Los Voladores in Tulum, Mexico

From Peru, Jan Hilario sent the Source Newspaper a visual update of her travels.

Hilario left Vancouver on April 2. She doesn’t plan to return until hitting the majority of our globe and has seven months left on this self-imposed one-year-tour.

“The idea to embark on a world trip was birthed amidst a twirling balance of forces and emotions,” says Hilario on her blog.

She has traveled through North, Central and South America. Hilario plans on continuing on through Africa, Europe, Asia and back to the West Coast.

Hilario says that she has always been curious about life. She has always wanted to explore, and doing it through the lens of a camera, while traveling, is something she’ll never regret.

“It [traveling] is equally the growth of friendships as it is a pursuit of solitude,” she says.  “It’s equal parts the need for intellectual stimulation and reflection as it is the chase for adrenaline and just plain fun.”

Hilario’s photos take us through the lives of those living in places far from the capital cities and tourist traps of the world. Like many other explorers Hilario strives to look at her surroundings in a unique way.

She says that she wants to embrace the world as she happens to see it and welcomes a “hearty challenge if it finds [her].” These challenges have led her to travel with a motto:
“Never frown or grimace, because misery and poverty is only exacerbated by pity or self-indulging anger.”

As serious as she takes her philosophy on life, Hilario doesn’t lose her sense of humour.
“[I want to] accept that I’m a zit on the face of the earth and [to] just roll with it,” she says.

Samuel Ramos

Click the thumbnails to zoom and then click a picture to go to the next one.
Pictures by Jan Hilario