Fun fact#701
Inca walls survive earthquakes
Inca masonry fits without mortar and is designed to shift and resettle during earthquakes rather than crack.
Travel stories, quotes and fun facts, part 8
29 stories, 51 fun facts, 20 quotes on this page. It covers Peru, Africa, USA, Bolivia, Americas, Peru and Bolivia and 33 other places. Page 8 of 10.
Page 8 of 10
29 stories, 51 fun facts, 20 quotes on this page. It covers Peru, Africa, USA, Bolivia, Americas, Peru and Bolivia and 33 other places. Page 8 of 10.
Countries on this page
Every country page collects its entries in one place, with a fact sheet and the guides for going there.
Entries on this page
Quote#702
Pole pole
Pole pole: slowly, slowly. The pace that gets you up Kilimanjaro.
Fun fact#703
The Nazca lines are best seen from the air
Some Nazca figures stretch 370 metres and were only fully appreciated once aircraft flew over the desert.
Story#704
A town of eleven people
The sign said population 11. The bar was open, the man behind it was also the postmaster, and he knew exactly where we were headed before we said it.
Fun fact#705
Rainbow Mountain was under ice
The striped mineral colours of Vinicunca were revealed only recently as the glacier covering it retreated.
Story#706
Route 66 remains
Half the towns on the old road are closed and half are museums about being closed. One motel owner has been repainting the same neon sign for thirty years.
Fun fact#707
Bolivia has two capitals
Sucre is the constitutional capital while La Paz holds the government, making La Paz the highest seat of government on Earth.
Quote#708
Inshallah
Inshallah: if it is meant to be. A useful attitude when the bus is four hours late.
Fun fact#709
Salar de Uyuni becomes a mirror
When a thin layer of water covers the salt flat, it reflects the sky so precisely the horizon disappears.
Story#710
Yosemite in the dark
We hiked out under a full moon without torches because the granite reflected enough light. A ranger told us afterwards that this was either wonderful or irresponsible.
Fun fact#711
Bolivia holds huge lithium reserves
Beneath the Uyuni salt flat lies one of the largest lithium deposits on the planet.
Quote#712
Mañana
Mañana does not always mean tomorrow. Sometimes it just means not today.
Fun fact#713
Lake Titicaca has floating islands
The Uros build and maintain islands from layered totora reeds, adding fresh reeds every few weeks.
Story#714
Fog rolling into the bay
It came over the hill like water going down a drain in reverse. Ten minutes later the bridge was gone and it was ten degrees colder.
Fun fact#715
Chile is over 4,300 km long
Chile stretches from desert to glacier over 4,300 kilometres but averages only about 180 kilometres wide.
Story#716
Getting off at the wrong stop
We got out at 125th instead of 116th and ended up eating the best food of the trip while waiting for the next train, which we deliberately missed twice.
Fun fact#717
Atacama is the driest desert
Some Atacama weather stations have never recorded rain, and NASA tests Mars equipment there.
Quote#718
Tranquilo
Tranquilo: relax, it will happen, and worrying will not speed it up.
Fun fact#719
Atacama skies are the clearest
Dry air and high altitude make the Atacama the best place on Earth for optical astronomy, hosting major observatories.
Story#720
Bluegrass on a porch
Four people, four instruments, no sheet music and no audience except us and a dog. It went on for two hours and nobody announced a single song title.
Fun fact#721
Easter Island's statues have bodies
Excavations showed the famous moai heads sit on full buried torsos covered in carvings.
Quote#722
Jugaad
Jugaad: a clever improvised fix made from whatever is at hand.
Fun fact#723
Patagonia's ice field is the third largest
Only Antarctica and Greenland hold more ice than the Southern Patagonian Ice Field.
Story#724
Second line
A brass band came down the street on a Sunday afternoon and the crowd behind it grew from twelve to two hundred in four blocks. We never found out what it was for.
Fun fact#725
Perito Moreno advances instead of retreating
This glacier is one of the few in the world that is broadly stable, periodically damming a lake until the ice arch collapses.
Story#726
Hurricane season lesson
The hotel put tape on the windows and everyone stocked up on ice. It missed us by ninety kilometres and the next morning the beach was covered in shells nobody had ever seen.
Fun fact#727
Argentina has the widest avenue
Avenida 9 de Julio spans about 110 metres, and crossing it can take more than one traffic light.
Quote#728
Mai pen rai
Mai pen rai: never mind, it's fine. The most useful phrase in Thailand.
Fun fact#729
Tango was born in the port
Tango emerged in the working-class port neighbourhoods of Buenos Aires and Montevideo in the late 19th century.
Story#730
The border crossing at midnight
Two hours in a queue of stationary cars with men selling churros between the lanes. By the time we crossed, we had eaten dinner without leaving the vehicle.
Fun fact#731
Aconcagua is the highest peak outside Asia
At 6,961 metres, Aconcagua is the tallest mountain in both the Southern and Western hemispheres.
