Salvadoran Tourism Corporation

El Salvador logra las vacaciones agostinas más seguras de la historia y supera los ….

2023/09/17

Sitio web oficial del turismo de Costa Rica

Bienvenido a la página oficial de Costa Rica. Aquí, los visitantes disfrutarán de hermosas playas tropicales, emocionantes aventuras, maravillas de la ...

2023/09/17

Honduras Travel

Honduras, the best beach of central america. ... Transportation. Text promo win a trip to roatan. Read how to win. OPTURH takes you to.

2023/09/17

Guatemala, es el Corazón del Mundo Maya

Guatemala, es el Corazón del Mundo Maya. Viva, mágica, mística y ancestral. Su historia se remonta a cuatro mil años, cuando emergió la civilización maya, cuyo legado perdura hoy en día con las tradiciones y cultura de su gente. Guatemala es un país de extraordinaria riqueza cultural y natural y con una ubicación geográfica privilegiada. Las distancias de lugar a lugar son cortas, lo que permite visitar varias regiones en un mismo viaje.

2023/09/17

Independence Day Independent State of Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea, island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It encompasses the eastern half of New Guinea, the world’s second largest island (the western half is made up of the Indonesian provinces of Papua and West Papua); the Bismarck Archipelago (New Britain, New Ireland, the Admiralty Islands, and several others); Bougainville and Buka (part of the Solomon Islands chain); and small offshore islands and atolls. The national capital, Port Moresby, is located in southeastern New Guinea on the Coral Sea. The islands that constitute Papua New Guinea were settled over a period of 40,000 years by the mixture of peoples who are generally referred to as Melanesians. Since the country achieved independence in 1975, one of its principal challenges has been the difficulty of governing many hundreds of diverse, once-isolated local societies as a viable single nation. Land Papua New Guinea stretches from just south of the Equator to the Torres Strait, which separates New Guinea from Cape York Peninsula to the south, the northernmost extension of Australia. Mainland Papua New Guinea reaches its maximum north-south expanse of some 510 miles (820 km) along its western border with Indonesian Papua. Almost completely straight, the boundary is formed primarily by the line of longitude 141° E and curves only briefly westward to follow the Fly River for approximately 50 miles (80 km), starting just southwest of Kiunga. From the western border the land tapers—with a substantial indentation in the south coast formed by the Gulf of Papua—to a fingerlike shape that points southeast toward the D’Entrecasteaux Islands and the Louisiade Archipelago. Off the mainland are a number of small islands and island groups scattered to the north and east and, farther northeast, Bougainville Island and the Bismarck Archipelago; the latter forms a crescent that arcs from the Admiralty Islands in the north to New Britain and Umboi Island, off the mainland’s Huon Peninsula. Relief Papua New Guinea’s magnificent and varied scenery reflects a generally recent geologic history in which movements of the Earth’s crust resulted in the collision of the northward-moving Australian Plate with the westward-moving Pacific Plate. The low-lying plains of southern New Guinea are geologically part of the Australian Plate. Indeed, New Guinea was separated physically from Australia only some 8,000 years ago by the shallow flooding of the Torres Strait. The southern New Guinea plains, called the Fly-Digul shelf (named for the Fly and Digul rivers), are geologically stable. Northward lies a belt of limestone country of varying width, most prominent in the Kikori River–Lake Kutubu area. This forms an extraordinarily harsh environment of jumbled karst, dolines, rock towers, and seemingly endless ridges of jagged rock, all covered in virtually impenetrable lowland rainforest. A mountainous zone called the Highlands, extending from the west to the southeast, occupies the central part of the island of New Guinea. In Papua New Guinea those mountains reach elevations in excess of 13,000 feet (4,000 metres), rising to the country’s highest point of 14,793 feet (4,509 metres) at Mount Wilhelm in the Bismarck Range, part of the Central Range. The Highlands also feature enclosed upland basins