One of my most popular images on ExposedPlanet is the image of Makalu at sunrise, taken from the 3rd step of Everest. Makalu is the 5th highest mountain on earth, so there are not too many places from where you can look down on it.

I had taken a second image, a while later and had never edited it well, so now is the first time I am sharing this later picture. The original was shot just before the sun came up, this one just after. The light is different, the image is sharper and features of Mt Makalu are clearer. Though the other image is dreamier, I might even like this twin image better, how about you?

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A young Masai explains about his living situation and his house, which consists of a mud-covered sticks with nearly no light coming in. His boma (town or settlement) is situated near the NgoroNgoro crater in Tanzania. In the next room his young wife was laying sick under some blankets.

One of the main problems of all houses off the electrical grid is the danger of the usage of kerosene lamps. They cause fire danger, health problems and are simply very expensive, so many Masai and other Tanzanians and Kenyans just live in the dark or use the much needed firewood for light (there are not many trees on the savannah, so firewood is rare and needed.)

ExposedPlanet is one of the co-founders of FlexiWay Solar: we will try to replace all kerosene lamps by affordable solar-powered LED lights, and have already started in several African countries, including Tanzania. I invite you to check out the site and the benefits our lights bring around the world and help us where you can. Thanks!

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Statistically speaking being in Guatemala is almost as dangerous as being in Chicago or Detroit (or any other of the big cities in the USA) if you look at homicide figures. Still many people live voluntarily in those two cities (which metro areas have the same population as the central American country), while they are afraid to visit Guatemala.

This country is much more interesting as it has a great cultural heritage, wonderful nature and nice people. Still the locals are afraid especially because of the sensational ‘newspapers’ filled with graphical pictures of murders, that influence so many people.

As is quite normal, this woman has a little shop attached to her home, selling mainly processed ‘food’ and cell-phone prepaid cards. You can not go inside, you need to point out what you want, pay first through the bars and then get your junk-food or $0,50 cts of calling time.

Her entire house was painted blue which is one of the main and most aggressive ways of marketing of the local mobile telephone operators: they offer the shopkeepers (and even regular houses) to paint their house for free, but they must keep the colours and slogans… Entire towns now end up being painted blue.

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I finally have some time to edit some older images that never saw the light in public, but I think are worth sharing as they show the beauty of our planet and I realize not everybody gets the chance to see this personally!

From the upper flanks of Mount Everest, the sun dips behind Cho Oyu, while Nepal and Tibet are under a layer of clouds. Pumo-Ri is visible (the big mountain that looks like the top of a space rocket).

Hope you like it, there are more where this came from :)

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These little kids live in a small village close to the famous NgoroNgoro crater in Tanzania, the largest caldera in the world and home of countless wild animals.

Their village is just a collection of mud houses and the school is nothing more than just a few walls made out of sticks, offering little protection from the strong sun. While I was there, they showed me their proficiency in English by having one of the kids stand in front of the blackboard, pointing out numbers.

The entire class would then proudly repeat after him ‘twenny-wan! Twenny-too! Turtee!’, but the best was to hear them sing some local songs together.

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It is the time of the year where leaves fall off the trees. That is, of course, if you live in a temperate zone on the Northern half of our planet, as in Australia and Patagonia, everything is just greening up again. and in the tropics, well, things just work different in all aspects of life :)

I found these hazelnut trees (actually they are called hazels and their nuts are hazelnuts) while cycling through Oregon. Even though they are unnaturally planted in rows and loosing their leaves, it still makes me happy to see so many trees together. And of course the hazelnuts that are grown here are delicious and healthy, with protein and unsaturated fat as well as vitamins and minerals. And no, I don’t do sponsored posts, I just really like real food :)

There are a lot of hazelnut trees in the USA state of Oregon, it is even the ‘official state nut’, (which would be the best job title, ever!). Not strange, as Oregon produces about 99% of all hazelnuts in the USA. Still Turkey is the world’s largest producer.

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This was taken while crossing a bridge over the mighty Columbia River, from Vancouver (Washington, USA) to Portland (Oregon). Though Portland is rumored to be the most cycle friendly city in the US, actually getting in on our bicycles was not that easy at all…

Anyway, the view to Mount Hood was beautiful in the late afternoon, while flocks of birds flew over a side arm of the river, lined with the houseboats of the Bridgeton neighbourhood.

Mount Hood, called Wy’east by the Multnomah tribe, is a stratovolcano in the Cascade Volcanic Arc of northern Oregon. It was formed by a subduction zone and rests in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located about 50 miles (80 km) east-southeast of Portland, on the border between Clackamas and Hood River counties.

The height assigned to Mount Hood’s snow-covered peak has varied over its history. Modern sources point to three different heights: 11,249 feet (3,429 m) based on the 1991 U.S. National Geodetic Survey, 11,240 feet (3,426 m) based on a 1993 scientific expedition, and 11,239 feet (3,426 m) of slightly older origin.

The peak is home to twelve glaciers. It is the highest point in Oregon and the fourth-highest in the Cascade Range.[9] Mount Hood is considered the Oregon volcano most likely to erupt, though based on its history, an explosive eruption is unlikely. Still, the odds of an eruption in the next 30 years are estimated at between 3 and 7 percent, so the USGS characterizes it as “potentially active”, but the mountain is informally considered dormant.

(info from Wikipedia, see this page for much more info about Mt Hood).

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I was welcomed by a group of very enthusiastic children. In Tanzania, all kids have to wear the school uniform. Many kids go to primary school, but a large part does not make it to secondary school due to the high costs and often they are needed by the family to help on the land or in the shops.

Also as most people have no electricity at home, children cannot study inside, or have to suffer the toxic fumes of kerosene lamps.

I have started a new project with a good friend, aimed at empowering the children and families in a very simple but very effective way. Soon I will write more, but you can already take a look on our temporary website about the most affordable solar-powered LED lights available.

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The Swayambunath complex (also known as the Monkey Temple) contains several religious places, including this small Buddhist monastery.

The elders chant and the younger monks assist with the music and serve milk tea.

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Popocatepetl is an active volcano, relatively close to Mexico city. Due to the toxic fumes that come out regularly, it is now forbidden to climb Popo. It is 5,426 m (17,802 ft) and therefore the 2nd highest mountain of Mexico, after Pico de Orizaba.

The name Popocatepetl comes from the Nahuatl words popōca ‘it smokes’ and tepētl ‘mountain’, thus Smoking Mountain.

This is shot from the wonderful Paso de Cortez, the saddle between Popo and the neighbouring volcano, ‘The sleeping woman’ Iztaccihuatl.

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