Husavik a Myvatn, Iceland

Endless Snow on the Island of Fire


Equine solidarity
Herd of horses is pressed together to face a new Icelandic snowfall.
the ultimate visitor
Visitor in front of Glaumbaer's row of peat houses.
Krafla's sharp peak
Car travels along a road from the PN Myvatn, towards the Krafla volcano.
snowy spa
Jardbodin's baths, under one of the frequent snowfalls that befall Myvatn.
volcanic islands
Pseudo-craters lost in the frigid vastness of Skútustadir.
volcanic heart
Visitors to Myvatn admire the heated crater of Hverjall.
Glaumber: the dead and the living
Glaumbaer's peat houses seen from its small graveyard.
a short ascent
Hikers climb the flat crater of the Hverjall volcano.
winter out of time
Pato walks on a belatedly frozen surface on the outskirts of Husavik.
sharp mountain
High-profile mountain high above the Oxnadalsheidi gorge.
colorful twilight
Sun sets over the horizon in the icy surroundings of Husavik.
Black & White Walk
Casal starts a trail that runs through part of the volcanic landscape of Dimmuborgir.
difficult navigation
Passengers try to balance aboard the Hildur schooner, converted for whale watching.
Boreal sunset
Sun sets east of Iceland, as seen from the icy coast on the way to Husavik.
equine line
Horses roam a frostbitten meadow west of Glaumbaer.
Akureyr corner
Corner of Akureyri, the capital of northern Iceland.
Jardbodin's Mist
Sun gilds the Jardbodin spa.
peaked roofs
Visitor at the door of one of Glaumbaer's houses
Husavik twilight
Finally, night falls over Husavik in northern Iceland.
When, in mid-May, Iceland already enjoys some sun warmth but the cold and snow persist, the inhabitants give in to an intriguing summer anxiety.

Many miles of roller coaster road after leaving Reykjavik, we had arrived in northwestern Iceland.

It's half past four. The day just passed the middle. We caught the person responsible for Glaumbaer prepared to close the reception building and his working day.

Agust Sigurjónsson is satisfied. Return to work mode and to the interior of houses under the grass. It expands on explanations that intrigue us.

To ruin his already short period of rest, these explanations raise new questions: “Once, most dwellings in this area – and on the island in general – were built on turf, which the Nordic settlers found in abundance in the swamps and bogs." eloquently transmits to us the son of Sigurjón.

Glaumbaer Peat, Iceland Never Ending Snow Island Fire

Visitor at the door of one of Glaumbaer's houses

Glaumbaer's Village of Peat and Grass

He continues: “Glaumbaer was a Lutheran priestly mansion but it followed the same construction techniques employed by the humble dwellings of the colony. He almost only used wood in the facades.”

In this era, even more than now, trees were scarce in Iceland. The boards rarely arrived from Norway or Denmark and were a luxury. The best that the poor population could do was to collect the logs that faced the coast to reinforce the combustion of dry peat and the heating of homes.

On a geothermal planetary scale, the Gulf Stream has long been helping. We read over and over that, despite being located at an extreme latitude, Iceland has a temperate climate.

It is this semi-warm sea flow that makes its temperatures higher than those of other territories located at similar latitudes. It also keeps the island's coasts free from ice, even in winter.

A mere hundred kilometers from Greenland and 50 to the east of Glaumbaer, we enter the gorge of Oxnadalsheidi and find ourselves surrounded by imposing mountains.

We watched the temperature drop sharply on the car thermometer and the snow cover the entire landscape.

Like the island's ancestral inhabitants and those of today, we quickly learned to discount information.

Oxnadalsheidi Gorge, Iceland Never Ending Snow Island Fire

High-profile mountain high above the Oxnadalsheidi gorge.

Towards Akureyri and Closer to the Arctic

There are high altitude farms perched on both slopes, supposedly safe from both avalanches and floods caused by the summer melt.