whose floors are usually at 4,500 feet (1,370 metres) or higher. The basins contain lake deposits, formed in the recent geologic past by impeded drainage; soil wash from the surrounding mountains; and layers of volcanic ash, or tephra, deposited from nearby volcanoes, some of them recently active. Such basins, therefore, are usually very fertile. The north coast of the mainland, unlike the swampy south coast, drops sharply to the sea. The country’s most northerly zone consists of a complex unstable volcanic arc in the Bismarck Sea stretching southeastward from the Schouten Islands (not to be confused with the Indonesian island group of the same name) to the Huon Peninsula and eastward through the island of New Britain. There the arc bifurcates, one arm sweeping northwestward through New Ireland and the Admiralty Islands, the other proceeding southeastward through Buka, Bougainville, and the country of Solomon Islands. Drainage and soils Steeply sloping mountain areas, exceptionally heavy rainfall, geologic instability in all except the most southerly areas, and the rapid growth of both population and commercial enterprise have combined to create some of the highest soil-erosion rates in the world, rivaling those of the Himalaya region. Consequently, while rivers are usually quite short in length, they carry extraordinarily high sediment loads, which have built up vast swampy plains and deltas, especially along the Sepik, Ramu, Fly, and Purari river systems. Once they leave the Highlands, often through spectacular gorges, such rivers meander slowly across the sediment plains. For example, some 510 miles (820 km) from its mouth, the elevation of the Fly River is a mere 60 feet (18 metres) above sea level, an average downhill gradient of only about 1.5 inches per mile (2.4 cm per km). The high deposition rates create major problems for any proposed human use of those rivers, such as transportation or hydroelectricity generation. The northern volcanic fringe contains some of the most fertile soils of the islands. Climate of Papua New Guinea Although all the climatic regions of Papua New Guinea are basically tropical, they are nevertheless varied. In the lowlands, mean annual maximum temperatures range from about 86 to 90 °F (30 to 32 °C), and the minimums are between 73 and 75 °F (23 and 24 °C). Seasonal variation in temperature is slight, and the daily variation approximates the annual variation. Cooler conditions prevail in the Highlands, where night frosts are common above 7,000 feet (2,100 metres); daytime temperatures there generally exceed 72 °F (22 °C) regardless of season. Each variation in elevation creates new ecological zones for plant and animal life. Rainfall, rather than temperature, is the determinant of season. Precipitation is dependent on two wind systems—the southeast trade winds and the northwesterly turbulence zone (the monsoon)—and on the three site characteristics of latitude, elevation, and exposure. The southeasterlies blow for approximately seven months (May to November) on the extreme southeast of the country (Milne Bay) and for gradually shorter periods in northern areas, predominating for only three months in the Admiralty Islands. Conversely, northwesterlies are more common on the north coast and in the Bismarck Archipelago, but they affect Port Moresby for only three to four months of the year (the rainy season, December through March). The Highlands seem to have their own airflow systems, receiving rain throughout the year—totaling between 100 and 160 inches (2,500 and 4,000 mm)—except for a midyear dry phase. With the northwesterlies, rain is frequently from heated saturated air that loses its moisture as it cools and rises (convectional storms), and rain shadow effects are reduced. With the southeasterlies, however, exposure is particularly important. The Port Moresby coastal area is parched throughout the period of the southeasterlies, which flow parallel to the coast, yet where mountainous land lies athwart the airflow, as in New Britain or the southward-facing slopes of the Highlands, rainfall is extremely heavy, frequently exceeding 300 inches (7,600 mm). Port Moresby receives less than 50 inches (1,300 mm) of precipitation annually, which affects the water supply and the generation of hydroelectric power. More … Score: https://www.britannica.com/place/Papua-New-Guinea

