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:

Food Tourism: Ecuador (How Organic Chocolate is Made)

Ceviche is a cold seafood dish that is popular in South America. The Ecuadorian version is made with shrimp (or other fresh seafood), tomato sauce and lemon juice. In other countries, the seafood is marinated (but not cooked), so I would worry about getting parasites (寄生蟲), but in Ecuador they first cook the shrimp (Whew!), so parasites are not a problem here.

Ecuadorian ceviche, made of shrimp, lemon and tomato sauce, Ceviche ecuatoriano, hecho con camarón, limón y salsa de tomate, CC--BY Rinaldo Wurglitsch

When traveling, some people like to take a few cooking lessons taught by local people. Look at how much fun these students are having!


NatGeo Students Making Empanadas, Quilombitos, and Patacones in Mindo, Ecuador from James Bernal on Vimeo.

Enjoying, learning about and maybe even making tasty food in a new country: Isn't this better than traveling just to buy a Gucci handbag or other expensive items that you can also buy in a big city store?

What about picture taking (not the same as photography)? Are silly, out of focus pictures of you and your friends standing in front of the Eiffel Tower really worthwhile? Tens of thousands of other people have taken exactly the same pictures of famous landmarks before you.

If it was up to me, I would much prefer to bring a small taste of Ecuador back home with me! This is what food tourism (also called culinary tourism or gastronomic tourism) is about. More information here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culinary_tourism

In the National Geographic video, the students make empanadas and eat them. Empanadas are a very popular food in Peru. The word Empanadas is very easy to understand if you know word roots: em = "in" and pan = "bread." Check my earlier blog post for more details: http://cute-geography.blogspot.com/2015/05/taiwanese-phang-is-from-latin.html

Mexico is the home of chocolate, but Ecuador is the source of very tasty organic chocolate. Be a good tourist. Try local products whenever you can!

Below are three videos that show how organic chocolate is made. Cacao is a rather curious fruit that grows directly on the tree trunk. The cacao beans are removed from inside and allowed to ferment. Wikipedia gives us more details
English: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chocolate
Chinese: http://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-tw/%E5%B7%A7%E5%85%8B%E5%8A%9B
but watching videos is much more exciting (I'd like to go see cacao trees and taste the seeds myself)!


Where Does Chocolate Come From? Journey to Ecuador with Nova Monda and Hunt Cacao! from Nova Monda Caco & Chocolate on Vimeo.

Two more videos appear below (processing and production for organic chocolate)

Peru: Alpacas

Alpacas (height = 99 cm or less) are camelids (camel-like animals). In the Andes, farmers raise these animals for their wonderfully soft wool. This wool is different from sheep's wool, because it doesn't have so much oil (lanolin).

Alpaca, CC--BY-SA Galo Manuel _MG_1991--CROPPED.jpg

Alpacas are much smaller than dromedaries (dromedary camels can reach up to 199 cm). Below, a woman is milking a camel. Notice how the dromedary is much taller than the woman.

Camel_milking_in_Niger, CC--BY-SA ACEI Cheung (4Cheungs)

We usually think that camels and similar animals come from deserts in places like Saudi Arabia, but their ancestors actually came from North America.

Distribution of camelids before modern introductions to Australia and elsewhere. Solid black lines indicate possible migration routes, CC-BY-SA Lukasz Lukomski

Half of the ancient camelids went North (through today's Alaska) and then into Asia and North Africa. There, they became Bactrian camels [with TWO humps] and dromedaries [with ONE hump]. The other half went from North America to South America, where they slowly changed and became alpacas and other animals, such as llamas.


Sandra Jordan Prima Alpaca: "Clouds on Earth" from Sandra Jordan Prima Alpaca on Vimeo.

The next video shows you what people can make from alpaca wool:

Potatoes From Peru

Gastronomic tourism means traveling to discover and eat interesting and delicious food. Whenever I travel, I eat local fruit and vegetables whenever possible. I also try to learn about my food from local people, not just eat it.

Potatoes can be eaten in many ways. Can you name the ones below? What other ways do you know? Is eating potatoes a healthy choice? Why?

