The Adventures of Rob & Lauren

We’ve come to find that often our favourite photos aren’t taken when we are planning to shoot. Instead, they come when we’re just walking around, or traveling from one place to another. 

One day in Pucallpa we started to wander after lunch, and found ourselves in the middle of a huge Saturday market. We were again the only travelers to be seen, and got a lot of attention. We were able to interact with the people through our cameras, and had so many great connections.

They have blackish purple corn here, which is just stunning.

Selling spices.

This is tobacco, I believe. I have never seen it like this before!

My favorite kind of market is one where I have no clue what most of the stuff is. It’s fascinating!

Cigarettes like I’ve never seen.

Remote controls, just in case you need a few extra.

These folks saw me taking a photo of the mannequins and called me over. We ended up taking shots of a bunch of people, and then were offered a drink of beer! These people are so so so wonderful, I can’t even begin to describe it.

They are very very resourceful with their transport too. Check out the huge pieces of rebar this auto-rickshaw was hauling. And the moped beside it is carrying a family of four!  

While walking through the market we came across a street vendor selling some sort of food. I thought it looked interesting, so I took a shot. They noticed our curiosity and put some onto a plate for us to try. 

How to describe it…..well, it had that bitter, meaty taste that comes with some part of an animal that we are certainly not used to eating. I really have no clue what it was, but our best bet was intestines of some sort! Needless to say, we definitely weren’t the biggest of fans. That being said, we would never refuse food that someone was kind enough to offer us! And they again wouldn’t take any money even when we tried to pay them. Very very generous.

In Pucallpa there are many buzzards/vultures (I’m not sure which one, as we’ve heard both!) wandering around everywhere. They are quite ominous, really.

There are many unpaved roads around here, which gives the scenes this really incredible look to them. I love the colour that the earth brings to the shots.

I thought this little packet of bug exterminator was funny. I wonder if it’s effective!

This fellow was quite the jokester. When I asked to take his photo, he threw out some pretty awesome poses for me. He had the whole area laughing, and when I went around and showed the shots to the spectators they laughed even harder. Great fellow. 

Kids are fun to shoot as well. I find that some of them are quite shy to start, but if I snap a photo of a more adventurous friend, and show them the result, they suddenly are more than happy to have their photo taken! They are all so adorable too. 

Right now we’re in Iquitos, a city further north and right on the Amazon river. We have almost two weeks here to really explore and get a sense of this jungle. Can’t wait to show you all this place, as it is absolutely stunning! Rob and Drew have already been discussing how they could build a house here! 

More soon!

Lauren & Rob