After my wife and I got married, I received my green card, which granted us the opportunity to travel internationally. This trip was very important to me not only because it allowed me to reconnect with my family, which I hadn’t seen in a really long time, but it also allowed me to introduce Yuliya to my immediate family. It was extremely meaningful to see my mom, brother, his two kids, my sister-in-law, dad and stepmom. This trip granted me the opportunity to take photographs of the people and places that shape not only my hometown, but also it’s surrounding areas. We traveled to Concepción, which is where Nick (my brother) and Angela (sister-in-law) work.

The four of us took a trip to Salar de Uyuni, the salt flats of Bolivia. The views were incredible, and the high altitude made us feel a bit uneasy. We had headaches and nausea until we took some elevation pills Angela got for us. We were out in the hot sun the whole day taking really cheesy touristy pictures. Our tour guide took some of us posing in the salt flats with objects enlarged in front of us, pictures of Angela stepping on Nick and Yuliya stepping on me. The perspective made it look kind of photoshopped.

My experience of returning home is like having childhood memories, and going back to those places as an adult. The things you imagined in your memory are much larger in your mind, than in actuality. Places like Siete Calle were enormous in my imagination of the perspective I had of that place. When you are younger, everything seems bigger.

Bolivia has a prominent indigenous culture. There is a big Chola population, and many of them sell delicious street food such as salteñas and mocochinchi. Salteñas are like the Bolivian version of a baked empanada with soup filling. Mocochinchi is a refreshing dried peach cinnamon and clove tea without caffeine. The fruit and vegetable markets were filled with people buying groceries for the week. The vendors in the market arranged their produce in front of stands displaying the many different types of fruits and vegetables they sold. I strayed away from Yuliya and my family during our grocery run and photographed the indigenous culture present within the markets.