El Salvador - Day 4

This was our last day in El Salvador. Patrick caught an early morning flight, so Dustin and I spent some time in San Salvador (the capital) seeing some awesome churches before heading to the airport by 10:00 AM. We went by Estadio Cuscatlan, Parque Cuscatlan (to see the wall, Catedral Metropolitana De San Salvador, Palacio Nacional, Iglesia El Rosario (with no artificial lights), and the Basilica Sagrado Corazon. A quick stop to the supermarket for some 100% segura and we were done.
Click on the picture to see the slideshow . . .

El Salvador - Day 3

First thing this morning (after coffee of course) we headed to the beach. Only an hour away from San Salvador, we got to see the beautiful black sands on the Pacific. After that we went to La Palma, a colorful village in the mountains to see the artisans make their colorful crafts . . . and then continued up the mountains to have lunch at a Hostal.

El Salvador - Day 2

Today was our first full day in El Salvador. We started the day leaving Holiday Inn in the Zona Rosa in San Salvador, driving past the fortified US Embassy before going to Mr. Donut for breakfast (and not getting donuts). We then headed out to see some Mayan ruins, volcanoes, and running down a mountain on a zip line.

The picture on the left is my buddy Dustin shooting a picture of some old Mayan pyramid (not as big as the Egypt ones).

Full slideshow can be found in El Salvador - Day 2. I never did take that Tamrac backpack I ordered, and just took my gear in my old Think Tank shoulder bag. The search for the perfect photo backpack continues.

El Salvador - Day 1

Dustin, Patrick, and I took a short trip to El Salvador for a "Photo" trip. Basically the only reason we went there was to take pictures. We hired Robert from Nahua Tours to take us around our whole trip, so he picked us up from the Airport when we landed, showed us all the sights of El Salvador our whole trip, and took us back to the Airport when we left.

So instead of the typical cookie cutter tours, we got to pick where we wanted to go and what we wanted to see during our stay.

Since we arrived late on Saturday night, we only got to drive around San Salvador at night, and have some dinner so these pictures don't show much of anything exciting. Take a look at the pictures I have for El Salvador - Day 1

Tamrac Expedition 6x Photo Backpack

Well I ordered a Tamrac Expedition 6x from Amazon to take my gear with me to El Salvador tomorrow. I went running to Camera Co-Op and Houston Camera Exchange to see the different backpacks and this is what I decided on. Everything will be a tight fit, but considering I will be carrying the camera and main lens in my hand, it should work out fine. There was even a space for my laptop. So here is what I am bringing:
-Nikon D700
-Nikon 50mm f/1.4G
-Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8G
-Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8G
-Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8G VR
-Nikon SB-400 Speedlight
-Nikon SB-900 Speedlight
-Apple MacBook Pro 13"
Everything fit in the bag I tried out just fine, a little tight. What I like about it is that it is water resistant (only Lowepro has waterproof) so I don't need the rain coat that comes with Think Tank or Lowepro AW bags. Padding on the straps seemed very comfortable and seemed lightweight when carrying some photo gear (laptop and some of the stuff will stay at the hotel). It should be delivered tomorrow, just in time for Saturday's trip!

10.09 - Well I decided to return the backpack, a little too big for my liking.  The search for the perfect photo backpack continues.