2023/09/16

Independence Day of United Mexican States

Mexico, country of southern North America and the third largest country in Latin America, after Brazil and Argentina. Mexican society is characterized by extremes of wealth and poverty, with a limited middle class wedged between an elite cadre of landowners and investors on the one hand and masses of rural and urban poor on the other. But in spite of the challenges it faces as a developing country, Mexico is one of the chief economic and political forces in Latin America. It has a dynamic industrial base, vast mineral resources, a wide-ranging service sector, and the world’s largest population of Spanish speakers—about two and a half times that of Spain or Colombia. As its official name suggests, the Estados Unidos Mexicanos (United Mexican States) incorporates 31 socially and physically diverse states and the Federal District. More than half of the Mexican people live in the centre of the country, whereas vast areas of the arid north and the tropical south are sparsely settled. Migrants from impoverished rural areas have poured into Mexico’s cities, and nearly four-fifths of Mexicans now live in urban areas. Mexico City, the capital, is one of the most populous cities and metropolitan areas in the world. Mexico has experienced a series of economic booms leading to periods of impressive social gains, followed by busts, with significant declines in living standards for the middle and lower classes. The country remains economically fragile despite the forging of stronger ties with the United States and Canada through the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Mexico’s urban growing pains are in sharp counterpoint to the traditional lifestyles that prevail in more-isolated rural areas. In states such as Oaxaca or Chiapas, small communal villages remain where indigenous peasants live much as their ancestors did. The cultural remnants of great pre-Columbian civilizations, such as Teotihuacán or the Mayan pyramids at Chichén Itzá and Tulum, provide a contrast to colonial towns such as Taxco or Querétaro. In turn, these towns appear as historical relics when compared with the modern metropolis of Mexico City. Yet even the bustling capital city, which has been continually built and rebuilt on the rubble of past civilizations, reveals Mexico’s wide range of social, economic, and cultural struggles. As the renowned Mexican poet and intellectual Octavio Paz observed, Past epochs never vanish completely, and blood still drips from all their wounds, even the most ancient. Sometimes the most remote or hostile beliefs and feelings are found together in one city or one soul, or are superimposed like [pre-Columbian] pyramids that almost always conceal others. It is this tremendous cultural and economic diversity, distributed over an enormously complex and varied physical environment, that gives Mexico its unique character. Land Sharing a common border throughout its northern extent with the United States, Mexico is bounded to the west and south by the Pacific Ocean, to the east by the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, and to the southeast by Guatemala and Belize. Mexico also administers such islands and archipelagoes as the Tres Marías in the Pacific and Cozumel and Mujeres off the coast of the Yucatán Peninsula. Including these insular territories, the roughly triangular country covers an area about three times the size of Texas. While it is more than 1,850 miles (3,000 km) across from northwest to southeast, its width varies from less than 135 miles (217 km) at the Isthmus of Tehuantepec to more than 1,200 miles (1,900 km) in the north. Relief - Geologic origins Mexico is located in one of the Earth’s most dynamic tectonic areas. It is a part of the circum-Pacific “Ring of Fire”—a region of active volcanism and frequent seismic activity. Among its towering volcanic peaks are Citlaltépetl (also called Orizaba), which forms the highest point in the country at 18,406 feet (5,610 metres), and the active volcano Popocatépetl, which rises to 17,930 feet (5,465 metres) to the southeast of Mexico City. These and other Mexican volcanoes are young in geologic terms, from the Paleogene and Neogene periods (about 65 to 2.6 million years ago), and are examples of the volcanic forces that built much of the central and southern parts of the country. Mexico is situated on the western, or leading, edge of the huge North American Plate, whose interaction with the Pacific, Cocos, and Caribbean plates has given rise to numerous and severe earthquakes as well as the earth-building processes that produce southern Mexico’s rugged landscape. It is in this dynamic and often unstable physical