San Blas Islands are part of Panama and it is an archipelago with around 370 islands and small sandy islands part of coral reefs. Only 49 of them are inhabited and mostly by the local Kuna Indians.
It is easy to get to.
The San Blas Islands are located in the Northwest of Panama, which borders Colombia in the East and Costa Rica in the West. You can fly from Panama straight into the San Blas Islands or you can take a boat from either Cartagena or Capurganá.
The San Blas Islands are remote but don’t feel overwhelmed by getting here.
If you don’t want to cross the jungle or open waters of the Caribbean Sea you can use a plane to get to San Blas. You can book flights at Air Panama or Aeroperlas, but make sure you book in advance.
Discover the pristine and untouched archipelagos in the world
Most of these impressively pristine islands have few roads and even fewer people. Here you can discover many new species that are unknown to the science in some of those uninhabited islands. If you are searching for that desert island feel, San Blas is the perfect destination.
San Blas is also known to have some of the best spots for snorkeling in the Caribbean of Central America. Many of the islands are ringed by healthy coral reefs and gorgeous water. The coral reef attracts many stunning species. The best time to go snorkeling is from June to October because the water visibility is better and there are fewer currents.
Photo credit: Markus Leupold-Löwenthal / Wikipedia
The Kuna People
The real name of San Blas is Kuna Yala – Land of the Kuna. The Cuna are famous for their bright molas, a colorful textile art form made with the techniques of appliqué and reverse appliqué.
About 50.000 Kuna’s live on the 49 major islands of San Blas and are controlled by their own community leader called a Sahila.
The island is picture-perfect with lapping waves, swaying palm trees, and gentle breezes and no Wi-Fi or TVs. Evenings are leisurely, with everyone relaxing and enjoying the slow Caribbean pace.
San Blas is an indigenous territory located northeast of Panama. Discover the San Blas Islands and relax in a typical rustic bungalow over water, hosted by a native Guna family. The San Blas Islands are popular with eco-tourists due to their pristine natural state.
Featured image photo credit: Marc Veraart / Flickr
Switzerland’s largest city is on the shore of its glistening eponymous lake. Zurich attracts travelers with activity day and night with its countless events, diverse museums, own food festival and Switzerland’s most vibrant nightlife.
Zurich is Switzerland’s center of economic life and education.
Let’s explore together the top 10 things to do in Zürich:
More than 50 museums, among them the Museum Rietberg, Museum Haus Konstruktiv, the Helmhaus, and the Landesmuseum, attract many visitors with traditional and experimental exhibition formats accompanied by a cultural program that actively seeks to engage with the diverse cultural background of Zürich’s population as well as its visitors. Film and theatre are also important to Zürich’s cultural life.
Your kids won’t be bored in Zurich in any of the fourteen museums specifically designed for children.
Lake Zürich
The range of activities in, on or around Lake Zurich is varied and offers something for everyone to enjoy, whether water sports, swimming, relaxing on the verdant lakeshore, family activities or thrilling festivals complete with a lake view.
Lake Zurich can be explored in many different ways. You explore the lake yourself by renting a boat or joining one of the many organized boat tours.
You may also choose to rollerblade around, which is a very popular way to get around as are skateboards. You can enjoy swimming in some of the designated swimming pools built into the lake.
The lake curves past the wooded peaks of Pfannenstiel to the east and the Albis chain to the west. We recommend taking the scenic promenade, which starts at Bellevue and extends for three kilometers down to Tiefenbrunnen. Along the east shore in the Seefeld quarter, you can look over to Uetliberg and see the hundreds of yachts and other craft breezing across the lake in summer.
The charming, car-free Altstadt, or old town, is the city’s historic heart. Its quaint squares and medieval alleyways are home to cozy bars, traditional Swiss restaurants and small clothing shops. Cultural spots include the Opernhaus and Schauspielhaus for performing arts, while European artworks are on display at the Kunsthaus museum.
The medieval and early modern streets of the Altstadt are where much of the city’s culture, nightlife and shopping is concentrated.
There are medieval alleys and small squares as well as beautiful Renaissance buildings, to admire as you are walking through the old town.
The district in the west of Zurich is full of contrasts, boasting an unpolished charm.
If you’d like to tap into Zürich’s creative and stylish side this former industrial zone is the go-to. More than a decade ago this was an unpleasant place to be. Today The showpiece in Zürich-West is the Viadukt, a repurposed railway viaduct where the brick arches have been filled with stylish bars, restaurants, and shops.
It is a former industrial site, stretching between the track leading away from Zürich Hauptbahnhof and the Limmat, and experiencing a gradual conversion into a new quarter, including offices, apartments and arts venues.
Climbing over Bahnhof Hardbrücke is another symbol of Zürich-West’s renaissance, the Prime Tower, Switzerland’s second tallest skyscraper.
The two towers of this Romanesque church are one of Zürich’s prominent landmark. The Grossmünster is a Romanesque-style Protestant church in Zürich, Switzerland. It is one of the four major churches in the city. Its congregation forms part of the Evangelical Reformed Church of the Canton of Zürich.
Legend has it that the church was built on the graves of the city’s patron saints, Felix and Regula.
In the first half of the 16th century, the Grossmünster church was the starting point of the Swiss-German Reformation led by Huldrych Zwingli and Heinrich Bullinger.
