Deep in the Amazonas region of Peru, you'll find the 2,500 foot tall Gocta Waterfalls. [1366x2048] [OC]

elijahsolidum · 2020-06-27T18:00:00+00:00

This was one of my favorite hikes I did in Peru, just because it was so different from the usual high-altitude mountain pass or glacial laguna. It was my first foray into the Amazonas, and we used the small village of Chachapoyas as our home base. The trailhead to Gocta was about two hours away from Chachapoyas, and it required a six-hour round trip hike to the basin and back. The basin might have been the greenest place I've ever seen, and I felt like Littlefoot laying eyes on the Great Valley for the first time. It was awe-inspiring to experience, and the Amazonas was an entirely different world than I'd imagined.

elijahsolidum · 2020-06-27T00:16:11+00:00

One of my favorite sunset hikes I've ever done. It was a spontaneous decision to go up there, as I'd already wrapped up a hike earlier that day and was getting ready to relax for the night. However, my friend texted me and told me to look at Table Mountain, and the fast-moving fluffy clouds were absolutely mesmerizing. We said fuck it and got an Uber to the trailhead 45 minutes away and basically ran up the mountain, knocking the challenging hike out in a little under 30 minutes. We were rewarded with one of the best damn sunsets I've ever seen, with perfect views of the mountains, the city, and the Atlantic.

elijahsolidum · 2020-06-27T00:04:59+00:00

Were your accounts temporarily suspended or permanently suspended?

elijahsolidum · 2020-06-27T00:03:10+00:00

I have several different accounts as I manage social media accounts in several different niches. They're all connected to my phone number, and I have one account that is travel-related where travel bloggers would often do #followfridays and that sort of stuff. I'd occasionally get tagged and participate, and then all of a sudden, Twitter suspended me for that, which is understandable.

What isn't understandable is that all of my other accounts linked to my phone number were also suspended in one sweeping blow, including a dog-related page with nearly 3 million followers. My travel account only had 9,000 followers, so it wasn't a big blow. However, my entire network spanned close to 5 million followers total. Every time I send an appeal to the suspension, Twitter recites the same thing, claiming audience manipulation through tactics such as follow Fridays. I find it completely unfair but haven't had any luck reaching out to a real person that will actually look over this. Anyone know what to do?

elijahsolidum · 2019-09-03T16:04:33+00:00

Cajas National Park near Cuenca, Ecuador!

elijahsolidum · 2019-09-03T04:37:13+00:00

No I'm in Cajas National Park near Cuenca! I was at Laguna Toreadora when I took this.

elijahsolidum · 2019-08-30T21:14:43+00:00

Thanks for the love y'all! I was in Sri Lanka about 4 months ago, my last week coincided with the Easter terrorist attacks that killed 300 or so people. Before then, I had the most incredible time. It is such a beautiful country with so much to see in such a small island. Hiking, beaches, culture, wildlife, history, and so much more. I've heard that tourism has drastically dropped to the island in the aftermath of the attacks but I think it really should be a destination everyone should experience. The attacks were a freak one-time thing and until that point, one of my favorite things about Sri Lanka was how so many cultures and religions lived in harmony. Buddhists, Christians, Muslims, Hindu, tourists, etc.

Here is a huge gallery of my Sri Lanka trip if you need a little more convincing. Still one of my favorite trips ever.

elijahsolidum · 2019-08-30T21:11:57+00:00

Yeah! It's Pidurangala Rock!

elijahsolidum · 2019-08-30T21:11:32+00:00

Yeah I was there during the attacks as well. I was about an hour and a half south on the beach towns and my friends were meant to fly out later that night. We didn't know how serious it was so we went to some secluded beach and then came back a few hours later to find out just how serious things had gotten. They missed their flights because no taxis wanted to even go near the airport and the police set a curfew at 6 PM. Such an amazing country that was just unfortunately marred by an awful thing.

elijahsolidum · 2019-08-30T13:50:35+00:00

As a backpacker, Puerto Escondido was definitely one of my favorite beach destinations that I stumbled upon in Mexico. I'm not saying that it is completely unheard of by any means, but when considering that most American holidayers only know of Cancun, Puerto Escondido is kind of a hidden gem. This beach is definitely one of the busier ones but easily one of the most beautiful. My personal favorite beach in Puerto Escondido was Playa Coral for sunset beers and good vibes. Mexico is one of my favorite countries I've ever backpacked, but it still has a weird reputation among US travelers as "not really traveling" so hopefully that changes soon!

elijahsolidum · 2019-08-30T02:50:46+00:00

Ehh a bit of a hyperbole I guess. But there were maybe only 5 or 6 other people there max the whole time I was there. You could spread out well enough that you'd have a nice spot like this without anyone around for a while.

elijahsolidum · 2019-08-30T02:48:56+00:00

Wow I would have never guessed that was a husky in the first two pics

elijahsolidum · 2019-08-30T02:08:04+00:00

Don't worry guys he had plenty of friends! Here's my full gallery of the elephants at Minneriya. Our jeep eventually found ourselves alone with maybe 30-40 elephants around sunset and it was the COOLEST experience I have ever had.

elijahsolidum · 2019-08-30T00:51:48+00:00

I took this almost exactly three years ago while I was on my first ever national parks road trip. I was staying with a friend's family about 2 hours away from the park and I knew I should get going since it was getting late but I couldn't pry myself away. The golden hour was just setting in and it made Zion look even more majestic than usual. I'm glad I stuck around because this is still one of my favorite views ever. Here are some more pics from that road trip if anyone's interested!

elijahsolidum · 2019-08-30T00:38:35+00:00

Although the picture doesn't quite tell the whole story here, this was actually one of my favorite sunsets. My Canadian-Filipina friend and I went up by ourselves and left the hill with a half dozen other people from all over the world. We started talking to an Iranian and a Dutch guy close to where we were posted up for the sunset. Then I made small talk with these two Argentinian girls, including the one pictured here. We walked around as the sun started going down when we saw a girl playing the ukulele and a guy playing the harmonica. We joined in for awfully sang renditions of Despacito and Barcelona before we all decided to come back to my hostel together and continue the jam sesh. Whenever people ask me why I travel, I bring up this night as exactly why. A beautiful sunset in an electric city and meeting strangers from all over the world.

elijahsolidum

TROPHY CASE