Natives target the photographers  flying overhead, with their bows and arrows. Acre State, Brazil- Images from Survival International Indian’s of the Envira, who have never before had any contact with the outside world, photographed during an overflight in May 2008, as they react to the over flight at their camp in the Terra Indigena Kampa e Isolados do Envira, Acre state, Brazil, close to the border with Peru.  (more…)

Over twenty million people live in Mexico City.

Only four of them live in a gigantic nautilus shell. A Mexico City couple, and two small children, have moved into their new home - one inspired by the humble cephalopod. Its walls are held together with steel-reinforced chicken wire, and coated with a cement composite that makes the place not only flexible, but just about earthquake-proof.

The result is absolutely stunning. Spiral staircases, A stained glass wall. A view of the mountains to the west. Greenery and comfy cushions. The architects meant for the family to feel like they were mollusks themselves, traveling inside from one chamber to the other. And they provided just that, for only 160,000 euros - as much as 100 average Mexicans make in a year.

There is no word on whether this family will ever outgrow it.

Even pickpockets know the value of a good education.

The School of the Seven Bells is a legendary, possibly apocryphal, and deliciously plausible school, said to be based in Colombia. Pickpocketing is largely a skilled combination of timing, and distraction, but South American pickpockets are particularly notorious.

There is, of course, an exam. Thieves-to-be are faced with a mannequin (or even a teacher) in a man’s suit, strewn with pockets, and rigged up with seven strategically-placed bells. They must pick the mark clean, without ringing a single bell.

The story changes with each telling: one version has it that the ‘diploma’ consists of a fake passport to the United States, and entry into one of the major American city crime gangs. The school may have closed, or even moved to Canada. Whatever the truth, the legend won’t die.

(Posted in honor of Mardi Gras: an amazing holiday, and a pickpocket gold mine.)

In Bolivia’s San Pedro Prison, you rent your cell.

They can be quite nice, if you have the money. Well-off prisoners can enjoy televisions, private bathrooms, and kitchenettes. One drug baron, Barbachoca (’Redbeard’) added a second story so that he could see the mountains - although poorer inmates often live six to a room. In your off-hours, perhaps you can play on the local football team, which is sponsored by Coca-Cola.

You can also run businesses, offering anything from photographic studios to groceries to tourism. San Pedro Prison actually become a hopping tourist destination, thanks to both its unique system, and its reputation for top-notch cocaine. In many respects, this tiny prison is no different than Bolivia at large: fueled by drugs, corruption, and a strong sense of family.

If you happen to have a family, they can live with you - they can hardly afford to live outside. Children come and go to school during the day, and are really quite safe. Like most prisons, any new inmates who have hurt or abused children are quickly killed by an angry mob. Here in San Pedro, they are often drowned in ‘the pool,’ a pit of stagnant water in the local courtyard.

Guinness turned a rural Argentine village into a gigantic game of dominoes.

The final sequence used 6,000 dominoes, 10,000 books, 400 tires, 75 mirrors, 50 fridges, 45 wardrobes and 6 cars. The chain wound from inside a darkened room, out a window, down and across any number of streets, and at one point involved bales of flaming hay. The grand finale was that of a giant glass of Guinness, whose foam was made up of open books.

They did it for the advertising. For the purpose, Guinness hired the same director who once filmed 250,000 superballs bouncing down a San Francisco hillside for Sony. That ad on the bay only took a few takes, because superballs don’t need acting coaches. Here in Argentina, a full twenty-four hours of film was shot for a final cut that lasts a minute and a half.

It cost $10 million. That’s a lot of money anywhere, but especially in a country where the average monthly income clocks in at around $200. No one has said how much the villagers were paid.

Beneath the sands of Mexico are crystals the size of Buicks.

They call it the Crystal Cave of Giants. Up to fifty feet tall, four feet wide, and all a thousand feet underground, these crystals were discovered when a couple of workers drilled a new tunnel into the Naica mine, which was already famous for the crystal-filled ‘Cave of Swords’ a few hundred meters away. Suddenly, the Cave of Swords came up second-best.

The entire cave stays around 136° F, thanks to nearby magma vents - a fever above 108° can cause brain damage. This heat caused the crystals to form: water that once filled this cave was rich in anhydrite, a mineral that dissolves into gypsum at high temperatures. From there, the gypsum can crystallize into the immense but delicate structures like the ones found here. They’re still soft enough to scratch with a fingernail.

Geologists would like to open the caves up to the public, as soon as they add some air conditioning. Luckily, they don’t need to worry about looters: in the first few days after its discovery, one particularly stubborn fellow sneaked in with a few plastic bags filled with fresh air. He lost consciousness, and was later found ‘thoroughly baked.’