Izamal, Mexico

The Holy, Yellow and Beautiful Mexican City


gold on blue
Carriages in Itzamna Park with dusk taking over Izamal.
Gold on blue II
Carriage drivers converse in the Itzamná Park, with the twilight taking hold of Izamal.
the park life
Cyclist walks around Parque Itzamna, one of the city's many green squares.
May there be Sun II
Workers carry out a Sol beer distribution on the corner of Calle 31 and 28A.
may there be sun
Francisco displays a bottle of Sol, the Mexican beer he used to stock his grocery store on the corner of Calle 31 and 28A.
equine fashion
One of the horses that pull the streets in which they lead visitors through Izamal.
yellowish Catholicism
The entrance to the church of the Purísima Concepción stands out among the arcades of the former convent of San Antonio de Padua.
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Pedestrians cross the threshold of the atrium of the former convent of San Antonio de Padua
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Statue of Pope John Paul II
a shortcut
Pedestrians cross the threshold of the atrium of the former convent of San Antonio de Padua, the great Catholic temple in Izamal.
high pontiff
Statue of Pope John Paul II, next to the entrance to the church of Nª Purísima Concepción. John Paul II visited and blessed Izamal in August 1993.
what's left of the past
Group of visitors on the ruin of the old pyramid of Kinich Kakmo, God of the Mayan Sun.
under the arcade
Visitor at the entrance of the church of Purísima Concepción,
a solitary walk
Resident pedals along a street race to arcades, over the sunset.
on the way II
Residents of Izamal descend the ascent ramp to the former convent of San Antonio de Padua.
Mexico
Mexican flag flutters in the wind, sunset orangeing the sky to the west of the Yucatan.
Until the arrival of the Spanish conquerors, Izamal was a center of worship for the supreme Mayan god Itzamná and Kinich Kakmó, the one of the sun. Gradually, the invaders razed the various pyramids of the natives. In its place, they built a large Franciscan convent and a prolific colonial houses, with the same solar tone in which the now Catholic city shines.

After a day and a half in the north of Yucatan, the cold front that had been chasing and tormenting us breaks down over the peninsula.

We had spent her exploring the surroundings of Mérida, with incursions to several cenotes, the abundant underground lakes in this eastern region of the Mexico.

On the second attempt, the meteorology recomposes itself. Izamal enchants us at once.

When we got there, in the middle of the afternoon, the sun that was blazing the green landscape had softened.

Izamal in Party

A street fair full of marquestes (small deals on push carts), more ambitious snack stalls and a picturesque ballet liven up the central square.

Hungry from so long handed over to the pyramids Mayas and stuck on the route that linked them to the city, we began by settling in a dining room under the arcades of the Izamal Yucateca Municipal Market.

Without expecting it, it winds and unfolds there, to the sound of trumpets, guitars, accordions, violins and the shrill voice of the singers on duty.

Calesa pulling horse in Izamal, Mexico

One of the horses that pull the streets in which they lead visitors through Izamal.

A troupe of dancers, dressed in white suits, pants and panamas, they in white flowered dresses, necklaces hanging around their necks and flowers holding their hair, twirl with their arms raised to the sky, to the accelerated and strident rhythm of the music.

From time to time, these protagonists interrupt their exhibition. So, the people of Izamal take over the party. Makes her drag without mercy.

We followed the ballet for a while longer.

Until we realized that the sun had fallen too far from its tropical zenith and we dedicated ourselves to the mission that had taken us there:

Izamal, the village, city of three cultures - Mayan, colonial and the current mestizo -, one of the first to be declared by the Mexican authorities "magic pueblo" of the nation.

The Catholic stronghold above the city

Only the corner of Calle 31A and Calle 30 separated us from the cobbled ramp that led to the former Convent of San Antonio de Padua, sheltered on a green platform above the colonial heart of the city.

We pass by marquesite "The Blessing of Dios” and we inaugurated the ascension. We came across visitors who, oblivious to the popular pandemonium below, completed their religious tours of the temple.

Access ramp to the former convent of San Antonio de Padua, Izamal, Mexico

Residents of Izamal descend the ascent ramp to the former convent of San Antonio de Padua.

The top of the slope reveals the intricate entrance portico, highlighted above the arcades around the complex. We noticed for the first time the predominant yellow that cheered Izamal.

Even if stained by a chaos of products and people walking through it, the Mercado Municipal Izamal Yucateca market was yellow. The ground floor buildings around Parque 5 de Maio, idem.