In a fresh snowfall, we ended up on the western bank of Eyjafjördur fjord. We head towards the bay that encloses it and, shortly thereafter, we come across Akureyri, the small capital of the great north.

Of the nearly 322.000 Icelanders, more than a third live in the urban area of ​​the capital Reykjavik. In Akureyri, the second city, less than 18.000 live.

Icelandic participants in winter sports competitions where the Scandinavian, Finnish and Alpine peoples of Europe face off against each other are rare.

Akureyri does, however, have the best snow resorts in the country that help some residents and many more foreigners to earn a living or pass their time.

We met Ivo Martins, a Portuguese guide who has been working from the city for five years.

Among so many other notions, the compatriot tells us about the psychological profile of the people who welcomed him: “despite being welcoming and friendly at first sight, the Icelanders themselves recognize that they have difficulties in relating.

Here in Akureyri, they even gave the traffic lights the shape of a heart, to remind themselves that they have to love each other. But Iceland retains one of the highest rates of single women, among other worrying indicators.”

Akureiry Iceland Never Ending Snow Island Fire

Corner of Akureyri, the capital of northern Iceland.

Husavik and the Complicated Whale Sighting on “Hildur”

Shortly after an early morning awakening in Husavik, a fishing town in the north, we embarked on the “Hildur", an originally traditional vessel withbuilt in 1974 in the northern Icelandic capital Akureyri but that, in 2009, he took a 10-day trip to Ekernsund, in Denmark, where it was converted into a two-masted schooner with 250 m2 squares of candles.

Since then, Hildur it has been used on several epic voyages including coastal expeditions to neighboring Greenland. And was about to set sail for a short navigation of whale watching in the bay of Skjálfandi.

As predicted, we made our way along the frigid coast until we came to an islet colonized by puffins. From there, the oak vessel sails towards the island of Flatey. When he abandons the protection of the coast, he is subject to the vagaries of the high seas.

The “66º” navigation suit that the crew lent to the passengers begins by indicating good protection against the low temperature and, at least in the initial phase of the four and a half hours of navigation, we have no reason to complain.

A Painful Navigation Among Cetaceans

But the breeze quickly turns into a harsh wind that raises considerable waves at the confluence of the Atlantic and Arctic oceans. Some wet clothes and shoes intensify a cold in itself that is difficult to bear.

Meanwhile, the passengers most vulnerable to the swing begin to resent the long-awaited seasickness.

"Hildur", Iceland Never Ending Snow Island Fire

Passengers try to balance aboard the Hildur schooner, converted for whale watching.

Two young blond Icelandic sailors struggle to keep the sails under control. They also try to cheer up the suffering hosts with an energetic utterance in English and promises of guaranteed sightings of large cetaceans.

They fulfill them when the helmsman brings us close to humpback whales on the northern edge of Skjálfandi Bay. Whales often surface on both sides of the boat and off imposing white cliffs kept frozen by the irrigation of moisture provided by the north wind.

We follow them for half an hour and their movements, to the general disillusionment of the spectators on board, not very acrobatic but always culminating in the graceful sinking of the gigantic rear fins.

We leave them to devour the disgraced arctic krill in industrial quantities. A little later, the peculiar view of the island of Flatey and its houses catches our attention. The highest point on this island is only 22 meters.

As the Hildur travels the nearly 9km back to Husavik harbour, still and always buffeted by the icy wind and snow, we gaze at the school building, the church and the lighthouse and wonder what has been on the mind of the a small community of Icelanders ex-residents to be isolated there, no matter how plentiful the fish were.

Providential Return to the Port of Husavik

We dock at the port to shiver. One of the crew made a point of softening and glorifying the suffering we had shared: “There's hot chocolate and raisin cakes here for everyone. They were really brave. I assure you that this was one of the most arduous and chilling outings we have had to date. "

We get in the car, turn the air conditioning on at maximum heat, drink the cocoa and recover the lost body heat. After resuscitation was achieved, we took off on Route 87 pointing towards the interior of Iceland.

