PHOTO FRIDAY: GIRL IN PORTOBELO

Liz poses against a wooden column of the four-centuries-old Customs House in Portobelo, but a curious little girl strolls by and steals the show.

PHOTO FRIDAY: PIER WITH A VIEW

A pier stretches toward the horizon to the surf break called Silverbacks and the island of Bastimentos in Bocas del Toro, Panama. 

Even under a cloudy sky, we found it hard to find anything to complain about with this view.

PHOTO FRIDAY: MOM AND BABY SLOTH

If ever you wanted to see a sloth, get yourself to Cahuita, Costa Rica. The slow-moving creatures are everywhere, as you'll see from our blog posts over the next couple of days.

We get you started with the photo above of a young three-toed sloth sleeping comfortably in his mother's arms. The two adorable little animals hung out for hours in a tree just outside our hotel door. 

The day before we asked Jenny, the irreverent, longtime owner of Cabinas Jenny, if she had seen any sloths around. She replied, "Well, since they tried to move into my kitchen last year--and I kicked them out--I haven't seen quite so many. But I'm sure you'll see one in the trees around here if you look around." 

Just another day with the sloths in Cahuita.

PHOTO FRIDAY: THE PYRAMIDS ON CAMEL BACK, YOU SAY?

Yes, if you're going to the Pyramids in Egypt, you are required by law (or at least by the tourism police) to climb aboard a poorly treated camel and pose for a photo. All the better if your camel wrangler is wearing a Yankees hat and calls you Jim and Suzie. 

Considering we were on an eight-hour layover from Uganda en route to Washington, DC, via London for $46 and 15,000 miles, we weren't ones to question the words of Muhamed, our guide.  

At least we didn't get photo-bombed like we did by a camel in India. 

PHOTO FRIDAY: HAPPY KIDS, HAPPY ADULTS

Nothing like happy kids to brighten up a day, especially a Photo Friday (which doesn't always have to be glowing sunsets and such).

The crazy kids above, whose classroom we were painting (more on that next week), decided it was time for recess. Then they decided we had to take photos with them and they would put on their happy faces. 

Hard to argue with a room full of grinning nine-yr-olds. 

PHOTO FRIDAY: POSING GORILLA IN UGANDA

Glam shots, anyone? 

While the machine-gun toting guard we were with on a gorilla trek in Uganda had ordered us not to make eye contact with the massive primates we'd encounter along the way (apparently gorillas don't like that), it was all we could do not to stare back at the gaze of the female above. 

We managed to follow orders until she rested her chin on her closed hand, a la 1990, and stared longingly into our eyes. What's a person to do but snap a few photos. If only she would've let us brush some of the twigs from her fur and put some powder on her nose, this would've been so much better. 

More on the trek next week.

PHOTO FRIDAY: GIRAFFES CAN RUN

Observing animals in the wild, you get to see animals doing odd things. 

Until now, we never remember seeing a photo or video of a giraffe running at full gallop before. It's as uncoordinated-looking a thing as you've ever seen. But once they get their neck and flopping legs into it, they can really fly, as we observed when the adult male above sprinted across the road in front of our Landrover. 

Crazy. Wanna see some more crazy? Here's a photo Friday bonus:

Hippos use their short little tails to mark their territories by showering their fresh feces all over the place. Even when swimming with close friends. And no one seems to care. 

Elephants drink water late at night. And from the same source as people camping nearby do. 

Lions are just big, hairy cats. And they like to roll around and stretch like their domesticated cousins.

Cape buffalo skulls are huge. Camping is dangerous. Kip needs a haircut. Seriously.

PHOTO FRIDAY: MEAT MARKET

Talk about a dirty job. 

Next time you're having a bad day at the office, imagine what it might be like hauling around slabs of raw meat on your back all day. That's the occupation of the guy above we met at Stone Town's meat market. 

Six days a week. For hours on end. With blood running down his neck, dripping onto his bare feet and soaking into his T-shirt. 

It's a dirty job, but this guy managed to do it with a smile. 

PHOTO FRIDAY: ZANZIBAR RAINBOW

We thought we'd never see anything like the Photo Friday rainbow over Burma's Inle Lake from months ago. But an afternoon thunderstorm on our first day in Zanzibar produced a scene we thought was pretty close. 

Above, two men pole their boat through the shallows as another sails past in the distance. Welcome to Zanzibar indeed.

PHOTO FRIDAY: WRECK AT SOUTHERNMOST POINT

Most of us mistakenly believe the Cape of Good Hope to be the southernmost tip of Africa. Yet as any well-traveled sea captain would've been able to tell you back in the days of square sails and scurvy , that honor goes to Cape Agulhas, known as one of the most dangerous spots on the oceans. 

The area is famous for fierce winter gales and towering rogue waves, either of which may have forced the ship above onto the rocks where we got a good look at her at sunset. Menacing clouds blocked out most of the light, but the sound of the waves crashing against the rocks made for an impressive soundtrack to end our day. 