The entire exterior of the convent was revealed as yellow.

We enter the shadow play created by the impending sunset and cross the portico. On the other side, a lush lawn as wide as some football fields filled the rectangular atrium.

We were in front of one of the oldest convents in the western hemisphere, built in 1561 on the ruins of Pap-hol-chac.

In fact, it was built with the same stones that made up this one of the biggest pyramids in the Yucatan. Soon after the arrival and imposition of the Hispanic conquerors on the Mexican peoples, the destruction of the Mayan temples was systematized.

Arcades of the former convent of San Antonio de Padua in Izamal, Mexico

The entrance to the church of Puríssima Concepción stands out among the arcades of the former convent of San Antonio de Padua.

Diego de Landa and Colonial Destiny

One of the main responsible was the friar Diego de Landa. De Landa landed in Yucatan lands in the same year of 1561, entrusted by the Hispanic Crown to convert the natives.

He conducted the mission almost always by force, with methods, sometimes brutal. It is believed that, among other atrocities, he had 27 codices burned and thousands of idols scattered throughout the Mayan villages destroyed.

Thanks to his intolerance, only three Mayan manuscripts survive, and against the will of the friar, he could not bear the idea of ​​many of the new converts continuing to practice rites of their old religion, fused with the belief and rituals of Catholicism.

The story goes that Landa's proselytism was so cruel that, when it reached the ears of the masters of the Spanish Inquisition, they were shocked and called Landa back to the metropolis. There are still doubts as to the friar's reaction to the abuse he received.

Some historians claim that he regretted it and that he remembered to compensate for his behavior by creating “Yucatan before and after the Conquest”. Others believe that the Inquisition will have forced him to write the book.

In any case, however contradictory it may seem, Landa's written work is, even today, a crucial source of knowledge of the Mayas and its culture.

Much due to its pioneering action, Izamal became an important Catholic pilgrimage pole, instead of Maia.

A Celebrated Papal Visit

A few meters from the entrance to the nave of the church of Purísima Conception, a bronze Pope John Paul II contemplates the horizon from the top of a pedestal that reads: “From Yucatan, Bendigo to Indigenous Hermanos and All Inhabitants of the American Continent."

The crowd that welcomed and praised the supreme pontiff in August 1993 pays him a moving chromatic tribute.

Statue of Pope John Paul II, entrance to the church of Nª Purísima Concepción in Izamal, Mexico

Statue of Pope John Paul II, next to the entrance to the church of Nª Purísima Concepción. John Paul II visited and blessed Izamal in August 1993

Until that time, as is characteristic of Mexican colonial settlements, the houses in the city were painted in pastel tones. Several were already yellow.

But, for more than a millennium that Izamal functioned as a pilgrimage center where the Mayas they worshiped Kinich Kakmo, their sun god.

Well, most of the inhabitants share the same Mayan ancestry and speak, even today, both Mayan and Castilian.

When, in 1993, they were informed that John Paul II would visit Izamal and give Mass there, they immediately agreed on the need to beautify the city.

One of them suggested that they should paint all the buildings, including the convent, in the same color.

The Yellow Expression of Faith

The yellow seemed, to everyone, obvious. Izamal already had the ancient Mayan relationship with the Sun.

The corn that feeds the city and the region is yellow, as is the left half of the flag of the Vatican, the Catholic nation from which the Pope would come to bless them and secure them with a statue of the Virgin Mary with a silver crown.

We go around the atrium by the extension of its arcades. Until we come to a new ramp and the northwest exit from the complex.

This too led to a park, the Itzamná, like the city, named in honor of the supreme god Maya, the ruler of the skies, day and night.

Arcades of the former convent of San Antonio de Padua, Izamal, Mexico

Pedestrians cross the threshold of the atrium of the former convent of San Antonio de Padua, the great Catholic temple of Izamal

We went down the ramp. Back in the lower and mundane plane of the city, we are faced with a square of carriages parked there to provide walks through the city's alleys.

We deny the insistent proposals of the owners and continue in a pedestrian exploration mode.

On the other side of the Convento de Santo António

With the party still concentrating the attention and entertainment in Parque 5 de Mayo, this face of Izamal remained in a sedating peace.

The chariot drivers conformed to the interregnum and talked calmed by the thalassotherapy of the fountain and the lake in the center of the class.

Carts at Itzamna Park in Izamal, Mexico

Cyclist skirts the Itzamna Park, one of the city's many green squares

One or another rare cyclist or motorcyclist skirted the park in front of him.

