Here’s some of our top picks for stories in culture:
Time: Exploring the Ecuadorian Jungle in Sustainable Style – Want to experience the Ecuadorian cloud forest but don’t fancy roughing it in some hostel? To the Mashpi Lodge with you, in that case. You will marvel at its sustainable architecture and sleek, minimalist interiors. You will coo over its two-level dining room (with impeccable wine list and local organic fare), nestled amid the mist-shrouded wilderness. But most of all you will be amazed by the sheer majesty of the primordial forest, seen through the floor-to-ceiling windows that are a feature of every room”…Continue Reading
Serious Eats: Snapshots from Spain: The Best Things I Ate in Barcelona – Two weeks ago, I fell in love with Barcelona. I was expecting to, having heard raves about how beautiful everything is: the dramatic Gaudi architecture, the sparkly Mediterranean, the people, and, of course, the food. For every museum, park, or otherwise-“cultural” landmark we visited, we made at least as many feeding stops along the way””everything from paper cones of Iberico ham chucks, to fresh-pressed dragon fruit-coconut juice, to some truly stunning chocolate desserts.”…Continue Reading
Fast Company: Twitter Users Are Female, Like Purple And Have 208 Followers – So, this is what social marketing media firm Beevolve has to say about the average Twitter user. She’s an American of indeterminate age, uses an iPhone, likes the color purple (not The Color Purple, although is that a Venn diagram I see in the distance?) and she has 208 followers. The gender split was 53-47 in favour of women, but the survey, which monitored 36 million Twitter accounts, also found that a quarter of them had never been used”…Continue Reading
Fathom: Balls Out: Adventures in Bhutan – BHUTAN ““ Landing in the wide green valley of Paro in western Bhutan, the first thing to jump out is color. Not from flowers or the landscape but from the intricate decorations painted on the wooden overhangs of a building that acts as the airport’s one and only gate. Bhutanese men and children stand out among the few khaki-drenched tourists with their knee-length robes, orghos, the national dress for men, woven in plaid patterns of contrasting hues. I have come to Bhutan to learn about thagzo “” literally, “the art of weaving” “” the most refined and complex of the country’s thirteen traditional arts, which also include woodworking, papermaking, goldsmithing, and stone carving”…Continue Reading
Photo: mashpi lodge