foreign faces - bolivia, peru

update - may 17th, 2007. just wanted to upload a few pictures from San Francisco where the shibipo tribe lives.

i am currently in south america and thanks to the help of fellow dgrinners i was a ble to get a few shots. and thanks to Nik at starexploer.com i was able to load photos. without star explorer i couldnt upload any photos.

These photos are straight out of the camera, I havent had time to finish them in photoshop. A lot of the photos from bolivia were taken at a market in tarabuco which i visited on three different sundays. sunday is market day and people come into town from the surrounding areas dressed in traditional clothes (not for the sake of the tourists). most of the people dont speak spanish, they speak quetchua so i had to learn a little quetchua. because most of my photos were taken with my 50mm 1.8 i had to ask permision and pay the people a small amount to take the photos.

in peru it is a different story, in some of the touristy areas like cusco, when the people see your camera they come up to you and ask you to take their picture for a propina (tip).













The shipibo are known for their pottery and fabrics, as well as jewelry










a woman with her wares for sale. note her skirt, it is a geometric design that the shaman see when they are taking ahyawasca (sp) a hallucinogenic mdicine-drug. the one she is wearing is embroidered, they also have fabrics that are painted.






my models. these young girls were selling jewelry, so i bought various things from them for $.33 and got them to be my models.



Irujaria, I heard about her, she suposedly is 115 years old! her surving children are in their 80s. she lives in Pampa michi and rarely allows strangers to meet her or take photos. i had to work quickly and when i got back to my hostel i realized my camera wasnt set to take raw photos. so i went back two days later and talked to my "guide" and asked him if he could line up another "shoot". she was in a good mood and let me take a few more photos. she got the tattoos on her face on her 15th birthday as was customary back in the day. I think she is an important person so i am going to post a few photos of her.












Note the color of her eyes!!!!!


women from pampa michi wearing traditional clothes (for the tourist - ie me). they do still live a traditional way of life (with electricity)




clothes and bow and arrow were for my benefit (i.e. to take photos)



old ways with new technologies, cell phones



I guess I forgot to roll my eye around the viewfinder, I didn´t see that head in the upper right when i took the photo.




she is from a small pueblo, and she isn´t dressed up for any tourists
since they don´t visit where she lives




also from the small pueblo, note the lack of shoes which is stillthe traditional way


it seemed like all the young "women" had kids. I believe they have kids when they are 14 and 15 years old (and younger)
















a gentleman from tarabuco with a traditional hat



her friends were making fun of her when i tok the photo








this gentleman is a hat maker. he invited me into his home and asked me to take photos of himself with his wife



one of my favorite photos



her freidns were making fun of her too




a woman at the market in tarabuco wearing a traditional hat




a weaver showing off one of her products



a young man in traditionalk dress




This is a "rare" photo because you rarely see women (or men) with grey hair or women without long braids
+



he was trying hard not to crack up.




smoking is rare, and i only saw men smoking. ususally they would chew coca leaves, that is one reason the older people have bad teeth.



i couldnt resist trying to get a photo of her smile. this was taken in a small village outside sucre, bolivia where i spent a few days walking from pueblito to pueblito. normally when the campasinos (country people) saw a camera they would start to yell at you in quetchua.


this is the young girls mom. i shared some wine with her dad and he of coursed poured some on the ground and offered it to pachamama (mother earth)


this was taken outside of sucre, bolivia


this little guy and his sister were "begging" in La PAz


here they are together









kids going to school , lake titicaca, peru



lake titicaca, at this altitude (something like 1200 feet) the weather is hard on the body and face.


this young lady lives on one of the islands in lake titicaca and she alwyas had a great smile.





Victoria, i stayed at her house on one of the islands in lake titicaca. their only source of money is from tourists.






this gentelman was dressed up for an easter celebration.





great smile!!!

















one of the lucky ones. this young girl was living on the streets in iquitos. a gentlemaman in his early 70s from the USA living on just his social security took in several street kids and provided them with a home and schooling so their futures would be better.



she is from a small villiage outside of iquitos int he amazon basin.



a group of girls dressd up outside of cusco, peru


i told him he looked like kieth richards.



SHY



this little girl is from the pisac area outside of cusco, i must have taken several photos of her on several different occasions.


you got to get a few of these.


i walked by this gentleman in the streets of cusco. he was pushing a wheelbarrow. i had to run back to find him and ask him if i could take his photo.


the face says it all!!!!!!!!



i was walking back from a gym when i saw this woman. i hurried back to my hostel to ge mycamera witht he hopes that i would find her which i did. she didnt speak spanish, only quetchua. the green stuff around her lips is from the coca leaves that she was chewing.



hands of a weaver, cusco, peru


this gentleman is from pisca, peru. he is 105 years old. i checked this out with a few locals and they all confirmed it.



La Abuelita - little garandma. she is 87 years old and happy as can be. she would smile, laugh, clap her hands ... she loved to have her picture taken. i tried on 4 different occasion to capture her spirit but failed.

i am not sure if it is allowed, but below are links to the photos


http://fotosbydavid.smugmug.com/gallery/2637369 people from bolivia

http://fotosbydavid.smugmug.com/gallery/2707849 people from peru