And a Coca-Cola distribution van, defied the prevailing yellow with the arrogance of its capitalist red.

Without expecting them, despite the almost bloodthirsty chromatic appeal of the truck and the “Enjoy it” highlighted in white on the back, is another drink, 100% Mexican, which ends up attracting us.

SOL beer distribution in Izamal, Mexico

Workers carry out a Sol beer distribution on the corner of Calle 31 and 28A

We crossed the park. Its northwest edge confronts Calles 31A and 28.

There, the owner of the café and grocery store that occupied the middle of the fork would restock the establishment for the days ahead served by a pick-up truck loaded with crates of Sol beer.

A lacy sign announced "The Consumption of Alcoholic Beverages on the Via Publica is prohibited”. Accordingly, little by little, Francisco and some assistants unloaded them into the business where, safe from the capricious agents of the law, they would bring him good profit.

In that peculiar yellow post-colonial setting, the flush displayed a strong advertising photogenic.

With no way of resisting him, we got into a conversation with the group of men and got ready to photograph the scene until the actors were saturated with the intrusion.

Worker displays SOL beer bottle, Izamal, Mexico

Francisco displays a bottle of Sol, the Mexican beer he used to stock his grocery store on the corner of Calle 31 and 28A.

And in Party Education

The lights of the old lamps come on and announce the entry into the twilight stage. The lighting on the walls and under the arches gave the old convent a holographic look, as if it were, at any moment, levitating to the celestial vault.

Dusk in Itzamna Park, Izamal, Mexico

Carriages in Itzamna Park with dusk taking over Izamal.

We return to the Parque de 5 Mayo.

In those parts, the cowgirl it was over. The ballet was reinforced by dozens of newcomers who were hungry for fun.

We went up the convent ramp one last time to contemplate the surrounding panorama.

In the distance, we saw a small crowd on the 34 meters of what was left of the pyramid Kinich Kakmo, of the Sun god.

Kinich Kakmo's Pyramid in Izamal, Mexico

Group of visitors on the ruin of the old pyramid of Kinich Kakmo, god of the Mayan Sun

The great star was preparing to dive into the depths of mythology and the Earth. It was time for us to retire to the southern nocturnal refuge that had been ours.

Mexican flag at sunset, Izamal, Mexico

Mexican flag flutters in the wind, sunset orangeing the sky to the west of the Yucatan

More information about Izamal on the respective page of UNESCO.

Campeche, Mexico

Campeche Upon Can Pech

As was the case throughout Mexico, the conquerors arrived, saw and won. Can Pech, the Mayan village, had almost 40 inhabitants, palaces, pyramids and an exuberant urban architecture, but in 1540 there were less than 6 natives. Over the ruins, the Spaniards built Campeche, one of the most imposing colonial cities in the Americas.
Mérida, Mexico

The Most Exuberant of Meridas

In 25 BC, the Romans founded Emerita Augusta, capital of Lusitania. The Spanish expansion generated three other Méridas in the world. Of the four, the Yucatan capital is the most colorful and lively, resplendent with Hispanic colonial heritage and multi-ethnic life.
Tulum, Mexico

The Most Caribbean of the Mayan Ruins

Built by the sea as an exceptional outpost decisive for the prosperity of the Mayan nation, Tulum was one of its last cities to succumb to Hispanic occupation. At the end of the XNUMXth century, its inhabitants abandoned it to time and to an impeccable coastline of the Yucatan peninsula.
Cobá to Pac Chen, Mexico

From the Ruins to the Mayan Homes

On the Yucatan Peninsula, the history of the second largest indigenous Mexican people is intertwined with their daily lives and merges with modernity. In Cobá, we went from the top of one of its ancient pyramids to the heart of a village of our times.
San Cristobal de Las Casas, Mexico

The Home Sweet Home of Mexican Social Conscience

Mayan, mestizo and Hispanic, Zapatista and tourist, country and cosmopolitan, San Cristobal has no hands to measure. In it, Mexican and expatriate backpacker visitors and political activists share a common ideological demand.
Campeche, Mexico

A Bingo so Playful that you play it with Puppets

On Friday nights, a group of ladies occupy tables at Independencia Park and bet on trifles. The tiniest prizes come out to them in combinations of cats, hearts, comets, maracas and other icons.
Champoton, Mexico

Rodeo Under Sombreros

Champoton, in Campeche, hosts a fair honored by the Virgén de La Concepción. O rodeo Mexican under local sombreros reveals the elegance and skill of the region's cowboys.
San Cristóbal de las Casas a Campeche, Mexico

A Relay of Faith

The Catholic equivalent of Our Lady of Fátima, Our Lady of Guadalupe moves and moves Mexico. Its faithful cross the country's roads, determined to bring the proof of their faith to the patroness of the Americas.
Campeche, Mexico

200 Years of Playing with Luck

At the end of the XNUMXth century, the peasants surrendered to a game introduced to cool the fever of cash cards. Today, played almost only for Abuelites, lottery little more than a fun place.
Yucatan, Mexico

The End of the End of the World

The announced day passed but the End of the World insisted on not arriving. In Central America, today's Mayans watched and put up with incredulity all the hysteria surrounding their calendar.

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.

Yucatan, Mexico

The Sidereal Murphy's Law That Doomed the Dinosaurs

Scientists studying the crater caused by a meteorite impact 66 million years ago have come to a sweeping conclusion: it happened exactly over a section of the 13% of the Earth's surface susceptible to such devastation. It is a threshold zone on the Mexican Yucatan peninsula that a whim of the evolution of species allowed us to visit.
Uxmal, Yucatan, Mexico

The Mayan Capital That Piled It Up To Collapse

The term Uxmal means built three times. In the long pre-Hispanic era of dispute in the Mayan world, the city had its heyday, corresponding to the top of the Pyramid of the Diviner at its heart. It will have been abandoned before the Spanish Conquest of the Yucatan. Its ruins are among the most intact on the Yucatan Peninsula.
Barrancas del Cobre (Copper Canyon), Chihuahua, Mexico

The Deep Mexico of the Barrancas del Cobre

Without warning, the Chihuahua highlands give way to endless ravines. Sixty million geological years have furrowed them and made them inhospitable. The Rarámuri indigenous people continue to call them home.
Creel to Los Mochis, Mexico

The Barrancas del Cobre & the CHEPE Iron Horse

The Sierra Madre Occidental's relief turned the dream into a construction nightmare that lasted six decades. In 1961, at last, the prodigious Chihuahua al Pacifico Railroad was opened. Its 643km cross some of the most dramatic scenery in Mexico.
chihuahua, Mexico

¡Ay Chihuahua !

Mexicans have adapted this expression as one of their favorite manifestations of surprise. While we wander through the capital of the homonymous state of the Northwest, we often exclaim it.
Chichen Itza, Yucatan, Mexico

On the Edge of the Cenote, at the Heart of the Mayan Civilization

Between the XNUMXth and XNUMXth centuries AD, Chichen Itza stood out as the most important city in the Yucatan Peninsula and the vast Mayan Empire. If the Spanish Conquest precipitated its decline and abandonment, modern history has consecrated its ruins a World Heritage Site and a Wonder of the World.
Real de Catorce, San Luis Potosí, Mexico

From New Spain Lode to Mexican Pueblo Mágico

At the beginning of the XNUMXth century, it was one of the mining towns that guaranteed the most silver to the Spanish Crown. A century later, the silver had been devalued in such a way that Real de Catorce was abandoned. Its history and the peculiar scenarios filmed by Hollywood have made it one of the most precious villages in Mexico.
Real de Catorce, San Luis Potosí, Mexico

The Depreciation of Silver that Led to that of the Pueblo (Part II)

With the turn of the XNUMXth century, the value of the precious metal hit bottom. From a prodigious town, Real de Catorce became a ghost. Still discovering, we explore the ruins of the mines at their origin and the charm of the Pueblo resurrected.
Xilitla, San Luis Potosí, Mexico

Edward James' Mexican Delirium

In the rainforest of Xilitla, the restless mind of poet Edward James has twinned an eccentric home garden. Today, Xilitla is lauded as an Eden of the Surreal.
Residents walk along the trail that runs through plantations above the UP4
City
Gurué, Mozambique, Part 1

Through the Mozambican Lands of Tea

The Portuguese founded Gurué in the 1930th century and, from XNUMX onwards, flooded it with camellia sinensis the foothills of the Namuli Mountains. Later, they renamed it Vila Junqueiro, in honor of its main promoter. With the independence of Mozambique and the civil war, the town regressed. It continues to stand out for the lush green imposing mountains and teak landscapes.
Skipper of one of the bangkas at Raymen Beach Resort during a break from sailing
Beaches
Islands Guimaras  e  Ave Maria, Philippines

Towards Ave Maria Island, in a Philippines full of Grace

Discovering the Western Visayas archipelago, we set aside a day to travel from Iloilo along the northwest coast of Guimaras. The beach tour along one of the Philippines’ countless pristine coastlines ends on the stunning Ave Maria Island.
A campfire lights up and warms the night, next to Reilly's Rock Hilltop Lodge,
safari
Mlilwane Wildlife Sanctuary, eSwatini

The Fire That Revived eSwatini's Wildlife

By the middle of the last century, overhunting was wiping out much of the kingdom of Swaziland’s wildlife. Ted Reilly, the son of the pioneer settler who owned Mlilwane, took action. In 1961, he created the first protected area of ​​the Big Game Parks he later founded. He also preserved the Swazi term for the small fires that lightning has long caused.
Aurora lights up the Pisang Valley, Nepal.
Annapurna (circuit)
Annapurna Circuit: 3rd- Upper Banana, Nepal

An Unexpected Snowy Aurora

At the first glimmers of light, the sight of the white mantle that had covered the village during the night dazzles us. With one of the toughest walks on the Annapurna Circuit ahead of us, we postponed the match as much as possible. Annoyed, we left Upper Pisang towards Escort when the last snow faded.
Visitors at Jameos del Agua
Architecture & Design
Lanzarote, Canary Islands

To César Manrique what is César Manrique's

By itself, Lanzarote would always be a Canaria by itself, but it is almost impossible to explore it without discovering the restless and activist genius of one of its prodigal sons. César Manrique passed away nearly thirty years ago. The prolific work he left shines on the lava of the volcanic island that saw him born.
Full Dog Mushing
Aventura
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.
Christmas scene, Shillong, Meghalaya, India
Ceremonies and Festivities
Shillong, India

A Christmas Selfiestan at an India Christian Stronghold

December arrives. With a largely Christian population, the state of Meghalaya synchronizes its Nativity with that of the West and clashes with the overcrowded Hindu and Muslim subcontinent. Shillong, the capital, shines with faith, happiness, jingle bells and bright lighting. To dazzle Indian holidaymakers from other parts and creeds.
Aswan, Egypt, Nile River meets Black Africa, Elephantine Island
Cities
Aswan, Egypt

Where the Nile Welcomes the Black Africa

1200km upstream of its delta, the Nile is no longer navigable. The last of the great Egyptian cities marks the fusion between Arab and Nubian territory. Since its origins in Lake Victoria, the river has given life to countless African peoples with dark complexions.
Lunch time
Margilan, Uzbekistan

An Uzbekistan's Breadwinner

In one of the many bakeries in Margilan, worn out by the intense heat of the tandyr oven, the baker Maruf'Jon works half-baked like the distinctive traditional breads sold throughout Uzbekistan
the projectionist
Culture
Sainte-Luce, Martinique

The Nostalgic Projectionist

From 1954 to 1983, Gérard Pierre screened many of the famous films arriving in Martinique. 30 years after the closing of the room in which he worked, it was still difficult for this nostalgic native to change his reel.
Reindeer Racing, Kings Cup, Inari, Finland
Sport
Inari, Finland

The Wackiest Race on the Top of the World

Finland's Lapps have been competing in the tow of their reindeer for centuries. In the final of the Kings Cup - Porokuninkuusajot - , they face each other at great speed, well above the Arctic Circle and well below zero.
Tsitsikamma National Park
Traveling
Garden Route, South Africa

The Garden Coast of South Africa

Extending over more than 200km of natural coastline, the Garden Route zigzags through forests, beaches, lakes, gorges and splendid natural parks. We travel from east to west, along the dramatic bottoms of the African continent.
Vegetables, Little India, Sari Singapore, Singapore
Ethnic
Little India, Singapore

The Sari Singapore of Little India

There are thousands of inhabitants instead of the 1.3 billion of the mother country, but Little India, a neighborhood in tiny Singapore, does not lack soul. No soul, no smell of Bollywood curry and music.
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.
Holy Sepulcher, Jerusalem, Christian churches, priest with insensate
History
Holy Sepulcher Basilica, Jerusalem, Israel

The Supreme Temple of the Old Christian Churches

It was built by Emperor Constantine, on the site of Jesus' Crucifixion and Resurrection and an ancient temple of Venus. In its genesis, a Byzantine work, the Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher is, today, shared and disputed by various Christian denominations as the great unifying building of Christianity.
Ilha do Mel, Paraná, Brazil, beach
Islands
Ilha do Mel, Paraná, Brazil

