TURKS and CAICOS Synopsis

GLOBE TREKKER SEASON 6

EPISODE DESCRIPTIONS

Hosts: Christina Chang, Neil Gibson, Adela Ucar Innerarity, Megan McCormick, Holly Morris, Eils Nevitt, Alex Riley, Justine Shapiro and Ian Wright
601 Sweden & Denmark — Megan McCormick begins her trip in Copenhagen, Denmark’s capital and the home of author and poet Hans Christian Andersen. She experiences a Viking festival in Aarhus and explores the free state of Christiania. In Stockholm, Megan picnics on moose sausage and reindeer paté, meets tennis legend Bjorn Borg, tours the Nobel Museum, dances to an ABBA tribute act, and parties at the famous Ice Bar. She also treks on horseback along the Baltic Coast and experiences a relaxing Swedish sauna.
602 Deep South U.S.A. — Ian Wright hikes through the Smoky Mountains, enjoys a music festival in Asheville, explores the Freedom Walk and the birthplace of Martin Luther King Jr. in Atlanta, witnesses a Civil War re-enactment near Mobile, and attends a reunion of the Tuskegee Airmen of World War II. He winds up his trip in Memphis for Elvis Week, where thousands of fans converge to commemorate the anniversary of “The King’s” death.

603 Cuba & Haiti — Ian Wright explores the bustling street markets in Havana and discovers the lure of the rumba. He then travels west to the Pinar del Rio, where he lends a hand to the locals, visits a cigar factory and tours the site of the Bay of Pigs invasion. Ian journeys to Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti, and Jacmel, where Ian takes part in a peasant festival and joins the Rara bands. He ends his trip with a voodoo festival in Souvenance and a visit to a spectacular citadel in Cap Haitien.
604 Greece — Christina Chang begins her Greek idylls in Athens, where she explores the picturesque streets near the Acropolis, spends her evening in the student district of Exaria and listens to “rembetik,” the Greek blues. She takes a detour to the Nea Momi monastery on the island of Chios, hikes through the Mani region, treks to Dragon Lake from the village of Mikro Papingo, witnesses a fire-walking festival in Seres, and visits the mountain-top monasteries of Meteora.
605 Sri Lanka & the Maldives — Megan McCormick starts off in Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka, where she samples the exotic cuisine. She visits a Buddhist temple in Matara, explores a topaz mine near Ratnapura, tours an elephant orphanage in Pinjnewala and takes part in Esala Perahera, Sri Lanka’s biggest festival. Her trip ends on Dhangethi, one of the spectacular Maldive Islands, where she encounters exotic tropical fish and lush foliage.
606 Cambodia — Ian Wright celebrates Buddha Day in Phonm Da, travels to the former Khmer Rouge stronghold of Kampot, feasts on seafood on the island of Koh Rong, tiptoes through a minefield outside Phnom Penh, rehearses with the National School of Dance, experiences Cambodian stand-up comedy and ends his trip at Angkor Wat, considered by some to be the eighth wonder of the world.
607 Paris City Guide II — Justine Shapiro and Adela Ucar Innerarity travel to the City of Light. Justine strolls through the Luxembourg Gardens, discovers eclectic artwork and uncovers culinary secrets at the famed Le Cordon Bleu culinary institute. Adela wanders through the Musée d’Orsay, visits a gay boulangerie in the Marais, and chats with British designer Vivienne Westwood at the couture shows. Touring the Palace of Versailles, she learns about Marie Antoinette and, back in Paris, she follows the controversial queen’s path to the guillotine. Adela’s trip is complete with a glimpse of the Mona Lisa, a ride up the Eiffel Tower and a visit to the Moulin Rouge.
608 Las Vegas City Guide — Ian Wright kicks off his visit with a look at the hotels and casinos on the Las Vegas “strip.” He tours wedding chapels, enjoys the kitsch of Liberace, attends a beauty pageant with a twist and participates in a “hair-raising” tribute to Elvis. Leaving the city, Ian travels to the Nevada Test Site, where atomic bombs were tested, and hikes into the Grand Canyon.
609 Argentina — Justine Shapiro begins her trip at the incredible Iguazu Falls and travels west to Jujuy, the most traditional region of Argentina. In Salta, she catches “The Train to the Clouds,” which takes her on a spectacular three-day journey. Justine spends a day with the gauchos and attends a religious festival in honor of the Virgin of the Valley. Next she heads to Buenos Aires, where she visits Eva Peron’s grave, learns to tango and parties away the night. The journey’s final leg finds her in El Calafate, where she visits the mystic caves and discovers the beautiful scenery of Parque Los Glacials, where the glacier caps meet the grassy plains.
610 Globe Trekker Special: Great Natural Wonders — Join the Globe Trekkers as they explore some of the world’s great natural wonders. Megan McCormick discovers erupting volcanoes in Hawaii and Java; Ian Wright encounters the Arctic; Justine Shapiro hikes the Perito Moreno glacier in Patagonia; Eils Nevitt treks deep into the Amazon rainforest; and Holly Morris travels with the nomadic Tuareg tribe in the Sahara Desert. Other destinations include Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, Africa’s Victoria Falls, and spectacular national parks around the world, from New Zealand and Botswana to Kenya and Ecuador.
611 Washington, D.C. City Guide — Justine Shapiro enters the hallowed halls of the capital of the United States of America, a city in which a quarter of the population changes with every new administration, and where the history of the nation is encapsulated in great museums, monuments, memorials and architecture. She attends the massive re-enactment of the Battle of Cedar Creek, and she is “captured” by CIA agents and interrogates the former agency chief. She meets politicians on both sides of the aisle and explores Washington's African-American community. Justine then travels to Virginia and Maryland to uncover the capital's rural hinterland.
612 Micronesia — Micronesia is a chain of more than 2,000 islands, and Megan McCormick starts on Guam, site of a U.S. military base. Next it’s off to Pohnpei, the capital island, where she hikes through lush vegetation to the Kepirohi waterfall. Megan explores the arcahaeological ruins of Nan Madol, dives among sunken Japanese warships at Chuuk and kayaks on Jellyfish Lake in Palau. She ends her travels on Yap, where she observes a colony of hump-backed turtles and swims with manta rays.
