No matter how many times I manage to put together a surprisingly weather-appropriate outfit, I can’t seem to keep tabs on what those outfits are after the day has passed. This affects my travel packing. Warm-weather climates are easy enough to deal with – a bikini, shorts, tanks, sandals and a sundress or two. Simple. Destinations with cooler weather, however, elude me. Do I need my coat or just my sweater? I should have figured this kind of basic life skill out in elementary school, but since I didn’t, there’s an app for that. Cloth is a fashion app enabling users to photograph and upload pictures of their outfits. But now Cloth is tagging outfits with the current weather and archiving them. So the next time you’re traveling to a place with weather you can’t seem to remember how to dress for, Cloth will show you your own fashion for the weather options.
Video Of The Day: Men Nearly Drop Saint Statue On Crowd At Peruvian Festival
Bearing the weight of a saint on your shoulders can be a heavy burden. Just watch the men struggling to carry their church’s patron saint around the main square in Cusco, Peru, at the annual Corpus Christi festival earlier this month and you’ll get a feel for the lumbering task. The video comes from this year’s festival, customarily held 60 days after Easter Sunday. It takes up to 50 men to carry these statues around the main square (and make a few signs of the cross with it at alters scattered about), and they only get a few breathers in between.
The act of carrying a statue in this way is a mix of pre-Columbian and colonial traditions. Back in the time of the Inca Empire, richly embellished mummies of esteemed leaders and ancestors were carried around the square on similar platforms during holidays. When the Spanish came, effigies of saints and virgins were swapped in and adorned with flowers, lace, mirrors, beads and other accessories. The custom stuck, and today Corpus Christi remains one of the most important religious festivals in the country.
This year, I was lucky enough to be in Cusco’s main square during Corpus Christi. The square and surrounding streets were overflowing with revelers, who danced, played music, shot off fireworks and enjoyed plenty of delicious Peruvian street food. I was so happy to be enjoying the festival that I almost got caught under the weight of a saint myself. Watch my own video after the jump.
Video: Inside A Traditional Village In China
China is a fascinating place to visit. While we’re always hearing about the country’s booming cities, there are still plenty of traditional rural villages like the one shown in this video.
The traveler, who sounds Canadian, takes us on a tour through a thousand-year-old village. One stop is the Longevity and Health Well, which enjoys enough local fame to have the restaurant next to it sport its image on its sign.
I like the little details in this video, like the Chinese city kid struggling to draw water from the well, the straw brooms leaning against the wall, the meat hanging outside the restaurant and the traveler wondering if the birds in the birdcage are food. It’s worth watching more than once to catch things you didn’t notice the first time. The amateur filmmaker really captures the novelty, fun and confusion of travel, and gives us a glimpse of a quiet life in China away from the smog-covered factories and noisy cities.
Video: Base Jumping In The Himalaya
In April, Russian mountaineer and base jumper Valery Rozov traveled to a remote region of the Himalaya Mountains in India to climb a peak known as Mt. Shivling. After spending a month acclimatizing to the altitude and preparing for the climb, he and two companions started off for the summit located at 6543 meters (21,466 feet).
The technically difficult climb took six days to complete but Rozov found a much easier and quicker way to get back down. Clad in a wing suit, the Russian jumped from a ledge and safely glided and parachuted to the valley below. That descent took just 90 seconds with Valery reaching speeds of approximately 125 mph along the way.
The video of this base jump, which you’ll find below, was released earlier this week. At the time it was widely reported that this was a new world record for altitude, but that distinction actually belongs to a couple named Glenn Singleman and Heather Swan. That husband and wife team jumped from the 6604-meter (21,666-feet) Mt. Meru back in 2006.
Video: Nepal’s Extreme Zip Line
When High Ground Adventures in Nepal decided they wanted to build a zip line, they knew they wanted it to be long, tall and fast. Their Zipflyer meets that description and then some. Riders reach speeds in excess of 85 miles per hour while dangling high above the desert floor. The two-minute ride covers nearly 6000 feet while dropping almost 2000 feet in the process.
For those of us who won’t be making the journey to the town of Pokhara any time soon, which is where the Zipflyer is located, we’ll just have to settle for the video below. It looks like a fun ride, although that first step is kind of scary.