El Cazador pilgrimages?

[Tahaan]

I know at least one person who has gone to Europe and 'followed the trail', so to speak, of Noir. She went to Paris, Basque country (the Manor), Austria, Sicily, Switzerland, St Petersburg...

What I wanted to know is, has anybody ever considered doing something similar with El Cazador and Latin America? Personally, as soon as I have some time and money in my life, I would LOVE to go on a road trip through Mexico and Central America and down the Andes. When I was watching El Cazador with my mother we actually sat down and thought about where every episode was taking place--e.g. the show starts (and ends) in New Mexico or Texas (higher standard of living than apparent in the rest of the series, among other things), the first ten or so episodes are in the Central Mexican Plateau, the hot springs episode is in the Sierra Madre (Occidental or Oriental), the Kokopelli episode is in the Chiapas/Guatemala highlands (which makes Kokopelli the mythological equivalent of the 'accidental' part of a bird's range), and there's a time skip around episode 20 because from the condor episode to the end is in Ecuador and Peru (These are all just our estimations, though). Trying to correlate El Cazador locations with real-life geographical areas could be a challenge, but to people like me and my mother that's part of the fun!

Of course, my life right now isn't really set up for doing something like this, but it's a thought, and I was wondering if anybody else had ever thought this thought.

[Bulmafox]

I haven't, but be sure it document it well when you go. 

[noirlax]

It's a great idea Tahaan and I never thought of it. However I doubt it be an easy trek so be prepared if you do go for one.

[Kavi]

Well, travelling around central america isn't nearly as easy as travelling around Europe, but  it might be a bit cheaper ^^

[Tahaan]

Well, travelling around central america isn't nearly as easy as travelling around Europe, but  it might be a bit cheaper ^^

And what makes you think I do 'easy' travel? I have two speeds: 1) stay at home and sleep all day and 2) FUCK YEAH ADVENTURE. 

I haven't been on speed two in quite some time, though.

[Tahaan]

Okay, I've some settled ideas about where a few different parts of the series take place! This is based on cues like night sky shots, terrain, and material culture.

Episode 1: Arizona
Episode 2: Sonora
Episode 3: Sonora
Episode 4: Sonora or Chihuahua
Episode 5: Chihuahua
Episode 9: Coahuila or Zacatecas
Episode 13: Guanajuato
Episode 14: Northwest Territories (only more-or-less explicit statement, as Schneider gives the dimensions of the Great Slave Lake)
Episode 15: Hidalgo or thereabouts
Episode 18: Chiapas or the highlands of Guatemala (homeland of maize, not quite far south enough for Kokopelli to be COMPLETELY out of place)
Episode 19: Guayaquil, Ecuador or Lima, Peru (a night sky shot shows the Southern Cross. Note that there appears to be a bit of a time skip between episodes 18 and 19)
Episode 20: Ecuador or Peru
Episode 21: Peru
Episodes 22-25: Peruvian/Bolivian border area, near Lake Titicaca
Episode 26: Texas?

Let me know if anybody else has got any ideas!

[Kavi]

I thought it the location of Episode 14 was Lake Nicaragua; I don't have the episode handy but Kajiura (and presumeably other Bee Train staff) spent some time there (in Nicaragua) in pre-production. Also, it certainly looks like Lake Nicaragua, especially in the opening pan in Episode One. The ecology around the Great Slave Lake is comparitively featureless (though very striking!) and is home to very few deciduous trees (if I recall correctly, a few Rowan, but certainly no maple; it's practically on the edge of the northern tree line).

Anyway, while I don't know that it's Lake Nicaragua (never been there) I'm fairly positive it isn't the GSL (where I have).

Chiapas seems much more likely than Guatamala for Kokopelli symbolism, imo. Definitely a time skip between 18 and 19 for which we can excuse the continental skip!

City shots appear to be of Los Angeles. Texas seems a little out of the way to be doing photography if the crew travelled south through Sonora (agreed there) from L.A.; New Mexico or eastern California seem most probable, but that's just speculation. Though I've travelled extensively along the southern US border I have yet to distinguish the southern deserts of New Mexico from Arizona from Cali at a glance!

By the way, when I said "easy" I was thinking in regard to borders and customs, but then, I have an EU passport

Any other ideas?

[Kavi]

PS - doesn't Prof. say something about it being the 10th largest lake in North America, or am I imagining things?

Sorry for double post but I'm using a public computer which is making long posts skip back to the top, and I can't see what I'm writing!

[janus]

The ruin city is Manchu Pichu for episodes 22-25.  I am basing this on the pictures I have seen of Manchu Pichu.

[Kavi]

The ruin city is Manchu Pichu for episodes 22-25.  I am basing this on the pictures I have seen of Manchu Pichu.

Hey, you're right! Thanks!

[janus]

You are welcome.  Although I am not certain which Mayan and Aztec ruins they threw in to the picture for the underground areas.

[Tahaan]

Schneider said it was the tenth largest lake in the world, and the dimensions that he quotes are for the Great Slave Lake (which can be from eighth to eleventh depending on how you count lakes). Also, whatever else that scenery may have been (inaccurate for tundra, I know), that was not Nicaragua. It was definitely Canada, and probably western Canada at that. The episode is titled 'Maple Leaf', for God's sake. The flora, the fauna...it should have been Lake Athabasca, perhaps, but Mashimo is no geographer.

Also, when I mean episode 26 I mean that episode that's unconnected to the rest of the plot and serves as a coda. They're not ON the southward journey in episode 26. I suggested Texas because they're not in a desert for most of the episode; they're in a suburban area with trees. And in the end they ride off into the sunset over the Llano Estacado or something that looks a lot like it. You're right that it could as well be California, though.

[Kavi]

There are no maple trees, or any deciduous trees, by the GSA, to my knowledge, but you're right about it probably being western canada (just re-watched the episode). And, to point out the obvious, Canada being indentified with the maple leaf makes this likely pro intellectum.

Also, when I mean episode 26 I mean that episode that's unconnected to the rest of the plot and serves as a coda. They're not ON the southward journey in episode 26.

Obviously; but I wasn't referring to Nadie and Ellis but to the cameramen. It seems unlikely that if bee train took photography of the border areas they would not have made a trip into Texas unless it was necesary to do so; and as I understand it, the more efficient route through rural Mexico is nearer the west coast. Suburbia one can find anywhere, and south Texas is no less desert-y than AZ & NM along the border. If anything the route between Corpus Christi and San Antonio is a bit more bleak than that between Pheonix and Los Angeles. I only know this as I used to go to college in the LA area while living in Mississippi

[Tahaan]

Come to think of it, did Bee Train cameramen in fact actually go to the South-West and Latin America?

[Kavi]

Come to think of it, did Bee Train cameramen in fact actually go to the South-West and Latin America?

Usually that would be necessary; it's possible to do halfway decent bg art from stock photos but very hard from what I understand ^^