412 - 31st - Grilled onions

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 31st Jan'09

We were having a "weekend" lunch at one of my friend's place and the menu was "Something grilled". While the meat-eaters were enjoying their share of grilled "arrachera" (beef) I had some othe exotic options saved for myself - grilled onions, nopales (cactus) and some grilled cheese.

There is nothing special, but I just love the taste of grilled food. The whole idea of grilling different vegetables and cheese on top of red hot coal just increases the taste of the food ten fold. God do I miss the paneer tikka (grilled paneer) at Bikanerwala in Delhi...

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411 - 30th - Out in the dark

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 30th Jan'09

Apart from the glowing signboards of the retail giant "Mega", the cine-complex "MM" and the famous hotel "Holiday Inn" one more thing which was making it's presence felt in the dark of the night was the glowing yellow moon. It was a day of full moon and the round yellow star had just came up the horizon.

I was walking back towards the parking after buying some groceries when I spotted the moon and tried to take some pics. I had to keep my camera on the top of a nearby car to get a clear picture. Gosh, it is high time to buy a tripod.

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410 - 29th - Of the first bloom

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 29th Jan'09

These are the flowers from my own garden. I did some plant shopping last weekend and bought these "flowering" plants. I love buying plants without any buds or flowers and then watch them grow and bloom. I planted two of these saplings around a week back and today one of them bore these two beautiful flowers.

Believe me, it is a great joy to see small plants grow and then bloom with scores of flowers.

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409 - 28th - The tiny fungi

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 28th Jan'09

One person was really pissed off while I was busy clicking these tiny mushrooms - my guide to the ruins of Palenque.

We had hired a guide to let us know the story behind the stones at the archeological ruins of Palenque. After giving us the details of the pyramids he led us into the jungle to show some ruins which haven't been excavated yet. As we were spiraling through the narrow path in the undergrowth we passed under a log of a fallen tree. This bunch of tiny fungi was growing on that particular piece of wood. While the guide was cursing me for spending time on something which isn't even remotely related to Maya civilization, I was busy getting my shot.

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408 - 27th - Palenque

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 27th Jan'09

The site of Palenque was abandoned by the Maya people for several centuries, when the Spanish explorers arrived in Chiapas in the 16th century. The first European to visit the ruins and publish an account was Father Pedro Lorenzo de la Nada in 1567; at the time the local Chol Maya called it Otolum meaning "Land with strong houses", de la Nada roughly translated this into Spanish to give the site the name "Palenque", meaning "fortification". Palenque also became the name for the town (Santo Domingo del Palenque) which was built over some peripheral ruins down in the valley from the main ceremonial center of the ancient city

I took this photo from the top of one of the pyramids right at the corner so that I could cover maximum area. the place was beautiful and the clear weather and sunshine helped me getting a pretty clear landscape.

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407 - 26th - Agua Azul

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 26th Jan'09

Agua Azul (Blue water) is a famous waterfall in the state of Chiapas, around 69 Kms from Palenque. This waterfall consists of many cataracts following one after another. The water is as blue as it looks in this picture & on many others posted before, and has a high mineral content. Where it falls on rocks or fallen trees it encases them in a thick shell-like coating of limestone.

The place offers a hour's trek up the hill to reach from where the water actually enters the area from a narrow crack in the mountain. The density of people inside and around the water decreases as you go up and it's clarity increases. It was probably one of the largest and most beautiful waterfalls I have ever seen.

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406 - 25th - A family

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 25th Jan'09

I was walking through the downtown of San Cristobal back to where our car was parked when I saw this small family right in front of me. My friend had warned me earlier that the native people in this city were really wary of getting "clicked" and often protested violently if they see someone shooting them without prior permission.

Given these facts, I somehow took risk of taking some quick shots. I really loved the way the woman was dressed. The way her hair was tied and the black traditional skirt which she was wearing. Looks like a perfect family :)

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405 - 24th - Crystal clear

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 24th Dec'09

For a moment I did not realize that this particular log of wood was actually immersed in water. The way the shadows fell and practically no optical distortion due the water made me feel at the first glance as if it was lying on a sheet of gravel. Only the next moment when my eyes rested on it, I realized the presence of water.

