World’s Largest Floating Christmas Tree: No wimpy Charlie Brown tree for Brazil

by Alison Brick on

The question is: who puts the star at the top?

It’s an head-scratching combination. Sure, if you have the mountains that Rio de Janeiro has, placing a Christ the Redeemer statue on top is only natural. But placing a huge Christmas tree on the water?

The Guinness Book of Records officially proclaims the tree of lights that floats in Rio’s Rodrigo de Freitas lagoon as the “Largest Floating Christmas Tree in the World.”

It’s as tall as a 28-story building (85 meters high). If you’re imagining your tree at home (with maybe a string out lights out), you’d best add a few million more lights to your imagination. This tree uses 2.9 million miniature bulbs spread over 52 kilometers of strands to produce its colorful twinkles, available in 11 sequential patterns. And what’s Christmas without Christmas music? Yes, it does have a sound system that plays carols that were recorded in Italy.

Designed by Brazilian artist Abel Gomes, the tree and its lighting have been a tradition since 1996. It’s no small event either — the Christmas tree lighting is actually the third biggest event in Rio after the Carnival and New Year’s Eve.

And before you get turned off by the thought of all of the energy expended, consider that the lights are powered by biodiesel generators. Plus, we’re told that any carbon dioxide emissions produced by the set-up, display, and tear-down of the tree will be offset by the planting of trees.

You still have time to see the lights, before they go out on January 6, 2010.
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The Netherlands’ worst holiday tradition, Black Peet

by Annie Scott on

The history of Black Peet, or Zwarte Piet, is a subject of much disagreement. The explanation that makes the most sense to us (and seems the most likely) is that just as wealthy Dutch families once had black servants, so did Santa Claus. Rather than the elves we’re used to seeing in America, Santa’s helper in Holland and all over the Netherlands is a smiling, minstrel show-meets-Shakespeare-style, black-faced man, such as the chocolate rendition at right. That’s a traditional holiday gift.

Another story, apparently made up to quell the cries of “racism,” is that Black Peet is actually a white Dutch guy; he’s just covered in chimney soot. We think it’s safe to say that 1. That’s not supposed to be a white Dutch guy and 2. That’s pretty much equally as offensive and ignorant.

According to one of the guides we had in Holland, in recent years, the shops have tried coming out with Red Peets and Yellow Peets as well, to make the whole thing a little more “it’s just different colored guys” (could they have picked more offensive colors? WTF, Netherlands?), but the children didn’t care for it. Black Peet is their tradition, and when handed a Yellow Peet, they’d look at the adults with (perhaps appropriate) disapproval.

To this day, The Netherlands’ candy and toy shops are full of Black Peet merchandise around the holidays. The photos in our gallery were taken in early November in Amsterdam and The Hague (Den Haag). Black Peets are actually spotted all over Europe, though in fewer numbers. This certainly isn’t news; the tradition is ages old, but we were so struck by the variety of Black Peets available, we couldn’t help but photograph them.
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For further study, here’s a video by some people who encountered Black Peet in a grocery store in Berlin, saying, “In America we have that too, but we call it ‘racism.'” Warning: none of the Peets you see there are actually black people (they’re wearing makeup), and also, after the grocery store portion, the audio becomes NSFW.

This trip was paid for by the Netherlands Board of Tourism, but the ideas and opinions expressed in the article above are 100% my own.

Coming attractions: Colombia

by Brenda Yun on


Ten years ago, Colombia was the kidnapping country of the world, and its second largest city, Medellin, was the murder capital of the world. When I made my first of many journeys to South America ten years ago, I was warned not to go to Colombia. Ten years ago, people who rode with their arms sticking out of a cab and would get their jewelery or watches stolen. I’d also heard of tourists and over innocent family members being taken from their streets and held in captivitiy.

Ten years ago, Colombia was a different place: a crime-ridden, drug-infested nation with a bad reputation for danger. However, when Alvaro Uribe took office back in 2002, the country quickly turned around. Within a few years, the drug cartel and paramilitary threats to civilian safety were halved — and when I stepped foot on Colombian soil in 2007 I was both curious about what the country had to offer and also wary of the threats and potential danger that still lurked.

What I came to find that winter, however, was a country full of vibrant life and rich in natural resources and wonderfully travel-worthy destinations. From its Sierra Nevada mountain range to its Caribbean-induced coastal towns like Cartagena, and the salsa-infused cities of Medellin and Cali as well as the coffee rich cloud forests near Bogota, Colombia has months worth of amazing travel delights.

