476 - Cristo de la Misericordia
There’s a certain point of steepness where I know the van is going to roll over. And it seems like everyday we’re in Central America we push that limit a little bit more.
Today’s adventure was at Cristo de la Misericordia, which was this giant statue of Christ that overlooked the beach town of San Juan Del Sur. Kind of like a mini version of Christ the Redeemer in Brazil. The only problem was we had to get up to the statue.
Conveniently, it was located at the top of a residential neighborhood, so the streets were at least paved. But that doesn’t mean they weren’t steeper than my bank account after this trip. See, the thing about Central America is that streets like San Francisco casually exist everywhere, but no one cares. You walk around America, and all everyone says is “watch out for San Francisco's streets! They’re infamously steep!” And they say it with a giant shit-eating grin on their face. Central America takes that to the next level and doesn’t even mention it.
As you can guess, we decided to take the van to the top for a playdate with gravity. Good old fashioned fun, right? Well, it felt like a rocket ship preparing for liftoff. I was scared shitless the whole drive up, and ready to jump out the window if the van showed the slight sign of acceleration or brake failure. Wherever that two ton van would end up wouldn’t be pretty.
Yet somehow, by the miracle of Christ, we made it to the top. To the people who drive up this sheer cliff everyday to access their expensive houses, I respect you. Or rather, I respect your balls. Not necessarily your sanity.
Well now that we were here, it was time to walk the final ascent to the top of the statue. Which proved to be an even steeper hill. And somehow there was a road going up the side of that. I’m not exaggerating when I say I wouldn’t even be comfortable walking down or up the road without a broken foot, it was that steep. Why the fuck did they even pave it? Luckily there was a staircase next to it, for us handicapped folk.
I decided to bring my crutches along for this journey, because of the unflattering angle. My broken (but recovering) foot was going to need all the support it could get.
I took my time. Overall it took about 15 minutes to go up the stairs, mainly because my balance had to be near perfect every step of the way. These weren’t the kind of stairs you’d want to fall down.
Once we arrived at the final step, the admissions guy laughed at my dedication to the monument. Tourists all around were huffing and puffing, and here I was with a broken foot looking like a champ. He ended up giving us a discount for the effort. I love Nicaraguans.
I looked out over the viewpoint. This place was worth the steep price. (Heh…) The view was absolutely breathtaking. It overlooked the entire bay, and you could see for miles. The best part was the dozens of colorful ships that dotted the water like Dippin' Dots:
“Dippin’ Dots”
Taken on Sony a7rIII + Sony 70-200mm f/2.8 GM
[ISO 1250 ~ 96mm ~ f/9 ~ 1/250s]
(Want a Print? Get one here.)
There was actually almost double that amount of ships in the actual scene, but this was the most condensed point featuring the most variation of color. I ended up removing a few ships that were on the edge of this scene in Photoshop, to make for a cleaner edge and more composed image. Sometimes I have to sacrifice parts of a photo for the greater good.
From there I spent the last of the light watching the sheer magnificence of the sunset over the ocean. I tried to line up a few shots of the Christ statue, but nothing came out well. The backdrop was just a blazed sky, which didn’t do it justice. I decided to opt out of an official photo of it. Instead I zoomed into the sunset and snagged it at about halfway dip. Then I flipped it upside down:
“Flag of the Sun”
Taken on Sony a7rIII + Sony 70-200mm f/2.8 GM
[ISO 160 ~ 200mm ~ f/2.8 ~ 1/3200s]
(Want a Print? Get one here.)
Whenever I’m bored with a conventional shot that can be taken as an abstract, I’ll often just change the angle of it to make it more interesting. Now you look at it and have to figure it out for a second.
Another point I wanted to make here is that I think one of the biggest lessons in adventure photography is realizing what being on a mountain actually means. What many fail to realize (and I am guilty of it too,) is that there’s not always an “epic” shot from the top of something. More often than not, the “epic” shot is at the bottom of the big thing, looking up at it.
It’s a weird mental conundrum to play with, because often I think “I need to be ON that epic thing, surely the reward of the journey to the top will be an epic shot.” Obviously there are expectations, like Steptoe Butte, but more often than not, I find that the best shots “on” something are generally shot small scenes with a telephoto lens looking down at the world. It’s almost like drone photography- but at an angle.
And with that, we called it a day. The walk down the stairs tested my crutch dexterity. I like to think the past month of crutches has all been practice for this very moment. But needless to say, I pulled through. Thank Christ.
I’m on a mission to explore as much as humanely possible.
Want to see my progress? Check out the Adventure Map.
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