Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic

The Dominican Home Silver


Independence Park of Puerto Plata
Statues and flag of the Dominican Republic in the Independence Park of Puerto Plata.
Puerto Plata Cable Car – PN ISabel de Torres
Puerto Plata cable car cabin with the city in the background
exuberant visitor
Exuberant visitor to the Callejón de Doña Blanca in Puerto Plata.
Dari Reinoso and Co.
"Masters of the Ocean 2019" champion Dauri Reinoso (in blue) and buddies at the Take Off stand in Playa El Encuentro.
a sweet reprimand
Charlotte reprimands her birthday sister Anabela for destroying the birthday cake at Plaza Independencia in Puerto Plata.
Anabela, the birthday girl
Anabela's birthday girl on her grandmother's lap in the Independence Park of Puerto Plata.
blessed ride
Visitor walks on an elevated walkway next to the statue of Christ the Redeemer of PN Isabel de Torres, in Puerto Plata.
Frankenstein displays Brugal gems
Frank Vázquez displays one of the most highly regarded bottles of Dominican Brugal rum.
sweet and colorful joke
Josefina Martinez, from Tortuga, plays with cotton candy in Puerto Plata
Aquatic SSSSS
Surfer glides along one of the waves at Playa El Encuentro, near Cabarete.
Champion relaxation
Dauri Reinoso, "Masters of the Ocean 2019" Champion, water sports instructor at Playa El Encuentro, Cabarete.
surf break
Surfer leaves the sea at Playa El Encuentro, near Cabarete.
blue and green caribbean
View of the coastline in the vicinity of Puerto Plata, on the north coast of the Dominican Republic.
Two desalination
Surfer friends Gabriel and Huba shower after some surfing at Playa El Encuentro, near Cabarete
blessed ride
Visitor walks on an elevated walkway next to the statue of Christ the Redeemer of PN Isabel de Torres, in Puerto Plata.
Photo experiments in pink
Boyfriends try to come up with a perfect photo-reflection on Callejon de Doña Blanca in Puerto Plata
Sellers at the base of Christ the Redeemer in Puerto Plata
Vendors at the entrance to the market inside the statue of Christ the Redeemer on top of PN Isabel de Torres, in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic.
Puerto Plata resulted from the abandonment of La Isabela, the second attempt at a Hispanic colony in the Americas. Almost half a millennium after Columbus's landing, it inaugurated the nation's inexorable tourist phenomenon. In a lightning passage through the province, we see how the sea, the mountains, the people and the Caribbean sun keep it shining.

Sosua, Cabarete and Puerto Plata stand out on the map and are famous, but it's just Playa El Encuentro that we stop at.

They dictated the destination and a series of factors that the Atlantic unrolls over the north of the Dominican Republic in waves that surfers from all over are used to admiring.

A forest of dense trees shelters an initial area of ​​sand.

A community of water sports schools share the shadow of this shore, the warm and delicious sea in front, the customers who visit the coast and, equally or more importantly, the opportunity to live a natural and elusive day-to-day, without the stress and hassle of so many other ways of life.

There we met, in full post-surf showers, friends Gabriel, (from Margarita Island) and Huba, also Venezuelan, of Hungarian descent, members of the Frescollective project and with some ideas up their sleeves for the surroundings of Playa El Encuentro.

Gabriel and Huba in the shower, Playa El Encuentro, Cabarete

Surfer friends from the Frescollective collective Gabriel and Huba shower after some surfing at Playa El Encuentro.

Right next door, we enter the 321Take Off surf school, then represented by the Argentine Juan, but founded by Yahman Markus Bohm, also creator of the competition Masters of the Ocean which combines surfing, kitesurfing, windsurfing and paddleboard.

Part of the entourage we follow takes on surf lessons. We wandered along the beach in search of other treasures.

Surf Lesson, Playa El Encuentro, Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic

Group of friends learns to surf on the seafront of Playa El Encuentro.

Surfers from different generations try the most suitable maneuvers for the swell of the moment. Some throw themselves into the emerald Caribbean water, others leave it and disappear into the blackness of the forest.