We can see on the panel thermometer how the cold tightens again under an already clear sky and, outside, a thick snow cover that seems far from melting.

Flocks of ducks, geese and other migratory birds follow one another on both sides of the road, grouped around semi-solid puddles in which they despair of finding food.

Goose Iceland Never Ending Snow Island Fire

Pato walks on a belatedly icy surface on the outskirts of Husavik

The Frigid-Infernal Domain of Myvatn, the Fire of Iceland

We went up to the algid lands in the heart of the island. Little by little, we are approaching the area where temperatures are usually lowest, around Grimsstadir, where, in January 1918, it was -38º.

Without warning, the road also undergoes snow. For several kilometers, we drive over a mixture of asphalt and ice that the wind keeps blowing. But however much Iceland cools on the surface, even beneath its endless glaciers it remains in a white-hot stir.

In few areas the scars of this thermal confrontation are as notorious as around Myvatn (Lake of the Flies), the inhospitable stronghold in which we continued to immerse ourselves.

The shallow eutrophic lake that gives the park its name was formed by a major eruption more than 2300 years ago. Unsurprisingly, the surrounding scenery is dominated by jagged lava shapes, including pillars and pseudo-craters.

We advance to Dimmuborgir where we don't see a soul in the reception building. We ascend to an observation point and contemplate the blackened and desolate landscape as far as the eye can see, generated by a lava channel that collapsed, released an abundant flow that invaded a waterlogged swamp and thus generated huge pillars and other chaotic formations.

This is the dark realm that, in Icelandic mythology, links the Earth to the hells. Norse Christian mythology goes further.

It claims that Dimmuborgir is the place where Satan landed when he was cast out of the heavens and created the Catacombs of Hell. And a Norwegian symphonic black-metal band, in turn, took advantage of the imagery of the place and named themselves – forgive us the nonsense – Dimmu Borgir.

Dimmuborgir Iceland Never Ending Snow Island Fire

Casal starts a trail that runs through part of the volcanic landscape of Dimmuborgir.

Spring to Icelandic Fashion

But we are far from feeling the heat of the flames of the depths, even if they were only those of Purgatory. An army of gray clouds had also ventured into those unlikely lands.

At that very moment, it refreshes us with one more snowfall that accompanied us all over the island.

The flakes mottle the crumble terrestrial and the clear vision that we had hitherto had of it. Even so, under the weather, we detect a couple venturing on the trail that winds through the landscape and disappears behind patches of lava.

We returned to the surroundings of the lake and found colonies of birds incomparably more numerous than those we had seen on the way back. We backtracked to the park's north entrance.

In Skútustadir, we make ourselves brave and go for a walk in a scenario that we considered more meritorious and less gloomy than DimmuBorgir.

Strong gusts almost drive us off the narrow, icy path.

But it's when we climb to the top of the first pseudocrater that we feel the true power of the Icelandic wind.

Hverjall Crater, Iceland Never Ending Snow Island Fire

Visitors to Myvatn admire the heated crater of Hverjall.

With difficulty, we cling to the railing of the viewpoint and let ourselves be amazed by the extraterrestrial eccentricity of the vastness around us.

Dozens of other pseudocraters endow the icy, erosion-smoothed plateau.

The lake's contours impose themselves on the colored heterogeneity of the surface, give way to a white immensity and, finally, to the different shapes of the surrounding volcanoes: the conical Hlídarfjall, the Gaesafjoll; further away, also Krafla, whose energy the Icelandic government has harnessed since 1977, through a 60 MWe geothermal station.

The Craters, Caldeiras and Fumaroles of Fogo and Ice Island

We skirt around Gardur and the countless lava islets in the southwest corner of the lake. In the vicinity of the flattened crater of Hverfjall, we are attracted by walls made of pieces of lava cutting up land, which at the time had little or nothing agricultural.