No wonder people couldn't resist dicing into it and being there for hours.

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404 - 23rd - Beyond the fence

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 23rd Jan'09

It is really amazing how we often cease to think "beyond" and just stick your sight on things right in front. It happens often in life that we regret being short-sighted and not looking far enough.

Well, it is almost the same case with this image. At first instance it just looks like a simple wooden fence. But if you try and look "beyond", you will see a couple of women grazing some sheep in an open stretch of land.

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403 - 22nd - The angry turkey

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 22nd Jan'09

This is probably one of the most amazing behaviors of any bird I have ever seen. There was a group of turkeys having some ten females and one male bird. The male bird which usually looks different , had its tail and wings spread out and was making loud sounds every now and then. Initially I was not able to understand what is going on. But after observing the flock for some time, I realized that it actually was a way to express anger and he was driving the rest of the females back into the shelter. In a couple of minutes I could see all the birds starting running towards the house with this angry mail on their back.

As you can see in the picture, the bird at the front is heading in one direction with the male following it. Male chauvinism – yet another example.

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402 - 21st - Relaxing under the sun

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 21st Jan'09

I caught this couple in my camera just after they came out of the water and rested themselves on the shore. They were inside the water for quite some time, swimming around and playing with their friends. Once out, they just tried to catch some sunshine and relax.

I was sitting at a distance just observing the activities around me. I don't know if you have ever done it, but it is really an amazing experience to observe people and the things they do.

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401 - 20th - Thru the shade

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 20th Jan'09

We were climbing up the slope to see the place from where the water starts gushing in the waterfall of Agua Azul. It was a long way up; more or less a two kilometer trek. While on the way, I noticed this small place among the dense vegetation where the sunlight was falling on the flowing water after being filtered through the thick shade of the tress above. The sparkling water along with the rays of light coming down was a treat to the eyes.

I managed to make my way inside the place and took some shots. I wanted to go a bit further but the ground below was taking the form of a swamp. So I maintained a safe distance and tried to get the best I could.

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400 - 19th - Friendship

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 19th Jan'09

This group of friends was standing in the middle of nowhere, daring the strong current of water coming from the waterfall. Very few people dared to go that far and thus the place was more or less empty. I could hear them laugh, scream and shout in joy even against the loud noise of the falling water. Though I didn't go to the place, seeing them enjoying whole heartedly brought a smile on my face.

Friendship is really a gem of a relation. The joy which you get with your friends cannot be paralleled by any other feeling on this earth. Those loud laughters and uncontrolled humors which you get with your friends are almost impossible to be found anywhere else. This post is dedicated to all my good friends; with whom I have spent some of the most precious moments of my life.

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399 - 18th - Down the road

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 18th Jan'09

We were on our way to Ocosingo from Tuxtla when we passed by some green meadows. As it was only a two-lane highway, it was difficult to stop at our will & so I told my friend to pull up down the road whenever it was possible. At one point when a small lane branched out of the highway, we found a place to park the car. I got out and took some shots.

As I was heading back towards the car, I had a glance on that weathered road. I saw an apparently old looking woman walking down the path carrying some stuff in her hand. I had just a couple of moments to get down at the right level and take some photos of her before she would take the turn and vanish.

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398 - 17th - Copy shop

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 17th Jan'09

As you might have already observed, the most striking feature of the copy shop in the image is the stark contrast in colors. I was walking through the downtown of San Cristobal when I came across this shop. The bright colors painted on the walls were giving a much brighter contrast due to the early morning sun.

I had to wait at the place for more than fifteen minutes to get a frame free of any people or traffic running through the street.

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397 - 16th - The man & the tree

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 16th Jan'09

I am not sure whether it was all wood or all stone or a combination of stone and wood, but the whole sculpture looked almost homogeneous. It had such a uniformity in it's texture that you could easily say that it was carved out of a single piece (wood or stone, doesn't matter).

