Small world...

Early one October morning we were exploring a tomb along the Nile, when out of the blue, some guy grinning ear to ear came running up to Anthea, who was right next to me. It took a few seconds to recognize him, but sure enough, Mr. Bobby Beck himself was there with us. He was on vacation as well and happened to be at the same ruin at the same time. In Egypt of all places! Small world.

Spain

Goofing of at Illion studios in Madrid with some of my new coworkers. A bunch of former and current AMers working here on Planet 51. Martin Esnaola, Jorge Vigara, Diego Supervia, Anthea Kerou, Gustavo Calle, Alberto Corral, Pako Baqur, "Tote", Terry Reilly, myself, and the evil Julio Lorenzo.

The Bond villain himself, Julio.

Egypt & Jordan

After Greece hopped a jet to Egypt and Jordan for three weeks of ancient ruins and Red Sea diving. Camels with bad teeth posed for phot. Got lost in the desert of Petra and took a ride in a hot air baloon over the valley of Luxar. Swam and cruised the Nile, and ate most of everything...besides the chilled monkey brains.

Rose city of Petra, recognize it Indy fans?

Wadi Rum desert. Where Lawrence of Arabia was filmed.

Cliff jumping in greece

A 50 foot drop into the warm waters of Corfu!

Snorkling is fun with a waterproof camera.

Greece

Greece! After leaving Rio and enduring ten flights in four days. I flew home through Peru and Mexico, to NY for a quick visit to Blue Sky then home to Wisconsin for a quick repack. Then back to NY, off to Dublin, London, and finally landing in Corfu Greece. There I met my new awesome and travel partner and former AMer Anthea! We proceeded to travel around the Greek islands for the next month. Corfu, Kefalonia, Santorini, Mykonos, Paros and of course Athens. What a trip. And the food was even better then the views.

Leaping around the maze of Mykonos town.

Gazing at Corfu town.

Sitting at the Acropolis in Athens.


The train doors open quick in Athens.

Rio De Janeiro

RIO. A week in one of the most beautiful cities in the world. The food, beach, samba, music, fresh fruit, fun in the sun. Met some even more Brazilian AM students; Rapheal, Wagner, Rodrigo and Chris, who all took us out and showed us the true Rio. I also got to hang out with Carlos Saldanha's (Director of Ice Age 2 & 3) sister in Ipanema. Go Blue Sky! We enjoyed a visit to Seagulls Fly animation studio, which has the best views in the world, and they close the blinds. :) I want to give a special thanks to the folks at AM for making it possible for me to meet these great people.

AMers in Sao Paulo!

Just left Sao Paulo, the AM capital of South America, where I got meet 15 AM students. Ana and Fernando toured us all over the city and even took us to a futbol match between Santos and Sao Paulo. 0-0, but it was still exciting. We had a few fantastic Brazilian meals and I got to talk to many current and future animation peers. I had a great time and hope to see all of you guys soon!

Buenos Aires

So after a brief stop in Salta and Cordoba, one crazy day which Argentina beat Brazil in the Olympic futbal match, we arrived in Buenos Aires. The week spent there was one of the highlitghts of the trip. We lucked out with perfect weather, a fun hostel and great new friends. And I got to meet my first AMer Leandro Pedrouzo! He was a grand host, took us on a mini tour of Palermo and to a fantastic grilled pizza place. And gave us valuable insight on the city. Gracias Leandro! We got to watch La Boca futbol team play and enjoyed some great Carne Asado. Good times.

Accidently in Chile

We ended up in San Pedro Chile a few days because we thought it would save us some time, it turned out in the end it did, but we almost got stuck and had to hitch out to Argentina. It was a good adventure and after almost missing a few buses (one was pulling out with all of our stuff on it) we finally made it to Salta....Its been a juggling act so far!

Boliva Salt Flats

I celebrated my 29th birthday on the spectacular Sal De Uyuni. But pictures do not do it justice. The sense of endless space, the stars at night and the silence was uncanny. We spent 3 hot days followed by frigid nights, without changing clothes or showering, passing endless desert, train graveyards, volcanos, gysers, green red and blue lagunas filled with pink flamingos, and amazing rock formations.

Snickers bar 'cake' on a deck of cards with 4 human candles.

La Paz

After a confusing bus ride, where the bus actually kicked us off and took a boat across the lake, and we followed in a dingy, we arrived in La Paz, Bolivia. Upon arrival we found out that we were stuck there for three days. It was elections and EVERYTHING was closed. So we made the best of it, met some new friends and visited the infamous San Pedro prison. Driving into La Paz was amazing. This giant city looked like it was built in a huge creator. And being the highest capital in the world, it left us breathless.

Lake Titicaca

After Cuzco we headed down to Puno and spent 3 days at lake Titicaca. We stood on the floating reed islands and slept on Arminati island with a local family. There was no electricity and it was absolutely freezing but the people were so nice and the lake was an experience not to be missed. One night we enjoyed a candle lit fiesta where locals danced around a few hours and dressed us up in ponchos.