In the extension of these walls, we glimpse another enchanting natural pattern, formed by white patches of semi-melted snow on the yellow-brown of the dry meadow.

In the background, between this meadow and the sky already blue again, the old volcano imposes its own fashion, in a geological and meteorological outfit with swaths of ice that line the black slopes.

We conquer it step by step. Once at the top, we stopped to catch our breath and again appreciate the white expanse of Myvatn, in particular the Hlídarfjall, which is so sharp it has the power to impress despite measuring less than 800 meters in altitude.

Hverjall volcano, Iceland

Hikers climb the flat crater of the Hverjall volcano

Inland, Hverfjall reveals its heated crater that the deep magna keeps black by melting all the snow that lands there, including the one that starts to fall once more.

The wind rages and the blizzard thickens. We scramble down the slippery trail and point to the road. Along the way, we passed a herd of Icelandic horses in an empathic formation.

With their backs to the aggression of the weather, the animals find our visit strange and neigh in a strange high-pitched tone typical of the species.

Horses under a snow, Iceland Never Ending Snow Island Fire

Herd of horses squeezes in to face a new Icelandic snowfall

Two of them, more curious, break the formation to establish contact. We stroke their golden manes until we agree to a simultaneous stampede. The horses return to the comfort of the herd, us to the warm seats of the car.

A Return to Husavik from the Otherworld

The afternoon is drawing to a close. We reversed gears towards Husavik where we had planned to have dinner and opted for an itinerary different from the one of our arrival, which seemed to take a shortcut. Dusk begins and the temperature plummets.

At one point, we could barely make out the road completely sunk in snow and ice. Only the yellow stakes stuck in the curb, the winter tires and the effective four-wheel drive calm us down and compel us to continue on such a bleak route.  

Along the way, we see the sun's ball descend over distant mountains and orange the celestial half of the horizon. À At the entrance to the city, the mountains give way to a vast icy beach and, instead of orange, the atmosphere has already turned to a lilac that darkens before our eyes.

Sunset, Iceland Never Ending Snow Island Fire

Sun sets east of Iceland, as seen from the icy coast on the way to Husavik.

We drove slowly between the one-story houses in the village, but we still didn't find the hotel building. Without suspecting the mistake, we entered the wrong garden and passed in front of the panoramic window of a villa.

Inside, a whole family is cozily sharing any TV show and our ridiculous episode of “Lost".

A lady comes to the door: “they're looking for the Husavik Cape, right? It's the entrance down there. They are still undergoing renovations. Do not worry. They are far from being the first. Lately, people look at the scaffolding, it's hard for them to believe it's there and they all come here.”

We say goodbye with more excuses. Finally, there we knocked on the right door. The shy receptionist seems resigned to the lack of signage and gets down to business: “Welcome. Get settled in and have some coffee or tea. I'll give you the rest of the directions.”

On the way back from the room, we didn't find him at his post. We notice that we are on top of a promontory opposite the center of Husavik, the city that the book of colonization (Landná mabók) claims to have been the first place in Iceland populated by a Scandinavian settler.

Husavik Iceland Never Ending Snow Island Fire

Finally, night falls over Husavik in northern Iceland.

We take advantage of the spare minutes to peek into the night at anchor there, embellished by the lights that come on around the wooden church Húsavíkurkirkja, above the port and the village's amphitheater in general.

Once again, unexpectedly, snowflakes begin to hover over that Icelandic coast facing the Arctic. They were far from the last.