A few different ways to eat potatoes (Public Domain image)

The first conquistadores, the Spanish people who came to steal Peru's gold, didn't understand that hiding in the dirt was something even more valuable: the potatoes which now feed hundreds of millions of people around the world. In Peru, there are hundreds of different kinds of potatoes:

Purple potatoes and rosmarin, CC--BY-NC-SA Stijn Nieuwendijk.jpg

Papas [the Spanish word for potatoes], CC--BY krebsmaus07.jpg

To find out more, you can visit the International Potato Center (in Peru). The map below shows where most potato varieties came from:

Notice the orange line along the Pacific coast of South America. These are potatoes that grow in the Andes.

Although potatoes originally came from Peru and nearby areas, China now grows the greatest number of potatoes in the world. Here are some Chinese visitors traveling to Peru to find out more:

多样性的守护者：在秘鲁马铃薯公园就气候变化进行的国际交流 from IIED on Vimeo.

An unusual place to visit during a vacation in Peru is Potato Park:

Taiwanese 'Pháng' (= bread) is from Latin 閩南語的ㄆㄤˋ來自拉丁文

[Updated 24 May, 2015 with more details and pictures]

(~ 1 AD) Pan (= bread' in Latin) became the word for bread in French, Spanish and Portuguese. In France, Spain and Portugal, Latin slowly changed its sounds, grammar and vocabulary. Latin thus became three new languages: French, Spanish and Portuguese.

Evolution of 'Pan' (Latin word for bread); Japanese & Taiwanese loanword

(~ 1600 AD) When Jesuit priests and Portuguese sailors went to Japan, they brought a new kind of food, bread. Thus, when Japanese people starting eating this new food, they quite naturally also borrowed the Portuguese word (pão). Of course, Japanese people pronounced and wrote this foreign word in their own way (パン). 

(~1900 AD) 300 years later, this "Japanese" word traveled to Taiwan during the Japanese occupation of Taiwan (1895 to 1945). When Taiwanese people started to learn about bread from the Japanese, this new word was pronounced 'pháng' [ㄆㄤˋ] in Southern Min dialect (In Taiwan, Southern Min is also called Taiwanese). Very few people in Taiwan realize that the word 'pháng' [ㄆㄤˋ] ultimately came from Latin. 

Learning English vocabulary is much easier when you can recognize Latin word roots. Here are some English words with the Latin root pan: companion, company, accompany, pannier and empanada (details appear below):

Paraguay, the Guaraní and the Jesuits: Cultural Tourism

The name "Paraguay" used to mean the land near the Paraguay River (also the home of many of the Guaraní). Today, "Paraguay" is a much smaller place, the only country where Spanish and the language of most local people are equals. Guaraní speakers now also live in parts of Uruguay, Argentina, Bolivia, and Brazil. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guarani_people]

Spanish and Portuguese slave traders killed and enslaved many of the Guaraní people living in Paraguay.
640px-Indian_Soldiers_from_the_Coritiba_Province_Escorting_Native_Prisoners (Public Domain)

640px-Jean Baptiste Debret, Indians Crossing a Creek: The Slave Hunter (Public Domain)

Jesuit priests established very successful missions in Paraguay. How did they do this? At first, the Jesuits and other Europeans were very surprised to find that the Guaraní showed great interest in and talent for music. The Jesuits used this love of music to help the Guaraní come to know God. They then helped these people establish independent villages in their own territories. There, they were usually safe from slave traders. After repeated attacks by large groups of slave traders, the Guaraní even received permission to establish their own small army (about 7,000 men) to defend themselves with guns.

The Guaraní earned lots of money by selling their products and their crops, and almost all of this money was spent on their own needs. The Spanish and Portuguese slave traders were very unhappy to see successful indians. Later, when the Jesuits were forced to leave South America, the slave traders came back to make slaves of the indians. This sad story is told in the beautiful 1986 movie: The Mission.

The video clip above is from the beginning of The Mission. The first Jesuits to meet the Guaraní were killed, but the missionaries didn't give up. Father Gabriel went all alone (and probably afraid for his life) into Guaraní territory, played his oboe and became a trusted friends of the Guaraní. This is a movie I will remember for the rest of my life. Please do try to see it!

This is a short selection of enchanting music from the film.

The Jesuit Mission of Chiquitos was restored and is now a World Heritage site (this brief video is in Spanish, with French and English subtitles)

Voyage en Bolivie : les missions jésuites de Chiquitos from Argentina Excepción on Vimeo.
In this video, you can see the inside of this beautiful church, a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Below is a short (11-minutes) documentary about Bolivian baroque music and the churches where it was originally performed. You can see how the art work and the 5500 pages of music (lost for almost 300 years!) were preserved and restored. This video comes with English subtitles and the people speak slowly, so it is easy to understand.