Dauri Reinoso also comes and goes. Dauri trains on Del Encuentro waves and works as a surf teacher for 321Take Off. won the Masters of the Ocean 2019 held in Cabarete but, in a good surfer way, poses for us with a lightness of soul that only many ethereal hours between the waves grant.

Dauri Reinoso, Dauri Reinoso, Masters of the Ocean 2019 Champion, at Playa El Encuentro, Cabarete

Dauri Reinoso, Champion of “Masters of the Ocean 2019”, water sports instructor at Playa El Encuentro, Cabarete.

Brugal. A Not Frugal Rum

Frank Vázquez welcomes us at the entrance to the Puerto Plata factory of the famous Dominican rum Brugal. Hearing that there was a predominance of Portuguese in the group, he informs us that he would guide us in Portuguese. The version is the Brazilian one but even so its competence amazes us.

“But you've already worked on the Brazil?” Not! I have a lot of curiosity. I like to learn, I don't sit still! I can guide this tour in ten different languages. Also, I'm a firefighter, rescuer, paramedic, lifeguard. I'm done with a little bit of everything, you know? Because I'm Frank and that's why they call me Frankenstein…

We hadn't touched the rum yet. The conversation already sounded surreal to us. Frank interrupts her to save us from the monstrous Caribbean sun. Inside, as he did time and time again, he describes the brand's history, shows us its most valuable bottles and gives us a taste of different productions.

Of the various Brugal rums on display, one Pope Andrés stood out, of whom only a thousand bottles remained, each valued at at least $1500.

By that time, the whole group had tasted some rum, the most modest, of course.

Rum tasting at the Brugal factory, Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic

Frank Vázquez serves rum during a performance by the Brugal rum factory.

Photos of the brand's papal star were requested in all shapes and sizes. Afraid of breaking it and being banished from the congregation of the spirit that employed him, Frank embraced the museum box that protected the Limited edition 2015 with a blessed care.

In times of intense industrial espionage, we only had the right to spy on Brugal's production unit. No photos, no videos. It was supposed that no boldness.

Frank Vázquez displays bottles from Brugal, Puerto Plata

Frank Vázquez displays one of the most highly regarded bottles of Dominican Brugal rum.

Ascent to the Isabel de Torres Tropical Peak

The tropical heat of a pressure cooker that continues to make us sweat just to refresh ourselves has little or nothing since the sun's zenith.

We get ahead of the traffic in San Felipe de Puerto Plata, the city. we surpassed guaguas – vans for almost twenty passengers, carts – private cars that take taxis and we see them circulating with almost half the capacity of the guaguas.

E motoconchos, mototaxis that we accompany in their capacity, we don't really know if the maximum is: four passengers holding on to the driver. And each other.

Angel, the Dominican who led us with heavenly smoothness and rocked to the sound of bachata popular in the country, completes a final climb in a curve.

Finally, we reach the foot of Pico Isabel de Torres, named after the Queen Isabel of Castile, born in Madrigal de Las Altas Torres (Valladolid) and in force in the years when Christopher Columbus unveiled these West Indies to the West. Old world.

At 793m, the mountain of Puerto Plata is at a ¼ of the altitude of Pico Duarte (3.098m), the roof of the Caribbean islands, but, as it rises from the imminent seashore, it preserves an impressive coastal drama.

It's Thursday. Without the Dominican weekend visitors offshore, the cable car passengers are sparse.

The summit to which we were going to ascend was many meters short of the record-breaking peak of Pico Duarte. By way of compensation, the authorities of Puerto Plata emphasize the fact that the cable car that connects the city to its mountain is a pioneer.

The line was inaugurated in 1975. At that time, it didn't have identical ones in the sea and surrounding archipelagos.

From then until now, it was not long after a century. The cabin we follow, this one, takes a mere eight minutes to conquer the lush hillside.

At the window facing the Atlantic, we passed humble homes and an earthy, deserted baseball field. Little by little, we see the white houses of Puerto Plata shrink from the splashing green.

When we inspect the view from the landing platform, the forest overwhelms the urban area below with relief.

We appreciate a kind of sub-peak lined with an intricate mantle of small palm trees and other lush plant species.

To the west, the view made it evident that San Felipe de Puerto Plata had extrapolated the tightest of successive jagged coves on the Ambar Coast, where this precious fossilized resin is most abundant in the Dominican Republic.

