The night's sky doesn't get much clearer than it does on a cold night 4000m high in the Peruvian Altiplano.

A few kilometers north of Puno, a town on the shores of Lake Titicaca, we found a spot with a clear view of the sky away from the meager lights of the small towns nearby. Driving the windy roads up to this high plain we could see the gaping maw of the milky way clearly through of the windshield of the car.

Stepping out of the car was quite the experience. It was bitterly cold despite being a still evening and only the occasional dog bark disturbed the thin air's deep silence. Small houses far in the distance provided the only light and we had to operate in the light of one of them around 300m to our right. In any case, any eeriness of silence or numbness of fingers and ears was soon forgotten when we looked upwards.

Although I've seen the milky way several times, I've never seen it as clear as I did here. Usually it appears as a smear of relative brightness amongst the stars, but this time I could make out shapes and colours as I looked up towards the galactic core. Small blobs of light indicated star clusters and nebulae and even a dwarf galaxy was visible to the naked eye as a pale smear to the north.

Although we were exhausted by the day's activities (photos of that will be uploaded too) it was well worth setting out again braving the cold not only to capture these photographs, but to experience the milky way -- and beyond -- in all its glory.

This photo was taken with an ultrawide 14mm lens pointed at the western sky for over six minutes, and if you look closely at the curvature in the startrails, you can see that it changes as you scan across the frame. To the the left is the South, and the curvature is tighter in that direction as we were in the southern hemisphere. I have the same framing shot at a faster shutter speed without the stars trailing through the sky, but quite liked the look of the curvature changing across the image.

Canon EOS 5D Mark II with Samyang 14mm f/2.8

Tags:   'Milky Way' galaxy peru square altiplano space longexposure night landscape skyscape stars startrail Titicaca camera:canon_5d2

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A farmer in the Arequipa region of Southern Peru works his fields in the foothills of the Altiplano.

This photo was taken on a memorable day trip out of Arequipa out to the Las Salina salt lake around 50km east of Arequipa. It was a gruellingly slow drive climbing 2000m over lumpy and windy dirt tracks that left us exhausted at the end and involved us having to break into our own car in the middle of nowhere...

Along the way there we spotted some farmers working their fields with the Chachani (6075m) mountain triplet in the background. I had to lie in the fields to get this framing and had to wait in the sun for a few minutes for the farmer to return over the cusp of the rise.

Although the air was cold and thin, the sun was very warm. When the wind stopped it burned and when the wind started you were chilled to the bone. This along with the lack of oxygen would have made this pretty hard work.

Chiguata District, Arequipa, Peru, 2013

Canon EOS 5D Mark II with Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L IS

Tags:   peru arequipa farmer chachani mountain range square f:long altitude altiplano lens:canon70200f4LIS camera:canon_5d2

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A llama goes about his business high in the Peruvian Altiplano.

Our long drive from Arequipa to Lake Titicaca found us driving high into the Altiplano, a vast plateau with altitudes usually over 4200m (13800ft). Halfway along the 200km (125 mile) drive is Laguna Lagunillas a scenic high altitude lake with llamas often wandering about its vicinity.

While the main focus of this stop was the lake (and there are some photos of it on the way) this llama caught my attention as well. As I was fumbling with my camera kit and car keys trying to get out to a nearby hill with a view of the lake, I noticed this llama giving me a cheeky look while munching away on the local vegetation

While 200km doesn't sound like a long drive, when you're climbing up to around 4400m it's slow going. One thing we noticed was how much less efficient our car was at this altitude where the volume of oxygen was far lower than it was at sea level. It wasn't just us who were having troubles with the thin air!

Andean Altiplano, Peru, 2013

Canon EOS 5D Mark II with Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L IS

Tags:   animals llama peru altiplano andes mountains square Laguna Lagunillas lake lens:canon70200f4LIS camera:canon_5d2

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A short distance into our early morning trek to the 4700m high base of Salkantay in the Peruvian Andes, our mules pause for a drink.

We started the day just prior to first light. At 4600m high (14,000 feet) and in a tent, you can imagine it was a pretty cold and achy start to a day that would see us walking around 20km, first up to the highest point in our 4-day hike then down into the Peruvian cloud forest where we would remain until reaching Machu Picchu.

Our first task was to wake up and warm up cold muscles and then jog to the top of a 50m high mound of lateral glacial moraine. Our hope was to get a clear view of Salkantay at sunrise with the glacial terminus in the foreground. Our breathless exertions were rewarded by a view of the massive bulk of Salkantay's 6300m peak changing colours as the dawn light hit it well before the sun rose for us.

A quick breakfast of quinoa porridge later and we were on our way up to the base of the looming peak, walking alongside glacial detritus and the small lakes of crystal clear water formed by spring and being enlarged by the rising sun. It was by one of these lakes that this photo was taken with my point and shoot.

Despite being only a short while into the hike and the scene's beauty, I didn't have the energy to get my DSLR out! Sadly this was framed facing away from Salkantay. It would have been ideal to have it in the photo but the mules were behind us and Salkantay was ahead.

Salkantay, Peruvian Andes, 2013

Sony RX100

Tags:   square peru andes salkantay trek inca trail glacier moraine mules pack horses machu picchu reflection water lake camera:sony_rx100

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The flamingo-strewn surface of the Lagunas Salinas reflects the distant snow-shrouded slopes of the Ubinas volcano.

Getting to this spot by the salt lake was quite the adventure. We needed to navigate broken roads, backtrack several times, break into our own car and freewheel most of the way back due to lack of fuel. Like most such expeditions, however, it was well worth it.

The views on the drive were breathtaking. Firstly seeing the shimmering sprawl of the city of Arequipa vanishing behind us and then later then distant views of the Chachani mountain chain punctuated by the snow choked summit of El Misti nearest to us. Despite all this majesty, our fist view of the salt lake still took our breath away.

Maybe it was the silly altitude of 4,300m (14,100ft) or the towering volcano over 30km away that towered even higher? Or perhaps it was the feeling of being completely alone in a vast landscape with only flocks of flamingos and the odd llama for company? Either way, we spent a good few hours exploring the wildlife and views of this place.

Before hiking back to the car and realizing that we had a near empty tank to make the return journey on...

This is a 4 shot panorama shot at 70mm and stitched into a panorama in Photoshop.

Laguna Salinas, Arequipa Region, Peru

Canon EOS 5D Mark II with Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L IS

Tags:   laguna salinas Laguna Salinas salt lake arequipa peru Ubinas volcano f:long panorama landscape lens:canon70200f4LIS SixteenByNine camera:canon_5d2

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