Probably he was the founder of "zoomat", the ecological reserve at Tuxtla. I found him standing against a stump at the entrance of the place, near the ticket counter. It was a long queue, and I fell back on my favorite thing to kill some time - my camera.

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396 - 15th - Bugging the Bug

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 15th Jan'09

We were standing at one of the viewpoints for the Canyon del Sumidero and enjoying the beautiful scenary when something struck my head. Thinking of it as a dry leaf fallen from the tree above my head, I casually brushed it off with my hand. When it fell in front of me, I realized it was a red little bug. As I had my camera in hand, I thought it would be a nice close up shot of the insect.

Though I was patient enough to wait for it to face towards the camera to give a nice shot, I think it was not the same for the insect. I could have shot just two photos, when it suddenly spread it's tiny wings and flew away back from where it came :)

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395 - 14th - Early morning business

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 14th Jan'09

It was 7 in the morning when we arrived to San Cristobal after a hour's drive from Tuxtla. the city was covered in dense fog and even a thick leather jacket was not able to keep away the chilly wind. We left our hotel around 6 in the morning & hence had a plan to take breakfast in San Cristobal. After scanning the downtown for half an hour we could find only a single restaurant open at that hour. We parked our car in an empty parking slot and started walking towards the restaurant.

On the way, we saw these hawkers selling Tamales. Given the almost zero temperature, I could not resist buying one; even though my friends were not interested. While I was sitting & enjoying my steamy hot breakfast, I took this photo of the place. Though it didn't boast of high end customers, it was doing quite a good business.

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P.S Click on the image and observe the various subjects - it is really interesting :)

394 - 13th - The colored reptile

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 13th Jan'09

I have posted another image of this reptile some time back on my blog. It was having some shades of black and blue in that one. This time it has returned to the blog in a more colorful way. If you see carefully, you can find at least four distinct colors.

It is amazing how nature has put so many colors into it's creations in many different forms. Though humans were given only some limited shades of white, black and brown, other animals seem to enjoy the colored extravagance.

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393 - 12th - Upside down

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 12th Jan'09

When I first saw this tree at the "Parque Madero" in Tutxtla, my first instinct was to zoom in and focus on the small "bushed" branches laterally to get one in focus and rest in the background. But that angle seemed to be quite an obvious one. So I decided to get underneath the tree and try to angle upwards.

The bright shining sun put a lot of extra brightness in the on the right side of the frame, but I am happy with the overall composition :)

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392 - 11th - The striped tortugas

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 11th Jan'09

I have seen turtles at many places but everywhere they are either Grey colored or have some shade of Brown. Yellow turtles with stripes of blue on top were really a pleasant surprise. This image is from the ecological reserve "Zoomat" from Tuxtla, Chiapas.

I am not sure if it was the abundance of these animals in southern Mexico, but the Zoo was full of them. At every second pool you could find them swimming deep in the water or just lazing around on rocks to catch some sunshine.

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391 - 10th - Zipping away

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 10th Jan'09

Another one from the canyon :). The trip back to the base after the tour of the canyon is a fast and quick one. One the way up, the boats are slow and the guide explains you about everything on the way. But once done, he just zips the boat through the canyon back to the shores. At any given time you can see around three to four boats in some fifty square meters of area, running in either direction.

This particular image is of a boat which was in front of mine and was at much higher speed than ours. The waves which the other boats generate used to create some really anxious moments for us, as our boat used to start dancing on the high waves. It was really tough to get a good shot among that turbulence. Somehow I managed to get this one.

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390 - 9th - The big beaked bird

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 9th Jan'09

As we traversed through the waters of the canyon, we reached a hydroelectric plant which marked the end of the sailing area. The boundaries were demarcated by a series of drums floating in the water tied together with thick ropes. We could see a lot of birds perched on the drums and the ropes from a distance. When we approached the place, most of them flew away and landed in the water beyond. Only a few still dared the strangers and stuck to their place.

This bird was just about to fly away when I took this picture. The size of it's beak was something that really amazed me.

