Paradisiac trip

photos and information Utila

2011-05-30T15:47:00.000-07:00

Utila is the third largest of Honduras' Bay Islands, after Roatán and Guanaja, in a region that marks the south end of the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System, the second-largest in the world.

Lake Yojoa photos and information

2011-05-28T15:51:00.000-07:00

Lake Yojoa is the largest lake in Honduras with a surface area of 285 square kilometers (110 mi²) and an average depth of 15 meters (50 ft). At an altitude of 700 meters (2,300 ft), it lies in a depression formed by volcanoes. The Lake Yojoa volcanic field consists of Pleistocene to Holocene scoria cones, craters, and lava flows.

Roatán photos and information

2011-05-26T15:53:00.000-07:00

Roatán, located between the islands of Útila and Guanaja, is the largest of Honduras' Bay Islands. The island was formerly known as Ruatan and Rattan. It is approximately 60 kilometres (37 mi) long, and less than 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) across at its widest point.

photos and information Lake Coatepeque

2011-05-24T15:56:00.000-07:00

Lake Coatepeque is a large crater lake in the east part of the Coatepeque Caldera. It is in Coatepeque municipality, Santa Ana, El Salvador. There are hot springs near the lake margins. At 26 km², it is one of the largest lakes in El Salvador. In the lake is the island of Teopan, which was a Mayan site of some importance.

Tacuba photos and information

2011-05-22T15:58:00.000-07:00

It is located in Villa of Tacuba. It is head of the municipality of the same name in the department of Ahuachapán, at about 14 Kilometers of the city of Ahuachapán and at 700 meters over the sea level. It was built in the 16th century or at the beginning of the 17th century by the officer Juan Clemente and his son Juan.

Basilica Cathedral of Arequipa photos and information

2011-05-20T16:27:00.000-07:00

The Basilica Cathedral of Arequipa is located in the "Plaza de Armas" of the city of Arequipa, province of Arequipa, Peru. It is the most important Catholic church of the city and also of the larger Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Arequipa since it is the base of the Archbishop and the Metropolitan Council. The cathedral is also considered one of Peru's most unusual and famous colonial cathedrals since the Spanish conquest.

Arequipa photos and information

2011-05-18T16:25:00.000-07:00

Arequipa is the capital city of the Arequipa Region in southern Peru. With a population of 904,931 it is the second most populous city of the country. Arequipa lies in the Andes mountains, at an altitude of 2,335 meters (7,661 feet) above sea level; the former snow-capped volcano El Misti overlooks the city.

Ometepe photos and information

2011-05-16T16:21:00.000-07:00

Ometepe is an island formed by two volcanoes rising from Lake Nicaragua in the Republic of Nicaragua. Its name derives from the Nahuatl words ome (two) and tepetl (mountain), meaning two mountains. It is the largest island located in the Lake Nicaragua as well as the largest volcanic island inside a fresh water lake in the world.

The islets of Granada photos and information

2011-05-14T16:18:00.000-07:00

The islets of Granada are located in Lake Nicaragua, just southeast of the city of Granada in Nicaragua. The islets are a group of 365 small islands scattered about the Asese peninsula. The islets are of volcanic origin, they were formed when the Mombacho volcano blew most of its cone into the lake over 20,000 years ago, thereby creating the archipelago. Most of islets are covered with unusual vegetation, and are rich with bird life.

Corn Islands photos and information

2011-05-12T16:15:00.000-07:00

The Corn Islands are two islands about 70 kilometers (43 mi) east off the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua, constituting one of 12 municipalities of the Región Autónoma del Atlántico Sur department. The official name of the municipality is Corn Island.

Lake Nicaragua or Cocibolca

2011-05-10T16:13:00.000-07:00

Lake Nicaragua or Cocibolca or Granada is a vast freshwater lake in Nicaragua of tectonic origin. With an area of 8,264 km2 (3,191 sq mi), it is the largest lake in Central America, the 19th largest lake in the world and the 9th largest in the Americas. It is slightly smaller than Lake Titicaca.

San Juan del Sur photos and information

2011-05-08T16:11:00.000-07:00

San Juan del Sur is a municipality and coastal town on the Pacific Ocean, in the Rivas department in south-west Nicaragua. San Juan del Sur is popular among surfers and is a vacation spot for many Nicaraguan families and foreign tourists.
Its population is approximately 18,500, consisting largely of families engaged in fishing and foreigners from the United States, Canada and Europe.

photos and information The Solentiname Islands

2011-05-06T16:08:00.000-07:00

The Solentiname Islands are an archipelago towards the southern end of Lake Nicaragua (also known as Lake Cocibolca) in the Nicaraguan department of Río San Juan. They are made up of four larger islands, each a few kilometres across, named, from west to east, Mancarroncito, Mancarrón, San Fernando and La Venada, along with some 32 smaller islands with rocky headlands which afford shelter to numerous aquatic birds. The islands’ origins are volcanic. The highest point in the islands is found on Mancarrón; it is 257 m above sea level.

San Juan River (Nicaragua) photos and information

2011-05-04T16:04:00.000-07:00

The San Juan River is a 192.06 km river that flows east out of Lake Nicaragua into the Caribbean Sea. A large section of the border between Nicaragua and Costa Rica runs on the right (southern) bank of the river. It was part, with the lake, of a proposed route for a Nicaragua Canal in the 19th century. The idea of the project has been revived in the last decade, including the possibility of other routes within the country. The Ecocanal project has obtained a Concession from the National Assembly of Nicaragua to re-open the San Juan River to commercial barge traffic.

