http://manniep.ourmac.com THIS BLOG IS AN ONLINE JOURNAL OF MY EXPERIENCES PAST AND PRESENT IN THE FORM OF WORDS, MUSIC, PHOTOS AND ART en-us http://manniep.ourmac.com/?PostID=908 January 09, 2009 12:58:00pm - Sagada, 1978 He’s going to kill me, I thought. The man threw me a cold hard stare. “What are you doing here?” he asked me. “I came to visit the falls,” I said, my voice slightly quaking. “You’re not here to see the falls. You’re here to spy on us!” I... http://manniep.ourmac.com/?PostID=884 November 04, 2008 1:45:49am -   There is an island in Vanuatu called Pentecost. Pentecost Island’s beaches are made, not of powdery white sand, but of smooth pebbles. The beaches are clean and free of litter. The water is crystal clear and unpolluted. It is heavily forested.... http://manniep.ourmac.com/?PostID=878 October 24, 2008 5:43:45pm - On the morning of the 24th of December, 2007, I woke up early and made my way up to the top viewing deck of the M/V Pacific Princess as  she made her approach to Easter Island. Easter Island is a piece of volcanic rock in the middle of the&nbsp... http://manniep.ourmac.com/?PostID=875 October 14, 2008 5:09:52pm - A simple tune, notes strung out like beads. Nothing to it. You’ve heard it a thousand times, same beads rattled  by karaoke singers,  mangled by out-of-tuners. Something like “ The Girl from Ipanema.” Overplayed. Ovebelted. A crowd-pleaser... http://manniep.ourmac.com/?PostID=867 September 29, 2008 6:22:09am -     DAY ONE – Qoowayrachina to Wayllabamba It is easy enough to write about walking the Inca Trail. Actually doing it proved to be a hard, if ultimately satisfying, endeavor. After much soul-searching and online exploration, I booked mysel... http://manniep.ourmac.com/?PostID=839 September 15, 2008 6:10:10am - Cimiéz is a hilly, affluent suburb of Nice. It is the site of the ruins of an ancient Roman settlement. There are two museums located here that are on an art-lover’s must-visit list: the Matisse Museum up the hill in a Genoese villa, and the Ch... http://manniep.ourmac.com/?PostID=819 August 08, 2008 12:25:04am -   ST. PETERSBURG June 21, 2008 This Russian city is full of grand Italianate buildings made grandiose twice over with the Russian’s love of excessive ornamentation. This is the city of Pushkin, Tchaikovsky, Scriabin, and Dostoevsky in the stone,... http://manniep.ourmac.com/?PostID=486 March 16, 2007 8:41:46am - Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, March 16, 2007 The most famous person ever to have been born in St. Thomas was the great French painter Camille Pissaro. His parents were French, so naturally he gravitated towards France, made his name there, and died t... http://manniep.ourmac.com/?PostID=477 February 10, 2007 8:36:16am -                                  First impressions of St. Kitts are: The island is volcan... http://manniep.ourmac.com/?PostID=475 February 03, 2007 7:58:31am -   ©MannyPanta February 2007    St. Lucia is an island that lies near Martinique. It  used to belong to the French.  Many places as well as inhabitants here have French names. Later the British took over and left their own imp...