View from the top of the PN Isabel de Torres cable car, over the coast of Puerto Plata

View of the coastline in the vicinity of Puerto Plata, on the north coast of the Dominican Republic.

We admire her for a few extra moments. Until the open-armed appeal of an unexpected Christ the Redeemer makes us turn our backs to the coast.

A first staircase leads to the foot of the monument, based on a half-sphere with windows. A second one passes between a waving flag of the Dominican Republic and another of Puerto Plata.

It takes visitors to the dreary interior of the white half-ball where a community of sellers of crafts and treasures attract them to your business.

All around, a botanical garden with endemic flora and the natural vastness of the PN Isabel de Torres, seemed to us more worthy attractions.

Sellers at the base of the Christ the Redeemer statue, Puerto Plata, Dominican Rep.

Sellers at the entrance to the market inside the statue of Christ the Redeemer on top of PN Isabel de Torres

We skirted the sphere below the feet of Christ, overflown by flocks of parrots shrill, the same birds that Christopher Columbus would have observed, then, probably much more abundant and noisy.

Columbus sailed off the present-day Ambar Coast in 1492, on the first of his four voyages to the Americas. It reached these parts of the Caribbean after having crossed the Bahamas and traveled the eastern half of Cuba, with the coast always in sight.

After the failures of La Navidad and The Isabela, the north of Hispaniola would only receive a successful colony, in a year still under debate, between 1502 and 1506.

Whatever the date, the village was planned by Cristovão Colombo and his younger brother, Bartolomeu.

At the time, a note by Cristovão about the argent look of the persistent fog on that mountain that welcomed us will have served as an inspiration for its name: San Felipe de Puerto Plata. Where do we return in the meantime.

 The Lives That Bring More Life to Puerto Plata

We disembarked from the van straight to its Independence Park, designed with creative geometry from the heart of La Glorieta, a two-story Victorian octagonal bandstand.

The architectural style of the bandstand is no coincidence. Around it, there are many other Victorian buildings built from 1857 onwards, influenced by European and immigrant boats that began to arrive in the port at the end of the XNUMXth century.

It is said, in fact, that the fashion spread as ships landed brochures and leaflets with images of Victorian buildings.

These buildings are still standing, each with its lines and colors that clash with the most modern constructions and the austere lines of the Cathedral of St. Philip the Apostle.

We head for the temple's tripartite entrance when a humble, unholy celebration catches our attention.

Sitting on a park bench, a girl holds a birthday cake. Behind her, a young Dominican woman ties an arrangement of balloons to a corner of the bench.

Grandmother and mother of the birthday sisters Charlote and Anabela photograph Anabela in the Parque Independência de Puerto Plata.

Grandmother and mother of the birthday sisters Charlote and Anabela photograph Anabela in the Parque Independência de Puerto Plata.

Charlotte turns three. The mother takes care of the adjustments for a photo session that will eternalize the moment. “It's not just Charlotte.” tell us the lady. "Anabela, the youngest, also just made the first one!" With the help of her grandmother and a friend, the mother sits her two daughters on the bench with the cake in the middle.

Angelic Anabela ignores the photos. Little given to ceremonies, he takes a big finger of icing from the cake and smears cream all over his mouth. Charlotte puts her hands to her head. The sister does not stop.

Attack the colored sectors of the cake. Charlotte asks her mother and grandmother for help but, amused by her youngest daughter's photogenic mischief, the adults ignore her. Charlotte loses patience. He screams at his sister and tries to stop her sugary terrorism. Too late and in vain.

Sisters on their birthdays at Independencia Park, Puerto Plata, Dominican Rep.

Charlotte reprimands her birthday sister Anabela for destroying the birthday cake.

We no longer enter the cathedral. Instead, we reversed our way to the bottom of Independencia Park and then to a new street in the city, the alley of Doña Blanca Franceschini, recently opened by the family of the Punta Cana tourist group, Rainieri Kuret.

The alley was repaired by the group and the family in honor of the 110th anniversary of her grandmother Blanca's arrival in Puerto Plata in 1898. Bianca (original Italian name) Franceschini and her husband realized that a hotel in Puerto Plata was needed.

Thus, they decided to found the Hotel del Comercio, later Hotel Europa, and laid a solid foundation for Dominican tourism.

We found the alley magenta from end to end. Decorated with benches, windows and mirrors that challenge lovers instagramers. We see Marielys and her better half struggle to come up with a creative photo that arrives.

Boyfriends photograph themselves at Callejón de Doña Blanca, Puerto Plata

Boyfriends try to come up with a perfect photo-reflection on Callejon de Doña Blanca in Puerto Plata

Fifteen minutes later, when they noticed the hyperactivity of a bunch of photographers with cameras that seemed to them professional, they couldn't resist: “Can't you help us here? This reflex story is complicated… and you're used to it.”

We do the girl's pleasure. She peeks at the photo and looks at her boyfriend with a reproachful air of: “See? Was it really that hard?”

Just below, in the walk of the shades, we found Josefina Martinez, from Tortuga, an island north of Haiti.

Much more comfortable as a model, the three of us had fun in a short improvisation around the cotton candy I was tasting.

Sweet joke, Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic

Josefina Martinez, from Tortuga, plays with cotton candy in Puerto Plata

We went down a little further, towards the seaside. There we find the Fort of São Filipe. Until the middle of the XNUMXth century, Puerto Plata continued to develop around this fort.

Until, around 1555, it fell into decay and became frequented mainly by pirates, in such a way that in 1605, to prevent the expansion of piracy that harmed the Spaniards, Felipe III ordered the destruction of the city, which would only come to be repopulated after a century.

We found the fort already closed but, as always in Caribbean port cities, surrounded by life. Tomás Nuñez had reverted to his old habit of inline skating and, as far as we could see, was keeping fit.

At one point, he sat down squeezing his skates beside Lourdes and Darwin, both lying down watching the waves crashing along the length of the walls.

Residents of Puerto Plata, Tomás Nuñez, Lourdes and Darwin in the vicinity of Fort São Filipe.

Tomás Nuñez, Lourdes and Darwin in the vicinity of the fort of San Felipe de Puerto Plata.

We came to think that the two family of Tomás but no, they didn't know each other. Dan, Lourdes' husband and Darwin's father, fished farther down, out of sight.

Confused? Maybe. Nothing much if we take into account the richness of what we had experienced in just one day in Puerto Plata. would follow the Peninsula of Samaná and its Haitises.

Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

The Longest Colonial Elder in the Americas

Santo Domingo is the longest-inhabited colony in the New World. Founded in 1498 by Bartholomew Colombo, the capital of the Dominican Republic preserves intact a true treasure of historical resilience.
Lake Enriquillo, Dominican Republic

Enriquillo: the Great Lake of the Antilles

Between 300 and 400 km2, situated 44 meters below sea level, Enriquillo is the supreme lake of the Antilles. Regardless of its hypersalinity and the stifling, atrocious temperatures, it's still increasing. Scientists have a hard time explaining why.
Lagoa Oviedo a Bahia de las Águilas, Dominican Republic

In Search of the Immaculate Dominican Beach

Against all odds, one of the most unspoiled Dominican coastlines is also one of the most remote. Discovering the province of Pedernales, we are dazzled by the semi-desert Jaragua National Park and the Caribbean purity of Bahia de las Águilas.
Barahona, Dominican Republic

The Bathing Dominican Republic of Barahona

Saturday after Saturday, the southwest corner of the Dominican Republic goes into decompression mode. Little by little, its seductive beaches and lagoons welcome a tide of euphoric people who indulge in a peculiar rumbear amphibian.
Samaná PeninsulaLos Haitises National Park Dominican Republic

From the Samaná Peninsula to the Dominican Haitises

In the northeast corner of the Dominican Republic, where Caribbean nature still triumphs, we face an Atlantic much more vigorous than expected in these parts. There we ride on a communal basis to the famous Limón waterfall, cross the bay of Samaná and penetrate the remote and exuberant “land of the mountains” that encloses it.
Soufriere, Saint Lucia

