Travel Guides

Nearby, on the Bolivian side of the lake, arose the population and ceremonial center of Tiahuanaco, capital of one of the most important civilizations of South America. Tiahuanaco ceremonial sites were built along the lake’s shores, indicating that the lake was considered sacred at least 2,000 years ago. More than 25 rivers empty into Titicaca, and the lake has 41 islands, some of which are densely populated. The lake is 196 km long with an average width of 56 km. The lake has waves, testament to its size and not surprising the waters are cold.

Lake Titicaca, at 12,530 feet, is the highest navigable lake and the center of a regionwhere thousands of subsistence farmers make a living fishing in its icy waters, growing potatoes in the rocky land at is edge or herding llama and alpaca at altitudes that leave travelers gasping for air. The Uros of today, still live as the original inhabitants did as they continue to use the totora reeds to build their huts and rafts. The Uros are singular people and even though they keep to themselves very quietly, they do allow people to visit with them. They have always been quiet happy to participate with us when we perform our ceremonies or meditations on their island.
It boasts up to 300 different types of traditional dances, many of which are performed in the streets during annual festivals. A good one to catch in early November is Puno week, which celebrates the legendary birth of the first Inca, Manco Capac, and his sister – Mama Ocllo. According to legend the pair rose up out of the Lake Titicaca in search of a place to establish the Inca empire. This scenic place has enormous significance in the ancient culture of the Inca. The creation myth of the Inca is rooted in these deep blue waters.
Lake Titicaca is the center for archaeological and cultural studies as well as a favored tourist destination. If you go plan to visit in the summer months but take warm clothing. The days may be pleasantly sunny but the nights can be very cold. The lake is still sacred to the Aymara people who live there.

The competition of Miss Venezuela rose in the year 1952, thanks to the initiative of the PANAMERICAN AIRWAYS. The intention of the contest was that to send to a representative Venezuelan to the first contest of Miss Universo that it would be realized that same year in Long Beach, California.
Beginning from that moment, the election of the most beautiful Venezuelan would annually be realized and the winner would compete to the Miss Universo.
Beginning from that moment, the Miss Venezuela reached a big level and international prestige, when the Venezuelans were brought the international crowns than competed it existed, or at least, they remained among the first finalists. In the ninety ten, the organization Miss Venezuela was listed more as the local enterprise success internazionale.Oggigiorno, the organization Miss Venezuela has in his possession around 70 world crowns of beauty and an infinity of classifications in the different international competitions. Already in a new century, the continuous destination to be the same one: to continue to exalt the beauty of the Venezuelan woman and that the name of the country continues to emerge in all the angles of the world.

The Carnival is the most traditional popular festivity of the Dominican Republic. It goes back to the colony, on the eve of lent, when people in Santo Domingo disguised themselves to imitate the European Shrovetide. Lent ends on Easter Sunday, the most sacred of Christian holy days because it is the day that the crucified Christ was resurrected. Although the word “carnival” originated with this pre-Lenten celebration, the celebratory style of masking, inversion and grotesque came to characterize other festivals as well; as a result, some scholars specify the pre-Lenten carnival with the term carnestolendas

Intense colors, music, religion – all expressions of the joy and warmth of being a Dominican: it’s Carnival! The Dominican carnival is the most authentic expression of our culture and is an explosion of sound and color which manifests itself on different dates and in different ways as a result of the cultural syncretism whose product it is. Originally of European origin, the custom of carnival was a religious celebration on the date of Corpus Christi. However it eventually evolved into a pagan celebration usually celebrated on the 27th of February, Dominican Independence Day. Original masks, costumes, floats and masqueraded dance groups from different regions of the country come together to celebrate. The Diablos Cojuelos come out into the streets on the weekends of February, month of the Dominican independence. Their costumes are ornamented with a number of decorative elements: small round and square mirrors, small bells, cowbells, ribbons, whistles, tiny dolls, etc. The dancers wore jewelry on their foreheads, in their ears, and around their necks, and colorful tattoos and painted designs on their bodies depicting their spiritual guides, their zemies. They also wore shell anklets that tinkled like bells as they moved in rhythmic unison across their bateyes.

Copper Canyon Mexico makes a fantastic destination for an adventure vacation.
The Copper Canyon (Spanish: Barranca del Cobre) is a canyon system in the Sierra Tarahumara in the southwestern part of the stateof Chihuahua in Mexico. This canyon system is larger and deeper than the Grand Canyon in the neighbouring United States, although the Grand Canyon is larger overall than any of the individual canyons of the Copper Canyon system.

The most striking access to the area is on the spectacular Chihuahua – Pacifico railawey – one the greatest train journeys in the world. The line runs from Los Mochis on the Sea of Cortes to Chihuahua – 655 kilometres -passing though 86 tunnels and over 39 bridges. The entire trip is 397 miles and can take as long as 20 hours on the second class train and about three hours less on the first class train. First class tickets can be booked from U.S. travel agencies however the second class must be booked at the train station and the second class reportedly has a very erratic time schedule.

The Copper Canyon is home to the least accultured Native Americans in North America, the Tarahumara Indians, who are semi-nomadic cliff dwellers. The “Train Ride in the Sky” provides the only access this wilderness and is probably the most dramatic railway journey in the Western Hemisphere as it travels through 86 tunnels and over 37 trestles. I have to confess that certain places in Mexico of exceptional beauty and interest do come to mind. Among my “personal favorites,” none rates higher than the Copper Canyon, a territory of deeply eroded canyons and remote mesas in the northwestern Sierra Madre.

On this adventure (one of the few active trips offered in Copper Canyon) you’ll explore this great wilderness on foot to meet the Tarahumara in their remote villages, hike to waterfalls, and splash in cooling river pools (great bird-watching, too!). At night you’ll relax in comfortable accommodations, where you’ll dine beside a roaring fire, enjoy margaritas and spirited conversation, and view incredible nighttime skies unhindered by the lights of civilization.