Jökursarlón Lagoon, Vatnajökull Glacier, Iceland

The Faltering of Europe's King Glacier

Only in Greenland and Antarctica are glaciers comparable to Vatnajökull, the supreme glacier of the old continent. And yet, even this colossus that gives more meaning to the term ice land is surrendering to the relentless siege of global warming.
Thingvellir National Park, Iceland

The Origins of the Remote Viking Democracy

The foundations of popular government that come to mind are the Hellenic ones. But what is believed to have been the world's first parliament was inaugurated in the middle of the XNUMXth century, in Iceland's icy interior.
Iceland

The Geothermal Coziness of the Ice Island

Most visitors value Iceland's volcanic scenery for its beauty. Icelanders also draw from them heat and energy crucial to the life they lead to the Arctic gates.
Jok​ülsárlón Lagoon, Iceland

The Chant and the Ice

Created by water from the Arctic Ocean and the melting of Europe's largest glacier, Jokülsárlón forms a frigid and imposing domain. Icelanders revere her and pay her surprising tributes.
Iceland

The Island of Fire, Ice and Waterfalls

Europe's supreme cascade rushes into Iceland. But it's not the only one. On this boreal island, with constant rain or snow and in the midst of battle between volcanoes and glaciers, endless torrents crash.
Perito Moreno Glacier, Argentina

The Resisting Glacier

Warming is supposedly global, but not everywhere. In Patagonia, some rivers of ice resist. From time to time, the advance of the Perito Moreno causes landslides that bring Argentina to a halt.
Seydisfjordur, Iceland

From the Art of Fishing to the Fishing of Art

When shipowners from Reykjavik bought the Seydisfjordur fishing fleet, the village had to adapt. Today, it captures Dieter Roth's art disciples and other bohemian and creative souls.
Seward, Alaska

The Alaskan Dog Mushing Summer

It's almost 30 degrees and the glaciers are melting. In Alaska, entrepreneurs have little time to get rich. Until the end of August, dog mushing cannot stop.
Rhinoceros, PN Kaziranga, Assam, India
Safari
PN Kaziranga, India

The Indian Monoceros Stronghold

Situated in the state of Assam, south of the great Brahmaputra river, PN Kaziranga occupies a vast area of ​​alluvial swamp. Two-thirds of the rhinocerus unicornis around the world, there are around 100 tigers, 1200 elephants and many other animals. Pressured by human proximity and the inevitable poaching, this precious park has not been able to protect itself from the hyperbolic floods of the monsoons and from some controversies.
Faithful light candles, Milarepa Grotto temple, Annapurna Circuit, Nepal
Annapurna (circuit)
Annapurna Circuit: 9th Manang to Milarepa Cave, Nepal

A Walk between Acclimatization and Pilgrimage

In full Annapurna Circuit, we finally arrived in Manang (3519m). we still need acclimatize to the higher stretches that followed, we inaugurated an equally spiritual journey to a Nepalese cave of Milarepa (4000m), the refuge of a siddha (sage) and Buddhist saint.
Bertie in jalopy, Napier, New Zealand
Architecture & Design
Napier, New Zealand

Back to the 30s

Devastated by an earthquake, Napier was rebuilt in an almost ground-floor Art Deco and lives pretending to stop in the Thirties. Its visitors surrender to the Great Gatsby atmosphere that the city enacts.
Salto Angel, Rio that falls from the sky, Angel Falls, PN Canaima, Venezuela
Adventure
PN Canaima, Venezuela

Kerepakupai, Salto Angel: The River that Falls from Heaven

In 1937, Jimmy Angel landed a light aircraft on a plateau lost in the Venezuelan jungle. The American adventurer did not find gold but he conquered the baptism of the longest waterfall on the face of the Earth
Miyajima Island, Shinto and Buddhism, Japan, Gateway to a Holy Island
Ceremonies and Festivities
Miyajima, Japan

Shintoism and Buddhism with the Tide

Visitors to the Tori of Itsukushima admire one of the three most revered scenery in Japan. On the island of Miyajima, Japanese religiosity blends with Nature and is renewed with the flow of the Seto Inland Sea.
Porvoo, Finland, warehouses
Cities
Porvoo, Finland

