Theme Week Bolivia

25 June 2018 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Bon voyage, Theme Weeks Reading Time:  11 minutes

Sucre panorama © flickr.com - Micah MacAllen/cc-by-sa-2.0

Sucre panorama © flickr.com – Micah MacAllen/cc-by-sa-2.0

Bolivia, officially known as the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in western-central South America. The capital is Sucre while the seat of government is located in La Paz. The largest city and principal economic and financial center is Santa Cruz de la Sierra, located on the Llanos Orientales (Tropical lowlands) a mostly flat region in the East of Bolivia. It is divided into nine departments. Its geography varies from the peaks of the Andes in the West, to the Eastern Lowlands, situated within the Amazon Basin. It is bordered to the north and east by Brazil, to the southeast by Paraguay, to the south by Argentina, to the southwest by Chile, and to the northwest by Peru. One-third of the country is within the Andean mountain range. With 1,098,581 km2 (424,164 sq mi) of area, Bolivia is the 5th largest country in South America and the 27th largest in the world.   read more…

Theme Week Venezuela – Caracas

26 May 2018 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  7 minutes

Caracas East © Schiskin

Caracas East © Schiskin

Caracas, officially Santiago de León de Caracas, is the capital, the center of the Greater Caracas Area, and the largest city of Venezuela. Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the northern part of the country, following the contours of the narrow Caracas Valley on the Venezuelan coastal mountain range (Cordillera de la Costa). The valley is close to the Caribbean Sea, separated from the coast by a steep 2,200-metre-high (7,200 ft) mountain range, Cerro El Ávila; to the south there are more hills and mountains.   read more…

Theme Week Venezuela – Margarita Island

25 May 2018 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  10 minutes

Juan Griego Pier © The Photographer

Juan Griego Pier © The Photographer

Margarita Island (Isla de Margarita) is the largest island in the Venezuelan state of Nueva Esparta, situated off the northeastern coast of the country, in the Caribbean Sea. The capital city of Nueva Esparta, La Asunción, is located on the island. Primary industries are tourism, fishing and construction. Christopher Columbus was the first European to arrive on Margarita Island in 1498. The local natives were the Guaiqueries people. The coast of the island was abundant in pearls, which represented almost a third of all New World tribute to the Spanish Crown. Margarita Island was fortified against the increasing threat of pirate attacks, and some fortifications remain today. It was the center of Spanish colonial Margarita Province, established in 1525.   read more…

Theme Week Venezuela – Maracaibo

24 May 2018 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  8 minutes

Calle Carabobo © The Photographer

Calle Carabobo © The Photographer

Maracaibo is a city and municipality in northwestern Venezuela, on the western shore of the strait that connects Lake Maracaibo to the Gulf of Venezuela. It is the second-largest city in the country (after the national capital Caracas) and the capital of the state of Zulia. The population of the city is approximately 2.7 million with the metropolitan area estimated at 3.9 million. Maracaibo is nicknamed La Tierra del Sol Amada (“The Beloved Land of the Sun”). Zulia´s main income comes by the oil extract and refinery, Agriculture: Coffee, rice, maize, cassava, cocoa, sugar cane. Production livestock and Mining: Clay, limestone, coal and sand   read more…

Theme Week Venezuela – Barquisimeto

23 May 2018 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  6 minutes

Flor de Venezuela © Miguel Ahiezer Salcedo/cc-by-sa-3.0

Flor de Venezuela © Miguel Ahiezer Salcedo/cc-by-sa-3.0

Barquisimeto is the capital of the state of Lara and head of Iribarren Municipality. It is an important urban, industrial, commercial and transportation center of the country, recognized as the fourth-largest city by population and area in Venezuela after Caracas, Maracaibo and Valencia. It is known as the Dusk City due to its beautiful sunsets.   read more…

Theme Week Venezuela – Cumaná

22 May 2018 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  7 minutes

Mochima National Park - Playa Blanca © flickr.com - Luigino Bracci/cc-by-2.0

Mochima National Park – Playa Blanca © flickr.com – Luigino Bracci/cc-by-2.0

Cumaná is the capital of Venezuela’s Sucre State. It is located 402 kilometres (250 mi) east of Caracas. Cumaná was one of the first settlements founded by Europeans in mainland America and is the oldest continuously-inhabited, European-established settlement in the continent. Attacks by indigenous peoples meant it had to be refounded several times. The municipality of Sucre, which includes Cumaná, has a population of 420,000. The city, located at the mouth of the Manzanares River on the Caribbean coast in the Northeast coast of Venezuela, is home to one of five campuses of the Universidad de Oriente and a busy maritime port, home of one of the largest tuna fleets in Venezuela. The city is close to Mochima National Park a popular tourist beaches destination amongst Venezuelans.   read more…

Theme Week Venezuela

21 May 2018 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Bon voyage, Theme Weeks Reading Time:  9 minutes

Cumaná © panoramio.com - Guillermo Esteves/cc-by-3.0

Cumaná © panoramio.com – Guillermo Esteves/cc-by-3.0

Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a federal republic on the northern coast of South America, bordered by Colombia on the west, Brazil on the south, Guyana on the east, the Dutch Lesser Antilles to the north and Trinidad and Tobago to the north-east. Venezuela covers 916,445 km² (353,841 sq mi) and has over 31 million people. The country has extremely high biodiversity and is ranked 7th in the world’s list of nations with the most number of species. There are habitats ranging from the Andes Mountains in the west to the Amazon Basin rain-forest in the south via extensive llanos plains, the Caribbean coast and the Orinoco River Delta in the east.   read more…

Theme Week Ecuador – Quito

28 April 2018 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  9 minutes

Municipal Palace in the Plaza Grande © Diego Delso/cc-by-sa-4.0

Municipal Palace in the Plaza Grande © Diego Delso/cc-by-sa-4.0

Quito, formally San Francisco de Quito, is the capital city of Ecuador, and at an elevation of 2,850 metres (9,350 ft) above sea level, it is the second-highest official capital city in the world, after La Paz, and the one which is closest to the equator. It is located in the Guayllabamba river basin, on the eastern slopes of Pichincha, an active stratovolcano in the Andes mountains. With a population of 2,671,191 according to the last census (2014), Quito is the second most populous city in Ecuador, after Guayaquil. It is also the capital of the Pichincha province and the seat of the Metropolitan District of Quito. The canton recorded a population of 2,239,191 residents in the 2010 national census. In 2008, the city was designated as the headquarters of the Union of South American Nations.   read more…

Theme Week Ecuador – Cuenca

27 April 2018 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  9 minutes

Centro Histórico © flickr.com - amalavida.tv/cc-by-sa-2.0

Centro Histórico © flickr.com – amalavida.tv/cc-by-sa-2.0

The city of Cuenca — in full, Santa Ana de los Cuatro Ríos de Cuenca — is the capital of the Azuay Province. It is widely regarded as the most European city in the country of Ecuador due to its 16th and 17th century era Spanish colonial architecture resembling cities and architecture throughout Spain. The city of Cuenca is located in the highlands of Ecuador at about 2,500 metres (8,200 feet) above sea level, with an urban population of approximately 400,000 rising to 700,000 inhabitants in the larger metropolitan area. The centre of the city is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Trust site due to its many historical buildings.   read more…

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