The Sweetened Paraná of ​​Ilha do Mel

Located at the entrance to the vast Bay of Paranaguá, Ilha do Mel is praised for its nature reserve and for the best beaches in the Brazilian state of Paraná. In one of them, a fortress built by D. José I resists time and tides.
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.
Visitors to Ernest Hemingway's Home, Key West, Florida, United States
Literature
Key West, United States

Hemingway's Caribbean Playground

Effusive as ever, Ernest Hemingway called Key West "the best place I've ever been...". In the tropical depths of the contiguous US, he found evasion and crazy, drunken fun. And the inspiration to write with intensity to match.
savuti, botswana, elephant-eating lions
Nature
Savuti, Botswana

Savuti's Elephant-Eating Lions

A patch of the Kalahari Desert dries up or is irrigated depending on the region's tectonic whims. In Savuti, lions have become used to depending on themselves and prey on the largest animals in the savannah.
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.
Piton de la Fournaise, Réunion, the volcano path
Natural Parks
Piton de la Fournaise, Reunion Island

The Turbulent Volcano of Réunion

At 2632m, the Piton de la Fournaise, Réunion's only eruptive volcano, occupies almost half of this island we explored, mountains up, mountains down. It is one of the most active and unpredictable volcanoes in the Indian Ocean and on Earth.
Rhinoceros, PN Kaziranga, Assam, India
UNESCO World Heritage
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.
aggie gray, Samoa, South Pacific, Marlon Brando Fale
Characters
Apia, Western Samoa

The Host of the South Pacific

She sold burguês to GI's in World War II and opened a hotel that hosted Marlon Brando and Gary Cooper. Aggie Gray passed away in 2. Her legacy lives on in the South Pacific.
Drums and Tattoos
Beaches
Tahiti, French Polynesia

Tahiti Beyond the Cliché

Neighbors Bora Bora and Maupiti have superior scenery but Tahiti has long been known as paradise and there is more life on the largest and most populous island of French Polynesia, its ancient cultural heart.
Chiang Khong to Luang Prabang, Laos, Through the Mekong Below
Religion
Chiang Khong - Luang Prabang, Laos

Slow Boat, Down the Mekong River

Laos' beauty and lower cost are good reasons to sail between Chiang Khong and Luang Prabang. But this long descent of the Mekong River can be as exhausting as it is picturesque.
Executives sleep subway seat, sleep, sleep, subway, train, Tokyo, Japan
On Rails
Tokyo, Japan

Tokyo's Hypno-Passengers

Japan is served by millions of executives slaughtered with infernal work rates and sparse vacations. Every minute of respite on the way to work or home serves them for their inemuri, napping in public.
Mahu, Third Sex Polynesia, Papeete, Tahiti
Society
Papeete, French Polynesia

The Third Sex of Tahiti

Heirs of Polynesian ancestral culture, the Mahu they preserve an unusual role in society. Lost somewhere between the two genders, these men-women continue to fight for the meaning of their lives.
Visitors at Talisay Ruins, Negros Island, Philippines
Daily life
Talisay City, Philippines

Monument to a Luso-Philippine Love

At the end of the 11th century, Mariano Lacson, a Filipino farmer, and Maria Braga, a Portuguese woman from Macau, fell in love and got married. During the pregnancy of what would be her 2th child, Maria succumbed to a fall. Destroyed, Mariano built a mansion in his honor. In the midst of World War II, the mansion was set on fire, but the elegant ruins that endured perpetuate their tragic relationship.
Flock of flamingos, Laguna Oviedo, Dominican Republic
Wildlife
Oviedo Lagoon, Dominican Republic

The Dead Sea (nothing) of the Dominican Republic

The hypersalinity of the Laguna de Oviedo fluctuates depending on evaporation and water supplied by rain and the flow coming from the neighboring mountain range of Bahoruco. The natives of the region estimate that, as a rule, it has three times the level of sea salt. There, we discover prolific colonies of flamingos and iguanas, among many other species that make up one of the most exuberant ecosystems on the island of Hispaniola.
Bungee jumping, Queenstown, New Zealand
Scenic Flights
Queenstown, New Zealand

Queenstown, the Queen of Extreme Sports

In the century. XVIII, the Kiwi government proclaimed a mining village on the South Island "fit for a queen".Today's extreme scenery and activities reinforce the majestic status of ever-challenging Queenstown.