A Medieval and Winter Finland

One of the oldest settlements of the Suomi nation, in the early XNUMXth century, Porvoo was a busy riverside post and its third city. Over time, Porvoo lost commercial importance. In return, it has become one of Finland's revered historic strongholds.  
Obese resident of Tupola Tapaau, a small island in Western Samoa.
Meal
Tonga, Western Samoa, Polynesia

XXL Pacific

For centuries, the natives of the Polynesian islands subsisted on land and sea. Until the intrusion of colonial powers and the subsequent introduction of fatty pieces of meat, fast food and sugary drinks have spawned a plague of diabetes and obesity. Today, while much of Tonga's national GDP, Western Samoa and neighbors is wasted on these “western poisons”, fishermen barely manage to sell their fish.
Nahuatl celebration
Culture

Mexico City, Mexico

mexican soul

With more than 20 million inhabitants in a vast metropolitan area, this megalopolis marks, from its heart of zócalo, the spiritual pulse of a nation that has always been vulnerable and dramatic.

Spectator, Melbourne Cricket Ground-Rules footbal, Melbourne, Australia
Sport
Melbourne, Australia

The Football the Australians Rule

Although played since 1841, Australian Football has only conquered part of the big island. Internationalization has never gone beyond paper, held back by competition from rugby and classical football.
Devils Marbles, Alice Springs to Darwin, Stuart hwy, Top End Path
Traveling
Alice Springs to Darwin, Australia

Stuart Road, on its way to Australia's Top End

Do Red Center to the tropical Top End, the Stuart Highway road travels more than 1.500km lonely through Australia. Along this route, the Northern Territory radically changes its look but remains faithful to its rugged soul.
Creel, Chihuahua, Carlos Venzor, collector, museum
Ethnic
Chihuahua a Creel, Chihuahua, Mexico

On Creel's Way

With Chihuahua behind, we point to the southwest and to even higher lands in the north of Mexico. Next to Ciudad Cuauhtémoc, we visited a Mennonite elder. Around Creel, we lived for the first time with the Rarámuri indigenous community of the Serra de Tarahumara.
sunlight photography, sun, lights
Got2Globe Photo Portfolio
Natural Light (Part 2)

One Sun, So Many Lights

Most travel photos are taken in sunlight. Sunlight and weather form a capricious interaction. Learn how to predict, detect and use at its best.
Nelson Dockyards, Antigua Docks,
History
English Harbor, Antigua (Antilles)

Nelson's Dockyard: The Former Naval Base and Abode of the Admiral

In the XNUMXth century, as the English disputed control of the Caribbean and the sugar trade with their colonial rivals, they took over the island of Antigua. There they came across a jagged cove they called English Harbour. They made it a strategic port that also housed the idolized naval officer.
Islands
São Nicolau, Cape Verde

Photography of Nha Terra São Nicolau

The voice of the late Cesária Verde crystallized the feeling of Cape Verdeans who were forced to leave their island. who visits São Nicolau or, wherever it may be, admires images that illustrate it well, understands why its people proudly and forever call it their land.
Boats on ice, Hailuoto Island, Finland.
Winter White
Hailuoto, Finland

A Refuge in the Gulf of Bothnia

During winter, the island of Hailuoto is connected to the rest of Finland by the country's longest ice road. Most of its 986 inhabitants esteem, above all, the distance that the island grants them.
Almada Negreiros, Roça Saudade, Sao Tome
Literature
Saudade, São Tomé, São Tomé and Principe

Almada Negreiros: From Saudade to Eternity

Almada Negreiros was born in April 1893, on a farm in the interior of São Tomé. Upon discovering his origins, we believe that the luxuriant exuberance in which he began to grow oxygenated his fruitful creativity.
Okavango Delta, Not all rivers reach the sea, Mokoros
Nature
Okavango Delta, Botswana