The Sacred Music part 1 from Carien on Vimeo.

Bolivia: the Floating Islands of Lake Titicaca (Cultural Tourism)

Lake Titicaca, located on the border between Bolivia and Peru, is the highest navigable  lake (navigable = boats can travel here) in the world, almost 4000 meters above sea level. The Uros people depend on reeds for their lives: they make reed boats, their homes are made of reeds and they live on some forty floating reed islands. The Uros people even use the reeds for medicine.

Uros and 'totora' boat, Lake Titicaca, CC--BY-NC-ND
rickz via Compfight cc

Walking on reeds is not like walking on land: your foot sinks down each time you take a step. The islands slowly rot (especially in the rainy season) and sink into the water, so the reeds often need to be replaced.

Uros Floating Islands, CC--BY-NC-SA Molly & Joel Crist
mjcristphotos via Compfight cc

Pay special attention to the following video, which includes very clear English captions. Young Uros people used to leave for the city because there were no jobs on their island. Now that there is more and more tourism, they have started coming back.

The Island People: Isla Uros from Atlas Obscura on Vimeo.

The Uros people have some modern conveniences, such as television, which are powered by solar panels. Tourism has changed their way of life, but are these changes for the better?

The Uros Islands of Lake Titicaca from James A Hubley on Vimeo.

More on the floating islands:

Peru Floating Islands - Lake Titicaca from Tin Rooster Media on Vimeo.

Grass fibers have other uses.

Bolivia: Salar de Uyuni 烏尤尼鹽沼

[Updated June 6, 2015]
Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia is a very unusual place: the world's largest salt flat (Salar means "salt flat" in Spanish [remember to stress the ending: salár]). Here you can see over 10,000 square kilometers of almost perfectly flat land (periodic rain keeps it from becoming less flat).

Panoramic view of the Salar, CC-BY Martin St-Amant

Not far from Salar de Uyuni, there is an antique [an antique is old and valuable] train cemetery:

Cimetière de Trains 1 ["Train Cemetery" in French]--CC-BY Martin St-Amant

Reflections of Uyuni is a Vimeo.com "Staff Pick," a visual treat with music to match:

Reflections from Uyuni from Enrique Pacheco on Vimeo.

The video below gives us a different look [Descubriendo means "discovering" in Spanish]

DESCUBRIENDO BOLIVIA from Old Port Films on Vimeo.

Alex Chacon travels through the world's largest salt flat.

[Below: In Spanish] Don Alfredo lives on the island of Inkawasi, located in the middle of Salar de Uyuni, an island covered with cactus. Don Alfredo tells us that the fruit of the cactus tastes much better thank other fruits. He misses the old days when everything wasn't so modern:

El Dorado (in Colombia?)

For years and years, the Spanish searched through Latin America looking for El Dorado, a city of gold. Many people believed that it was in Colombia, but they never found it. More information can be found in Wikipedia (English; Chinese黃金國)

Many stories have been told about this magical place, including a DreamWorks cartoon called The Road to El Dorado, which places El Dorado in Mexico instead. Here is part One:

Biking Colombia (+ Food Words) 機車遊哥倫比亞

[Updated with maps on April 29, 2015]
[Updated with two travel videos on May 4, 2015]

Notice the unusual shape of the sea boundaries [a boundary (or border) is the line around a country]. Remember that before independence one hundred years ago, Panama used to be part of Colombia

Most people visit Latin America the traditional way: buy round trip plane tickets, make hotel reservations, pack a suitcase, and go. Some people prefer to do some homework first: they buy a few guidebooks, check out a couple of websites, and maybe learn some tourist phrases: "Hello! Good morning! My name is so-and-so. ..."

Alex Chacon decided to do things differently. Before starting his PhD, Alex sold everything he had and started the trip of a lifetime (19 countries, 250 days, 60,000 kilometers) riding his motorcycle alone through South America. More details are available on his old  (http://www.expeditionsouth.com) and new website, (http://www.modernmotodiaries.com)

Not much happens in this particular segment: Alex emphasizes that the best part of visiting Colombia is the friendly people. Yes, he says, drug gangs have often been in the news, but drugs don't affect ordinary tourists.

At the two minute mark, Alex sees a very unusual building (a little like a UFO: it doesn't seem to belong in South America). Why is this building here?

