The World Heritage Committee inscribed 22 new sites on UNESCO’s World Heritage List during its ongoing session in Christchurch. The new inscriptions include 16 cultural properties, five natural and one mixed, cultural and natural.

The World Heritage Committee finalized 29 June 2007 this year’s additions to UNESCO’s World Heritage List with the inscription of three new sites: Gamzigrad-Romuliana, Palace of Galerius (Serbia), Gobustan Rock Art Cultural Landscape (Azerbaijan), and Central University City Campus of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Mexico.

Few are left of the many Bushmen who once where wide spread in southern Africa. Their history goes back to at least 20,000 years. The Bushmen or San, are collectively known as Basarwa in Botswana. Their home is in the vast expanse of the Kalahari desert. They are living in one of the most inhospitable terrains in the world. It’s almost unbelievable that they are able to survive by hunting and gathering roots and tubers in a such barren environment. The Bushmen`s unique lifestyle, culture and sacred rituals are well worth to experience!

Explosions to the left and to the right every 5 seconds, all colours of the rainbow on the dresses of the locals jumping in frenzy to traditional music, millions of people with no sleep for 4 days and giant 15-20 metre caricature effigies grinning at you at every crossroad, many with hard-punching satire and even sexually explicit scenes. This is Disneyland purchased by the Lord of the Underworld, this is Fear and Loathing in Valencia – Las Fallas.

Still, the guns were obviously not to be carried by the rest of the population. I won’t lie and say that I saw a Glock resting on the passenger seat in a taxi. But people did find ways to create more security even without the firearms. I guess there can never be too much security…

This bizarre trip, from Havana to San Salvador, took me through five levels of Central American gun culture.

Once in Antigua I heard the terrible news: Luke failed to get signed up and was only starting. I did want to go to El Salvador with Luke, though, and I was beginning to think that my Spanish could do with some classes too, so with a heavy heart I decided to stay and look for classes in the morning.

Learning Spanish in Guatemala is popular and some places are well-known for it. But if you want to remain fairly off-the-trail, Xela is the place to go. A large chunk of Guatemala’s tourism revenue comes from teaching Spanish to travellers. It’s not like it’s the only Spanish-speaking country on the continent, but a number of factors make it a number one choice.

Last comes the Oceanographic – a complex of smaller structures that loosely resemble giant seashells, grouped around and across a water reservoir. Oceanographic is a marine park, with thousands of species from all marine ecosystems of the world. The bulk of the complex is actually underground (or, rather, underwater), while the buildings serve as entry points, infrastructure containers and some also display surface ecosystems.

Sporting an entire paradigm shift in travel, inviting you to the future, not the past, the City of Arts and Sciences of Valencia should really have been selected as one of the New Wonders of the World.

Yet, curiously, throughout this process a strong Valencian cultural identity emerged in, once again, the City of Contrasts. The locals see themselves as an ethnic kingdom within Spain. What is spectacular, though, is that here the traditional is still very much in fashion, preserved mainly in music, costumes, customs and fiestas. A good third or so of Valencia proudly sports regional costumes (said to be the most colourful in Spain) and music on even the smallest occasion. That includes a lot of youth. Here, it is still cool to be traditional in the 21st century.

Western Europe is such an ultimate travel destination that anything worth seeing has already been triple-packed. It is practically impossible to find a place that has major attractions yet has retained its innocence. And, out of all countries, Spain – the place where annual tourist head count overtakes that of its residents – is a very unlikely candidate for such location.

The red rocks of Isla Guadalupe blazed in the morning sun, a clear sky welcoming us after a stomach-churning 14-hour crossing. Lapping waves and the cries of fur seals on the nearby shore were the only sounds to be heard one hundred fifty miles from the mainland. The water roiled as foot-high fins sliced the surface like a knife through cerulean silk. It was a perfect day for a dive.

The Megalithic Temples on the islands Malta og Gozo, dating from 5500 years ago, are the oldest free standing stone structures in the world. These temples there are much older than the Pyramids of Egypt and Stonehenge, and their secrets are still well hidden. Previous year I explored the temples Hagar Qim and Mnajdra on Malta, and now it was time for me to explore the two temples of Ggantij on Gozo.

The Azure Window, a table-like rock over the sea, is one of the most amazing natural wonders of the Maltese Islands, and its particularly spectacular during winter when waves crash high inside the arch. The Inland Sea, and Dwejra Bay itself on Gozo, were created millions of years ago when two limestone caves collapsed.