Americas

John White likely did this study of a male Atlantic loggerhead on a stop in the West Indies en route to "Virginia" in 1585. "Their heads, feet, and tails look very ugly, like those of a venomous serpent," wrote Thomas Harriot, the expedition's scientist, of New World tortoises. "Nevertheless they are very good to eat, as are their eggs."

Sketching the Earliest Views of the New World

The watercolors that John White produced in 1585 gave England its first startling glimpse of America

The rebuilt museum boasts an innovative green roof, home to poppies, yellow tidytips and other native plants.

California Academy of Sciences: Greening a Higher Ground

San Francisco's new science museum hosts its own rooftop ecosystem

We don't have a town center, Alvarez says, but we're "rich in characters and talents."

Julia Alvarez on Weybridge, VT

Other towns get more attention says novelist Julia Alvarez, but this is a place where things get done

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Colombia Dispatch 12: Still Striving for Peace

In spite of all the positive work that has done in recent years, there are concerns that the government may be cracking down too hard in the name of peace

Enrique Peñalosa, former mayor of Bogota, rides a bicycle

Colombia Dispatch 11: Former Bogota mayor Enrique Peñalosa

The former mayor of Colombia's capital city transformed Bogota with 'green' innovations that employed the poor and helped the environment

A fifth-grade class of demobilized paramilitary and guerrilla soldiers at Medellin’s Center for Peace and Reconciliation

Colombia Dispatch 10: Education for Demobilized Forces

In exchange for laying down their arms, soldiers from Medellin's armed militias are receiving a free education, paid for by the government

Medellin’s new metro cable system carries commuters in gondolas up a steep mountainside

Colombia Dispatch 9: The Story of Medellin

The Colombian city of Medellin is synonymous with the drug trade, but city leaders are hoping to keep the peace by building up communities

Women assemble tagua jewelry at the Tagueria in Bogota.

Colombia Dispatch 8: The Tagua Industry

Sometimes called "vegetable ivory," tagua is a white nut that grows in Colombia that is making a comeback as a commodity worth harvesting

Cesar Lopez and cellist Sandra Parra perform in Bogota with his “escopetarra” at the launch of Colombia’s 2008 peace week

Colombia Dispatch 7: Turning Guns into Guitars

Musician Cesar Lopez invented a new type of guitar, made from the shell of an automatic weapon

Students perform together at the vallenato music academy

Colombia Dispatch 6: Accordion Rock Stars in Valledupar

Andres 'Turco' Gil's accordion academy trains young children in the music of vallenato, the folk music popular across Latin America

The new Kogi village of Dumingueka.

Colombia Dispatch 5: The Kogi Way of Life

Hidden in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, a Kogi village built with government support combines modernity with ancient traditions

Students at Palenque’s Batata Dance and Music School perform a traditional dance with African roots.

Colombia Dispatch 4: Palenque: An Afro-Colombian Community

Four hundred years ago, escaped slaves formed Palenque. Today, the Colombian town celebrates its African roots

Hector Salgado shovels sand in his yard while his girlfriend, Marisol Cardales Berrio, laughs.

Colombia Dispatch 3: The Pedro Romero Program

The government's attempts to battle poverty reach communities of refugees from violence in the countryside

Children pose for the camera in El Pozon, a slum on the outskirts of Cartagena.

Colombia Dispatch 2: The Slums of El Pozon

In a vast impoverished neighborhood near the Caribbean coast, Colombians invade vacant lots hoping to become landowners

A beach in Tayrona National Park, on Colombia’s Caribbean coast.

Colombia Dispatch 1: Revisiting Colombia

Journalist Kenneth Fletcher returns to Colombia to investigate how the government and its people hope to rise above their problematic past

Amid the city’s ribbons of freeway and corporate spires, says the author, the sky offers "a huge, open relief."

Southern Comfort

Celebrated poet Mark Doty succumbs to Houston's humid charms

In a "city of neighborhoods," Johnson found "an ideal environment for nurturing innovation, individualism and the creative spirit."

In Seattle, a Northwest Passage

He arrived unsure of what to expect—but the prolific author quickly embraced Seattle's energizing diversity

Jamar Roberts and Amos J. Machanic Jr. help Olivia Bowman defy gravity at the Ailey studio in 2007.

Points of Interest

Notable American Destinations and Happenings

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Wild at Heart

A Yosemite program introduces kids to the great outdoors

A crowd watches newly hatched Kemp's ridley turtles make their way to the surf.

Points of Interest

Notable American Destinations and Happenings

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