environment that the Mexican people have built their country. Physiographic regions Mexico can be divided into nine major physiographic regions: Baja California, the Pacific Coastal Lowlands, the Mexican Plateau, the Sierra Madre Oriental, the Sierra Madre Occidental, the Cordillera Neo-Volcánica, the Gulf Coastal Plain, the Southern Highlands, and the Yucatán Peninsula. The Baja California peninsula in northwestern Mexico is an isolated strip of extremely arid land extending between the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of California (Sea of Cortez). Unevenly divided between the states of Baja California and Baja California Sur, the peninsula is nearly 800 miles (1,300 km) long but seldom more than 100 miles (160 km) wide. The central core of the peninsula is a granitic fault block with peaks of more than 9,000 feet (2,700 metres) above sea level in the Sierra San Pedro Mártir and Sierra de Juárez. The gently sloping western side of these mountain ranges is in contrast to the steep eastern escarpment, which makes access from the Gulf of California extremely difficult. The Sonoran Desert extends onto the peninsula along the northern end of the gulf. The Pacific Coastal Lowlands begin near Mexicali and the Colorado River delta in the north and terminate near Tepic, some 900 miles (1,450 km) to the south. For most of that distance, they face the Gulf of California while traversing the states of Sonora, Sinaloa, and Nayarit. Bounded on the east by the steep-sided Sierra Madre Occidental, the lowlands are a series of coastal terraces, mesas, and small basins interspersed with riverine deltas and restricted coastal strips. Although the vast Sonoran Desert dominates their northern section, parts of the lowlands have been irrigated and transformed into highly productive farmland. The largest and most densely populated region is the inland Mexican Plateau, which is flanked by the Sierra Madre Occidental and Sierra Madre Oriental. The plateau consists of the vast Mesa del Norte (Northern Plateau) and the smaller but heavily populated Mesa Central (Mesa de Anáhuac). The Mesa del Norte begins near the U.S. border; covers great stretches of the states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango, Zacatecas, Jalisco, and Aguascalientes; and ends near San Luis Potosí city. From there the Mesa Central stretches to a point just south of Mexico City. The plateau tilts gently upward from the north toward the south; at its northern end, the Mesa del Norte is about 4,000 feet (1,200 metres) above sea level. Throughout the region, relatively flat intermontane basins and bolsones (ephemeral interior drainage basins) are interrupted by mountainous outcrops. In the north the Chihuahuan Desert covers a section of the plateau that is more extensive than the U.S. state of California. The Mesa Central covers large parts of Michoacán, Guanajuato, Querétaro, Hidalgo, and México states and the Federal District (Mexico City). Its southern end rises 7,000–9,000 feet (2,100–2,700 metres) in the vicinity of Mexico City. The Mesa Central, moister and generally flatter than the Mesa del Norte, is divided into a series of fairly level intermontane basins separated by eroded volcanic peaks. The largest valleys rarely exceed 100 square miles (260 square km) in area, and many others are quite small. Among the generally fertile basins is the Bajío (El Bajío, or the Basin of Guanajuato), the traditional breadbasket of the country, which is located in the northern part of the Mesa Central. Many of the basins were once sites of major lakes that were drained to facilitate European and mestizo settlement. Around Mexico City the weak, structurally unstable soils that remain have caused the colonial-era Metropolitan Cathedral and other buildings to shift on their foundations and, over many years, to list or sink unevenly into the ground. The largely volcanic Sierra Madre Occidental, which forms the western border of the Mexican Plateau, has an average elevation of 8,000–9,000 feet (2,400–2,700 metres) and extends roughly 700 miles (1,100 km) from north to south. It has been highly incised by westward-flowing streams that have formed a series of gorges, or barrancas, the most spectacular of which is the complex known as Copper Canyon (Barranca del Cobre) in southwestern Chihuahua state. The Sierra Madre Oriental, a range of folded mountains formed of shales and limestones, is situated on the eastern side of the Mexican Plateau. Often considered an extension of the Rocky Mountains (which are cut by the Rio Grande but continue in New Mexico and western Texas), it runs roughly 700 miles (1,100 km) from north to south before merging with the Cordillera