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389 - 8th - Canyon del Sumidero

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 8th Nov'09

Sumidero Canyon (Spanish: Cañón del Sumidero) is a canyon located about 40 km from Tuxtla Gutiérrez, capital of the Mexican state of Chiapas. Its cliffs are 900 meters above sea level and overlook the Grijalva River, which extends across the states of Chiapas and Tabasco and flows into the Gulf of Mexico. In its southern entrance, the canyon begins near the city of Chiapa de Corzo, and flows into the reservoir of the hydroelectric dam–Manuel Moreno Torres, best known as Chicoasén.

This was one of the most amazing places I have seen in Mexico.The walls just tower upon you and make you feel so insignificant. It is a two hour trip by a motor boat which zips you through the river and leaves you spellbound. The past two or three posts on this blog are from the same place.

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388 - 7th - The dry leaf

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 7th Jan'09

I was walking towards a viewpoint for the canyon when on the way I saw this almost dry leaf lying on the one of the rocks on the way. The partial sunlight which was falling on it made it look all the more beautiful.

I stopped and took some photos, some in black and white mode too. But the one with colors was looking much better.

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387 - 6th - The white bird

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 6th Jan'09

I simply love the way these birds hunt for fishes. They wait on the branch till they see a fish, then they fly up in the air and suddenly shoot downwards like a missile, dive right into the water and come out with a fish in their beak. This is one of the most unusual way of fishing I have ever seen.

I was thinking of making a video of the entire thing but since the boat was sailing away, I didnt get enough time :)

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386 - 5th - The Christmas tree

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 5th Jan'09

This particular formation at Canyon del Sumidero is known as "Arbol de Navidad" or "The Christmas tree". The formation is made of moss which usually forms in the rainy season. The water dripping over the rocks makes the moss grow and over many years it has taken this form. This formation which resembles a Christmas tree is a really popular landmark at the canyon and you can see its picture on all the tourist guides printed for the place.

The boats at the conyon take you right underneath the tree from where you can see the formation right up close. One more amazing display of nature's treasure.

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385 - 4th - The angry croco

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 4th Jan'09

We were cruising through the canyon at Tuxtla, when our boat driver suddenly halted and started heading towards the mountain wall. All of us knew that there is something he would like us to see. As we headed towards the place, none of us could figure out what it was. Only when he stopped and pointed in one direction, I could figure out that there is a crocodile lying on the rocks.

I took this picture from some two feet away from the animal. He was lying down as a stone and enjoying it's sun bath. Our guide told us that the waters at the canyon are infested with hundreds of them.

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384 - 3rd - Once in a blue moon

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 3rd Jan'09

Once in a blue moon do you get a clear sky with a white crescent right in the middle of the day. Once in a blue moon you have your camera at that perfect time. Once in a blue moon you are able to keep you hands stable enough to get a blur-free image when you are shooting at maximum zoom.

Once in a blue moon you are able to get such a nice photo of a blue moon.

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383 - 2nd - Restaurante Mexicano

Originally clicked and uploaded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 2nd Jan'09

"Mi Viejo Pueblito" (My little old town) is one of my favorite Mexican restaurants. It is present in almost all the major cities of Mexico and offers delicious food at reasonable prices. The best thing about this place is that it has more vegetarian options than any other Mexican restaurant I have known & to get nice vegetarian food in this land of meat eaters is really something to cherish.

This image is from the restaurant just besides our hotel in Tuxtla. Restaurants here in Mexico usually have tall pillars besides them so that people can see them from a distance and easily spot the place.

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382 - 1st - City of Tuxtla

Originally clicked and uplaoded by - Pratosh Dwivedi - 1st Jan'09

After around a hour of roaming around, we finally found our hotel on the other side of the highway. As we climbed down the slope to reach the parking lot, we observed that the main city was actually situated in a depression or a valley type of setting while the hotel was on the side of a mountain.

We reached the parking lot, parked the car and then stood near the edge of the place to have a clear view of the city. You could actually see the whole city in one single eyespan. Small buildings, hotels and the "libremiento norte (northern freeway)" on the other side of the city were providing a perfect view along with the bright blue sky.

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