613 Globe Trekker Special: World History: England — Justine Shapiro starts her historical journey dodging swords in a re-enactment of the Battle of Hastings, then travels up the coast to visit the Royal Pavilion in Brighton. Passing through London, she takes a canal ride up to the Yorkshire Moors, where she boards a double-decker bus/hotel. The next stop is Whitby, the eerie coastal town that inspired Bram Stoker to write “Dracula.” Justine strolls along Hadrian’s Wall, has a chance meeting with a centurion and rides a steam train before visiting Liverpool, home of The Beatles. Venturing south into England’s West Country, Justine meets the very eccentric Marquess of Bath and joins a pagan celebration in Glastonbury before ending her journey in Ottery St. Mary, where the locals run through the narrow streets with huge, flaming tar barrels to celebrate Guy Fawkes Night.
614 Russia: Moscow, St. Petersburg & Murmansk — Ian Wright begins his trip in Moscow, where he visits the Kremlin, takes in Red Square and Lenin’s Tomb and tours the city’s palaces, churches and bell towers. He then ventures to the Izmaylovsky Market, a great place to find quirky souvenirs and communist memorabilia. Ian heads to Star City, home of the Russian space program, where he tries “moon walking.” Next it’s off to St. Petersburg, where Ian tours the Winter Palace,the Hermitage and the Peter and Paul Fortress. Finally, he heads north to Murmansk, the largest city in the Arctic Circle, where he explores Lapland Nature Reserve and celebrates the Festival of the North.
615 Spanish Islands — Alex Riley explores the glorious Spanish Islands, visiting the Balearics off the coast of Spain and the Canary Islands near Africa. He begins on the millionaires’ playground that is Mallorca and hops over to Ibiza, where he goes clubbing with the beautiful people and then winds down at a yoga resort. Alex next travels to Formentera, a sparsely populated island famous for mud baths and massive boats. He then visits the Canary Islands, starting with Gran Canaria, where he revels at the festival of the Virgen del Rosario and explores the island’s ancient caves. On Tenerife, Alex hikes up the Tiede volcano, Spain’s highest peak, and in Fuerteventura, he tries kite surfing.
616 Madagascar — Ian Wright travels to Antananarivo, the capital, where he learns about the unique culture of the Malagasy and takes in a hira gasy performance combining song, dance and acrobatics. He catches sight of a golden bamboo lemur in Ranomafana National Park, observes zebu wrestling in Ihosy, encounters sharks in the waters of Ifaty and dives a wreck off Isle Sainte Marie, a tropical island that centuries ago was the only buccaneer kingdom in the world.
617 Ireland — Ian Wright begins his trip in Belfast, where he learns about the political troubles but also discovers a lighter and livelier side to the city. In Dublin, he samples the musical scene and takes in a hurling match. Ian travels next to Cobh, a seaside town in County Cork and the final resting place of the ocean liner Lusitania. While in Cork, he visits the Blarney stone and then heads for the beautiful landscape of County Kerry. Ian celebrates at a festival on Inishmor, the largest of the Aran Islands, hikes through the wilderness of Connemara and Donegal and meets the king of remote Tory Island.
618 Egypt — Megan McCormick starts her journey in the sprawling city of Cairo at the bazaar of Khan al-Khalili, open for business since the Middle Ages. From here she visits the mosque at Ibn Tulun, the legendary spot where Noah’s Ark came to rest. Megan’s next stop is Giza and the Great Pyramids, built as tombs for three Pharaohs. She arrives in the oasis town of Siwa, famous for its dates and olives, stops off in Bahariyya, where she is personally greeted by the mayor, and treks to Luxor for a hot-air balloon ride over the Valley of the Kings. Her final destination is Abu Simbel, the gateway to southern Egypt and home to the massive Sun Temple of Ramses.
619 Ecuador & the Galapagos Islands — Justine Shapiro visits Banos, a spa town that lies on the edge of the Andean foothills and the Amazon jungle, where she bathes in thermal baths heated by the nearby volcanoes and goes biking and hiking in the Pastaza Valley. She climbs the snow-capped Cotopaxi, the highest active volcano on earth and journeys to Ottovalo, Ecuador's most famous market. Here, the local Ottovalo Indians invite Justine to sample a great delicacy of Andean cuisine that dates back to pre-Inca time — guinea pig.
620 Alaska — Ian Wright’s journey begins in the town of Eagle on the banks of the Yukon River, home to the Athabascan natives who live on salmon in the summer and moose in the winter. Traveling to the town of Chicken (population 25), which has no running water, electricity or telephones, he goes gold dredging in the Fortymile River. In Homer, Ian goes sky trekking in a Cessna 185 and watches grizzly bears catching salmon in waterfalls.
621 Central America: Costa Rica & Nicaragua — Neil Gibson visits the Costa Rican capital of San José, where he gets caught up in election fever, samples traditional cuisine and visits volunteers trying to combat poverty in the city. He cruises to Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve and encounters tarantulas, deadly snakes and rare birds before arriving at Volcan Arenal, where he relaxes in the hot springs. Neil then crosses the border into Nicaragua and stops at El Castillo, site of the only castle in Central America. Neil plays baseball on the island of Mancarron, rolls cigars in Granada and explores Managua, site of a devastating earthquake. He ends his trip at the Volcan Masaya, known by the Indians as the “land of the gods” and by the Spanish as “the mouth of Hell.”
622 Southern Spain — Christina Chang explores the town of Ronda, legendary for its gruesome history during both the Inquisition and the Spanish Civil War, and travels to La Rabida, where Christopher Columbus embarked on his expedition to the New World. Christina windsurfs at Tarifa, celebrates Easter in Seville, paraglides off the peak of El Yelmo, visits the Alhambra and takes flamenco lessons in Granada, snowboards in the Sierra Nevada, strolls on the unspoiled San Pedro beach and commemorates a 13th-century battle in Alcoy.