PHOTO FRIDAY: BEACH HUTS OF MUIZENBERG

On a long stretch of sand not far from Cape Town, this colorful line of beach cottages makes for a scenic view in the surf town of Muizenberg. We stopped for breakfast at a local diner, watching wet-suit clad surfers come in from the frigid waters for a cup of coffee before heading back out for a late-morning session. 

PHOTO FRIDAY: A HUG FROM A LEMUR

Yes, that's a lemur hugging Kip's leg. 

Yes, this actually happened. Kip hasn't stopped talking about his new best friend ever since. 

PHOTO FRIDAY: FRIENDLY FACE IN MADAGASCAR

He may look like he's about to inflict some serious pain on an intrusive photographer, but 70-yr-old Philibert, who worked at the guest house where we stayed, actually had a smile nearly as bright and contagious as the grin on the kid from last week's Photo Friday. 

We caught Philibert in action while he was building a fence out of palm leaves to protect some brand new coconuts he had just planted around the property. If you've got a fence that needs mending or building (or a photographer that needs scaring), this is your man.

PHOTO FRIDAY: FUTURE BOAT BUILDER

The seaside village of Belo Sur Mer on Madagascar's east coast is known for its boat building. The little boy above, who we met playing on the beach, is Belo's next generation, learning to construct vessels by hand as his family and others have done for as long as anyone can remember. 

Tune in next week for a story on the nine-hour 'boat ride from hell' we took to get to this place. 

PHOTO FRIDAY: BAOBABS AT NIGHT IN MADAGASCAR

Lining a dirt road near the remote western coast of Madagascar, ancient baobab trees grow skyward as they have for centuries. After spending 20 hours in what the locals call "taxi brousses" (literally, "bush taxis") we finally made it to the famous "Avenue of the Baobabs," tired, thirsty, and not a little giddy from the scene before us. Surrounded by ancient giants, we watched day fade into night, as we fed mosquitoes and waited til just the right moment to snap the photo above. A Land Rover drove through the shot during the 30-second time delay, giving it a nice touch.

PHOTO FRIDAY: WALL OF DEATH

Two riders brave the infamous "Wall of Death" at a fair in India.

If you ever get the chance to visit one of India's countless circuses or fairs, your first stop has to be a show at the Wall of Death, aka "Motordome." Just follow the smell of exhaust fumes and the sounds of screaming crowds intermingled with twin-cylinder engines revved to their breaking points. 

The shows are so popular, the fair we went to--the Sonepur Mela--featured two of the high-walled, rickety cylinders. Both had been built from rusted metal supports and wooden planks more at place in a garbage dump than as an elevated road meant to hold up hundreds of spectators and a fleet of speeding cars and motorcycles. 

Once we finally overcame the fear factor, we sat with the masses, amazed by what has to be one of the craziest shows on earth.

Workers chat while a car, driven by a maniac, speeds overhead. A stunned crowd watches form above. The photo was taken through one of the many broken wooden planks on which the cars and bikes depend to hold them up.

PHOTO FRIDAY: CAMEL FAREWELL

A camel gives us a close-up farewell from Pushkar. 

We promise, no more camel pics...at least for a few days. 

PHOTO FRIDAY: THE CAMEL CONDUCTOR

The camels above aren't actually performing an incredibly complicated and well-orchestrated dance move, though it may look like they are. Their owner, the would-be conductor, is simply trying to ensure his hobbled animals stay nearby as potential buyers stroll past to peruse his stock.

The shot was taken at the Pushkar Camel Fair, the world's largest showfloor for buyers, traders, sellers of camels. It's an amazing event and one you'll be reading about a few more times on this site for the next week or so.

PHOTO FRIDAY: SADHU IN VARANASI

The city of Varanasi, formerly known as Benares, is the spiritual capital of India and one of the holiest pilgrimage sites for Hindus. Built along the banks of the sacred Ganges River, the ancient settlement is a place people have traveled to for centuries. They come for miles around to bathe, to pray, and most importantly, to burn their dead on massive ghats that line the shore. The ashes of the departed are then washed into the holy Ganga in hopes of attaining salvation.

The religious significance of the city and river attract countless Sadhus, or holy men, such as the one above we saw strolling along the shores. It's one of the country's most impressive scenes, one that Mark Twain famously called "older than history, older than tradition, older even than legend, and looks twice as old as all of them put together."

PHOTO FRIDAY: ENTRY TO THE 'BABY TAJ'

A female grounds worker walks in front of a red sandstone gate that protects the entrance to the tomb of Itmad-Ud-Daula, a former ruler of the region, and his wife. Guess they didn't have chain link fences back then...

The path the woman is crossing leads to an ornate white marble structure known as the "Baby Taj Mahal." Built in the 1600's, the tomb preceded the actual Taj by around 10 years and kicked off the transition from red sandstone structures like the one above to the glistening white marble buildings like the actual Taj Mahal. 

Click here to see images other folks have taken of the Baby Taj in all its glory.