It is considered as one of the best zoos in Europe. Opened in 1929, the zoo has 4,000 animals representing 340 species, from emperor penguins that you can follow as they walk through the park, to domestic animals.
One of its popular events is the penguin parade, which is performed daily after noon if the outside temperature is below ten degrees Celsius.
The Botanical Garden of the University of Zurich was opened in 1977 and is located at Zollikerstrasse in the Weinegg quarter of the city. It has more than 8,000 plant species at indoor and outdoor displays.
The Uetliberg is a mountain in the Swiss plateau, part of the Albis chain, rising to 870 m. The mountain offers an impressive panoramic view of the city, the lake and the Alps.
In the winter, the hiking trails to the summit are converted into sledding runs.
There is a lookout tower on top bringing you to exactly 900 meters and offers a panoramic view of the entire city of Zürich and the Lake of Zurich and lies on the boundary between the city of Zürich and the municipalities of Stallikon and Uitikon. The mountain is a popular local recreation area all year round.
There are more than 500 videos to watch, while kids can play a host of football-themed games.
The FIFA World Football Museum was created in honor of the most popular team sport in the world. The museum presents the fascinating history and development of international football.
The museum opened in 2016 and takes you back to football’s earliest days and documents every World Cup since the first in 1930.
Zürich Opera House is an opera house located at the Sechseläutenplatz, it has been the home of the Zürich Opera since 1891 and was conceived by the prolific Viennese architects Fellner & Helmer, and also houses the Bernhard-Theater Zürich.
In 2014 picked up the prize for Best Opera Company at the International Opera Awards. It offers over 250 performances each year.
It’s important to figure out a way to eat environmentally friendly. Every small change you make has the potential to make a huge difference. Reducing plastic use by using reusable grocery bags to reducing water use, there are a lot of ways that you can help our environment and eat in a more environmentally friendly and healthy way. Here are some ways in which you can still eat the foods you love but in a greener way.
We put together some tips for you so you can still eat the foods you love but in a greener way. Not many people realize that their daily behaviors can impact a significant change in their environment. Choosing one form of packaging over another or picking seasonal fruit instead of exotic fruits which have traveled thousands of miles, we can effectively help to make the difference to our planet.
There are many ways to eat environmentally friendly and it isn’t difficult at all
Here are 15 tips to help you initiate the change and consume food in a more responsible way.
1. Instead of using plastic bags, at the supermarket, bring your own:
Plastic bags use fossil fuels in their production and often degrade into toxic particles that enter the ecosystem. Every year Americans use over 100 billion plastic bags. These billions of plastic bags end up in the landfill. It can take hundreds of years for plastic utensils, styrofoam containers, and glass bottles to decompose. Eat environmentally friendly by bringing reusable biodegradable grocery bags.
2. Avoid eating endangered: Many fish species, like the bluefin tuna, are on the brink of extinction, and should never be.
3. Choose seasonal fruit and veggies
Seasonal produce allows you not only to support local farming but also to eat well. Seasonal fruit and veggies are tastier and full of nutrients. This will save you on transportation costs and burn less fuel, reducing the carbon footprint.
4. If at all possible, eat foods raw.
Not all foods should be eaten raw, but most of the vegetables can be eaten raw which saves energy on gas from your stone and healthier for you since it preserves all the nutrition. And It is another way to eat environmentally friendly and environment healthy.
Instead of boiling or sautéing your veggies, try to eat them raw as often as possible.
5. Preserve seasonal treats
If you really love cherries or strawberries and would like to eat them all year, it’s not a problem. Learn how to preserve both fruit and vegetables so you can eat locally-grown produce all year long.
6. Purchasing dairy products that are hormone-free.
Make sure that the livestock was not raised with any type of hormones which are artificial and can cause negative impacts.
7. Buy organic
It is not only good for your body but it is good for the environment.
8. Eat less dairy
The production of one pound of cheese might produce more than 11 lbs. of carbon dioxide, which adds to climate change. Eating less dairy products, you’ll be effectively reducing your impact on the environment.
9. Reduce waste
Stop using plastic dishes, plastic utensils or paper napkins. Use real plates, utensils, choose cloth napkins, which can be reused.
10. Repurpose leftovers
Instead of throwing away your leftovers, try to transform them into new meals. You’ll be reducing waste and save on the energy required for cooking a new meal.
11. Eat only meats that do not contain antibiotics.
Many farm animals that are raised for meat are given antibiotics which makes the meat unhealthy. Antibiotics and chemicals are not good for the animals nor the environment either for humans.
12. Support restaurants that purchase their products from locally-owned markets.
These restaurants support local farmers and get the most sustainable sources of produce and other food. Make sure you ask where the food is sourced from.
13. Recycle your food.
You can turn a lot of your waste into resources. You can turn food scraps into compost for your garden. There are a lot of options that are available that you can use to go environment-friendly.
14. Try growing vegetables of your own.
By adding potted plants or a small plot of vegetables, you can have easy access to fresh food which ultimately saves you a trip to the grocery store which saves you gas as well.
Shop responsibly
When doing your grocery shopping, it’s best to choose stores which show interest in sustainable practices and genuinely care for the environment. Being environmentally friendly is proofed to be paid off. Check the store websites to learn more about your food providers and choose those who care about limiting waste, if run a store-wide recycling program or have doors in refrigerated sectors to save energy.
