When Spanish explorers first sailed ashore Isla Mujeres in 1517, they discovered an island where the Mayans had already lived out part of their existence.  Built hundreds of years earlier, at its southern end stood the temple to the goddess Ix-Chel as well as several stone structures in the shape of women.  To honor Isla Mujeres’ female slant, it was

An outdoor modern art exhibit stands at the southern tip of Isla Mujeres, Mexico, a colorful tribute to the area’s indigenous Mayan civilization. Situated about five miles away from the island’s little downtown area, Punta Sur Sculpture Garden was created in 2001  – the work of almost two dozen Mexican artists as well as sculptors from around

I was setting up my tent behind the park office in Amboseli NP and didn’t notice a local teenager approaching. His earlobes hung down to his shoulders weighed down by special little copper-colored weights, the rest of the earlobe wrapped in beaded tubes. On his right hip was a sheathed knife, and on his left was a cellphone. “Do you maybe want to

I ground my teeth but kept on going. Gently securing the camera on my back, and making sure more dirt doesn’t get in, I plowed through the swamp and cursed under my breath when sharp serrated grass blades cut me deep enough to draw blood. By now, I looked like I’ve been whipped. “Think about it as of an exfoliating treatment,” said my

Ethiopia’s people walk the dusty streets of Axum like characters from sun-bleached pages of a biblical picture book. I catch them in mid-stride, fetching water, going to church and carrying wood. The town is big, but almost everybody is traditionally dressed. Dignified elders sit on street benches and swat flies with horse-hair brushes, their respectable