Here is a sampling of some of the Colombia’s top travel itineraries:

Treasure Hunt: With its pirate past, pre-Colombian history, and indigenous presence, Colombia has some of the most fascinating cultural and archaeological sites in South America. Traveling through this country can be like embarking on a treasure hunt. To ground yourself in Colombia’s rich past, begin your journey in Bogotá, visiting such emblematic museums as the Museo Nacional, Museo del Oro, and Donación Botero. Hop on a bus and head one hour north to Zipaquirá, where the nation’s largest supply of salt is found in a mine so immense that, in 1995, a cathedral was erected underground, inside the mine. The world’s largest underground cross is here. Next stop: Villa de Leyva, a short four hours farther north, where a fascinating pre-historic alligator is on display in the Museo Paleontológico. The Saturday market in town is also a colorful sight to behold. Make your way southwest now by bus or plane to Popayán, which only a few years ago was named one of the world’s gastronomical centers. Here, delight yourself in tasty Colombian cuisine, or try out the Italian, French, and vegetarian restaurants around this gorgeous white city. Two hours away is adorable Silvia, where on Tuesdays you will find a fantastic indigenous market full of traditional wares and goods. Head to Tierradentro from here. One of Colombia’s most fascinating pre-Colombian burial tombs are found under the ground. Spend at least one full day touring many of these cave-like tombs still have their original colorful decorations. Finish your treasure hunt in San Agustín, exploring its gorgeously preserved Parque Archaelógico, where life-size zoologic statues protect burial mounds on the hillside.

Hips Don’t Lie: Shakira, Colombia’s very own pop-rock queen, says it best in her salsa-enfused song, “I am on tonight and my hips don’t lie and I am starting to feel it’s right. The attraction, the tension. Baby, like this is perfection.” Colombia is a lively center for nightlife and pure fun. It’s not too surprising if you’ve come here more for play than for cultural exploration. If that’s the case, head to the country’s major cities for a taste of the good life: Latin dance and clubbing. You might as well start off in what many consider the Latin American capital of salsa dancing – Cali. Avenida Sexta is full of crazy Vegas-like salsa bars and clubs. The Cali girls, many say, are the prettiest in the country. However, Medellín girls are a bit more sophisticated and this city, the second-largest in Colombia, really knows how to throw a party. The Zona Rosa in El Poblado lights up at night, and foam parties or other crazy, late-night antics are a part of weekend nightlife. If you’re looking for something with a more colorful, Caribbean flair, then you won’t have to look any farther than Cartagena. The best bars and clubs are found along Avenida del Arsenal. If you timed your visit right and are in the area in January, then bus your way to Barranquilla for the city’s crazy four-day Carnaval. With just a little more energy left in that dancing body of yours, head to Colombia’s capital, Bogotá. The city’s really modern and hip Zona Rosa in the north is packed with chic lounges, bars, and clubs.

A Country of Contrasts:
Colombia is certainly a country of contrasts. You may find yourself paragliding off an an enormous mountain one day and sunbathing on the beach the next. If you’re searching for a blend of both, try some of these pairings:

  • Desierto Tatacoa & Isla Gorgona – Do you prefer dry or wet conditions? You’re in luck, because Colombia offers both extremes. Tatacoa offers a rare glimpse of dry desert with cactus, sand, and wildflowers, while Isla Gorgona, the country’s largest Pacific island, is covered with lush, tropical rainforest and humpback and sperm whales can be spotted.
  • Salento & Coveñas – Both of these small towns are perfectly secluded, and offer tourists with privacy, but in very different settings. In Salento, visitors delight in the crisp air and gorgeous Valle de Cocora, where the hillside is dotted with “palmas de cera,” the Colombia’s tall, skinny national tree. Then, in Coveñas, the warm, tropical beach is yours for the taking.
  • Ciudad Perdida & Parque Tayrona – Three full days of hiking in the northern Sierra Nevada will take you to an abandoned pre-Colombian town in the clouds, Ciudad Perdida, or the “Lost City.” At 1000 meters above sea level, tourists who have endured the trek will bask in the glory of old times. Then, at sea level, on the way back to Santa Marta is the equally lovely and relaxing Parque Tayrona, another home to the Tayrona Indians, set in calm bays and palm trees.
  • San Gil & Barichara – One of the country’s centers for eco-adventure is San Gil, where repelling, whitewater rafting, and paragliding over the stunning Chicamocha Canyons shouldn’t be missed. Just twenty minutes by bus from San Gil is the sleepy colonial town of Barichara, where the buildings are perfectly painted white with green trim and walking along the cobblestone streets, listening to the patter of horse hooves and observing the men donned in cowboy boots and bush knives leaves little to the imagination of how life used to be.
  • Leticia & Providencia – The most extreme of contrasts is the immense Amazon jungle setting in Leticia with the small, Caribbean island life in Providencia. There’s nothing more Colombian about both: in Leticia, you laze around in small villages camped along the Amazon River; in Providencia, you walk or bike your way around, chatting it up with locals. The opportunity to interact with locals abound, and both are great ports to further exploration of Latin America: Leticia borders both Brazil and Peru and Providencia is a very short plane ride to Nicaragua.


