Ecuador has the Galapagos, and Peru is known primarily for Machu Picchu. I visited both of these wonderful places many years ago -- their fame is fully justified. The second time around, I was a passenger on a cruise ship headed south out of the Caribbean and bound for Chile, Antarctica and Argentina. This return visit to Ecuador and Peru would feature the colorful and fascinating coastal areas of Manta, Trujillo, along with a second visit to Lima, the Peruvian capital.

My impressions of the Western coasts of Ecuador and Peru were gleaned from more than 3,000 digital images I shot during our entire month long trip. I made most of them with a compact Canon G5 five-megapixel digital camera using a Canon .7x wideangle converter placed over my zoom lens, which provided me with the equivalent of a 24mm wideangle lens, a focal length that I feel is essential for effective travel photography. Others were made with a Canon 1.75x telephoto converter, the equivalent of a 245mm telephoto lens. (Only a few of these photographs were made with just the G5's 35mm-140mm zoom lens.) I've edited these images with Photoshop to correct and refine the hue, color, contrast and sharpness levels, making my pictures more vibrant and meaningful. Although all of these photographs were digitally enhanced to some degree, none of the content has been digitally manipulated. The facts are all here, exactly as I captured them.

If you've viewed the previous articles I've posted on this site, you'll note that that my travels are geared to photography. My intentions are focused on interpretation, rather than description. I try to express how I feel about what I see with my images, rather than just recording what I've seen or where I've been. Aside from sharing my pictures with you on this website, I also use some of them to teach the principles of expressive travel photography through my galleries on pbase (www.pbase.com/pnd1) as well as in my Sedona workshops for corporate photojournalists, and in my tutorial workshops in Phoenix for newcomers to digital photography.

You may view my images of the other four segments of this cruise at the following sites:

The Caribbean and Panama Canal: http://www.worldisround.com/articles/30207/index.html

Chile: http://www.worldisround.com/articles/30205/index.html

Antarctica: http://www.worldisround.com/articles/30203/index.html

Argentina: http://www.worldisround.com/articles/30202/index.html

I hope you will enjoy these photographic impressions. Post any comments you may wish to leave at the end of these articles, or ask any questions of me via email.

Phil Douglis Director, The Douglis Visual Workshops, Phoenix, Arizona, pnd1@cox.net