Neo-Volcánica. Its average elevations are similar to those of the Sierra Madre Occidental, but some peaks rise above 12,000 feet (3,650 metres). The mountains have major deposits of copper, lead, and zinc. The Cordillera Neo-Volcánica, also called the Neo-Volcanic Axis or Trans-Volcanic Axis, is a geologically active mountain range whose smoldering cinder cones link the Sierra Madre Occidental with the Sierra Madre Oriental at the southern edge of the Mesa Central. As it crosses Mexico from Cape Corrientes on the west coast to Xalapa and Veracruz on the eastern coast, it forms a mountainous backdrop to the states of Jalisco, Michoacán, Guerrero, México, Morelos, and Puebla as well as the Federal District. This volcanic range includes the spectacular peaks Citlaltépetl, Popocatépetl, and Iztaccíhuatl (Ixtacihuatl), among others. One of the world’s youngest volcanoes, Parícutin emerged violently from the fields of Michoacán between 1943 and 1952. The region is rich in silver, lead, zinc, copper, and tin deposits. The hot, dry Balsas Depression, which takes its name from the major river draining the region, is immediately south of the Cordillera Neo-Volcánica. The depression is formed of small, irregular basins interrupted by hilly outcrops, which give the area a distinctive physical landscape. The Gulf Coastal Plain, which is much wider than its Pacific coast counterpart, extends some 900 miles (1,450 km) along the Gulf of Mexico from Tamaulipas state (on the Texas border) through Veracruz and Tabasco states to the Yucatán Peninsula; it includes the Tabasco Plain in its southeastern section. The triangular northern portion of the plain, which is characterized by lagoons and low-lying swampy areas, reaches a width of more than 100 miles (160 km) near the U.S. border but tapers toward the south. North of the port of Tampico, an outlier of the Sierra Madre Oriental reaches the sea and interrupts the continuity of the Gulf Coastal Plain. South from there the plain is narrow and irregular, widening at the northern end of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. The Southern Highlands are a series of highly dissected mountain ranges and plateaus, including the Sierra Madre del Sur, Mesa del Sur, and the Chiapas Highlands, also called the Sierra Madre de Chiapas. On their southwestern side, approximately from Puerto Vallarta to the Gulf of Tehuantepec, are a series of relatively low ranges known collectively as the Sierra Madre del Sur. The crystalline mountains, which achieve elevations of 7,000–8,000 feet (2,100–2,400 metres), often reach the sea to create a rugged coastal margin, part of which is known as the Mexican Riviera. Several coastal sites, such as Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo, Acapulco, and Puerto Escondido, have become alluring tourist destinations. However, the less-hospitable inland basins provide a difficult environment for traditional peasant farmers. Farther northeast is the Mesa del Sur, with numerous stream-eroded ridges and small isolated valleys some 4,000–5,000 feet (1,200–1,500 metres) above sea level. The picturesque Oaxaca Valley is the largest and most densely settled of these, with a predominantly indigenous population. It is one of the poorest areas of Mexico. Bisecting the Southern Highlands is the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, a low-lying, narrow constriction of land that reaches an elevation of less than 900 feet (275 metres). Its hilly central area descends to narrow coastal plains on the south and to the Tabasco Plain on the north. The Chiapas Highlands are an extension of the mountain ranges of Central America. Within the highlands the low, crystalline Sierra de Soconusco range lies along the Pacific coast. To the northwest and paralleling the coast is the Grijalva River valley. A group of highly dissected, folded, and faulted mountains is located between the valley and the Tabasco Plain, a southeastern extension of the Gulf Coastal Plain. Among the active volcanic peaks of the region is El Chichón, which destroyed several villages in 1982. The Yucatán Peninsula lies to the northeast of the Tabasco Plain and extends northward, forming a divider between the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea. The peninsula’s limestone (karst) terrain is generally pockmarked and uneven but seldom exceeds 500 feet (150 metres) in elevation. There is little surface drainage, and subterranean erosion has produced caverns and sinkholes (cenotes), the latter being formed when cavern roofs collapse. The islands of Cozumel and Mujeres lie off the peninsula’s northeastern tip, near the resort boomtown of Cancún. More … Score: https://www.britannica.com/place/Mexico