Get there:
The best places to begin and/or end your journey to Colombia would have to be the cities of Bogota and Cartagena. These are the two major international ports that service Avianca flights from all over South America and abroad. If possible, try to fly into one airport and out of the other. Then, depending on your preferred type of travel, head along the Chicamoya canyons to experience the best of Colombia’s natural scenery or through the Zona Cafetera, stopping along the countries biggest cities for a more urban experience.

Are you using a “socially conscious” world map?

by Aaron Hotfelder on

What’s a “socially conscious” world map, you ask? Well, for starters, everyone knows that all world maps necessarily distort some regions of the Earth at the expense of others. The attempt to plot a 3-D shape onto a flat piece of paper makes such distortions unavoidable.

The Mercator Projection (right), for example, makes countries closer to the poles appear larger, such that Greenland appears almost as large as Africa despite being about one-fourteenth its size. While Gerardus Mercator originally intended his map to be used solely for navigation, the projection is now virtually ubiquitous, used in thousands of classrooms and even by Google Maps.

In the Mercator Projection, Africa and Southern Asia, since they are located near the Equator, appear smaller than their true sizes. Because these regions are typically thought of as poorer and less influential than the rest of the world, it strikes some as unfair that the world’s wealthier areas should be depicted as larger relative to their poor counterparts.

In 1885, a clergyman named James Gall published a map in the Scottish Geographical Magazine that depicted each country’s size in proportion to the others’. About a hundred years later, cartographer Arno Peters refined Gall’s map into the Gall-Peters projection, which is seen below:

The virtue of the Gall-Peters projection is that it correctly displays each country’s size relative to the sizes of the other countries. So Africa dwarfs Greenland, just as it does in reality, and Western Europe looks much smaller than it does in the Mercator Projection.

So case closed, let’s switch to the Gall-Peters projection, right? Not so fast. Critics of the map point out that although the relative sizes are correct, this projection actually elongates countries near the equator so that they resemble, in the words of one prominent cartographer, “wet, ragged, long winter-underwear hung out to dry.”

Thankfully, plenty of alternatives to the Mercator and Gall-Peters projections exist. Perhaps the most well-known among them is the Winkel tripel projection, which many geographers now believe is the most accurate, least distorting world map in existence. Here it is:


Employing curved lines of latitude and longitude allows the Winkel tripel projection to minimize size and shape distortion. Though countries closer to the poles are still enlarged, this projection is a healthy compromise between Mercator and Gall-Peters.

You’ve probably also seen the Goode homolosine projection, an “interrupted”-type map which displays the world in a series of connected lobes. Though this projection displays the true relative sizes of countries, it comes at the expense of “tearing,” or creating a number of discontinuities on the map. This projection, which gained popularity back in the 1960s, was nicknamed the “orange-peel map” for its resemblance to a hand-peeled orange. The drawback is that it’s not as visually appealing and less user-friendly than most other projections. Take a look:

So, after all this, which is the best map to use? It’s frustrating, but it depends on what you want to emphasize– and what you’re willing to give up. If you want a pretty map to hang on your wall, the Goode homolosine projection (above) is probably not it. If you want to be “socially conscious” by emphasizing how much larger Africa is than Western Europe, the Gall-Peters projection will do the trick. If you’re sailing around the world, stick with ol’ Mercator– and don’t forget the GPS.

Chess around the globe

by Kraig Becker on

Wend Magazine, an outdoor adventure/travel mag with an eco-sensitive slant, has a great photo gallery on their Wend Blog today that celebrates the game of Chess and its universal appeal around the globe. In fact, the blog post compares it to soccer when it comes to international popularity, with chess boards bridging cultural and language barriers across the planet.

The classic game traces its origins back to 6th century India, and over the centuries it has evolved into an art form. Learning the moves of the various pieces is a simple affair, and yet it opens the door for complex strategies and intense battles, played out on a black and white checker-board.

Wend warns that when you play a game abroad, you not only play for yourself, but your entire country, and offers up a few things to consider before sitting down at the chess table. That advice includes such things as don’t play anyone over 60, as they are probably better than you and it’s a no win situation no matter the results, and get familiar with local rules before you play, or you may find yourself schooled by some obscure tactic.

Of course, the real highlight of this post is the photographs, and they are fascinating. There are shots from all over the planet ranging from Argentina to Uzbekistan, and plenty of places in between. The photos capture players of all ages in all kinds of settings, and really do show just what an international game chess has become. Checkmate!