Destination: South America
Peru, Chile Clash Over New Map’s Borders
by Michael Yessis | 08.15.07 | 10:19 AM ET
Anyone else got an issue with Chile’s borders? Last year we noted that Argentina produced a tourist map claiming a disputed area with Chile. Now Peru has published a map in its official newspaper, El Peruano, that encroaches on what Chile believes is its “fishing-rich portion of the Pacific Ocean,” reports the AP. The dispute, according to the story, stems “from a war fought more than 120 years ago.” That would be the War of the Pacific, in which Chile captured, among other things, Bolivia’s former coastline. It’s becoming a big issue. Chile has already summoned its ambassador from Peru, and Peru has plans to bring the issue to The Hague’s International Court of Justice.
Email to friend
del.icio.us
Digg
Facebook
Furl
Ma.gnolia
Mixx
Reddit
StumbleUpon
Yahoo! BuzzTabloid Travel Headline of the Day: ‘A Flying Monkey: Simian Smuggled Aboard Plane’
by Michael Yessis | 08.08.07 | 10:31 AM ET
The headline comes from the New York Post. The monkey flew to the Big Apple from Lima, Peru via Fort Lauderdale, Florida with a passenger on Spirit Airlines. “Spirit,” as the airline opportunistically called the baby marmoset, was apparently the size of a person’s fist and hid under the man’s hat. “Other passengers asked the man if he knew he had a monkey on him,” said Spirit Airlines spokeswoman Alison Russell. If the man didn’t know, then that’s a different story.
War Tourists Descend on Falkland Islands
by Michael Yessis | 08.07.07 | 12:17 PM ET
Twenty-five years after Argentina and the United Kingdom fought for their control, the Falkland Islands, or Las Malvinas as they’re known to Argentinians, are the latest destination to get a boost from war tourism. More than 900 people died in the 73-day war. According to the AP, most visitors are drawn to the sites of the fiercest fighting: Mount Longdon and Mount Tumbledown. Earlier this year, we noted El Salvador’s entry into the war tourism business.
Four Tiki Books: James Teitelbaum’s Picks
by Jim Benning | 08.03.07 | 10:43 AM ET
This week, we interviewed James Teitelbaum, author of “Tiki Road Trip: A Guide to Tiki Culture in North America.” We asked Teitelbaum to recommend a few tiki-related books (guides, narratives, anything). Here’s what he suggested:
Aku-Aku by Thor Heyerdahl
Teitelbaum says: “That’s really the book that made me want to visit Easter Island. It’s very readable, with suspense, humor. It’s a good all-around read.”
Suriname, Brand That Nation!
by Jim Benning | 08.01.07 | 3:25 PM ET
The Delicacy of the Andes
by Matt Villano | 07.23.07 | 12:13 PM ET
In Peru, people go crazy for cuy. In the U.S., they're household pets. When faced with eating them, Matt Villano confronts childhood memories, nausea and the costs of cultural immersion.
Ecuadorian Airline Unveils In-Flight Lingerie Shows
by Michael Yessis | 07.10.07 | 11:43 AM ET
And they say the glamour is gone from air travel. In the tradition of the Singapore Girls and Hooters Air, Ecuador’s Icaro Airlines has been parading beautiful women as in-flight entertainment via 10-minute lingerie shows on selected flights. “It was a surprise, really. A very nice surprise,” one passenger on a flight from Quito to Guayaquil told Reuters. “Before the trip was short, now it feels really short.” Reuters has the original video that features, among other things, leering men and at least one visibly uncomfortable woman. Not surprisingly, the video has multiplied across the Internet. (Via The Perrin Post.)
Related on World Hum:
* Singapore Girl: Icon, Anachronism, Winged Geisha and Pretty Young Thing
* The New Hot Job in India: Flight Attendant
* Lesson No. 1 of Hooters Air: It Is Awfully Difficult to Make Buffalo Wings at 33,000 Feet
Photo by abogada samoana, via Flickr (Creative Commons).
UNESCO Adds Three Sites to Danger List, Names Next World Book Capital
by Michael Yessis | 07.10.07 | 11:14 AM ET
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has had a busy few weeks. Not only was it busy issuing a press release claiming no affiliation with the new seven wonders, during meetings in Christchurch, New Zealand, the group added the Galapagos and their surrounding marine reserve; Samarra, Iraq; and Senegal’s Niokolo-Koba National Park to its list of endangered World Heritage sites. Two more sites—the Royal Palaces of Abomey, Benin and Kathmandu Valley, Nepal—were removed from the Danger List.
New Seven Wonders of the World Named
by Michael Yessis | 07.09.07 | 7:51 AM ET
JetBlue’s New Blogger: C. Montgomery Burns
by Michael Yessis | 07.02.07 | 12:30 PM ET
It’s a publicity stunt, sure, but one that might help JetBlue get back some of its mojo after its February meltdown. As part of the massive hype for the upcoming The Simpsons Movie, C. Montgomery Burns—known best as Homer Simpson’s boss at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant—has taken over the blog of former JetBlue CEO David Neeleman. From his first entry: “Smithers entered my chambers this morning, toting wretched tales of congenial customer service and overly indulgent amenities on your JetBlue Airways. And for what… your precious passengers? Soon, the riff raff will demand ‘fair treatment’ from all corporate overlords, like myself. Well, not in my chemically prolonged life-time.”
President to Brazilians: Christ the Redeemer Needs Your Vote!
by Jim Benning | 06.25.07 | 4:42 PM ET
Cameron Diaz to Peru: Lo Siento Mucho
by Jim Benning | 06.25.07 | 1:02 PM ET
Poor Cameron Diaz. She was only going for the commie-chic, retro-kitsch look on her trip to Peru. Instead, she wound up offending Peruvians. On a visit to Machu Picchu Friday for the taping of a Canadian TV show called “4 Real,” Diaz toted an olive green bag featuring a red star and the words “Serve the People” in Chinese. That old Mao-era propoganda is hip among many young people in China—the same crazy kids enjoying plates of “Socialist Economic Model” at Beijing’s Red Capital Club. But is it hip in Peru? Not so much.
Global Warming, Tourism Among Threats to Cultural Sites
by Jim Benning | 06.07.07 | 10:43 AM ET
<
The World Monument Fund has issued its 2008 list of 100 Most Endangered Sites. Threatened landmarks making the cut this time include Leh Old Town in Ladakh, India (increasing rainfall due to climate change is damaging medieval buildings); Machu Picchu (facing too many visitors and increasing ease of access); Old Damascus, Syria (pictured, where historic buildings are being “abandoned and demolished to make way for modern construction”); and Route 66 (as we recently noted, many sites are deteriorating).
Aracataca, Colombia: It’s ‘Latin America All Wrapped Up In One Small Place’
by Michael Yessis | 06.01.07 | 5:13 PM ET
The impression of Aracataca, Colombia as a representation of the entirety of Latin America stems from Gabriel Garcia Marquez, the man who 40 years ago thinly disguised his hometown and used it as a setting for his classic novel, “One Hundred Years of Solitude.” Marquez returned to Aracataca for the first time in 25 years the other day, an event noted by many news outlets, including NPR. Juan Forero covered the homecoming for ‘Morning Edition,’ and his audio postcard from Aracataca gives a great sense of the town and just how much the residents love and appreciate the man they call Gabo.
Quito: No Longer Just Stopover Country
by Jim Benning | 05.21.07 | 3:42 PM ET
For years now, many travelers have stopped in Quito only briefly while on the way to the Amazon or Galapagos Islands, due in part to concerns over crime, writes Danny Palmerlee in the San Francisco Chronicle. But thanks to a $200 million restoration project in the city’s historic center, crime is down, beauty is up and, according to Palmerlee, Ecuador’s capital is now worth a visit in its own right: “Architects and restoration crews have completed more than 200 separate works, including the city’s cathedral; three historic theaters; the narrow, postcard-perfect street known as ‘La Ronda’; plazas; monasteries; churches; and entire blocks of colonial homes whose wooden balconies make Quito’s streets so picturesque.”