2023/09/16

The Kingdom of Eswatini (Swaziland): Official Tourism

Welcome to The Kingdom of Eswatini (Swaziland). Discover amazing African wildlife, safaris, culture, scenery, adventure, tours, lodges, hotels & holidays.

2023/09/08

Tajikistan

2023/09/08

Day of Our Lady of Meritxell Principality of Andorra

Andorra, small independent European coprincipality situated among the southern peaks of the Pyrenees Mountains and bounded by France to the north and east and by Spain to the south and west. It is one of the smallest states in Europe. The capital is Andorra la Vella. Geography Andorra consists of a cluster of mountain valleys whose streams unite to form the Valira River. Two of these streams, the Madriu and the Perafita, flow into the Madriu-Perafita-Claror valley, which occupies about one-tenth of Andorra’s land area and is characterized by glacial landscapes, steep valleys, and open pastures. The valley was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2004. Andorra has traditionally had a strong affinity with the region of Catalonia in northern Spain. Andorra’s official language is Catalan (Spanish and French are also spoken); its institutions are based in Catalonian law, and a large proportion of the Spanish immigrants (or their descendants) in Andorra are Catalan. Most Andorrans are Roman Catholic; Andorra is part of the diocese of Urgel. Almost nine-tenths of the population is classified as urban, and half of residents are foreign nationals, mainly from Spain, France, and Portugal. With only a tiny proportion of Andorra’s land cultivable, the traditional economy centred on the pasturing of sheep and the harvesting of modest quantities of tobacco, rye, wheat, olives, grapes, and potatoes. Industry was limited to processing these products and to handicrafts. Because of the lack of customs duties and low or nonexistent taxes, Andorra has become an important international centre of retail trade that has attracted millions of shoppers from all over Europe with its duty-free imported consumer goods, including alcoholic beverages, electronic devices, tobacco, and clothing. Tourism is another of Andorra’s leading industries, and the area has excellent opportunities for winter sports. The construction industry flourished in response to the increase in tourism. The banking sector is also economically significant. Although not a member of the European Union, Andorra has used the euro as its de facto primary currency since 2002. In July 2011 Andorra concluded a monetary agreement with the EU that made the euro its official currency, although the Andorran government was not granted the power to issue its own euro banknotes. No railway system exists, but good roads link Andorra with France and Spain, and the principality is served by a small airport in Seo de Urgel, Spain. The University of Andorra was established in 1997; it has faculties in nursing, computer studies, and virtual studies and continuing education. Virtually all Andorrans are literate. Historically, the coprinces (the French president and the bishop of Urgel) represented Andorra internationally and jointly headed the government through their delegates. The elected members of Andorra’s unicameral legislature, the 28-member General Council of the Valleys, were responsible for internal administration and functioned as both an informal legislature and a cabinet headed by a prime minister. The 1993 constitution, approved by Andorran voters in a referendum, changed this structure and transferred most of the powers of the coprinces to the General Council, which became a true national parliament elected by universal suffrage. Every four years, the General Council elects an Executive Council president who heads the government and who then chooses cabinet members. The government was newly empowered to raise revenues through taxation, to create an independent judiciary, to give citizens the right to form political parties and trade unions, and to control its foreign policy and join international organizations. The coprinces remained the constitutional heads of state, though this role was largely ceremonial. In the early 21st century the main political parties were the centre-right Democrats for Andorra, the Social Democratic Party, and the Lauredian Union. History Andorra’s independence is traditionally ascribed to Charlemagne, who recovered the region from the Muslims in 803, and to his son Louis I (the Pious), who granted the inhabitants a charter of liberties. Charlemagne’s grandson, Charles II, granted Andorra to the counts of Urgel, from whom it passed to the bishops of Urgel. Andorra’s dual allegiance to two princes, one in Spain and one in France, originated in the late 13th century in a proprietary quarrel between the Spanish bishops of Urgel and the French heirs to the countship of Urgel. Andorra was subsequently governed jointly by representatives of the Spanish bishop of Urgel and of the French head of state, each of whom received an annual payment of a token tribute. This feudal system of government remained intact until 1993, when a constitution was adopted that greatly reduced the power of the coprinces and established separate executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government. Andorra subsequently joined the United Nations (1993) and the Council of Europe (1994). More … Score: https://www.britannica.com/place/Andorra

2023/09/08