Theme Week Djibouti

20 November 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Bon voyage, Theme Weeks Reading Time:  8 minutes

Moucha Island © flickr.com - Keo the Younger/cc-by-sa-2.0

Moucha Island © flickr.com – Keo the Younger/cc-by-sa-2.0

Djibouti, officially the Republic of Djibouti, is a country in the Horn of Africa, bordered by Somalia to the south, Ethiopia to the southwest, Eritrea in the north, and the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden to the east. The country has an area of 23,200 km² (8,958 sq mi).   read more…

Theme Week Puerto Rico – San Juan

28 October 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  12 minutes

Calle de la Virtud © G. Edward Johnson/cc-by-4.0

Calle de la Virtud © G. Edward Johnson/cc-by-4.0

San Juan (Spanish for “Saint John“) is the capital city and most populous municipality in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. As of the 2020 census, it is the 57th-largest city under the jurisdiction of the United States, with a population of 342,259. San Juan was founded by Spanish colonists in 1521, who called it Ciudad de Puerto Rico (“City of Puerto Rico”, Spanish for rich port city).   read more…

Theme Week Puerto Rico – Desecheo Island

27 October 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Environment Reading Time:  8 minutes

© US Fish & Wildlife Service

© US Fish & Wildlife Service

Desecheo (Spanish: Isla Desecheo) is a small uninhabited island of the archipelago of Puerto Rico located in the northeast of the Mona Passage; 13 mi (21 km) from Rincón on the west coast (Punta Higüero) of the main island of Puerto Rico and 31 mi (50 km) northeast of Mona Island. It has a land area of 0.589 sq mi (377 acres; 153 ha; 1.53 km²). Politically, the island is administered by the U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as the Desecheo National Wildlife Refuge, but part of Barrio Sabanetas of Mayaguez.   read more…

Theme Week Puerto Rico – Mona Island

26 October 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Environment Reading Time:  6 minutes

Pajaros Beach © Serge Aucoin/cc-by-sa-4.0

Pajaros Beach © Serge Aucoin/cc-by-sa-4.0

Mona (Spanish: Isla de Mona) is the third-largest island of the Puerto Rican archipelago, after the main island of Puerto Rico and Vieques. It is the largest of three islands in the Mona Passage, a strait between the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, the others being Monito Island and Desecheo Island. It measures about 7 miles by 4 miles (11 km by 7 km), and lies 41 mi (66 km) west of Puerto Rico, of which it is administratively a part. It is one of two islands that make up the Isla de Mona e Islote Monito barrio in the municipality of Mayagüez.   read more…

Theme Week Puerto Rico – Culebra Island

25 October 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  7 minutes

Dewey © Steven595/cc-by-sa-4.0

Dewey © Steven595/cc-by-sa-4.0

Isla Culebra (Snake Island) is an island, town and municipality of Puerto Rico and geographically part of the Spanish Virgin Islands. It is located approximately 17 miles (27 km) east of the Puerto Rican mainland, 12 miles (19 km) west of St. Thomas and 9 miles (14 km) north of Vieques. Culebra is spread over 5 barrios and Culebra Pueblo (Dewey), the main town and the administrative center of the island. Residents of the island are known as culebrenses. With a population of 1,792 as of the 2020 Census, it is Puerto Rico’s least populous municipality.   read more…

Theme Week Puerto Rico – Vieques Island

24 October 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  6 minutes

Shoreline at Esperanza © Rar285/cc-by-sa-3.0

Shoreline at Esperanza © Rar285/cc-by-sa-3.0

Vieques, officially Isla de Vieques, is an island and municipality of Puerto Rico, in the northeastern Caribbean, part of an island grouping sometimes known as the Spanish Virgin Islands. Vieques is part of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and retains strong influences from 400 years of Spanish presence in the island.   read more…

Theme Week Puerto Rico

23 October 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Bon voyage, Theme Weeks, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  12 minutes

Old San Juan with the Luquillo Mountain Range in the background © U.S. National Park Service

Old San Juan with the Luquillo Mountain Range in the background © U.S. National Park Service

Puerto Rico (Spanish for rich port), is a Caribbean island and unincorporated territory of the United States with official Commonwealth status. It is located in the northeast Caribbean Sea, approximately 1,000 miles (1,600 km) southeast of Miami, Florida, between the Dominican Republic and the U.S. Virgin Islands, and includes the eponymous main island and several smaller islands, such as Mona, Culebra, and Vieques. It has roughly 3.2 million residents, and its capital and most populous city is San Juan. Spanish and English are the official languages of the executive branch of government, though Spanish predominates.   read more…

Theme Week Patagonia – Río Gallegos

30 September 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  6 minutes

Base Aérea Militar Río Gallegos © Arcibel/cc-by-sa-3.0

Base Aérea Militar Río Gallegos © Arcibel/cc-by-sa-3.0

Río Gallegos is the capital and largest settlement of the Patagonian province of Santa Cruz in Argentina. Located in the department of Güer Aike, it has a population of about 98,000, according to the 2010 census (INDEC), a 24% increase from the 79,000 in the 2001 census (INDEC). The city bears the name of the Gallegos River, and sits on its estuary 2,636 km (1,638 mi) south from the Argentine federal capital Buenos Aires.   read more…

Theme Week Patagonia – Neuquén

29 September 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  10 minutes

Plaza de la Mujer © panoramio.com - martin moran/cc-by-sa-3.0

Plaza de la Mujer © panoramio.com – martin moran/cc-by-sa-3.0

Neuquén is the capital city of the Argentine province of Neuquén and of the Confluencia Department, located in the east of the province. It occupies a strip of land west of the confluence of the Limay and Neuquén rivers which form the Río Negro, making it part of the ecoregion of Alto Valle del Río Negro. The city and surrounding area have a population of more than 340,000, making it the largest city in Patagonia. Along with the cities of Plottier and Cipolletti, it is part of the Neuquén – Plottier – Cipolletti conurbation. Founded in 1904, it is the newest provincial capital city in Argentina.   read more…

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