Not all rivers reach the sea

Third longest river in southern Africa, the Okavango rises in the Angolan Bié plateau and runs 1600km to the southeast. It gets lost in the Kalahari Desert where it irrigates a dazzling wetland teeming with wildlife.
Sheki, Autumn in the Caucasus, Azerbaijan, Autumn Homes
Autumn
Sheki, Azerbaijan

autumn in the caucasus

Lost among the snowy mountains that separate Europe from Asia, Sheki is one of Azerbaijan's most iconic towns. Its largely silky history includes periods of great harshness. When we visited it, autumn pastels added color to a peculiar post-Soviet and Muslim life.
ala juumajarvi lake, oulanka national park, finland
Natural Parks
Kuusamo ao PN Oulanka, Finland

Under the Arctic's Icy Spell

We are at 66º North and at the gates of Lapland. In these parts, the white landscape belongs to everyone and to no one like the snow-covered trees, the atrocious cold and the endless night.
Kongobuji Temple
UNESCO World Heritage
Mount Koya, Japan

Halfway to Nirvana

According to some doctrines of Buddhism, it takes several lifetimes to attain enlightenment. The shingon branch claims that you can do it in one. From Mount Koya, it can be even easier.
In elevator kimono, Osaka, Japan
Characters
Osaka, Japan

In the Company of Mayu

Japanese nightlife is a multi-faceted, multi-billion business. In Osaka, an enigmatic couchsurfing hostess welcomes us, somewhere between the geisha and the luxury escort.
Vietnamese queue
Beaches

Nha Trang-Doc Let, Vietnam

The Salt of the Vietnamese Land

In search of attractive coastlines in old Indochina, we become disillusioned with the roughness of Nha Trang's bathing area. And it is in the feminine and exotic work of the Hon Khoi salt flats that we find a more pleasant Vietnam.

Hikers on the Ice Lake Trail, Annapurna Circuit, Nepal
Religion
Annapurna Circuit: 7th - Braga - Ice Lake, Nepal

Annapurna Circuit – The Painful Acclimatization of the Ice Lake

On the way up to the Ghyaru village, we had a first and unexpected show of how ecstatic the Annapurna Circuit can be tasted. Nine kilometers later, in Braga, due to the need to acclimatize, we climbed from 3.470m from Braga to 4.600m from Lake Kicho Tal. We only felt some expected tiredness and the increase in the wonder of the Annapurna Mountains.
Train Kuranda train, Cairns, Queensland, Australia
On Rails
Cairns-Kuranda, Australia

Train to the Middle of the Jungle

Built out of Cairns to save miners isolated in the rainforest from starvation by flooding, the Kuranda Railway eventually became the livelihood of hundreds of alternative Aussies.
Ditching, Alaska Fashion Life, Talkeetna
Society
Talkeetna, Alaska

Talkeetna's Alaska-Style Life

Once a mere mining outpost, Talkeetna rejuvenated in 1950 to serve Mt. McKinley climbers. The town is by far the most alternative and most captivating town between Anchorage and Fairbanks.
herd, foot-and-mouth disease, weak meat, colonia pellegrini, argentina
Daily life
Colónia Pellegrini, Argentina

When the Meat is Weak

The unmistakable flavor of Argentine beef is well known. But this wealth is more vulnerable than you think. The threat of foot-and-mouth disease, in particular, keeps authorities and growers afloat.
Bather rescue in Boucan Canot, Reunion Island
Wildlife
Reunion Island

The Bathing Melodrama of Reunion

Not all tropical coastlines are pleasurable and refreshing retreats. Beaten by violent surf, undermined by treacherous currents and, worse, the scene of the most frequent shark attacks on the face of the Earth, that of the Reunion Island he fails to grant his bathers the peace and delight they crave from him.
The Sounds, Fiordland National Park, New Zealand
Scenic Flights
Fiordland, New Zealand

The Fjords of the Antipodes

A geological quirk made the Fiordland region the rawest and most imposing in New Zealand. Year after year, many thousands of visitors worship the sub-domain slashed between Te Anau and Milford Sound.
PT EN ES FR DE IT