Quote#732
Kaizen on the road
Kaizen: small continuous improvements. Pack a little lighter every trip.
Fun fact#733
Iguazu has 275 separate falls
The Iguazu system comprises up to 275 waterfalls spread nearly three kilometres along the border.
Story#734
Day of the dead, not Halloween
The cemeteries were full of families with candles, food and folding chairs, staying all night. A woman explained, kindly, that this was a reunion and not a haunting.
Fun fact#735
Brazil covers almost half of South America
Brazil occupies about 47 percent of the continent and borders every South American country except Chile and Ecuador.
Fun fact#736
The Amazon has no bridges over its main stem
No bridge crosses the main Amazon River. Communities rely on ferries and boats along thousands of kilometres.
Story#737
Mole takes three days
Thirty ingredients, three days, and an argument with a neighbour about whether the chocolate goes in early or late. We were asked to judge and refused sensibly.
Quote#738
Nunchi
Nunchi: the art of reading the room without a word being spoken.
Fun fact#739
The Amazon meets the Rio Negro without mixing
Different temperatures and speeds keep the dark Rio Negro and sandy Solimoes flowing side by side for kilometres.
Story#740
Swimming in a cenote
The water was so clear that the boat above looked like it was floating in air. Fifteen metres down, tree roots came through the rock looking for it.
Fun fact#741
Brasilia was built from nothing
Brasilia was planned and constructed in about four years and inaugurated in 1960, laid out in the shape of an aeroplane.
Fun fact#742
Rio's Christ was struck by lightning
The statue is hit regularly, and spare soapstone from the original quarry is kept for repairs.
Quote#743
Guanxi
Guanxi: the network of relationships that makes things possible.
Story#744
Chichen Itza handclap
Clap once at the base of the pyramid and the echo comes back sounding like a bird. Our guide said the Maya designed it that way and then let three hundred people clap at once.
Fun fact#745
Brazil grows a third of the world's coffee
Brazil has been the largest coffee producer for more than 150 years, mostly arabica from Minas Gerais and Sao Paulo.
Fun fact#746
Uruguay legalised beach camping culture
Uruguay's small population and long coast mean entire stretches of beach stay empty even in high summer.
Story#747
The overnight bus with blankets
Reclining seats, a blanket, a film with no subtitles and a driver who took the mountain road at a speed we chose not to think about. We arrived rested.
Quote#748
Lagom
Lagom: not too little, not too much. Just the right amount, including in your backpack.
Fun fact#749
Paraguay has two official languages
Guarani is co-official with Spanish and is spoken by a majority of the population, unusual in the Americas.
Fun fact#750
Cuba's classic cars are necessity
A 1959 import ban froze Havana's fleet, so mechanics kept 1950s American cars running with improvised parts.
Story#751
Volcano boarding
You climb a black cone for an hour carrying a plank and then sit on it and go down. Everyone lies about their speed at the bottom.
Fun fact#752
Jamaica gave the world reggae
Reggae developed in Kingston in the late 1960s and is recognised by UNESCO as intangible cultural heritage.
Quote#753
Sisu
Sisu: stubborn determination in the face of hardship, especially cold and dark.
Story#754
Sloth traffic jam
The road was blocked for six minutes by a sloth in no hurry whatsoever. A park worker eventually carried it across and it looked mildly annoyed.
Fun fact#755
Haiti and the Dominican Republic share one island
Hispaniola is one of very few Caribbean islands divided between two sovereign states.
Fun fact#756
Dominica is the nature island
Dominica has a boiling lake, 365 rivers by local count, and a 184-kilometre hiking trail down its spine.
Story#757
Zip line nerves
The guide said don't brake, just glide. Halfway across a valley in cloud forest we understood why nobody talks on the way over.
Quote#758
Friluftsliv
Friluftsliv: open-air living, the belief that being outdoors is a fundamental part of being well.
Fun fact#759
Barbados has flying fish on its coins
The flying fish is a national symbol, and cou-cou with flying fish is the country's national dish.
Fun fact#760
Trinidad has a natural asphalt lake
Pitch Lake holds the largest natural deposit of asphalt in the world and refills itself as it is dug out.
Story#761
The canal from a small boat
Our boat shared a lock with a container ship the size of a street. The water rose nine metres in eight minutes and the crew above us waved down.
Fun fact#762
The Bahamas has swimming pigs
Feral pigs on Big Major Cay swim out to meet boats, a habit that turned into an unlikely tourist attraction.
Quote#763
Allemansratten
Allemansratten: the right to roam. In Sweden the countryside belongs to everyone who respects it.
Story#764
Kuna molas
Every panel is hand stitched in reverse applique and takes weeks. The woman selling them explained the design was her grandmother's and then quoted a price that felt like theft on our side.
Fun fact#765
Puerto Rico glows in three bays
Puerto Rico has three bioluminescent bays, more than anywhere else, with Mosquito Bay the brightest recorded.
