Theme Week Colombia – Santa Marta

23 June 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  6 minutes

Tayrona National Natural Park © Felipe Restrepo Acosta/cc-by-sa-4.0

Tayrona National Natural Park © Felipe Restrepo Acosta/cc-by-sa-4.0

Santa Marta, officially the Distrito Turístico, Cultural e Histórico de Santa Marta (English: Touristic, Cultural and Historic District of Santa Marta), is a city on the coast of the Caribbean Sea in northern Colombia. It is the capital of Magdalena Department and the fourth-largest urban city of the Caribbean Region of Colombia, after Barranquilla, Cartagena, and Soledad. Founded on July 29, 1525, by the Spanish conqueror Rodrigo de Bastidas, it was one of the first Spanish settlements in Colombia, its oldest surviving city, and second oldest in South America. This city is situated on a bay by the same name and as such, it is a prime tourist destination in the Caribbean region.   read more…

Theme Week Colombia – San Andrés Island

20 June 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  8 minutes

© Leviathan7/cc-by-sa-3.0

© Leviathan7/cc-by-sa-3.0

San Andrés is a coral island in the Caribbean Sea. Politically part of Colombia, and historically tied to the United Kingdom, San Andrés and the nearby islands of Providencia and Santa Catalina form the department of San Andrés, Providencia and Santa Catalina. San Andrés, in the southern group of islands, is the largest of Colombia. The official languages of the department are Spanish, English, and San Andrés–Providencia Creole.   read more…

St. Kitts Scenic Railway

20 December 2022 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Bon voyage Reading Time:  4 minutes

© flickr.com - David Stanley/cc-by-2.0

© flickr.com – David Stanley/cc-by-2.0

St. Kitts Scenic Railway is a 29 kilometres (18 mi) long narrow gauge railway line along the coastline of the island of St. Kitts in the eastern Caribbean, with a track gauge of 762 mm (2 ft 6 in). The original track was laid from 1912 to 1926, to deliver sugar cane from the plantations to the new centralised sugar mill in Basseterre. The sugar mill was built by a group of investors in 1912, to reduce processing costs and increase profitability by applying the principle of economies of scale, due to a sugar price drop caused by the worldwide introduction of sugar beets. Previously, each plantation had its own sugar mill. The first section of the railway line, from the Factory Pier to the St. Kitts Basseterre Sugar Factory, with a West Line branch running 4 miles (6.4 km) to Palmetto Point at Trinity and a North Line branch running out to Mills’s at Bourryeau Estate, was completed on 28 February 1912. It was celebrated with a special train carrying invited dignitaries. The railway was then operated seasonally from February to June for the annual sugar harvest.   read more…

Providenciales in the Caribbean

9 December 2022 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  6 minutes

Long Bay Beach © unsplash.com - Deanna Ritchie

Long Bay Beach © unsplash.com – Deanna Ritchie

Providenciales (known locally as Provo) is an island in the northwest Caicos Islands, part of the Turks and Caicos Islands, a British Overseas Territory. The island has an area of 98 km² (38 sq mi) and a 2012 Census population of 23,769. Providenciales is the largest island in population, the third largest in area, and is home to a large majority of the population of the Turks and Caicos Islands. Provo is the most tourist-oriented and developed of the Turks and Caicos Islands, boasting many resort hotels and an 18-hole golf course. The island has recently become popular with retirees from around the world, kindling a boom of residential development. Grace Bay has seen many luxury condos built on its shores.   read more…

Theme Week Guatemala

25 October 2021 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Bon voyage, Theme Weeks Reading Time:  9 minutes

Tikal mayan ruins © chensiyuan/cc-by-sa-4.0

Tikal mayan ruins © chensiyuan/cc-by-sa-4.0

Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala (Spanish: República de Guatemala), is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, Belize and the Caribbean to the northeast, Honduras to the east, El Salvador to the southeast and the Pacific Ocean to the south. With an estimated population of around 17.2 million, it is the most populous country in Central America and is the 11th most populous country in the Americas. Guatemala is a representative democracy; its capital and largest city is Nueva Guatemala de la Asunción, also known as Guatemala City, the largest city in Central America.   read more…

Theme Week Honduras – La Ceiba

25 June 2021 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  8 minutes

© Anarqista/cc-by-sa-4.0

© Anarqista/cc-by-sa-4.0

La Ceiba is a municipality, the capital of the Honduran department of Atlántida and a port city on the northern coast of Honduras in Central America. It is located on the southern edge of the Caribbean, forming part of the south eastern boundary of the Gulf of Honduras. With an estimated population of 199,080 living in approximately 170 residential areas (called colonias or barrios), it is the fourth most populous and third most important city in the country.   read more…

Theme Week Honduras – San Pedro Sula

23 June 2021 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  15 minutes

Municipal Palace © Steven Craig/cc-by-sa-3.0

Municipal Palace © Steven Craig/cc-by-sa-3.0

San Pedro Sula is the capital of Cortés Department, Honduras. It is located in the northwest corner of the country in the Sula Valley, about 50 kilometers (31 miles) south of Puerto Cortés on the Caribbean Sea. With a population of 671,460 in the central urban area (2020 calculation) and a population of 1,445,598 in its metropolitan area in 2020, it is the nation’s primary industrial center and second largest city after the capital Tegucigalpa.   read more…

Theme Week Honduras

21 June 2021 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Bon voyage, Theme Weeks, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  8 minutes

A Mayastela, an emblematic symbol of the Honduran Mayan civilization at Copan © Talk2winik

A Maya stela, an emblematic symbol of the Honduran Mayan civilization at Copan © Talk2winik

Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. The republic of Honduras is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of Fonseca, and to the north by the Gulf of Honduras, a large inlet of the Caribbean Sea.   read more…

Cozumel in Mexico

5 June 2020 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  10 minutes

San Miguel de Cozumel © Harpqueen

San Miguel de Cozumel © Harpqueen

Cozumel is an island and municipality in the Caribbean Sea off the eastern coast of Mexico‘s Yucatán Peninsula, opposite Playa del Carmen. It is separated from the mainland by Cozumel Channel and is close to the Yucatán Channel. The municipality is part of the state of Quintana Roo, Mexico. The economy of Cozumel is based on tourism, with visitors able to benefit from the island’s balnearios, scuba diving, and snorkeling. The main town on the island is San Miguel de Cozumel.   read more…

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