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Europe’s buzzing boho center, Berlin, bursts into life this month with the Carnival of Cultures. Thousands of performers will take to the streets and stages of the German capital to entertain over a million revelers. The party starts May 25.
Earlier in the month, Cinco de Mayo (May 5) takes place all over Mexico, especially the U.S. border towns. The day commemorates the Mexican army’s victory over the French at the Battle of Puebla in 1862. Puebla, a city and state in the south, has the best parades in the country.
It’s nicknamed the “Europe of South America” for a reason and you’ll find Uruguay’s Old-World heritage and atmosphere in the smallest of its riverside towns. But perhaps the best place to enjoy it is in the capital, Montevideo. Beautifully restored buildings and an established café culture give the city’s Old Town the air of a Spanish or Italian port city.
In the musical South Pacific, the island of Bali Ha’i is an exotic paradise off limits to all except the officers. But in reality, the tropical island of Tioman—where the 1958 blockbuster was filmed—is a destination open to any traveler.
The air is thick and pungent and the ceiling black. This was the smokerie, where brown trout pulled from the lake were smoked. Nearby is an unfamiliar contraption used for plucking pheasants after a shoot. The stable next to that one is packed with 19th-century sash windows.
We’re right on the beach and we love that,” says expat Cynthia Kelley. “We can hear the ocean at night and we love to watch the sunset over the water in the evenings.” It’s easy to get the feeling that you’re a million miles away from the rest of the world in Canoa, on Ecuador’s northern coast.
Just a few decades ago there were only two ways to reach the natural paradise of Las Terrenas, on the Dominican Republic’s Samana Peninsula. You could take a horse, or a boat.
I’m not usually a big fan of popular “resort” destinations. But I make an exception for Tulúm, in Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula. This little beach town is very easy to like. In fact, if I had to recommend just one destination in Mexico for beach lovers today, it would be Tulúm.
We were flying low over the glittering Caribbean when I saw my dream out the window. Looking down on reefs of coral and lush green islands, I just knew I had to live down there, with my toes buried in those warm, white sands,” says Stephen Crabtree.
A few years ago our friends spent a month in Tahiti, one of French Polynesia’s paradise islands. When they showed us photos of the house they stayed in, my wife and I were speechless.
For most people, the idea of dinner in Paris likely conjures one of two images: an elegant restaurant where white-jacketed waiters glide about with silver- domed dishes, or a cozy bistro where a platter of steak frites is plunked down before you and the house red is as good as any you’ve tasted.
Not needed: coat, scarf or sweater. But some sun-block would be welcome. Early December and the afternoon temperature is nudging 70 F. Sunbathers are on Isla Plana’s beach, and children are building sand-castles. I can even see swimmers.
Planning a trip to San Cristóbal? Here’s our quick guide to some of the region’s highlights.
Sipping a cappuccino at a small table in a shady plaza outside my hotel, I’m reminded of days and evenings spent in similar sidewalk cafés in Europe. Stately 19th-century neo-classical and baroque-style buildings with wrought-iron balconies line the square. Curtains wave gaily through massive wood-framed windows.
Squashed into the back of a Buenos Aires taxi between the two women, I hadn’t been paying much attention. But once they mentioned MercadoLibre, it sounded like a conversation that I overheard several times during my three-week investment-scouting trip to Argentina and Uruguay.
Since my first visit to Panama in the 1970s I’ve returned countless times and visited every part of the isthmus except one—the Darién Gap, a large swath of swamp, jungle and forest, 99 miles long and 31 miles wide, that separates Panama’s Darién Province from the Republic of Colombia.
The clouds are sliding off the mountaintops and the sun is warming the pine-scented air. I’m in tropical latitudes but the locals here go about their daily routines swaddled in multi-colored, locally-loomed woolens, just as they have for centuries. It can get chilly at night. Though during the day it’s usually mild enough to relax outdoors.
I’ve always loved to dance. I studied ballet as a child. I’ve directed my own belly-dance troupe. In 1997, I finally discovered tango—and I was hooked. When I dance, I feel most like myself. And these days I get to do it all the time as a dance teacher in Buenos Aires, Argentina, passing on one of the most beautiful dances of all—the tango—in the place where it was born and is still at its best.
Winner of the 2012 Global Retirement Index, Ecuador offers sophisticated historical cities…miles of unspoiled, sun-kissed beaches…fertile farmland…and temperate mountain hideaways…and all of it for pennies on the dollar. You can live well for a fraction of the cost of living back in the U.S.
To see what makes Panama unique, explore its rich and fascinating indigenous cultures. Bocas del Toro is the best place to start—by dint of sheer beauty. The province is partly made up of an archipelago of Caribbean islands ringed by white-sand beaches and waters the color of a summer sky. To get to Bocas del Toro from Panama City, catch a one-hour flight on domestic carrier Air Panama.
Despite the early hour, Kurdish villagers are laughing merrily in the tea rooms around the city’s cattle market. The morning is cool and scented with rain. As I lift our bags onto the train I see that a family of Yörük nomads has pitched its tent opposite the station. The women are out front picking through wool shorn from their small flock. They’ll use this to weave the carpets sold in the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul…which is where we’re headed.
Ever imagined swaying home from a night at the inn over your own private suspension bridge? Trophy properties often come with unusual features and Towan Island has one of the oddest— England’s only privately owned suspension bridge. There are wraparound sea views at high tide and a stargazing terrace, too.
The monumental ruins of four different empires line its busy streets. Beside traffic lights and tram stops you’ll find the marble columns of triumphal arches, Roman aqueducts, and the overgrown tombs of Ottoman court officials.
Bonsoir, bonsoir!” Sylvie sang out, kissing me on both cheeks before turning to my husband and doing the same.
She ushered us into her small, modern Parisian apartment, eyeing the bottle of champagne that we’d brought as a thank-you gift. “I’m glad you were able to come tonight.”
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