A goldfish pond in Shirakawa-go, Japan. (c) 2016 George Nobechi
“Hello! Your image is currently featured on Instagram’s The Week on Instagram…Every week, we look back and highlight some of our favorite emerging voices across the globe. We’re excited to highlight yours this week. Thank you for everything you do!” –The Instagram Team
Those of you who have been following this blog know that I have been undertaking a grand transition from a stock trader in the Big City to a photographer and “Gentleman Backpacker,” well, anywhere the prevailing wind takes me.
The wind last summer took me to Santa Fe, New Mexico to the Santa Fe Photographic Workshops, and this past winter it carried me back to Japan, the land of my birth. This time, in the form of a Japan photo tour, I brought with me the illustrious photographer Arthur Meyerson, most famous for his great work across four decades as a commercial photographer shooting for the likes of Coca-Cola, Nike, and Apple, and a group of 13 photographers from Canada, the UK, the US, and Japan.
About ten days ago, we asked for people to submit their best photos of Peru on Instagram and a few people were kind enough to submit their photos to us. Without further ado, the featured artists. Please check them out on Instagram and thank you for your submissions:
-Don’t worry if the train from Cusco to Machu Picchu is fully booked- take a car part way
-Book your Huayna Picchu climb for 10am
-If you have extra days, spend them in Cusco or around the Sacred Valley
-Follow us on Instagram this week @thegentlemanbackpacker and submit your best Peru photos using #gentlemanbackpacker_peru to enter our photography contest and be featured on our feed and on this website.
One of the things I learned from my 14-country Round-the-World trip in 2008 was to be efficient. This was true whether it came to packing or travel planning. I can now plan a nice 3-day weekend in Buenos Aires, for example. Sometimes, you just can’t spend as much time in a country as you would like. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t go at all. The Sacred Valley of Peru, a popular destination that usually begins in Cusco and reaches its climax at Machu Picchu, now one of the New Seven Wonders of the World, can be done in a variety of ways.
The famous Inca Trail is extremely popular with backpackers and college students. On my way back from Machu Picchu, I shared a train booth with some young ladies from the University of Florida, who apologized (unnecessarily) for the fact they hadn’t showered in 5 days and, upon hearing I lived in Tokyo, knew about and longed for the use of a Japanese washlet, given their time spent “roughing it with a leaf and a shovel.” But there I was, determined to go to Machu Picchu on a trip where I was also going to the Galapagos to cruise around by boat, visit museums in Spain and attend the opera in Vienna, oh and cruise the Nile in Egypt as well; I couldn’t lug around the appropriate equipment for camping in the mountains. So, after some careful and annoying planning, I came up with an itinerary that ticked all the boxes I wanted to tick, but was doable in just 4 days. Read on to find out how.
