World Photos by Paola: Life is a Beach

East Beach in Santa Barbara

This week’s theme is the beach. I was recently looking at some photos for a special order, and I got lost looking at all the wonderful beaches I have photographed over the years, even before I decided to take photography more seriously.

Sihanoukville, Cambodia

I grew up in Lima, a coastal city. At age 23, I moved to landlocked Minnesota, and it was there that I realized how much I love the ocean, the beach, and those hot beach days that come with that. MN had lakes and, as much as Minnesotans tried to convince me that they were as fun as the ocean (this includes my husband!), I was never as happy going to the lake to get a break from the summer heat.

La Concha, San Sebastian, Spain

Because I lived in a place that was about a 30-hour drive from the closest beach, I took every opportunity I got to include a few beach days in any trip I took. I guess I should thank Minnesota for that extra motivation for going to exotic beaches, white sands, and palm trees!

San Remo, Italy

Growing up in Lima, I could, in theory, walk to a beach. Maybe the closest beach was not the most beautiful one, but if you drove one hour south, the possibilities were endless. Lima has some gorgeous beaches and, in recent years, their beauty has resulted in many Limeños buying beachfront property south of Lima. But, don’t worry, there are still plenty of beaches that are open to the general public and that are as pretty as those reserved for some of Lima’s elite.

Zanzibar, Tanzani

South of Peru is Chile. Also with an extensive coast, Chile has some good beaches, especially in the North, in the area that used belong to Peru until Chile seized it during the War of the Pacific in the late 1800s. I had the chance of visiting northern Chile in 2006 and Joe and I visited Iquique, a great beach town with an amazing coastline.

Lima, Peru

I took these photos of Iquique while flying up in the sky on a paraglider! These photos are fun because, when do you ever get the chance to be up there, flying over a beach town/city, capturing the greater image of a place?

San Antonio, Peru

Also in 2006, when I traveled to Europe for the first time, I made a point of visiting many beaches. My plans turned out to be very fitting, as the countries I visited were going through a heat wave. Some of the photos I’m including are of the beautiful beaches of Nice and Biarritz in France, San Remo in Italy, and San Sebastian in Spain.

Nice, France

In Nice, I was a bit surprised to discover that this famous beach is not a sand beach, but a pebble one. However, once you get past the mild foot pain you experience while walking on the beach, you realize that the water is crystal clear and that the backdrop to the beach is simply beautiful!

Togian Islands, Indonesia

San Remo was also a challenge, mostly because of the bungalows where I stayed, which were about an hour walk from town. Here, in order to take a dip in the water, you had to hold on to a metal rod that was attached to a rocky wall, and then jump in the water. I didn’t try it. I was too worried I would hurt myself, not necessarily when going in, but when trying to get out.

Malibu, United States

Biarritz was simply gorgeous. It was so beautiful that, last year, Joe and I decided to make Biarritz our first base camp before starting the Camino de Santiago. Each time in this town was very different, though. The first time, in June, the beaches of Biarritz were crowded with tourists, the sun was shining, and the waters of the Bay of Biscay were warm and inviting. The second time around, in September, the sea was rough, the sky was grey, and rainstorms kept rolling into town every hour or so. Each time was unique and each time was beautiful.

Point Reyes, United States

San Sebastian was fabulous! If you are ever in Spain and are looking for a fun beach and fun town to visit, San Sebastian is it! Credited with having the most bars per square meter in any city in Europe, San Sebastian is not only a party town, but also a great place to lay down your towel and get some R&R! La Concha, the main beach in town, fills up with people early in the morning and, as the tide comes up, people start moving back towards the wall that marks the limit between the town and the beach. As this happens, people just start getting closer and closer to each other, without really worrying about personal space or anything silly like that.

Iquique, Chile

In 2007, Joe and I planned to travel from Hong Kong to Bangkok overland. This trip was challenging in many ways, but it was also rewarding in many more. Before taking off from Saint Paul, we did our homework, and found a beach that looked perfect. The destination of choice: Phu Quoc, a triangle-shaped island in the Gulf of Thailand, and Vietnam’s largest island. To get there, we had to take a long bus ride and then a ferry boat. Well, we made it as far as Rach Gia, the town where we were supposed to catch the ferry but, due to bad weather conditions, no ferry was leaving any time soon.

La Concha, Spain

Faced with a sudden change in plans, we did some quick research and ended up in Sihanoukville in Cambodia, instead.

Manado, Indonesia

Sihanoukville’s beach was lovely. I have a hard time explaining the mixed feelings I had there. Ravaged by civil war, Cambodia is one of the poorest countries on the world. Landmines have also left a huge toll in the population, as many people lost limbs during war times. However, the people we met in Cambodia were so incredibly generous, and so ready to share a smile with you.

If you ever get a chance, visit Cambodia, and while you are at it, try to give back to the community in any way you can!

Dubai, United Arab Emirates

That is often a big part of traveling. The fact that you are there, enjoying a country in which people might be experiencing lots of suffering, where poverty is very prevalent, and where resources are scarce. I try not to focus on this when I describe my travels to our people because the majority of my experiences traveling are always positive, and because I think it’s terrible when people come back from trips and only talk about the negative (or the different) aspects of their experiences. I know that not everything is beautiful, but I know that there is beauty everywhere. Finding it, is just a matter of looking carefully!

Cascais, Portugal

After some trips to Peru, and many beach days in between, we traveled to Tanzania for a 2-week volunteer project in the town of Arusha. After our volunteer time was up, we headed to the island of Zanzibar in the Indian Ocean. An important trade spot, Zanzibar has a very rich history, and it also has some amazing beaches. After spending a couple of days in Old Stone Town, we headed to Jambiani and enjoyed the beach there. One of my favorite moments in Zanzibar was walking in ankle-high water to sand dunes where you could leave your clothes to then go swim in the ocean. This was definitely paradise! I wish the trip there was a few hours shorter so that I could plan another trip there soon!

Bako, Borneo

And, finally, last year when we went around the globe and made stops at beaches in Indonesia, Borneo, France and Portugal. All of them different, all of them lovely. In Indonesia we were in a very remote island that could be circled in a canoe in less than 2 hours. We spent 2 weeks there and got very used to the rhythm of the island.

Biarritz, France in September

In Borneo we swam in the South China Sea, having to keep an eye out for naughty monkeys who would descend from the trees to steal your belongings! In contrast, in Portugal, we visited Cascais, a ritzy town next to El Estoril, the beach town that inspired the movie Casino Royale!

Biarritz, France in June

These are just some of the many beaches I’ve been lucky enough to visit over the years! There is also Santa Barbara, Malibu, and some of the Big Sur beaches, all in lovely California, where beaches are plentiful!

Big Sur, United States

It is always very fun to plan vacation, and it’s even more fun to always try to find a beautiful beach near where you are going. I developed this habit in Minnesota, when a beach was nowhere to be found, and I plan on continuing to do it for as long as I’m able to travel around this fabulous world of ours!