Location: 10.713450°N, -85.177301°W Alt: 764.0m
	Photo Date: 27 May, 2008
	ISO: 100
	Aperture/Shutter: F/5, 1/60"
	Focal Length: 14mm
	Camera: Olympus Evolt E-510
Category: Guanacaste, Costa Rica - 2008

Volcàn Miravalles. Guanacaste, Costa Rica

The local flora edges as close as it can survive to the toxic fumeroles, however humanity is far less discriminating.
An enticing path winds it's way down into the fumerole field, inviting the curious to experience a sliver of the raw power hiding beneath our feet.

Location: 10.713445°N, -85.177266°W Alt: 760.6m
	Photo Date: 27 May, 2008
	ISO: 100
	Aperture/Shutter: F/7.1, 1/50"
	Focal Length: 14mm
	Camera: Olympus Evolt E-510
Category: Guanacaste, Costa Rica - 2008

Volcàn Miravalles. Guanacaste, Costa Rica

The water is murky from the minerals.

No, really ... I had nothing to do with that ... it looked like that when I got here ... I swear ...

Location: 47.689775°N, -80.276821°W ; Alt: 254.3m
	Photo Date: 29 July, 2008
	ISO: 100
	Aperture/Shutter: F/8, 1/140"
	Focal Length: 14mm
	Camera: Olympus Evolt E-510
Category: Landscapes / Cityscapes

Elk Lake, Ontario

As the sun begins to creap over the well eroded mountains of the Canadian shield, clouds begin to lift off the untainted hillside forests.

Location: 47.690441°N, -80.277563°W ; Alt: 244.5m
	Photo Date: 29 July, 2008
	ISO: 100
	Aperture/Shutter: F/7.1, 1/50"
	Focal Length: 14mm
	Camera: Olympus Evolt E-510
Category: Landscapes / Cityscapes

Elk Lake, Ontario

I miss the North.
Clear skies, clean air, lush forests ... and a thick dark cloud of mosquitos.
It's remote solitude was the perfect place to relax and be at peace with one's self.
This, for example, is what I woke up to every morning at dawn (shot at 06:07 EST). I invite you to enlarge and stare into it for a while to let your stress drift off with the clouds.
Almost the entire west bank of Elk Lake is presently unoccupied (far shore on left), so it really is an entire, uninterrupted view.
And what a view!
No houses, no cottages. Just critters and bugs.
An expansive view of what Canada looks like under all that concrete and wire. Amazing to find areas like this still largely uninhabited, yet close enough to a highway that you won't run out of gas during the round trip!

"So ... where'd you go? ..."

Well, after my initial plans for heading someplace hot fell through and the prospects for condos where largely uninteresting. We decided to make a few random cold calls to cottage companies to see if there where any last minutes for rent for my 10 days off (long weekends continue their awesomeness).

As luck would have it, there was one site that had a last minute cancellation that could take us immediately, but only from Sunday to Friday. A quick discount later for the missing days and it was car packing time.
I was off to Timiskaming District in the Near North and a little old mining town named Elk Lake.
I must say, the cabins here are exactly what I pictured in a cottage sort of environment, but the region is something else entirely. Having not been up this way in about 10 years, I was worried that it would have built up as much as every where else in Ontario. Thankfully, it seems to be just far enough off the beaten path (about 7 hours from Toronto and 40 minutes from the Trans Canada highway) to have been forgotten by the rest of the world. There are few cottages here on Elk Lake, and only along one side (the other being still more or less rugged with the occational distant snowmobile trail; currently overgrown). The road, although paved, seems almost perpetually vacant and the loudest sounds around are from wood peckers and crows.
Fantastic!
Should be back with shots and posts for next week, have fun all!

Location: 10.712865°N, -85.177265°W ; Alt: 760.6m
	Photo Date: 27 May, 2008
	ISO: 100
	Aperture/Shutter: F/6.3, 1/60"
	Focal Length: 14mm
	Camera: Olympus Evolt E-510
Category: Guanacaste, Costa Rica - 2008

Volcàn Miravalles. Guanacaste, Costa Rica

More steamy, volcanic goodness ...

Location: 10.712810°N, -85.177188°W ; Alt: 760.6m
	Photo Date: 27 May, 2008
	ISO: 100
	Aperture/Shutter: F/6.3, 1/125"
	Focal Length: 14mm
	Camera: Olympus Evolt E-510
Category: Guanacaste, Costa Rica - 2008

Volcàn Miravalles. Guanacaste, Costa Rica

The steam shaft in the distance (top right) is actually a controlled release from one of the nearby geothermal power transfer stations. While the rest of the world has been madly craming fossil fuels into furnaces and vaguely back-peddling when public opinion demands it, Costa Rica has been planning for their childrens' futures for nearly six decades.
Currently, less then 6% of their total energy output is derived from hydrocarbons (Costa Rica contributes less then 0.1% of the total annual GLOBAL carbon output). Over 80% is derived from hydro-electric sources and the remaining 14% comes directly from geothermal energy.
Absolutely astounding numbers, especially since Costa Rica (until recently) has exported most of it's green power to other countries due to an abundant surplus. Unfortunately, global warming has radically effected their hydro electric plants by reducing rainfall in the region, limiting their energy production and even causing rolling brown outs during the arid months of their most torrid years. Undaunted by these early warnings of Costa Rica's ecological doom, the local energy company (Grupo I.C.E.) is building more geothermal plants (next of which to open 2009) and expanding it's currently limited wind power generating capacity in a very real bid to become the planet's first carbon neutral country (for energy production).
Holy shit!

For a 'developing' country, they certainly put us North American, consumerist whores to utter shame! Our government limp-wristers are hesitant to even suggest a meagre 15% drop in our emissions (making us still about 200x the production of Costa Rica). Add to this the massive re-greening projects and extensive national park protection programmes and you have a serious environmentally karmic hoard on your hands.
But don't take my word about us being piggers, check the numbers yourself:

Energy Producer	Renewable/Nuclear %	Hydrocarbons %	Global Carbon Emissions %	Global Emission Rank	Use/Capita (Rank)
Canada	33%	67%	2.3%	7th	9th
United States	20%	80%	22.2%	#1 baby!	10th
Mexico	8%	92%	1.6%	11th	67th
Costa Rica	94%	6%	< .01%	106	85th

Yup, we're total capitalist gluttons alright. You can also see why both India and China see no reason to start cleaning up their environmental habits when they compare themselves to the US. Ironically the US uses the same excuse, despite being the only first world country in that mix AND the most heavily industrialized and powerful country in the world!
Assholes ...
I do have to wonder though, what the hell is Canada's excuse? We're supposed to be environmental leaders for sakes!