EASTER ISLAND (Rapa Nui)  April 2010
3. RAPA NUI 4 (12.8MB size, 7.24 time)
"The name "Easter Island" was given by the island's first recorded European visitor, the Dutch explorer Jacob Roggeveen, who encountered it on Easter Sunday 1722, while searching for Davis or David's island and named it Paasch-Eyland (18th century Dutch for "Easter Island"). The current Polynesian name of the island, "Rapa Nui" or "Big Rapa", was coined following the slave raids carried out in Rapa Nui in the early 1860s because of Easter Island's geographic resemblance to the island of Rapa in the Bass Islands of the Austral Islands group."

4. RAPA NUI 1 (26.5 MB size, 15.51 time)
"The island was most probably populated by Polynesians who navigated in canoes or catamarans from the Marquesas Islands, 3,200 km (2,000 mi) away, or the Gambier Islands (Mangareva, 2,600 km (1,600 mi) away."

5. RAPA NUI 2 (14.6 MB size, 8.44 time)

"Easter Island was annexed by Chile on September 9, 1888, by Policarpo Toro, by means of the "Treaty of Annexation of the Island" (Tratado de Anexión de la isla). Toro, then representing the government of Chile signed with Atamu Tekena, designated "King" of Easter Island by the Chilean government once the paramount chief and his heir had died. The validity of this treaty is being contested by some Rapanui today."

6. RAPA NUI 3 (32.9 MB size, 19.41 time)
"The large stone statues, or moai, for which Easter Island is world-famous, were carved from 1100-1680 CE. A total of 887 monolithic stone statues have been inventoried on the island and in museum collections so far."

7. IN BETWEEN (7.66 MB size, 4.24 time)
"Almost all (95%) moai were carved out of distinctive, compressed, easily worked solidified volcanic ash or tuff found at a single site inside the extinct volcano Rano Raraku."

8. TERA'AI 1 (86.8 MB size, 52 time)
Easter Island traditional dance.

9. TERA'AI 2 (14.7 MB size, 8.27 time)
"Only a quarter of the statues were installed, while nearly half still remain in the quarry at Rano Raraku and the rest elsewhere on the island, probably on their way to final locations. The largest moai ever raised on a platform is known as "Paro" weighing 82 tons and 9.8 m (32.15 ft) long." 

10. SEASIDE (11.4 MB size, 6.46 time)
"Easter Island is over 2000 miles from the nearest population center. making if one of the most isolated places on Earth. A triangle of volcanic rock in the South Pacific."
  
 

 

 

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               BUENOS AIRES  March 2010
"Buenos Aires the largest city of the Republic of Argentina was born with its eyes looking toward Europe, and as a result, it displays a touch of Madrid and a touch of Paris. By the 1920s Buenos Aires was a favored destination for immigrants from Europe."

11. RENDEZVOUS (13MB size, 7.31 time)

12. TANGO part 1 (5.69 MB size, 3.17 time)
"Tango music was born in the suburbs of Buenos Aires, notably in the brothels of the Junín y Lavalle district and in the arrabales (poorer suburbs). Its sensual dance moves were not seen as respectable until adopted by the Parisian high society in the 1920s, and then all over the world. In Buenos Aires, tango-dancing schools (known as academias) were usually men-only establishments."

13. TANGO part 2, LaRecoleta (9.65 MB size, 6.20 time)
"The Recoleta Cemetery is one of the fundamental architectonic pieces of Buenos Aires city.
Tango developed in response to many cultural elements, such as the crowding of the venue and even the fashions in clothing. The styles are mostly danced in either open embrace, where lead and follow connect at arms length, or close embrace, where the lead and follow connect chest-to-chest."

               PATAGONIA (Argentina/Chile) March - April 2010
"The name Patagonia comes from the word patagón used by Magellan to describe the native people whom his expedition thought to be giants. It is now believed the Patagons were actually Tehuelches with an average height of 1.80 m  compared to the 1.55 m average for Spaniards of the time."

14. AT the END of the WORLD 1 (42.8 MB size, 24.39 time)
"Ushuaia is surrounded by Magellanic subpolar forests. On the hills around the town, the following indigenous trees are found: Drimys winteri (Winter's bark), Maytenus magellanica (Hard-log Mayten) and several species of Nothofagus (Southern Beech)."

15. FINE DEL MONDO (10.1 MB size, 5.44 time)
"The name Ushuaia first appears in letters and reports of the South American Missionary Society in England."  

16. AT the END of the WORLD 2 (7.75 MB size, 4.41 time)

17. PICNIC at the END of the WORLD (10.06 MB size, 5.06 time)
"Come join me for a picnic at the end of the world I'll pick the sandwiches Smothered in cheese, my favorite."
          
18. GLACIORES part 1 (22.3 MB size, 12.58 time)
"Just far enough from the bounds of civilization, veiled by towering mountains and an expansive lake, the Perito Moreno Glacier epitomizes the natural beauty and splendor of Argentina."

19. PERITO MORENO part 2 (11.6 MB size, 6.42 time)
        
20. GOING TO... (35.8 MB size, 20.22 time)
"Monte Fitz Roy is a mountain located near the El Chaltén village, in the Southern Patagonian Ice Field, in Patagonia, on the border between Argentina and Chile. The mountain is also known as Cerro Chaltén, Cerro Fitz Roy, or simply Mount Fitz Roy."
21. FITZ ROY part 2 (16.6 MB size, 9.37 time)
22. FITZ ROY - trekking (35 MB size)
 
23. MOUNTAIN ON FIRE in 4 SCENES (2.95 MB size, 1.42 time)
"The Torres del Paine National Park has been a World Biosphere Reserve since 1978." 

24. HOW TO BE CLEANED (8.01 MB size, 9.15 time)
"In this area are found the colossal towers and horns of granite and rock which have made it world-famous, with altitudes of 3,050m above sea level."

25. INTENSITY (15 MB size, 3.38 time)
"The climate is unstable and even in summer the winds can reach over 193 miles per hour."
  
26. La LEONA (5.85 MB size, 6.44 time)
     
27. HANIA (9.36 MB size, 8.31 time)
    
28. COLOSSUS (9.36 MB size, 8.31 time; in Polish only)