623 Panama & Colombia — Megan McCormick takes a trip through Colombia and Panama, two countries that are refreshingly untouched by mass tourism. Panama is a country world famous for its canal, and with landscape and life outside its capital that are mesmerizing. Colombia, a country that has had its fair share of trouble in recent years but is safer now and equally steeped in history and beauty. In Panama City, Megan tries different Panama hats, which she learns are really from Ecuador but were misnamed as far back as the1850s when Americans were building the railroad during the Gold Rush. She visits the Panama Canal, the crucial byway that generates $1 billion a year for the Panamanian economy. In Colombia, Megan finds herself witness to a point-blank shooting. Undeterred, she decides to learn more about the country’s crime-ridden history. She stops by Bogota’s police museum to see an exhibition of the infamous drug dealer Pablo Escobar. She then visits the Caribbean coast and the beautiful historic city of Cartagena, where Megan learns about the city’s Spanish colonial past and listens to some of Colombia’s most popular rhythms, Vallenato.

624 Eastern Caribbean — Justine Shapiro revels at a festival on Trinidad, visits a former sugar plantation and takes in a goat race on Tobago, and samples souse, a regional aphrodisiac from Grenada. She sails to Carriacou for a Shakespeare festival, hikes through the enormous rainforest in Dominica and swims with exotic fish near the Soufrière volcano. Justine returns to Trinidad, where she witnesses a giant leatherback turtle lay her eggs on the beach.
625 Ice Trekking the Alps — Zay Harding ski tours the legendary Haute Route from Chamonix to Zermatt. Taking in Mont Blanc and the Matterhorn along the way, he undertakes a tough weeklong journey, traversing three Western European countries: France, Italy and Switzerland. He temps fate and frequent avalanches, masters the technique of off-piste skiing in powder-snow and learns how to negotiate his way out of a deep crevasse. Zay visits a local cemetery where thousands of intrepid climbers have lost their lives in pursuit to concur the Alps. Zay’s trek allows him to sample the delicious French speciality tartiflette, make an exquisite Swiss Rosti and enjoy other regional cuisine.