Valentino, Horseman (Peru 7/16)

Truth be told, though we were in the Andes hiking for 5 days, it's hard to say we were truly "roughing it". For a group of 5 people, we had a crew of 6 people assisting us - a guide, a horseman, an assistant horseman, a cook and 2 assistant cooks. The assistants did a ton of work - at every site we stopped at, they put up and took down tents, built a small latrine, ran out to get water to boil, packed up sleeping bags, cleaned dishes, got towels, basically these guys were running non-stop.

This is Valentino, our horseman. The horses carried most of our gear, apart from a day pack. Valentino spoke Quechua, and a tiny bit of Spanish, so communicating with him was difficult. He was photogenic though, especially with his horse "Rosienanta". I took several shots of him during the trek. I don't believe this is the best portrait of him, but it is the one I remember best because he saw me taking a shot of him, turned towards the camera, and held his arms out to his side like a total pro. I was a big Valentino fan. Apparently Valentino loved all of us equally, as when we separated ways, he gave everyone in our group a hug.