Along with the collection of India photos (and videos), this is the last set of material resulting from the explorations that took place in these exciting regions of the world.

Here they are: my Flickr sets from Kathmandu and Pokhara in Nepal:

…and, some “bonus” material: Video footage (from the air) of the Paragliding experience over a beautiful lake in Pokhara:

Quite an unforgettable trip. If you haven’t ventured to these lands, I highly recommend you do. It’s worth every effort.

If you are reading/watching this and have any questions on traveling to India or Nepal, don’t hesitate to contact me or writing something in the Comments section below.

Namaste.

Nepal is soon to follow.

Enjoy.

I had the fortune to catch Rachael Yamagata live in concert for the second time in Austin.

The first time I had the chance to see (and meet) her was when she played in Indianapolis, roughly 2 years ago.

She is a truly brilliant singer/songwriter. Her songs have a way of simply getting deep inside your skin –specially when you see her sing such personal, heartfelt lyrics in person.

During her show in Indianapolis, she asked for someone in the crowd to come up on stage and play 4 easy chords on guitar. I really wanted to do it, but somehow I got immediate stage fright and didn’t raise my hand. Someone else went up to play and all I remember thinking was “why didn’t I raise my hand? Why was I scared”?

I thought at least I’d at least let her know that I really wanted to play with her –so I found her outside after the show.

I told her exactly why I had not raised my hand and she was very supportive about it. She encouraged me to not be afraid to jump in and do something I really want, no matter how much it scares me. I remember very well when she said “keep on playing –and maybe one of these days, I’ll come see one of your shows!”

Maybe that is one of the reasons why there are a few videos of me playing similarly heartfelt songs on this site…

Once I had the chance to talk to her in Austin again, I reminded her of what she had done in Indy, since she didn’t ask anyone to go up on stage this time around. She told me she had stopped asking people to do that, but that if I really wanted to go up on stage and play with her, I should have just screamed it out…

Maybe next time –just like she wrote on the vinyl cover she singed for me:

Here’s a video I recorded at the show in Austin of here playing my favourite song from her latest album “Chesapeake” called You Won’t Let Me

Sadly, the audio here is really, really bad.

I had the misfortune of having a brand new (yet defective) iPhone 4S during this show. Although the iPhone has always had superb quality when it comes to video recordings, this phone had a bad external mic.

The video you see (and hear) has been modified (many, many times) to try and enhance the sound. It’s not perfect, but it’s heaps better than the original recording. I spent a over an hour in Final Cut Pro trying to make it as good as possible.

At least you can get a glimpse of her live show. If she is playing anywhere near you, I highly recommend you see her live –whether or not you know her music. I had the chance to bing my friend Enrique Delgado who didn’t know her and came out rather impressed.

They’ve all been waiting a long time to be “Apertured”.

Here’s the last preview of (at least) India. Nepal will follow… eventually.

Ray Lamontage cover. Best experienced in 480p.

Slipknot cover. Best seen (and heard) on 480p.

The first thought that comes to mind when I think of Marfa is: The motto of “Keep Austin Weird” somehow feels extremely overrated.

Marfa can feel like a ghost town at various points during the day, but it can come really alive at night. It’s full of galleries, installations, and really odd… stuff. The photos I was able to capture do a far better judgement than anything I could describe with words, so take a look at the Flickr set composed of some of the weirdest (yet best) photos I’ve ever taken.

I must say there was something in the air in Marfa for some of these images to be conceived the way they did.

Marfa is known for being an “art incubator” of sorts. Judging by the places and people we saw there, this truly seems to be an inspiring place for any kind of art in existence: music, painting, sculpture, modern art (with places like the Chinati Foundation, which reminded me a lot of Dia: Beacon in New York) and well-known installations like the famous Prada store (which we attempted very hard to find, but somehow couldn’t).

Coincidentally, we happened to have visited Marfa during a time where all the galleries and exhibitions were open to the public offering special shows and expositions, which sure made this visit extra special. It happens throughout a weekend once per year.

This town is also well-known for the Marfa Lights phenomenon. We certainly tried to see them at the specific location where people are supposed to see this occur. Despite being there for nearly 30 minutes under the beautiful moonlight, we didn’t see any lights appear. It was also very cold at that time of the evening, so we couldn’t wait for much longer. We ran into a couple of people who had been there for 4 hours and had not seen anything either. Hoax, perhaps?

So, should you visit Marfa? I say if you enjoy art to any extent, it’s worth the 7-hour drive from Austin or the flight to El Paso + the short drive.

I’m sure I haven’t quite seen a place like this in any of my previous travels. I doubt I ever will.

This is how independence day is celebrated in Mexico. People gather at 23h00 on Thursday and hear the president shout “Viva México” on television (if you are not in Mexico City) and everyone else shouts “Viva!“.

I took this chance to go visit a friend who lives in Guadalajara because Friday (16th September) is a national holiday –and here is the visual recollection of all the events that unfolded over that long weekend. See them on the slideshow (below) or directly on Flickr.

Great food, great company & perfect weather (reminded me much about Bogotá weather, indeed). I loved everything about this weekend, but most importantly, I was really happy to be able to experience a new rich, fascinating culture in the company of one of the warmest, kindest families I have ever met –all of this whilst experiencing the feeling of being closer to “home” than I have ever felt outside Colombia.

I’ve always said that Mexico can be summarized as a “gastronomical feast”… at least this is the impression I had after visiting Mexico City in 2004. Guadalajara did not disappoint (nor I was expecting it to) but the food in this region was also very unique and delicious. There aren’t many photos of just food in this set, but trust me: heaps of new, unique things were consumed in record time. There is no doubt I made my metabolism work up to its max capacity.

The other constant theme around Guadalajara during my visit was the Pan American games which will take place there in a couple of weeks. Needless to say, the city is getting a major lift and many billboards and decorations are all about this very important sporting event. Heaps of construction, yet, many brand new developments around the city.

If you haven’t considered visiting Guadalajara, you should indeed. I took me by surprise just how much it has to offer as a tourist destination.

But I’ve decided to leave town [country] instead, avoid the music fest insanity and go to Mexico –Guadalajara to be exact.

(after all, I did go to Lollapalooza this year…)

It so happens that this Friday is Mexico’s Independence Day and it appears that the celebrations around this day are quite epic.

I’ll be going to see a friend who lives there. She promised the party starts tonight… all throughout the weekend.

It should be interesting to see how a holiday like this is celebrated there… And the food? I’m sure that will be the highlight of it all.

Flights from Guadalajara back to Austin are strange: they only leave early in the morning –so I actually get to come see the last day of ACL. That means I also get to see The Hand and the Heart, Broken Social Scene, Elbow, Fleet Foxes, Empire of The Sun, & Arcade Fire.

Not a bad way to end this weekend. Watch out for incoming Instagrams!