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Place of Wonder: Santa Elena Cloud Forest in Costa Rica
They’re still out there – some near, most far, all wide-open places waiting to expand your horizon. One of these places is the Santa Elena Cloud Forest in Costa Rica where a dense shroud of mist blankets the tight canopy.
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El Salvador’s marketplace children
While this is no doubt true, El Salvador is also marred with poverty and suffering. Child labor is prevalent, as many young children need to go to work in order to survive, and often provide for their families.
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Turkey
Turkey is truly the meeting place of Europe and the Middle East. Although, generally, Turkey is considered a middle eastern country, its main hub Istanbul has a European feel with old world charm. This bustling city is a doorway into a country that has two distinct sides.
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Mexico
Cross the Rio Grande heading south and you’ll enter the United States’ southern neighbor Mexico. Mexico is a land of many contrasts, from the northern desert to the rainforests of Chiapas, and everything in between. This is a country filled with history and culture–one look at the Mayan ruins is testament to that–but it is also rife with isolated beaches, towering volcanoes, and glitzy resorts in places like Acapulco and Cancun. Whatever your passion, you’ll likely find it in Mexico.
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India
Since 2500 B.C., the cultures that grew into the modern state of India have been involved in a wild dance of religion and politics that make the India of today one of the most colorful, culturally rich, hyperintense, and interesting places in the world. The culture, politics, and economic effects can run to such extremes, in fact, that tourists have often been divided in to “love” and “hate” groups when it comes to appreciating all India has to offer, in relation to the trials one must at times undergo to enjoy it.
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Noosa Heads – Australia’s Secret Hideaway
Noosa Heads is a cosmopolitan coastal town on the southern shore of Luguna Bay, located on the Northern end of Queensland’s Sunshine Coast approximately one hour’s drive north of Brisbane. It is a vacationer’s paradise with beautiful sandy beaches, turquoise blue water, parks, and surf shops.
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United Arab Emirates
When the British withdrew from the Gulf in 1971, a group of seven shaikhdoms from the area united to form the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The UAE has been growing as trading and travel destination, with its mountains, beaches, and deserts, and its welcoming attitude toward Westerners, as well as Easterners. The UAE is known for its dichotomous lifestyle: on the one hand, there are soaring skyscapers with all of the world’s biggest banks represented and bustling shopping malls around every corner, on the other hand there’s plenty of shopping to be done in traditional Bedouin markets (or souks) and traditional cultural activities such as camel racing–legacies of the days before the boom. But while the UAE is considered one of the safest places to travel in the region, it is advised that you steer clear of political gatherings or demonstrations.
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Twelve Apostles – Port Campbell National Park
The Twelve Apostles on the Great Ocean Road located on Australia’s Shipwreck Coast.
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Indonesia
While Indonesia’s spectacular beaches, natural resources, and laid-back lifestyle have attracted tourists, missionaries, and businesses for generations, recent political and religiously motivated events make much of the archipelago dangerous for Western tourists.
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Mongolia
Mongolia is one of the world’s most untamed countries. This exotic land may be considered the last frontier in Asia, and despite a history that includes such all-powerful warlords and diplomats as Ghengis and Kublai Khan–roving horsemen who’s bands of warrior-statesmen were responsible for unifying the largest empire in history–it seems amazing this country has kept it’s independence, existing between such giants as China and Russia. But Mongolia survives, through harsh winters, a serious lack of infrastructure, and few natural resources… In Mongolia, you are nothing if not a survivor.