Alex only shows a little bit of scenery. He spent time on camera talking to a friendly woman, but we can't hear what any of their conversation. I wish he had shown us a little bit more how he interacted with these "wonderful" people. All in all, Alex's first video is a bit boring, but I did find something to get excited about: Colombian food. (more below)

Betty the Ugly (Colombian TV) 最受歡迎的『醜女無敵』（哥倫比亞連續劇）

[Updated April 29th, 2015]
One entertaining way to learn about another country is to watch soap operas. From 1999 to 2001, Yo soy Betty la fea ("I am Betty the Ugly") was broadcast on Colombian television. Yo soy Betty la fea is the story of an very efficient and well-educated young woman who has had trouble finding a job because she looks ugly. She finally gets a job working as a secretary for a fashion company.

The original Ugly Betty (short form of the Spanish name Beatriz) [educational Fair Use assumed]

A team of translators added English subtitles for every episode of this Colombian soap opera. You can view the entire show in Spanish with English subtitles on Viki.Com, starting with episode one（西班牙語原文加英文字幕）: http://en.viki.com/videos/5783v-bettys-work-interwiew-in-ecomoda-episode-1. The English translation on Viki.com is much better than what you can see on YouTube. Please go and watch it for a little taste of life in Colombia.

Yo soy Betty la fea is probably Colombia's most famous export and the most popular soap opera in the world. Betty has been rebroadcast and remade in many different languages all over the world, including English and Chinese（醜女無敵）(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yo_soy_Betty,_la_fea). The American version was called Ugly Betty. In episode 1, Daniel Meade, a well-known playboy, takes over as editor of a fashion magazine, and Ugly Betty is chosen as his secretary.

Daniel knows that his father doesn't want him to have a beautiful secretary, so at first, Daniel doesn't like Betty at all. He doesn't notice that she has some excellent ideas.

Brazilian Food: Fruit

Many of the delicious fruits we enjoy in Taiwan come from South America, but there are probably many fruits that have never been seen in Taiwan. How many fruits can you recognize in these videos?

trailer savouring brazilian fruits from Mattijs van de Port on Vimeo.


2011-July-Jabuticaba from Thomas Dirickson on Vimeo.

Rio Carnival 里約狂歡節

Rio de Janeiro is famous all over the world for its Carnival. Millions of people attend, but almost no crime is reported during this multi-day festival.

The City of Samba (an award-winning video) starts a bit slow, but it is well worth watching until the end.

The City of Samba from Jarbas Agnelli on Vimeo.

Lovely photographs of Carnival participants.

On The Fringe of the Rio Carnaval with samba music from Peter Turnley on Vimeo.

Each samba school spends many months preparing for the Carnival. Details count: the winners can received millions of dollars!

Cristian Silva-Avaria, Samba SchoolI, Rio de Janeiro 2012 from Labour in a Single Shot on Vimeo.

Enjoy the passionate dancing!

Rio Carnaval Parade 2012 from PIX IN MOTION by Leo Bar on Vimeo.

Time lapse photography allows you to see hours of show in just a few minutes.

Time Lapse carnival 2011 in Rio from alexandre cassiano on Vimeo.


Here a National Geographic photographer explains why he enjoys being in Rio de Janeiro. Remeber this when you travel: get out into the streets and enjoy watching people.

Photo Rio - Nat Geo Channel from Bryan Harvey Films on Vimeo.

If you want to learn more about how the Carnival is organized, below is an optional 21-minute video in Portuguese with very clear English captions, plus more details about the Carnival. Please do leave comments!

Wildlife Trade & Indigenous People 野生動物非法交易與原住民

Juliana Machado Ferreira talks about the wildlife trade (catching and selling rare animals):

Brazil: Animals

In Brazil you can see many unusual animals, such as

(1) Giant Anteaters


GIANT ANTEATER CLOSEUP - MVI 1575 from Jack Reis on Vimeo.


(2) Sloths (In English "sloth" is an old-fashioned word that means "laziness"; a sloth is a "lazy" animal)


SLOTH MAGIC from Lucy Cooke on Vimeo.


SWIMMING SLOTH - FROM UNTAMED WILD BRAZIL EPISODE 5 from Cristian Dimitrius on Vimeo.


(3) Piraputangas & Anacondas


PIRAPUTANGA & ANACONDA SEQUENCE - FROM UNTAMED WILD BRAZIL EPISODE 3 from Cristian Dimitrius on Vimeo.

Piraputangas are amazing fish! Anacondas can grow to over eight meters!

