For 91 Days in Bolivia (Travel Guide) 玻利維亞91天之旅

Sorry: No Longer Free
This book is part of a marvelous series of travel guides: two guys who travel to another country, stay there for three months, and describe all of the places they visit. In each book, they write about and provide photos of places that ordinary tourists would never think of visiting. For a short time, the Kindle version of this book is free, so download it ASAP:
http://www.amazon.com/91-Days-Bolivia-Michael-Powell-ebook/dp/B006P58NOO/

I have mentioned other books in this series on my free Kindle blog (now dormant):

Astronomic Tourism (Atacama Desert) 智利的天文觀光

The Atacama is the driest desert in the world. This means that very, very few people can live here. The greatest advantage is that the air is super clean and there is no light pollution (light pollution from cities and towns makes it hard to see the faint light that comes from faraway stars). The Atacama is a perfect place to study the stars.

Here are some of the telescopes that have been built here:

Below are some of the fascinating stars and galaxies (= star systems, like our Milky Way 銀河, which is also a galaxy) they have photographed:

Yerba Mate: Argentina's National Drink 瑪黛茶

Please note: the Spanish word mate is stressed on the first syllable [say mate, not mate], but spelling it as maté is a common mistake: maté is the past tense of "kill" in Spanish.

Yerba mate is Argentina's national drink. Drinking mate is a common way to enjoy the company of friends, so if you ever travel to Argentina, you should know how to share it with others. Wikipedia provides useful notes on the etiquette [= rules for polite behavior] of sharing yerba mate with friends.

The following video is in French with Spanish subtitles, but if your English is good enough, you can easily guess at many words (just like Chinese people can read parts of a Japanese newspaper):

Le maté, l'élixir de l'Argentine from Cécile Cusin on Vimeo.

Here are translations for most of the dialog in this two-minute trailer (the full movie lasts for 59 minutes):
0:16 Mate is very important for us
0:19 Our spiritual life comes from mate
0:23 For example, we use mate to choose a name for a boy
[IN CAPITALS] A history of the jungle, inherited from the Guaraní
[IN CAPITALS] A history of its production, complex and sustainable
0:47 Trees were planted as a way to eliminate reliance on plantations
0:53 We then became aware that relying on trees we obtained even better yields
[IN CAPITALS] A history of places and social gatherings
[IN CAPITALS] The discovery of ceremonies from Argentina and more distant places
01:25 [IN CAPITALS] a history of the future thanks to a healthy plant
01:32 Consumers can obtain a great quantity of polyphenols
01:38 Polyphenols are a natural substance found in plants
01:42 their most important effect is that they are antioxidants
01:46 [IN CAPITALS] Most importantly, mate is about sharing
01:53 Sharing friendship by drinking mate
01:55 Does it warm you up, too? Oh, yes!
01:58 But it warms up friendships as well.
          The best thing about mate is friendship.
02:07 [IN CAPITALS] Mate, Argentina's elixir

Argentina and Uruguay: Home of the Tango

In 2009, the tango, a dance that is an essential part of the culture of Argentina and Uruguay, was registered by UNESCO as part of mankind's intangible cultural heritage [English, Chinese]

The tango is a dance full of life, as shown in this video:
Buenos Aires, Argentina - Tango: A Metaphor for Life from Luke Sniewski on Vimeo.

Don't forget that the tango is also part of Uruguayan culture (Uruguay used to be a province of Argentina).

Tango - MONteVIDEO que lindo te VEO from PIX IN MOTION by Leo Bar on Vimeo.

La Cumparsita, written by Uruguayan musician Gerardo Matos Rodríguez, is considered Uruguay's national song. Here we see Chicho performing before an admiring crowd with his skill.


Even vegetables like to tango!

Tango mon amour from laura lopez on Vimeo.

This tutorial shows you the basic steps in Argentine tango. The teacher speaks English with a strong Spanish accent, so you will have to listen carefully:


Tango Tutorial - Introduction from Santiago Hernandez on Vimeo.

When you listen to tango music, you will often hear an accordion playing alone (solo) or with other instruments.

















Click below to find out how the tango can also be a tool:

Geography of Latin America: Easy Maps for Beginners

You can learn about the geography of South America by visiting Owl & Mouse. Owl & Mouse provides easy maps to practice with:

(1) Interactive maps
These teach you country names and capitals. When you leave the cursor in place ("hover") over a country, the country's name and capital appear near the cursor:

The small green island south of Cuba is Jamaica

The interactive map of Central America is here:
http://www.yourchildlearns.com/central_america_map.htm

The interactive  map of South America is here:
http://www.yourchildlearns.com/south_america_map.htm

(2) Jigsaw puzzle style maps
These help you recognize the shape of each country and ask you to drag it to the correct space on the map.

Start with the easy version (it includes country shapes to help you)

Drag each country to the correct spot

The jigsaw map of Central America is here:
http://www.yourchildlearns.com/mappuzzle/central-america-puzzle.html

Geography of Latin America: Maps for Experienced Students

Seterra lets you practice geography, but it is a bit difficult (there are no hints), so be sure to practice with Owl & Mouse first:

Seterra prompts you with a country name: you need to find the country on the map. If you make no mistake the first time, your country appears in white. If you make one or two mistakes, the country turns light yellow, then dark yellow. After the third mistake, the country turns red (you need more practice!)

In this example, The big white country (Mexico) was found the first time, so it appears in white. The small red country is Belize (three mistakes = red).

The Galápagos

The Galapagos Islands belong to Ecuador. This is a marvelous place to view unspoiled nature. The islands are named Galápagos (Spanish words: galápago = tortoise; tortuga = turtle) because of all the tortoises that live on the island



GALAPAGOS, más allá de las islas (subtitled) from MaMaLa on Vimeo.

In the sea, there are sea iguanas.


Dragons Of The Sea from globaldivemedia.com on Vimeo.


There are also iguanas on land.


Land Iguana - Galapagos from m24instudio on Vimeo.



galápagos - sea of life from Elements In Motion on Vimeo.

A longer video (1 hour, 40 minutes) appears below: