Mix together a beautiful European-like city with attractive residents (call themporteños), gourmet cuisine, awesome shopping, a frenzied nightlife and top-drawer activities, and you get Buenos Aires, a cosmopolitan metropolis with both slick neighborhoods and equally downtrodden areas – but that’s part of the appeal. It’s an elegant, seductive place with a ragged edge, laced with old-world languor and yet full of contemporary attitude. BA is somehow strangely familiar, but unlike any other city in the world.

Planetario de Buenos Aires, BA-Palermo

The Giant Robot of Buenos Aires

In between cutting-edge designer boutiques, ritzy neighborhoods and grand parks are unkempt streets full of spewing buses and bustling fervor. Seek out classic BA: the old-world cafés, colonial architecture, fun outdoor markets and diverse communities. Rub shoulders with the formerly rich and famous in Recoleta’s cemetery, making sure to sidestep the ubiquitous dog piles on the sidewalks. Fill your belly at aparrilla (steak restaurant), then spend the night partying away in Palermo Viejo’s trendiest dance club.

found on lonelyplanet.com

The perfect South Beach pied-a-terre for entertaining, relaxing, or retreating in the most stylish manner. This luxuriously livable residence features a generous indoor/outdoor lounge with floor-to-ceiling glass doors to a deep, sun-drenched terrace; a separate sleeping area with king-size bed; massive imported Cippolino marble-clad bath and oversize multi-jet shower; entertaining kitchen; and dressing gallery with rich custom Zebrano wood wardrobes.

Asking prize? 634 200 USD.

found on esny.se

A place where you can eat, dream and play in peace, influenced only by the natural rhythms of Mother Nature, The Scarlet in Cornwall is an individual retreat for all seasons where we don’t stand on ceremony and guests make themselves at home.

Scarlet is our baby. We dreamt up this hotel to be the place we would most like to be and want to share. Somewhere to escape to for a few days and recharge.

Our hotel would remind us why we cherish our husbands and friends and love their company. It will be somewhere to laugh and enjoy simple pleasures. Where we have time for each other; rarely achieved in our chaos of work, life and family.

found on scarlethotel.co.uk

photography by Oskar Kihlborg

found on kihlborg.se

It was at 15 hours 16 minutes 47 seconds (GMT) today that the skipper of Groupama took victory in his first solo transatlantic race! Beneath the glorious sunshine of Guadeloupe and surrounded by a horde of spectator craft, Franck Cammas couldn’t conceal his happiness and his emotion. He covered the 3,539 miles in 9 days 3 hours 14 minutes and 47 seconds, at an average speed of 16.14 knots… Franck Cammas’ achievement is a sizeable one on a trimaran spanning 31.5 metres in length and 22.5 metres wide! In fact she is the biggest boat that has ever competed in the Route du Rhum la Banque Postale! Hearty congratulations to Franck for expertly helming his Groupama 3.

found on cammas-groupama.com

Stop what you’re doing for a moment and take a look at these hauntingly beautiful pictures of underwater sculptures by artist Jason de Caires Taylor. The sixty-five sculptures, covering an area of 800sq metres, are sited in the clear shallow waters of Moilinere bay in Grenada, West Indies.
The underwater sculpture park was created back in 2006 and was designed to create artificial reefs for marine life to colonise and inhabit. Exposed to the ecological processes the sculptures become home to coral and marine life and slowly transform over time.

“The experience of being underwater is vastly different from that of being on land. There are physical and optical considerations that must be taken into account. Objects appear twenty-five percent larger underwater, and as a consequence they also appear closer. Colors alter as light is absorbed and reflected at different rates, with the depth of the water affecting this further. The light source in water is from the surface, this produces kaleidoscopic effects governed by water movement, currents and turbulence. Water is a malleable medium in which to travel enabling the viewer to become active in their engagement with the work. The large number of angles and perspectives from which the sculptures can be viewed increase dramatically the unique experience of encountering the works.” Says Jason de Caires Taylor’s website.

found on beforeiforget.co.uk

Sprawling across half of South America, Brazil has captivated travelers for at least 500 years. Powdery white-sand beaches, lined with palm trees and fronting a deep blue Atlantic, stretch for more than 7000km. Dotting this coastline are tropical islands, music-filled metropolisesand enchanting colonial towns. Inland, Brazil offers dazzling sights of a different flavor: majestic waterfalls, red-rock canyons, and crystal-clear rivers – all just a small part of the natural beauty. Its larger and more famous attractions are the Amazon and the Pantanal, the pair hosting some of the greatest biodiversity on the planet. Wildlife-watching is simply astounding here, as is the opportunity for adventure – though you needn’t go to the jungle to find it. Kayaking, rafting, trekking, snorkeling and surfing are just a few ways to spend a sun-drenched afternoon in nearly any region in Brazil.

Some of the world’s most exciting cities lie inside of Brazil’s borders, and travelers need not come to Carnaval to experience the music, dance and revelry that pack so many calendar nights. Given the country’s innumerable charms, the only drawback to traveling in Brazil is a logistical (and financial) one: you simply won’t want to leave!

found on lonelyplanet.com

A healthy working situation…?

In the 2000 Wolfgan g Peterson film “The Perfect Storm,” actor George Clooney portrays B illy Tyne, captain of the ill-fated Andrea Gail fishing boat. The story comes from a real-life incident — three storms meet in the Atlantic Ocean where th e Andrea Gail and her crew are hauling in swordfish. All six crew members perish. The movie gave audiences an inside look at the extreme weather and lethal work that members of the commercial fishing industry endure. It also paved the way for a television show that, several years later, would put viewers on those boats.

“Deadliest Catch” debuted on The Discovery Channel in the spring of 2005. While “The Perfect Storm” followed sword fishermen in the Atlantic, “Deadliest Catch” takes viewers inside the lives of commercial crab fishermen on six different vessels off the Alaskan coast’s Bering Sea. Airing in 150 countries, “Deadliest Catch” consistently draws up to 3 million viewers in the United States each week. The show was created by executive producer Thom Beers, of Los Angeles-based Original Productions. Beers dreamed up the idea after spending time aboard the fishing boat Fierce Allegiance while filming another Discovery show called “Extreme Alaska.”
The show is titled “Deadliest Catch” because of the inherent peril of the Alaskan crab fishing industry. In the 1980s, the job was at its deadly peak, with an average of 37 fishermen perishing each year. New safety regulations and changes in how fishing permits are granted has led to a decline in the death toll. Still, between 2003 and 2008 an average of 11 fishermen per year died at sea [source: Associated Press].

Drowning accounts for 87 percent of those deaths — generally man-overboard or sinking-boat scenarios. Deck injuries account for the other 13 percent [source: CDC]. On deck, you run the risk of being crushed by a swinging 800-pound (362-kg) crab cage called a pot. You could also get entangled in a winch, smashed by a hydraulic lift or sucked into a bait-cutting machine.

Sound brutal? That’s because it is. In this article, we’ll take you inside “The Deadliest Catch” and the grueling business of capturing crab. But first, let’s learn how to translate all that crab fishermen vernacula.

found on discoverychannel.com

The Republic of Cape Verde
(pronounced /ˌkeɪp ˈvɜrd/ ( listen); Portuguese: Cabo Verde, pronounced [ˈkabu ˈveɾdɨ]; Kabuverdianu: Kabu Verdi) is an island country, spanning an archipelago of 10 islands located in the central Atlantic Ocean, 570 kilometres off the coast of Western Africa. The islands, covering a combined area of slightly over 4,000 square kilometres (1,500 sq mi), are of volcanic origin and while three of them (Sal, Boa Vista and Maio) are fairly flat, sandy and dry, the remaining ones are generally rockier and have more vegetation. Due to the infrequent occurrence of rainfall the overall landscape is not particularly green, as the country’s name suggests (verde is Portuguese for “green”); the name of the country stems instead from the nearby Cap Vert, on the Senegalese coast.

The previously uninhabited islands were discovered and colonized by the Portuguese in the 15th Century, and became an important location in the Atlantic slave trade due to their geographically advantageous position. The islands’ prosperity often attracted pirates including Sir Francis Drake, who twice sacked the (then) capital Ribeira Grande, in the 1580s. The islands were also visited by Charles Darwin’s expedition in 1832. The decline in the slave trade in the 19th century resulted in an economic crisis. With few natural resources and without strong sustainable investment from the Portuguese, the people grew increasingly discontent with the colonial masters, whom nevertheless refused to provide the local authorities with more autonomy.
This discontent festered and culminated in 1975, when a movement led by Amílcar Cabral achieved independence for the archipelago.

The country has an estimated population (most of it of creole ethnicity) of over 500,000, with its capital city (Praia), accounting for the majority of its citizens. Nearly 45% of the population lives in rural areas, about 20% lives below the poverty threshold, and their is a literacy rate around 85%. Politically, the country is a very stable democracy, with notable economic growth and improvements of living conditions, despite its lack of natural resources, and has garnered International recognition by other countries and international organizations, which often provide development aid. Since 2007, Cape Verde has been classified as a developing nation.

fond on wikipedia.org

Cliffs of Moher


Giants Causeway

There are various legends about the Giant’s Causeway, but I am going to tell you the one I heard when I was at the distillery Bushmills.
This version has it that an Irish giant built the causeway to bridge across to Scotland. There, he raided the livestock of the Scottish giant. The Scottish giant came back over the causeway to seek revenge for the raid and fight the Irish giant. The wife of the Irish giant, on seeing him cross the Causeway, and noting the size of the Scottish giant, was so afraid for her husband that she schemed to dress him up in baby clothes to protect him. There’s an absolutely beautiful Irish humour in this notion, something that absolutely positively captures the sense of humour of the country.
When the Scottish giant came to the house, he asked the wife where the Irish giant was, and the wife told the Scottish giant he was out. Looking around the house, the Scottish giant came across the baby. When he saw the size of the baby, he figured the father must be truly colossal, far too large to fight, and so ran back across the Causeway to Scotland, destroying it behind him. Hence, what is left now are only the basalt columns of various sizes.
found on grainmash.com
photography by Juza

States of emergency were declared in North Carolina, Virginia, and Maryland amid fears the Category 4 storm could become the most powerful hurricane in almost two decades.
Earl was expected to reach the eastern coastline in the early hours of this morning, battering North Carolina with high winds and heavy rains likely to cause dangerous floods.
More than 35,000 people were evacuated from the Hatteras and Ocracoke islands in Outer Banks as the strongest storm of the year descended on America’s east coast.

Forecasters warned that the potentially deadly storm could move north over the weekend, bringing chaos to America’s Labour Day holiday weekend and cancelling flights.
Millions of beachgoers and surfers who usually head for the beaches during the last weekend of the US summer season were told to keep a close watch on the hurricane’s development.
Warnings were in place up and down the east coast’s popular seaside resorts including Chesapeake Bay and Martha’s Vineyard, where Barack Obama and his family recently holidayed.
A hurricane watch, which means dangerous conditions are possible, was in effect as far north as Maine and the Canadian area of Nova Scotia.

Found on telegraph.co.uk

South Beach, Miami

Florida Keys

Port Orange

Miami is one of those cities that is hard to describe in just a few words. The beauty of Miami certainly starts with its diversity and exclusive ambience. It seems like Miami was made on the eighth day when all the eccentrics from around the world were invited to make it a wonderfully weird paradise. Miami sits in another reality that starts at the Florida Everglades and extends through a wonderland of sand, sun, bright colors and brilliant creativity. Even with the humidity, mosquitoes and alligators, Miami is impossibly sexy, enormously romantic and downright irresistible.

Everglades, Florida

Florida, more civilized than it once was, is still seductively and unnervingly fluid. Miami continues to be washed with wave after wave of Latin immigrants, and the city vibrates with energy and culture and change. The Deep South of northern Florida lovingly tends its memories, even as old ways fade or are simply paved over. The phantasmagorical theme parks continue to weave their mechanical magic. And just off the coast, another hurricane is always brewing.

Walt Disney was right:
Florida is a place that captures the imagination. The landscape is exaggerated and invites exaggeration. Spanish explorers saw manatees and imagined they were mermaids; Ponce de León saw a crystal-clear spring and imagined it was a fountain of youth. Developers saw swamps and sold them as paradise, but if they are, there’s plenty of the devil in them. In its history, Florida has inspired as much madness and murder as it has fantasies of a magical kingdom where dreams really do come true.

So come for the beaches and Mickey Mouse, come for the people and the Everglades, come for the nightlife and the kayaking and the manatees and the gators. But make sure to come. Because Florida is always stranger than you imagine, and it never holds still.

found on lonelyplanet.com
found on visitflorida.com