Fun fact#766
Saba has the shortest commercial runway
Saba's airstrip is around 400 metres with cliffs at both ends, flown only by small aircraft and specially certified pilots.
Story#767
Cartagena heat
We walked the walls at three in the afternoon like idiots. At seven, the same walls were full of people, music and lemonade sellers, and we understood the schedule.
Fun fact#768
Greenland is part of the Americas
Geographically Greenland sits on the North American plate although politically it is tied to Denmark.
Quote#769
Gezellig
Gezellig: cosy, convivial, the feeling of a Dutch cafe on a rainy afternoon.
Fun fact#770
The Panamerican Highway has a gap
The Pan-American Highway runs from Alaska to Argentina except for about 100 kilometres of roadless jungle in the Darien.
Story#771
Coffee farm arithmetic
The farmer showed us how much a hand-picked kilo earns him and then what a cup costs in London. He wasn't angry about it, which somehow made it worse.
Fun fact#772
The Andes are the longest mountain range
The Andes run about 7,000 kilometres along South America's spine through seven countries.
Quote#773
Craic
Craic: good conversation, good company and good fun, usually in that order.
Fun fact#774
Hummingbirds only live in the Americas
All 360-plus hummingbird species are native exclusively to the Americas, with the greatest diversity in Ecuador and Colombia.
Story#775
Sunday cycling
A hundred kilometres of road closed to cars. Families, racers, a man with a parrot on his handlebars, and free bike repair stands every few kilometres.
Fun fact#776
Llamas were the only Andean pack animal
Before horses arrived, llamas were the sole large pack animal in the Andes, which shaped how the Inca built roads.
Story#777
The lost city trek
Four days, seven river crossings and 1,200 mossy steps at the end. The guide's family had lived there for generations and he gave the tour partly in his own language.
Fun fact#778
Maple syrup has a strategic reserve
Quebec maintains a global strategic maple syrup reserve to stabilise prices between good and bad harvests.
Quote#779
Slainte
Slainte: to your health, the only Gaelic word you truly need in a pub.
Fun fact#780
The Great Lakes hold a fifth of surface fresh water
Together the five Great Lakes contain about 21 percent of the world's surface fresh water.
Story#781
Boat to the jungle lodge
Three hours upriver, then the engine off, then paddling into a channel too narrow for the motor. The moment the noise stopped, the forest turned out to be extremely loud.
Fun fact#782
Niagara Falls has been switched off
In 1969 engineers diverted the American Falls to study rock erosion, leaving the cliff temporarily dry.
Quote#783
Ciao means both
Ciao serves as both hello and goodbye, from a Venetian phrase meaning I am your servant.
Fun fact#784
Antarctica is a desert
Antarctica receives so little precipitation that it qualifies as the largest desert on Earth.
Story#785
Piranha for dinner
We caught four and ate three. They are mostly bones and the guide clearly finds the whole tourist ritual funny, but he cooked them properly.
Fun fact#786
Antarctica has no time zone
Research stations use the time zone of their supply country, so neighbours can be hours apart.
Quote#787
Bon voyage
Bon voyage: a good crossing. The phrase is older than the aeroplane by centuries.
Fun fact#788
Antarctic ice holds most fresh water
Around 70 percent of the world's fresh water is locked in the Antarctic ice sheet, up to four kilometres thick.
Story#789
Meeting of the waters
Two rivers ran side by side for six kilometres without mixing. You can put a hand in each and feel the temperature difference.
Fun fact#790
Australia is wider than the Moon's diameter
Australia measures about 4,000 kilometres east to west, wider than the Moon's 3,475-kilometre diameter.
Story#791
Carnival in a side street
The famous parade costs a lot of money. Two streets away, a neighbourhood bloco with a hundred drummers went past for free and nobody was filming it.
Fun fact#792
Australia has 10,000 beaches
Visiting a different Australian beach every day would take about 27 years to see them all.
Quote#793
Buen camino
Buen camino: the greeting pilgrims exchange on the road to Santiago.
Fun fact#794
The Great Barrier Reef is visible from space
Stretching over 2,300 kilometres, the reef is the largest structure built by living organisms.
Story#795
Sunset at Ipanema
The whole beach applauds when the sun goes behind the hill. Nobody organises it and nobody explains it and it happens every clear evening.
Fun fact#796
Uluru is mostly underground
The visible rock is the tip of a formation that continues several kilometres below the desert surface.
Quote#797
Namaste
Namaste: the light in me honours the light in you.
Fun fact#798
Australia has a pink lake
Lake Hillier stays bubblegum pink even in a bottle, thanks to salt-loving microorganisms.
Story#799
Iguazu from below
The boat drives you into the falls on purpose. Everything you own gets soaked and the guide films your face while it happens.
Fun fact#800
Tasmania has the cleanest air
Air measured at Cape Grim after crossing the Southern Ocean is among the cleanest on Earth.
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