by David Tykol, Editor

Our bus parked at the lip of the valley and everyone gasped. Looking out at a landscape of bleached-tan earth nearly devoid of green grass or vegetation, we saw hundreds of giant cones and pillars — like 3-story-tall termite mounds tinged in yellows and reds — that seemed to be piercing through the ground skyward. Surrounding this were undulating cliffsides and rock masses. The scene was both beckoning and foreboding.

Three million years ago, the region...

by Harvey Hagman, Fort Myers, FL

After spending the winter of 1419 on the barren, white sands of the island of Porto Santo, Portuguese explorer João Gonçalves Zarco set sail for the mist-shrouded land on the horizon. Zarco found an island of towering peaks and thick, ancient woods — madeira means "wood" — with rugged, cliff-lined coasts and, inland, abundant water.

Today cruise ships calling at the Portuguese island of Maderia anchor in Funchal Bay, but jets bring in most...

by Claus Hirsch, New York, NY

My first visit to a Mayan ruin occurred in 1982 when I was on a visit to the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico. After a long ride over very rough, unpaved roads from Cancún to Chichén Itzá, I saw the spectacular pyramids and ancient ball fields at the site. I vowed then to see more of such magnificent evidence of ancient Mayan architecture.

Twenty-five years and 59 countries later, I finally had that opportunity while on a 4-country tour of Central...