Brazilian Music: Bossa Nova

[Updated April 29th, 2015]
Brazil has produced many musical styles. One of the most famous is the Bossa Nova, made famous by the song The Girl from Ipanema  (伊帕內瑪姑娘) (Garota de Ipanema in Portuguese).

Here is a version sung by Frank Sinatra and Antonio Carlos Jobim, with onscreen lyrics (tan, samba, sway are explained below the fold)

The English is OK, but the Portuguese lyrics are missing diacritics (small marks above certain letters). After you watch the Sinatra version, be sure to watch the next version in correctly-written Portuguese (even if you don't understand the words, just enjoy the lovely music and the gorgeous women). The English words are sung by a woman with a Brazilian accent (you should get used to foreign accents in English):

Brazil: A BIG Country 世界大國：巴西

[Updated with videos on May 4th, 2015]
No matter how you look at it, Brazil is definitely a BIG country. It has a very large land area
(8,515,767 square kilometers, 47.3% of South America) and a large population (204,255,000 as of April 27, 2015).

591px-Brazil_topo--CC BY-SA Captain Blood

Brazil also has a very varied population

Brazil influences the world in at least two important ways: coffee production and the Amazon Rain Forest.

Coffee: At one point, Brazil produced 80% of the world's coffee. This is the main reason why Brazil bought so many slaves (about 1,500,000 black slaves were bought from Africa). Even though Brazil now produces 37% of the world's coffee, it is still #1.

The Amazon Rain Forest: The Amazon Rain Forest absorbs a large proportion of the world's carbon dioxide (CO₂) and produces much of its oxygen (O₂), as well. Many of the world's plants and animals are found only in the Amazon. This is why people and governments are worried about deforestation (the cutting down of large numbers of trees)

Black People in Latin America? Why? 拉丁美洲的黑奴

Inside a Slave Ship

People who only watch Hollywood movies might get the wrong idea that the United States is a horrible country that has had many, many slaves. Even today, according to Hollywood movies, Black people in the US have very sad lives. Reality is different. Study the map below (from UNESCO) for a better answer.

West African slaves mostly went from Africa to Brazil and the Caribbean.

Where did most slaves come from? Where did they go? What did they do there?

Slaves were part of the Triangular Trade:

1) West African slaves were taken to Brazil and the Caribbean. These slaves worked to grow crops such as sugar cane, tobacco and cotton.

2) The profits from the sale of these crops were used to buy manufactured goods in the USA and Europe.

3) Manufactured goods were used to buy more slaves in West Africa.

The Triangular Trade: Slaves --> Sugar etc. --> Goods

Responsible Ecotourism in Nicaragua 尼加拉瓜生態旅遊

There are several things that responsible tourists should and should not do. Watch this video to find out. Use the questions below to check yourself:


Responsible Tourism in Nicaragua from Sean Sees on Vimeo.

[A] If responsible tourists see animal products in the market, they should do three things (mention at least two):

[B] If you are eating in a restaurant, you should ... because ...

[C] Protect the environment by (give two examples):
      [HINT: R... p... b... AND C... y... o... b...]

[D] Did you learn something useful from this video, or is it only for unthinking Americans and Europeans? Please explain.

Leave your answers and ideas in the comments.

Underwater Ecotourism in Belize 貝里斯潛水旅遊（大陸：「伯利茲」）

Belize has some of the most gorgeous underwater sights in the world. Many people visit Belize just to enjoy the unspoiled diving.

Snorkeling is cheap and easy. The only things you need are a mask for your face, a snorkel in your mouth to breathe with and flippers on your feet to help you move through the water:

snorkel and mask--320px-Vieques_underwater_a: CC BY underwhelmer)
320px-SwimFins_02: CC SA Alexander Z.

Belize 2013 from Keith Ketchum on Vimeo.

Belize 2013 is a professionally-shot four-minute video that shows some things you can experience with nothing more than a mask, snorkel and flippers (swimfins).

Of course, if you have more money, time and experience, you can see much more.

Ecotourism in Belize (Land & Air) 貝里斯生態旅遊（陸空）

This lovely short video shows how graphic artists used the sights of Belize to design a logo for this beautiful little country:

Belize Designing A Nation from Olson on Vimeo.

