, definitely hit this place up.  When you arrive you will take a road cut out from the side of a cliff on the opposite side of the mines.  It’s surrounded by brown cliffs and in the middle of it is the Mares Salt Mines.  It looks like God made it snow in the Grand Canyon in a small section of only about 500m.  Best time to visit is just before sunset, if you get lucky the light will be just right and the changes of color in the salt-pools is amazing.

This was taken on 23Jan10 while hiking North Illiniza Mountain, located south of Quito by one hour, with some friends.  I made this pano while hiking back down and wanted to see if I could capture exactly what I saw.  The views were awesome and I got lucky that day and was able to see all 5 mountain peaks:

1. South Iliniza Mountain ….. (5,263 meters):  Also called Illiniza Sur.  Must have a guide for this mountain as it’s very difficult.
2. North Iliniza Mountain …… (5,116 meters):  Also called Illiniza Norte. No guide required.
3. Corazon Mountain ……….. (4,782 meters):  No guide required and is a easy hike.
4. Ruminahui Mountain ……. (4,722 meters):  No guide required and is a easy hike.
5. Cotopaxi Mountain ………. (5,897 meters):  Guide required and some experience necessary.  Note: Highest active volcano in the world.

These mountains are located in the Cordillera Occidental, Cordillera Oriental and Interandino Mountain ranges, which are just South of Quito, Ecuador.  All are easy to get to by bus from Quito, $1.50 for the bus ticket and all can be reached under an hour.

If you would like to see a larger photo of this picture, click here.  I’m still working on a way to embed a flash video so these pano’s can be viewed in a 360 aspect… any hints on how I can do this with a SWF file or .MOV file would be most helpful.

I started playing with another new technique that I have been neglecting for a long time.  Making panoramic isn’t that hard but does take a conscious thought when out shooting.  I mean your not going to be able to get back to your house and when post-editing you find a great picture thinking “wow that would make a great panoramic photo!”  Won’t work like that and you have to have the idea in your head before starting to shoot if you want good pano-shots.

So to mix things up, I’m going to try and post one panoramic shot per week now.  We’ll see if I can stick with it but a friend turned me onto a good program for stitching photos together, called ArcSoft Panorama Maker 5 Pro.  I don’t like all the features of it but it is easy to use and has a free striped down trail version (and free is always good!).

Still need help with people to fill out my survey about this site.  It takes 2min, I won’t ask for any personal information and you don’t have to register.  So help me out and click here.