The Great Pyramids of the Antilles

Perched above a lush coastline, the twin peaks Pitons are the hallmark of Saint Lucia. They have become so iconic that they have a place in the highest notes of East Caribbean Dollars. Right next door, residents of the former capital Soufrière know how precious their sight is.
Oviedo Lagoon, Dominican Republic

The (very alive) Dominican Republic Dead Sea

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.
Cartagena de Indias, Colombia

The Desired City

Many treasures passed through Cartagena before being handed over to the Spanish Crown - more so than the pirates who tried to plunder them. Today, the walls protect a majestic city always ready to "rumbear".
Henri Pittier NP, Venezuela

PN Henri Pittier: between the Caribbean Sea and the Cordillera da Costa

In 1917, botanist Henri Pittier became fond of the jungle of Venezuela's sea mountains. Visitors to the national park that this Swiss created there are, today, more than they ever wanted
Margarita Island ao Mochima NP, Venezuela

Margarita Island to Mochima National Park: a very Caribbean Caribe

The exploration of the Venezuelan coast justifies a wild nautical party. But, these stops also reveal life in cactus forests and waters as green as the tropical jungle of Mochima.
Overall, 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.
hippopotami, chobe national park, botswana
Safari
Chobe NP, Botswana

Chobe: A River on the Border of Life with Death

Chobe marks the divide between Botswana and three of its neighboring countries, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Namibia. But its capricious bed has a far more crucial function than this political delimitation.
Hikers on the Ice Lake Trail, Annapurna Circuit, Nepal
Annapurna (circuit)
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.
hacienda mucuyche, Yucatan, Mexico, canal
Architecture & Design
Yucatan, Mexico

Among Haciendas and Cenotes, through the History of Yucatan

Around the capital Merida, for every old hacienda henequenera there's at least one cenote. As happened with the semi-recovered Hacienda Mucuyché, together, they form some of the most sublime places in southeastern Mexico.

Bungee jumping, Queenstown, New Zealand
Adventure
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.
Conflicted Way
Ceremonies and Festivities
Jerusalem, Israel

Through the Belicious Streets of Via Dolorosa

In Jerusalem, while traveling the Via Dolorosa, the most sensitive believers realize how difficult the peace of the Lord is to achieve in the most disputed streets on the face of the earth.
fastened by several wires
Cities
Curitiba, Brazil

The High-Quality Life of Curitiba

It is not only the altitude of almost 1000 meters at which the city is located. Cosmopolitan and multicultural, the capital of Paraná has a quality of life and human development rating that make it a unique case in Brazil.
young saleswoman, nation, bread, uzbekistan
Meal
Fergana Valley, Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan, The Nation That Does Not Lack Bread

Few countries employ cereals like Uzbekistan. In this republic of Central Asia, bread plays a vital and social role. The Uzbeks produce it and consume it with devotion and in abundance.
Tombola, street bingo-Campeche, Mexico
Culture
Campeche, Mexico

A Bingo so playful that you play 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.
4th of July Fireworks-Seward, Alaska, United States
Sport
Seward, Alaska

The Longest 4th of July

The independence of the United States is celebrated, in Seward, Alaska, in a modest way. Even so, the 4th of July and its celebration seem to have no end.
Cambodia, Angkor, Ta Phrom
Traveling
Ho Chi Minh a of Angkor, Cambodia

The Crooked Path to Angkor

From Vietnam onwards, Cambodia's crumbling roads and minefields take us back to the years of Khmer Rouge terror. We survive and are rewarded with the vision of the greatest religious temple
Barrancas del Cobre, Chihuahua, Rarámuri woman
Ethnic
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.
portfolio, Got2Globe, Travel photography, images, best photographs, travel photos, world, Earth
Got2Globe Photo Portfolio
Portfolio Got2globe

The Best in the World – Got2Globe Portfolio

Bridgetown, City of Bridge and capital of Barbados, beach
History
Bridgetown, Barbados

Barbados' "The City" of the Bridge

Originally founded and named "Indian Bridge" beside a foul-smelling swamp, the capital of Barbados has evolved into the capital of the British Windward Isles. Barbadians call it “The City”. It is the hometown of the far more famous Rihanna.
Mirador de La Peña, El Hierro, Canary Islands, Spain
Islands
El Hierro, Canary Islands

The Volcanic Rim of the Canaries and the Old World

Until Columbus arrived in the Americas, El Hierro was seen as the threshold of the known world and, for a time, the Meridian that delimited it. Half a millennium later, the last western island of the Canaries is teeming with exuberant volcanism.
ala juumajarvi lake, oulanka national park, finland
Winter White
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.
José Saramago in Lanzarote, Canary Islands, Spain, Glorieta de Saramago
Literature
Lanzarote, Canary Islands, Spain (España)

José Saramago's Basalt Raft

In 1993, frustrated by the Portuguese government's disregard for his work “The Gospel According to Jesus Christ”, Saramago moved with his wife Pilar del Río to Lanzarote. Back on this somewhat extraterrestrial Canary Island, we visited his home. And the refuge from the portuguese censorship that haunted the writer.
Merida to Los Nevados borders of the Andes, Venezuela
Nature
Mérida, Venezuela

Merida to Los Nevados: in the Andean Ends of Venezuela

In the 40s and 50s, Venezuela attracted 400 Portuguese but only half stayed in Caracas. In Mérida, we find places more similar to the origins and the eccentric ice cream parlor of an immigrant portista.
Mother Armenia Statue, Yerevan, Armenia
Autumn
Yerevan, Armenia

A Capital between East and West

Heiress of the Soviet civilization, aligned with the great Russia, Armenia allows itself to be seduced by the most democratic and sophisticated ways of Western Europe. In recent times, the two worlds have collided in the streets of your capital. From popular and political dispute, Yerevan will dictate the new course of the nation.
Rancho Salto Yanigua, Dominican Republic, mining stones
Natural Parks
Montana Redonda and Rancho Salto Yanigua, Dominican Republic

From Montaña Redonda to Rancho Salto Yanigua

Discovering the Dominican northwest, we ascend to the Montaña Redonda de Miches, recently transformed into an unusual peak of escape. From the top, we point to Bahia de Samaná and Los Haitises, passing through the picturesque Salto Yanigua ranch.
Annapurna Circuit, Manang to Yak-kharka
UNESCO World Heritage
Annapurna 10th Circuit: Manang to Yak Kharka, Nepal

On the way to the Annapurnas Even Higher Lands

After an acclimatization break in the near-urban civilization of Manang (3519 m), we made progress again in the ascent to the zenith of Thorong La (5416 m). On that day, we reached the hamlet of Yak Kharka, at 4018 m, a good starting point for the camps at the base of the great canyon.
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.
Cahuita, Costa Rica, Caribbean, beach
Beaches
Cahuita, Costa Rica

An Adult Return to Cahuita

During a backpacking tour of Costa Rica in 2003, the Caribbean warmth of Cahuita delights us. In 2021, after 18 years, we return. In addition to an expected, but contained modernization and hispanization of the town, little else had changed.
church, our lady, virgin, guadalupe, mexico
Religion
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.
Train Fianarantsoa to Manakara, Malagasy TGV, locomotive
On Rails
Fianarantsoa-Manakara, Madagascar

On board the Malagasy TGV

We depart Fianarantsoa at 7a.m. It wasn't until 3am the following morning that we completed the 170km to Manakara. The natives call this almost secular train Train Great Vibrations. During the long journey, we felt, very strongly, those of the heart of Madagascar.
Christian believers leaving a church, Upolu, Western Samoa
Society
Upolu, Samoa  

The Broken Heart of Polynesia

The imagery of the paradisiacal South Pacific is unquestionable in Samoa, but its tropical beauty does not pay the bills for either the nation or the inhabitants. Anyone who visits this archipelago finds a people divided between subjecting themselves to tradition and the financial stagnation or uprooting themselves in countries with broader horizons.
Ditching, Alaska Fashion Life, Talkeetna
Daily life
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.
Esteros del Iberá, Pantanal Argentina, Alligator
Wildlife
Iberá Wetlands, Argentina

The Pantanal of the Pampas

On the world map, south of the famous brazilian wetland, a little-known flooded region appears, but almost as vast and rich in biodiversity. the Guarani expression Y bera defines it as “shining waters”. The adjective fits more than its strong luminance.
Full Dog Mushing
Scenic Flights
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.
PT EN ES FR DE IT