Why should you care about another Web site of travel photos?

Three weeks isn’t really a longtime to get to know a place, especially nearly 30 million square kilometers of place. As a tourist—a casual interloper with a camera—one can only get so much. Some souvenirs, grand vistas, maybe some fond memories to wax nostalgic on.

This August, I got more than a postcard. From the very start, I got less scenery and more substance—made possible by a people who are incredibly giving of themselves, by sublime and varied landscapes, by a culture (many cultures really) that is rich and intriguing.

Ecuador and Peru—where I traveled for three weeks and Todd two—are all those things. Dynamic, chaotic; charming, quaint. Provincial and cosmopolitan.

Endless stretches of countryside—with all of its chickens, modest wooden houses and tiny towns (typically featuring an outdoor table to drink a cold pilsner)—in an endless variety of climates and landscapes. And some major metropolitan areas, too. Yes, New York is crazy—but these microcosms have their own special flavor of chaos. Buses that shout and cajole you into leaping onboard; an unquenchable thirst for dancing; markets that are both walls of produce and people.

I took a lot of photos. But for every camera click, there where 10 more pictures I missed. Life in these two Andean nations is just unbelievably vibrant.

So here’s a tourist’s take—some spotty leafs in a far more nuance novel. Enjoy, and please give me feedback.

Heather Haddon

How do I use this Web site?

That seems like a stupid question. But I thought I’d offer some tips anyway to ensure that you, my kind viewer, actually looks at what I put so many hours into.

First, a caveat. Because of my limited Web building skills, each of the photo pages opens into a separate window. Close it and your back to the menu pages. I just couldn’t figure out how to jump between them easily, and I just stopped caring.

So, there are a lot of photos here. Most of you probably won’t have the time or interest to look at all of them—let alone read the text! Here are some highlights:

• If you have little time to look: Some of the best photos are on the Quito and Markets pages.

• If you’re looking for natural beauty: The nature section, of course, but the Montañita and Points In Between pages have some good stuff too.

• If you’re looking for portraits: There’s some in the People section, yes. But I also like the shots of kids under Markets, some of the Plaza portraits, and I like the shots of the bus operators and VW Bug driver in Transportation.

• If you’re looking for action shots: There’s the night volleyball game in Tena, the soccer matches in Quito and Plazas, and most definitely the whipping scenes in Quito.

• If you’re looking for the exotic: The Market section has some pretty vivid shots (especially if you’re into fish eyes). The People page has lots of photos of fantastic dress.

• If you’re looking for something creepy: Check out the bone “instillation” in the Lima section.

• If your looking for funny photos of Todd: There’s one in Food, some finger puppets and cheese action in Markets, and a racy one [made G-rated] in Montañita.

• If your looking for funny photos of me: Good luck—those were seized by customs!