Coconut Cannon



These are the Alofaaga blowholes of Savaii Island near the village of Taga, Samoa.  Interested in watching waves toss coconuts in the air like cannon balls?  Now you know where to go!  The blowholes were a result of lava flow creating a series of tubes connecting a flat cliff top lava rock with the ocean below.  As waves break below, water is sent up the tubes with very high pressure creating multiple geysers every few seconds.  The area is slippery and quite dangerous. To fall into a blowhole would be fatal.  And watch for coconuts as locals will toss coconuts in the holes to watch them catapult into the air. 

 

 

 

 

 

Prehistoric Lake

Lake Tele, Democratic Republic of Congo, is home to Lake Tele which is home to the Mokèlé-mbèmbé.  What is Mokèlé-mbèmbé?   It's a Brontosaurus creature (type thingy) of course :).   I suppose you could compare it to the Loch Ness Monster, but this creature is real :) or so they say!  The area surrounding Lake Tele is extremely remote, untouched and nearly impossible to reach by foot.   For centuries, this dinosaur has been spotted, even by the native pygmies. Even one has been caught.. or so they say :).   Many believe it is a prehistoric creature that somehow survived being protected by the unnavigable swamps surrounding the lake.  Hmmm.. not sure about this on bucket list, but what do you think?   The lake looks quite beautiful from above, but I'm not so sure about the swamps below!

Needing a Little Extra Support

This is (was) the Cardrona Bra Fence located in Central Otago, New Zealand.  By 1998, for some reason locals began attaching their bras to this rural fence and by 2006, the bra fence had close to 1000 bras flapping in the wind.  Unfortunately, not everyone enjoyed this new tourist attraction. Some believed it was an eyesore, embarrassment and even a hazard.  However, a local sheep hearder who owned the property refused to removed the fence.  This controversy lead to locals trying to create the world's larges bra chain that reached 7,400 bras (not enough!).   Sadly in 2014,  someone (who knows who) removed the bra with a pair of scissors :(.   Guess the fence didn't need that much support after all :).

Portal to the Gods

This is Ik Kil Cenote (or Ikil Cenote) located near the ancient Mayan city of Chichen Itza,  Mexico. A cenote a collapse of limestone bedrock known as a sinkhole, often exposing groundwater at the bottom.  The Yucatan in Mexico has many cenotes as the bedrock is porous limestone.  As rain for millions of years ate away at the limestone, huge underground caves were formed.  When the roof of the caves collapses, a cenote is born.  Ancient Mayan referred to them as 'dzonots' meaning sacred wells as they provided water during long dry seasons and  were believed to be portals to the underworld making communication with the God's possible.  Today,  they are ancient swimming pools :).

This particular centoe is beautifully lit and a platform was been carved into the limestone to allow for swimming and viewing.   The water is about 100 feet deep and has a diameter of about 200 feet. Gorgeous vines descend for the top of the cenote and black catfish can be seen below swimming.  Bucket list worthy?

 

Only 30 million!

Hard to imagine,  but it is reported that over 30,000,000 Chinese citizens have decided to move underground and quite possibly it makes perfect sense.   The caves are called yaodong in Chinese and are typically dug within a mountainside with a semicircular entrance and rice paper or blankets hung as doors.  Most caves are simple, but some have several chambers, electricity and running water.  They are highly energy efficient and are inexpensive to rent.   A single will cost about $30 a month and about $46,000 to buy.  Living in a cave isn't so strange, but what I found strange is that 30 million Chinese live in the unique condos and I had no idea.  Who knew :)?

 

 

 

Earth's Belly Button!

Mir Diamond Mine located in Siberia, Russia  (Russian: Кимберлитовая алмазная трубка «Мир» Kimberlitovaya Almaznaya Trubka "Mir"; English: kimberlite diamond pipe "World" or "Peace"),  is the second largest man made hole on the earth being an open pit diamond mine.   It's about 1722 feet deep and about 3,900 feet in diameter.  The mine is so deep that it has caused the area to be a no fly zone for helicopters after a few were sucked down due to the downward air currents.  Today, the town of Mirny surrounds the hole with about 39,000 residents. 

The mine began in the 1950s and has been inactive for over 10 years due to low yields and safety concerns.  The area is about -40 degrees for 7 months a year making keeping machinery operating very difficult as rubber shattered, oil frozen and steel rigs would snap.  The the remaining months of the year the area was described as a sea of mud.  Even the building had to be build on steel pilings so they wouldn't sink into the sludge or permafrost.  During it's 50 years of operation, more than $17 billion worth of diamonds were excavated.

 

And it's Floating!

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil is  home each year to the world tallest floating Christmas tree in the world according to the Guiness Book of World Records :).  Each year on Nov 30,  an exploding firework Christmas tree lightening ceremony is celebrated.  It is illuminated by 3.3 million lights and is about 280 feet tall and of course, it's floating :)!  What else can I say?

 

Day of the Geese.. Geese Don't Agree :(

Strange Spot, strange holiday.  This is Day of the Geese (aka Antzar Eguna) which a competition held as part of he San Antolin Festival in the Basque fishing-town of Lekeitio, Spain.  This unique holiday involves young men attempting to decapitate a goose head suspended from a rope above the town's harbor.  A contestant passes underneath the goose in his boat, then jumps off to grab the grease coated goose by the neck in attempted to literally pull off the gooses' head.  The spectators on either side of the harbor tigthen and loosen the rope to increase the challenge as the participant gets dunked into the bay.  Either the head falls off or the man let's go falling into the bay.  This is repeated until the poor head finally is janked off.   If you win,  you get to keep your headless goose.  The festival involves other more typical competitions including wood chopping, stone lifting, mining and chopping firewood  :).   Strange enough?

 

 

 

Pines!

So many islands, but I thought this one was rather unique with it's pines.  This New Caledonia, a chain of islands (Nouvelle-Caledonie) and a special collectivity of France located in the southwest Pacific Ocean about 750 miles east of Australia.  It is nicknamed l'île la plus proche du paradis ("the closest island to Paradise").  The pines found on New Caledonia are the Araucaria is a genus of evergreen coniferous trees in the family Araucariaceae :).   There are 19 species in the genus with the highest natural distribution in New Caledonia.   Refreshing look from the typical palm :).

 

Sleep with the Sea

For about $1,500 per night, you too can stay on your own private floating inland surrounded by a coral reef at the Manta Hotel in it's 3 story underwater hotel room.  This amazing room is located just off the island of Pemba in Zanzibar (Africa).   Don't worry, you won't float away as the room is safely anchored.  All you have to do is relax and enjoy the underwater wildlife out your hotel bedroom.

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Your Neighbors

Cité Soleil (Site Soley or Sun City) is an extremely poor (slum) area near Port-au-Prince, Haiti.  It is home to up to an estimated 400,000 Haitians who in unfortunate circumstances.  It is the poorest, biggest and most dangerous of all neighborhoods in the western hemisphere of our Earth.  The area has no sewers and has a poorly maintained open canal system that serves as it's sewage system.  It does have a few hospitals, free electricity and two government schools.    Gangs rule, rape, murder, kidnappings, looting and beatings are common.  Clean drinking water isn't easily accessible, many (if not most) are unemployed, illiterate and have little hope to break out the slum.  Most of the residents are children and very young adults.   Imagine this all within a 2 hour flight or the sunny perfect coast of Florida.