A llama yawned in the afternoon sun with the sacred temple of Machu Picchu in the background, welcoming a throng of tourists to its home.

A homeless man is resting at the sidewalk in one of the busy streets in Jaipur, Rajasthan, India, in spite of the danger from the running vehicles and chilly winds blowing from the hills nearby which are decorated with grand palaces from the bygone era.

With their beautiful eyes and smiles, these children from the Hamer tribe live in the middle of the Ethiopian bush. Based mainly on cattle exchanges the Hamer coexist peacefully with each other. However, their survival is in jeopardy. The construction of a massive hydroelectric dam and land grabs for plantations, as well as the ban on wearing their tribes’ symbols in public spaces are a few examples of how their traditional way of life is being affected.

A girl fills water from a reservoir on a hot summer evening in rural Rajasthan. Open reservoirs like this are sources of fresh water for a number of rural communities in India that lack basic services. This particular pond served two villages as well as the local wildlife, risking the spread of waterborne diseases in rural communities.

Transporting a sack of rice across a wide lake like the Tuangthaman Lake in, Amarapura, Myanmar is no small feat. Two cows, a carriage, and two handlers comprise the logistics requirements to ensure this sack of rice remains dry and reach the other town for consumption.

This Uyghur man hangs his grapes to dry inside one of the many chunches that dot the Turpan landscape in Xinjiang Province, China. These chunches are a building unique to the Uyghurs; used to turn grapes into raisins simply through the constant flow of air through the hundreds of holes that pockmark the walls.

Like many other villages of the indigenous Atacameño people in the Atacama Desert, Ayquina celebrates its patron saint yearly.  The veneration of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Ayquina is the largest and most important of its kind in the Alto El Loa area.  Thousands come to witness the procession of dancers from all over the region.  Among the many dance troupes, the Tinkus don the most elaborate and colorful traditional clothing. The young man in this photo is enjoying the celebration dance as part of the Tinkus group.

This photo was taken on the streets of Hargeisa, Somaliland, an autonomous region within Somalia. The shop in the picture sells soda and customers pay by dialing the merchants Zaad number (pictured above the girl in the black hijab) into their phone. Zaad is a mobile money system, which has been revolutionary in transforming commerce and finance throughout the region. As cellphones have become ubiquitous, innovation and technology have made up for the lack of formal banking infrastructure. Citizens of Somaliland transfer more money via their cellphones as a percentage of GDP than any other country, giving them their reputation as a “cashless society.”

This small county in the southern part of China seems like still leading a lifestyle in the 1980s and does not influence by China’s rapid economic growth. Without a barber shop, the most popular street barber Mr. Wei has been running his business for 30 years with simple equipment: a mirror, a razor, a bottle of water and a bar of soap.

The epitome of urban development, Dubai has become one of the world’s major cities surrounded by record-setting skyscrapers. This photo was taken at the top of the World’s tallest standing building, the Burj Khalifa.

Driving through the “Heaven’s Gate” mountain pass you eventually reach Quan Ba town. We can see rice paddies and terraces in the valley below. Quan Ba is a frontier town in Vietnam’s most northern province. It is largely an agrarian society and most notably it is the last stop before Dong Van, Vietnam’ most northern town about 60 km away. The road ahead is very dangerous so many travelers (local and foreign) stay here to rest on their way to Dong Van.

This man looking at me with his piercing eyes is from the Karo tribe. He is guarding his village, which is located on top of a river full of crocodiles and nearby tribes. There are frequent skirmishes between the Karo and other tribes.