Lake Titicaca photos and information

2011-05-02T16:02:00.000-07:00

Lake Titicaca is a lake located on the border of Peru and Bolivia. It sits 3,811 m (12,500 ft) above sea level, making it the highest commercially navigable lake in the world. By volume of water, it is also the largest lake in South America(Lake Maracaibo has a larger surface area, but it is often disregarded as it is directly connected to the sea).

The Sacred Valley of the Incas photos and information

2011-04-30T16:37:00.000-07:00

The Sacred Valley of the Incas or Urubamba Valley is a valley in the Andes of Peru, close to the Inca capital of Cusco and below the ancient sacred city of Machu Picchu. In colonial documents it is referred to as the "Valley of Yucay", according to recent researches it encompasses the heartland of the Inca Empire (Bauer, Covey 2002). The valley is generally understood to include everything between Calca and Lamay, Písac and Ollantaytambo, it has been formed by the Urubamba River, also known as Vilcanota River or Wilcamayu.

Sumidero Canyon photos and information

2011-04-28T16:42:00.000-07:00

Sumidero Canyon is a canyon in the Cañón del Sumidero National Park about 40 km from Tuxtla Gutiérrez, the capital of the Mexican state of Chiapas. Its cliffs are 900 meters above sea level and overlook the Grijalva River, which extends across the states of Chiapas and Tabasco and flows into the Gulf of Mexico. In its southern entrance, the canyon begins near the city of Chiapa de Corzo, and flows into the reservoir of the hydroelectric dam–Manuel Moreno Torres, best known as Chicoasén.

photos and information Blue-water Falls

2011-04-26T16:45:00.000-07:00

Blue-water Falls are found in the Mexican state of Chiapas. They are located 69 kilometers from Palenque by the road that leads towards San Cristóbal de las Casas.
This waterfall consists of many cataracts following one after another as can be seen in the first photo in the picture gallery, taken from near the top of the sequence of cascades. The larger cataracts may be as high as 6 meters (20 feet) or so. The one pictured to the right is next to the bottom of the sequence.

Volcán Tacaná photos and information

2011-04-24T16:51:00.000-07:00

The Tacaná Volcano is the second highest peak in Central America at 4,060 metres (13,320 ft). It is located in the Tacaná municipality of the Guatemalan department of San Marcos and the Mexican state of Chiapas.

Bonampak photos and information

2011-04-22T16:57:00.000-07:00

Bonampak is an ancient Maya archaeological site in the Mexican state of Chiapas. The site is approximately 30 km (20 miles) south of the larger site of Yaxchilan, under which Bonampak was a dependency, and the border with Guatemala. While the site is not overly impressive in terms of spatial or architectural size, it is well-known for a number of murals, most especially those located within Structure 1 (The Temple of the Murals). The construction of the site’s structures dates to the Early Classic period (c. AD 580 to 800).

Guadalupe Island photos and information

2011-04-20T17:01:00.000-07:00

Guadalupe Island, or Isla Guadalupe is a volcanic island located 241 kilometers (150 statute miles) off the west coast of Mexico's Baja California peninsula and some 400 kilometers (250 statute miles) southwest of the city of Ensenada in Baja California state, in the Pacific Ocean. The two other Mexican island groups in the Pacific Ocean that are not on the continental shelf are Revillagigedo Islands and Rocas Alijos.

The Coronado Islands photos and information

2011-04-18T17:05:00.000-07:00

The Coronado Islands are a group of four islands off the northwest coast of the Mexican state of Baja California. Battered by the wind and waves, they are largely infertile and uninhabited except for a small military detachment and a few lighthouse keepers. The islands lie between 25.6 and 32 kilometers south of the entrance to San Diego bay, but only 13.6 kilometers from the Mexican mainland.

Calakmul photos and information

2011-04-14T17:08:00.000-07:00

Calakmul (also Kalakmul and other less frequent variants) is a Maya archaeological site in the Mexican state of Campeche, deep in the jungles of the greater Petén Basin region. It is 35 kilometres (22 mi) from the Guatemalan border. Calakmul was one of the largest and most powerful ancient cities ever uncovered in the Maya lowlands. Calakmul is a modern name, in ancient times the city core was known as Ox Te' Tuun.

Colca Canyon photos and information

2011-04-12T16:31:00.000-07:00

Colca Canyon is a canyon of the Colca River in southern Peru. It is located about 100 miles (160 kilometers) northwest of Arequipa. It is more than twice as deep as the Grand Canyon in the United States at 4,160 m., and it is promoted as the "world's deepest canyon," although the canyon's walls are not as vertical as those of the Grand Canyon. The Colca Valley is a colorful Andean valley with towns founded in Spanish colonial times, and still inhabited by people of the Collaguas and the Cabanas cultures. The local people still maintain ancestral traditions and continue to cultivate the pre-Inca stepped terraces.

Copper Canyon photos and information

2011-02-12T07:29:00.000-08:00

Copper Canyon is a group of canyons consisting of six distinct canyons in the Sierra Tarahumara in the southwestern part of the state of Chihuahua in Mexico. The overall canyon system is larger and portions are deeper than the Grand Canyon in neighboring Arizona. The canyons were formed by six rivers which drain the western side of the Sierra Tarahumara (a part of the Sierra Madre Occidental). All six rivers merge into the Rio Fuerte and empty into the Sea of Cortez. The walls of the canyon are a copper/green color which is where the name originates.