Hassen Salum: Visual Storytelling.

The #Valley at the #Summit of Sierra de la Laguna.
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A few years ago, before I even tried climbing Sierra de la Laguna, a friend went there and came back telling stories of this massive valley on the top that felt like a magical place.
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He said you are walking through the woods following the trail as you’ve been for the last few hours and suddenly you can hear water running, and then you suddenly exit the woods and find yourself in a massive, beautiful #glade with small rivers and horses roaming free all over te place.
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From the moment he told me about it I knew I had to see this place. It still took me a couple of years to go on this adventure, though I failed on the first try. We didn’t have much time, and without a certain knowledge of the trail we decided to turn back to make it to the bottom in time.
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Last November I had the chance to give it another shot. As we were closing into The Valley I was trying to figure out how far I got the last time.
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We arrived at a creek I recognized, where we made the decision to turn back. 20 minutes later I heard the promised sound of running water. 15 minutes later I see the sight in this photo, the sight I had been waiting for years to see. I couldn’t believe how close we were the last time.
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It’s not that often that a place turns out to be exactly as you had imagined it to be: magical, beautiful, massive. I can’t wait to go back to this place in November after the rainy season. Anybody wants to join?

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Walking the #wetlands around São João lodge in the Brazilian Pantanal.
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Another #TBT from last year during one of the coolest Adventure Weeks I’ve been to. @embraturbrasil wanted to show us the side of #Brazil most people are not familiar with, so they took us to the state of Mato Grosso do Sul.
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On our second day we boarded our home for the next couple of days, Joice Tur’s Kayama cruise, which toured us around the Paraguay river to explore the #Pantanal, one of the largest wetlands in the world.
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One of the coolest places we visited in the wetlands was Passo do Lontra’s Pousada São João. Here we split in two groups, one that went horseback riding through the wetlands, and another that took a small #hike through them. I went on the hike.
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As expected, we ran into some wildlife along the way, like an armadillo under a tree full of Blue Macaws. Our guide also explained a lot about the region, vegetation, wildlife, and even gave us a temporary tattoo using a fruit he pulled of a tree.
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The landscapes were beautiful, and walking through the warm water of the wetlands was a really cool experience. And to top it off, once we got back to the lodge, they received us with a delicious traditional pantaneiro barbecue, got to play a super fun soccer match with our guides and learned a little bit about the pantaneiro culture from an authentic pantaneiro cowboy who also shared his tereré with us.
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This trip was incredible and it’s hard to pinpoint the best part of it, but this day is definitely fighting for the top place.

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Back in Boca de la Sierra with good friends.
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This year I’m very grateful for having friends from all over visiting me in Cabo, and for having the chance to show them around some of my beloved spots.
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I met Sheridan during my first Adventure Week with @adventure.travel_ right here in Baja Sur two years ago, and Lynda in my third Adventure Week in Brazil a year ago. They both work in @reefs_to_rockies a company that, as Sheridan says, is very focused in conservation through tourism, so it was great to share this hike with two travel professionals who really appreciate places like this.
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They were also accompanied by their awesome kids, who are not just very fun to talk to, but it was truly refreshing to see the spirit of #adventure in children of their age.
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It was great having you guys in my backyard! Looking forward to another adventure with you!

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A quick glimpse of the Antisana #Volcano from the #mountains of Papallacta in Ecuador.
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This #FBF story is a bit long, but it was such a cool day. During the second day of Adventure Week Ecuador (#AWEcuador), our group was split in two for the #hike to the Papallacta hot springs: the short and the long hike. Since my Storytelling buddy, @filmmakermc was doing the short one, I opted for the long one.
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I left most of my stuff in the van, taking with me only my water bottle, my camera, and my backpack’s rain cover to shield it from the ephemeral showers. I put on the very-common-in-Ecuador-hikes rubber boots, listened to some advice on how to proceed when hiking at an altitude of over 4,000 meters, and proceeded to follow the group, ignoring the recommendation of taking it easy several times to catch up or push a bit ahead of the groups for some photos.
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Our hike took us about 4 hours of walking very carefully across the rainy, muddy, often steep mountains. Quite a challenge for someone who had lived at sea-level most of his life, was slightly out of shape, and didn’t bring the right socks so had to hike half the way with a bleeding ankle rubbing against the inside of the boot (bring long socks, people! Several of them!).
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None-the-less, my experiences so far tell me that whenever you take on a challenge in adventure travel, you often get an unexpected reward that you can only understand and appreciate if you have the right mindset.
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In this case, as we were approaching the end of the hike, tired and hungry, the #clouds opened up a bit in the distance for a couple of minutes, allowing me to forget about the pain and marvel at the sight of the Antisana Volcano’s summit. Seems very close, huh? But it’s actually about 10 miles away. It’s huge!
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When we finally reached the van that would take us to our expected reward (the hot springs and food!), we all got rid of our rubber boots with unfathomable skill and dropped to the ground to rest for a while and, of course, to shoot an epic ‘after’ selfie that rests deep in someone’s hard drive.

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Here’s @derekloudermilk, life coach and host of The Art of Adventure podcast, enjoying a refreshing #swim after #hiking up the #canyon in Boca de la Sierra on a hot day.
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This is one of my favorite canyons in the region. I’ve camped here with my best friends more times than I can count, so it has sort of become my backyard.
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The best time to explore canyons around here is after the rains, so #water will be flowing more, so you’ll have many sources of fresh water to refill your bottle and there will be more pools to swim in and to jump into from high #rocks; but even now you can still find a few of these and the landscape is gorgeous.
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#Baja is definitely much more than just beautiful beaches. When you’re here, don’t forget to look into the #mountains as well!

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