(1/125s, f/5, ISO200, 115mm)

Our team started this year with two articles in Hungarian travel magazines, Világjáró Magazin – Roads of the Altai and Földgömb Magazin – The Mosquito coast. Also, a series of articles are published in Over Magazin about travel photography, starting in May.

Our summer trips to Mongolia: Mounted expedition with reindeer herders and Gobi Desert Overland Expedition were a huge success, we will be posting photos soon.

The 2010/11 winter season arrives with new and exciting trips, organized through our travel partner, iKaland (the links are in Hungarian):

October 8 – 25 The millennium of the Maya: Discovering history and nature in Guatemala
October 16 – 23 El Mirador: the largest pyramids on Earth
October 30 – November 11 Cuchumatánes Expedition: researching equestrian traditions in the Maya Highlands
November 15 – 28 Wild Mexico: from the Caribbean to the Pacific
December 2 – 15 Río Azul Expedition: in search of lost Maya cities
December 22 – January 6 Cuba on two wheels: expedition to an enchanted land
January 30 – February 12 Río San Pedro Expedition: Following Maya trade routes with canoes
February 19 – March 10 Honduras: the Mosquito-coast in a pipante

(1/60s, f/14, ISO100, 50mm)

We are planning a new trip to Central America, across four countries, visiting the great cities of the Maya Civilisation. Including the best of ancient sites and sights in Guatemala, Honduras, Belize and Mexico, the trip will also reveal some contradictions about the „2012 Maya Prophecy”. More information: info[at]bedouin.hu

(1/250s, f/5, ISO100, 70mm)

A patient boatman waits for clients on the shore of Petén Itza in the light of the setting sun. Previously surviving from fishing, poaching and small-scale agriculture, residents of Flores today make a better-than-average income from tourism.

(1/500s, f/8, ISO400, 70mm)

The best part of the firewood stock is purchased early by locals arriving on horse or by truck.

(1/250s, f/3.2, ISO200, 200mm)

A truckload of melons, a few chicken, plus 15 family members complete with babies. Worn tires and the lack of a windshield on top of it all.

(1/500s, f/8, ISO400, 70mm)

There is a solid white line, the road winds uphill with zero visibility ahead, and I am driving a trailer loaded with extra heavy cargo, so why not overtake that annoyingly slow tuk-tuk? If I meet someone coming downhill, I might as well get back into line. A piece of Central American driver philosophy.

(1/60s, f/2.8, ISO400, 200mm)

Fresh, crispy chilies for sale in Chichicastenango, the largest market of Central America.

(1/640s, f/9, ISO400, 70mm)

In Chichicastenango a sacrificial altar stands on the stairway of the Catholic church. The Maya priests and believers come here and inside the church to pray to their gods, whom they try to please with various offerings. These could be corn whisky, rice, incense or some Coke, but on special days sometimes a whole chicken is sacrificed to ensure a rich harvest or plenty of rain.

(1/25s, f/2.8, ISO100, 70mm)

Tourist bait.

(1/640s, f/7, ISO400, 125mm)

The Mam girl dressed in traditional clothes collects dried horse dung with her little brother, to be used by their mom to cook the usual staple: cornflour tortillas with black bean paste. In this area anyone who can afford a cow or a horse is considered lucky.

(1/500s, f/8, ISO400, 70mm)

The color of mourning is bright, at least when it comes to painting graves. Around the country trees (used as firewood), flowers (plastic, if any) or intricate epitaphs are not so important as a gravestone painted bright pink or blue.

(1/320s, f/6.5, ISO100, 70mm)

One of the favorite pastime of local kids is the whitewater inner tubing. Headed towards the river, they jump into the wild rapids with their inflated rubber tube, emerging a few hundred yards downstream with a few bruises on their bodies.

(1/200s, f/4.5, ISO100, 70mm)

Tintal, a smaller excavation site in Petén faces similar water issues as its neighbor, El Mirador. In the dry season from January till May the area sometimes dries out to such an extent that excavations have to be suspended because there is not enough drinking water for the workers on site. The minimal precipitation that does fall is gathered and used by guards and visitors

(1/200s, f/5, ISO200, 90mm)

Two-year-old Emilia buys some homemade chocolate from Bettina, same age. Both are citizens of Guatemala.

(1/640s, f/6.3, ISO100, 140mm)

Two young boys listen from outside as mass is celebrated at the ruined church. In Sebol, like in many places around Guatemala, a fierce war rages between churches for the support (and money) of the faithful. The Catholics (still the most popular religion) are the usual losers of this competition, while the highest growth rate is reached by Mormons and the Evangelical Christians. One of the reasons of their success is the major financial support from the ministries back in the USA and the personal presence of western missionaries.

(1/125s, f/3.5, ISO100, 125mm)

The two peteneras (someone living in Petén, Guatemala) engage in the same activity as anyone else in their village: every afternoon they gaze at the traffic on the street from the entrance of their home.

(1/400s, f/7, ISO100, 70mm)

Beard-like epiphytes cover the branches of giant trees in the ancient city of El Mirador. Surviving the dry season with the help of their thick, waxy epidermis, small sections of them break off and travel in the air to form new colonies once the rains arrive.

(1/125s, f/11, ISO100, 80mm)

Deep in the Guatemalan jungle lie the ruins of El Mirador, the largest city in the Mayan world according to some researchers. Complex excavation has started only recently, and until today the only means to reach the ruins, 20 miles as the crow flies from the nearest settlement, are by foot or by helicopter. The photo was taken from the top of El Tigre at sunset, the hump on the horizon is pyramid La Danta, with a lonely tree jutting from its peak. Although La Danta reaches higher ASL as our viewpoint, until this day professionals argue about the absolute height of both structures.

(1/250s, f/5.6, ISO100, 70mm)

Homemade bridge with some interesting structural solutions. Greetings to our bridgework engineer friend and enthusiastic supporter, Tibor.

(1/200s, f/5, ISO100, 70mm)

The teachers are on strike again in Guatemala, a yearly occurrence in a country proud of its public education. Higher wages, more holidays and other rights are among their demands, emphasized by complete road blocks. An unanticipated break for the trucker, he calmly slings his hammock under his trailer and starts playing on his mobile phone.