While wandering Parque Morazán I found a group of people playing drums and singing under this beautiful dome. I found out later it is called the Temple of Music, very fitting! Every Friday Lili shares her favorite photography & the stories behind the photos.
This is a miniature painting on an easel that shows Antigua's streets with the volcano lit up in the background by the moon. I really wanted a small painting like this to sit at my desk at work. And although this was a common souvenir it took me ages to track down. The problem was that either the work would be very poorly done or the prices would be outrageous. For example one store told me a small painting like this would be $80 USD. This was in a store that only sold various sizes of touristy paintings. I was the
This simple clay Toucan is sadly the only Toucan I saw in Costa Rica. In fact to this day I've never seen one in person. For some reason their huge beaks fascinate me, and I really had hoped to see one in the wild. Souvenir Saturday is an every-other week series on the items that represent travel memories.
Sitting on a local bus on the way to the small beach town Montezuma, Costa Rica I saw this message on the seat. Every Friday Lili shares her favorite photography & the stories behind the photos.
"Heritage is our legacy from the past, what we live with today, and what we pass on to future generations. Our cultural and natural heritage are both irreplaceable sources of life and inspiration." - UNESCO There are thousands of world heritage sites. I've been to 30 of them: Salzburg Austria Historic Centre of the City of Salzburg A turtle in Belize Belize Belize Barrier Reef Reserve System Ramses Temple at Abu Simbel Egypt Ancient Thebes with its Necropolis Historic Cairo Memphis and its Necropolis – the Pyramid Fields from Giza to
I often look for unique sea shells when I'm on vacation, but natural or genuine Sea Glass is like winning a treasure hunt! Sea Glass comes from broken glassware that are tumbled and grounded against the sandy sea floor and can take anywhere from 20-50 years before it reaches it characteristic weathering of frosted coloration and rounded edges. There are rumors that people use to refer to them as "Mermaid Tears", morning drowned sailors. Sea Glass has become so widely used as "gems of the sea" that they actually have a rating, as well as some colors are rarer than
A trio of Dia De Los Muertos dancers outside a shop in Playa del Carmen. Every Friday Lili shares her favorite photography & the stories behind the photos.
As I wrote before, Making Chocolate in Antigua, Guatemala was one of my favorite activities. However, making chocolate during a heat wave, and then staying at a budget hotel with no AC meant that my handcrafted chocolates were not long for the world. So I decided to give pieces of chocolate to the people in my tour group! My chocolate before it set. Souvenir Saturday is an every-other week series on the items that represent travel memories.
Catedral de San José Antigua means Ancient in Spanish. While not as old as the Mayan settlements, the city was founded in the mid 1500’s the city served as a capital of the kingdom of Guatemala. However in the 1700’s a series of earthquakes rocked the city until it was abandoned and the capital was moved to Guatemala City. It is amazing to look up and see the sky, framed by the walls. Slowly in the 20th century people started to return to the city, but rebuilding was limited. Today you can still see many of
As I was racing around the island in a golf cart to try (and succeeded) to win a scavenger hunt I saw this beautiful sunset and squealed to a stop before snapping this pic. Every Friday Lili shares her favorite photography & the stories behind the photos.