Travel Tip:
It’s tough to know what, if anything, to bring for the children that you inevitably encounter on your adventure. Sweets aren’t good for the teeth, and money usually goes straight to the parents or it’s turned into sweets! Try pens, crayons or chalk. Small, inexpensive items that can make a kid’s day. And if you get strapped for cash, take out your chalk and try your hand at sidewalk art!

Colours of the World

She’s like a rainbow / She comes in colours ev'rywhere / She combs her hair / She's like a rainbow / Coming, colours in the air / Oh, everywhere / She comes in colours… ~ Rolling Stones

The colours in the Stones’ song may be metaphorical (or hallucinated), but look around the world and you will find inspiration for a collage or a kaleidoscope of your own. In Europe and North America, colour is mostly a matter of personal preference and doesn’t play a leading role in distinguishing aspects of culture or society. However, if I dressed up all in hot pink I would certainly be sending a signal.

In some parts of the world, colour forms part of people’s identity – their social position, their tribe or religion, their sex: Chinese emperors traditionally wore yellow; the pattern, fabric and colours of Japanese kimono convey subtle meaning about age, sex and status; and in Guatemala each indigenous group distinguishes itself by its own colourful hand-woven clothing. Colour is sometimes chosen for practical reasons, such as the white, sun-reflecting houses of Greece and the East. But colour has the power to excite, and for this reason it’s used widely around the world in times of celebration.

India - the Holi Festival

Once a year, the day after the full moon in early March, men women and children across the state of Rajasthan and beyond celebrate Holi. They crowd the streets, throwing up clouds of pink, green, and turquoise powder and smearing paint on each other while shouting "Holi Hai! Towns go wild, particularly Jaisalmer, with dances, folk songs, and coloured-powered confusion and mayhem.

Originally a festival to celebrate good harvests and fertility of the land, Holi is now a symbolic commemoration of a Hindu legend. The story centres around a king who resents his son worshipping Lord Vishnu. He attempts to kill him but fails each time. Finally, the king's sister who is said to be immune to burning sits with the boy in a huge fire. But the prince emerges unscathed, while his aunt burns to death. Symbolic bonfires are lit on the eve of Holi…but people generally stay out of them.

Guatemala - the market town of Chichicastenango

Chichi, as it is called, is renowned mainly for its Sunday and Thursday markets, Sunday being the busiest. Chichi is a traditional hill village in the Guatemalan Highlands, and is historically an important meeting place for the members of various Mayan tribes. With its cobbled streets and red tiled roofs, it has been one of the largest centres of trade since pre-Hispanic times and thousands of people gather in a spectacle of colour every week.

The market is a patchwork of colour, with stalls piled high with red tomatoes, white onions and yellow bananas. Other stalls are stocked with bright Guatemalan textiles in hues of magenta, purple, orange, crimson, lime green, gold…everything from clothing to carpets is woven by hand in an astonishing array of patterns.

Men at the market wear striped pants and shirts with the woolen rodillera wrapped skirt-like over their trousers. As you wander around, you will see many variations of the traditional native costume, known as traje, from all over Guatemala. There are subtle combinations of 2 or 3 colours, but some outfits contain the entire spectrum, as if trying to encapsulate a rainbow – it's really quite amazing. The Maya are said to have over 500 distinctive styles of clothing, each denoting a village, tribal identity and with the essence of a legend or bit of local history woven into the colourful pattern.

Japan - the kimono

When you start reading about the kimono, you soon discover how little you know and how much there is to learn. In fact, this seems to be a trend with all things Japanese. It is certainly a very ‘deep’ culture. I’ll bet you thought that kimono are worn only by women! So did I, and I was surprised to see men wearing the beautiful gowns at a wedding in Hamamatsu, near Nagoya.

Kimono can be purchased for a couple hundred dollars, but the most extravagant run to the tens of thousands of dollars. In the case of women’s kimono especially, the idea is to attract attention and highlight the natural beauty of the woman and of the season. During cherry blossom viewing season especially, young women will dress in beautiful pink or sky blue silk kimonos finely embroidered with birds, cherry trees and other natural scenes. In the fall, the colours tend more toward reds, golds and browns. Men’s kimono are darker and more subtle, but are also covered with scenes of nature. Definitely more interesting than a suit!

Here are a few kimono guidelines:

• Bright, gaudy colours are for young women.
• The longer the sleeve the younger the wearer.
• Silk with lustre is more formal than dull silk; silk is more formal than wool, cotton or hemp.
• Dyed patterns are more formal than woven ones.
• Pattern and colour should reflect the season.
• Men's kimono have square sleeves, women's have rounded sleeves (the rounder the younger).

Classic Rajasthan
Mayan Sun
Land of the Rising Sun

---

The decision was a tough one, but we finally made it. This photo by Robert Pearson, was taken on our Inca Empire trip in April and took top honours not because it shows a marvelous vista or is super artistic, but because it showcases the beauty of Incan stonemasonry, and points out how challenging building on this terrain really was. The photo stands up well to scrutiny: the colour field balance is very good, and it follows the rule of thirds - grass in the foreground, stonework in the middle and a bit of a view at the top - crisp and thoroughly appealing.

Congratulations Rob! You've won yourself a $100 G.A.P Adventures discount voucher and bragging rights. Enjoy, and happy snapping. We will be starting another contest soon, but haven't finalized the destination. We promise it will be even bigger and better though so get your photo files ready!

Following are some honourable mentions (click to see a larger version). You may like one of them better than the winner - there was some heated debate about that here in the office as well! These and other photos submitted will be used in future newsletters, on the website, and perhaps even our brochures! Keep your eyes peeled - your work may yet be immortalized.

Suzanne Revell	Sara Leitner	Roman Laska
Winnie Wong	Hideyuki Takahashi	Lara Tavares

Changing of the Guard

Postcards from the Edge: A Swirl of Cichlids

The G.A.P Adventures Top 5: Reasons to Visit Our Concept Store in Toronto.

Jodi Watson, Adventure Specialist
Toronto Concept Store

Where in the World?

Last Minute Departures – 20% off