Belize is a great place for ecotourism: 36% of the land is protected, and so is 13% of the water. Responsible ecotourism means doing your best to support local businesses. If you spend most of your time in a big hotel, most of the money probably goes to rich companies outside the country. Whenever possible, try to stay in smaller inns and guest houses run by local people. Remember that Taiwanese passport holders can visit Belize visa-free for 90 days.

Here are some more useful suggestions on how to conserve resources when you travel in Belize: Eco Tourism In Belize.

And here are some of the animals you can see. Belize has lots of different kinds of cats:

Belize Cats, 1~4: margay, puma, ocelot, jaguar

Of course, most cats probably don't want to be seen while they are hunting, so the best place for short term tourists to see them is in the Belize Zoo.

Ecotourism in Costa Rica 哥斯大黎加生態旅遊

Costa Rica is an excellent place for ecotourism. Ever since the army was abolished in 1948, the government of Costa Rica has used its budget  to promote education and (more recently) ecotourism. Costa Rican people are thus friendly, well-educated and used to dealing with foreign tourists. Here is a well-made Vimeo that shows some of the animals you can see while kayaking in Costa Rica:


Kayaking with Crocs in Costa Rica from Matador Network on Vimeo.

Ecotourism in Central America 中美洲生態旅遊

Traditional tourism focuses on visiting famous sites, monuments and museums and perhaps shopping, but ecotourism focuses on unspoiled nature. The goal of ecotourism (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecotourism), 生態旅遊 in Chinese) is to enjoy the natural world (plants and animals) and to learn more about it. This sort of tourism is supposed to be low impact (= don't pollute the environment and avoid harming the animals and plants that you see). Ecotourism brings in money to local economies and encourages local people to protect these natural treasures.

Central America offers several opportunities for this sort of travel, especially Belize, Costa Rica and Nicaragua.

The Great Blue Hole in Belize (Public domain image)

International Student Identity Card 國際學生證

Sample ISIC card

An International Student Identity Card (ISIC) can help you save lots of money when traveling. You can save money on train fare, you can get into museums at a reduced rate and enjoy lots of other benefits. Read about them right here:

https://www.isic.org/

If you're in Taiwan, you can apply for an ISIC card here:

Civil Wars and Coups in the Americas: A Numbered List

Although many of the countries in the Caribbean Sea, Central and South America are blessed with natural resources, they have long been plagued with a lack of infrastructure, high illiteracy, dictatorial governments and outside interference. As a result, these countries have often suffered from coups and civil wars. The beginning of the 21st has seen a marked improvement, however. Countries that used to be too dangerous for tourism, such as Colombia, are now slowly returning to normal. Let us hope that this trend continues.


Below is a numbered list of coups and civil wars in Central America, the Caribbean and South America, arranged by country:

Panama Canal-1

The Panama Canal lets ships travel between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Here is a two-minute time lapse video of a full crossing:

A longer (almost six minutes) and much more informative time lapse video set to music (Chitarra Romana) appears below. This video will help you learn quite a lot about how the canal works:

破解瑪雅密碼 Cracking The Maya Code

Here is an interesting video presentation that explains how Mayan writing was deciphered. Don't forget to turn on the Closed Captions (CC) to see bilingual text in English and traditional Chinese.

 
Chinese explanation appears below:

Mexican Music: Malagueña Salerosa

This is one of the most famous Mexican songs, about a poor Mexican man who is in love with a woman from Málaga, a city is southern Spain. The three versions on this page are all by Mexican singers. If you check on YouTube, you can find versions by singers from Spain and even Italy, but they don't feel so authentic.

The version below is sung by Javier Solis:

The version below is by TrÍo TiracurÍ:

Here is a karaoke version:

Please note that each singer changes the words a little bit to suit his own style, so you might find that the lyrics don't match up 100%. The Spanish lyrics appear below, along with my own literal English translation.Sigh! The Spanish sounds so much more beautiful!

Tourist Spanish-4

There are two ways to say "Do you speak English?"

1 ¿Habla Inglés? (Formal) ("Formal" means "serious": this is how we speak or write to older, or more important people)

2 ¿Hablas Inglés? (Informal) ("Informal" means "relaxed": this is how we speak to friends or other young people)

Notice how printed Spanish questions use two question marks, ¿ = upside-down (at the beginning), and ? right-side up at the end.

Tourist Spanish-3

Hola = Hi! Hello! (Be careful! In Spanish, h- is silent)

Buenos días (Pay attention! There should be an accent mark on the “i”, not a dot. They don't show the accent mark on the video: this is a small mistake)