Cuba Scuba Diving Trips https://simplycubatours.com The best way to discover Cuba is by experiencing its diversity through the eyes of a local. That's why at Simply Cuba Tours, we've hand-picked the most insightful and innovative travel guides, cultural explorers and outdoor enthusiasts that make designing and organizing group experiences a breeze. Whether it's showcasing the best of Cuba in 4-6 days or introducing you to Havana, Cienfuegos, Trinidad, Santiago de Cuba and more in 10-14 days—we organize every trip with care to ensure an unforgettable experience. Join our next tour to learn, explore and photograph the Cuban lifestyle—it'll feel like home before. Cuban Tours https://simplycubatours.com/product/simply-cuba-scuba-tour/ Cuba is an adventure! Take part in this once-in-a-lifetime journey and capture the magic and majesty of Cuba's breathtaking scenery and its vibrant culture. With a focus on photography, our small group tours will give you ample time to explore Cuba's natural wonders and endless photo opportunities. Join us on this incredible journey to work with some of the best photographers and learn new techniques. Explore the vibrant culture of Cuba, through its people, history, music and art. Travel with SimplyCubaTours.com to create a lifetime of unique photographs and travel memories!

From August 23 through August 26, Paige aka PopTheButterfly is organizing the Cruel Summer book tour hosted through Indie Blog Hop! BOOK TOUR STOPS August 23 PopTheButterfly: Instagram, Blog, TikTok August 24 Mr Pink Ink: Blog August 25 The Reading Rebel: Instagram August 26 Tabi Slick: Blog ABOUT THE BOOK Cruel Summer by Bernard Jan Genre: YA Cross-Genre (Sexual Abuse, Friendship, Skateboarding, Dystopian) All he wants to do is skate. But they have other plans for him. Michael Daniels is seventeen and dreams to enter professional skateboarding contests. But beneath New Manhattan, a city under the oppressive shadow of climate change, exists another world altogether—secret laboratories which threaten society as he knows it. Those with power will get what they want. No price is too high, even if it means making someone special or robbing them of their dignity, freedom . . . or life. The price is too high for Michael, though. He has endured his stepfather's abuse and mind games for almost as long as he remembers. Until one day he takes matters into his own hands, ruining the lives of those he loves most. And his skateboarding friends, Alien and Victor, are his only hope for freedom. When there is no hope left, friendship is what remains. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Bernard Jan is a pen name of an award-winning novelist and a poet from Croatia, and he has released four books in English. A World Without Color is a true story of the last three days he spent with his cat, while Look for Me Under the Rainbow in a unique and gentle way sheds light on the plight of harp seal pups in Canada. It warms the heart of all readers concerned about our planet and its treasures. January River is a heartwarming cross-genre novel about five friends, one dog, and one river carrying a secret. His latest YA cross-genre novel, Cruel Summer, is a gripping story of an abused teenager from New Manhattan who only wants to skate, but they have other plans for him. His first two books were written at the beginning of the war in Croatia in 1991 amidst air alerts and illusory attempts when he wanted to believe and think that life is normal, that everything is all right with the world. He has published five novels, two novellas, and one book of poems in Croatian. Four of his books, including the book of poems, were translated into English. CRUEL SUMMER ON AMAZON AND GOODREADS (Please leave your honest review) Amazon.com paperback and eBook Amazon Australia paperback and eBook Amazon Canada paperback and eBook Amazon UK paperback and eBook Goodreads paperback and eBook Thank you for organizing this tour, Paige! BJ Subscribe to my mailing list. Follow me on Twitter. Cover and art design by Dean Cole. Original post: https://www.bernardjan.com/post/cruel-summer-indie-blog-hop-book-tour-august-2021

I am thrilled and grateful to Maia for accepting my YA cross-genre novel Cruel Summer for the Silver Dagger book tour and giveaway! Cruel Summer starts the tour today, on May 28, and will tour until June 28 on 40 stops. Please check and follow all the stops on the tour and share them with your friends and followers. Let's have some fun time together. Thanks, and let the tour begins! Click here to continue reading 👉 https://www.bernardjan.com/post/cruel-summer-silver-dagger-book-tour-giveaway-may-through-june-2021

The car was just a little beat up, like it hadn't seen a body shop for any reason in the ten years it had spent on the road. Scratches, dents, and a bent bumper dressed it, along with dust and mud from days on the road. I followed it down the main avenue of downtown Calgary and thought you're a long long way from home. The Mississippi license plate was bent a little where they must have backed into a low lying rock. They had a Thule ski box on their roof rack, and I could see a cooler and sleeping bags stuffed into the rear storage area of the red Jeep Cherokee. If they were thinking about skiing, there isn't a bit of snow in the mountains at the moment, except the glaciers, which are retreating at an exceptional rate. At least the studies scientists have conducted would have us believing our climate is going to implode in the next few decades. What struck me as funny, was how slowly he was driving. His companion looked like she was pushing him to keep up with the rest of the traffic, but he was crawling between lights. At each red light, he'd grab his camera and take pictures of the skyline. I snickered a bit, it wasn't going to be a great picture as we were heading into the sun as it was fairly late in the evening. You have a passenger, I thought. Let her take the photos. Or let her drive, so you can concentrate on getting the best shot. No, he puttered down to the next light, and the same procedure was repeated. Grab the camera, with a lens way too long for taking a panoramic shot, and snap half a dozen more shots or more, until the poor guy stuck behind him leaned on his horn. I wondered how he'd managed to get across the border, but then again, if he's been trapped up here since COVID closed everything down, what else are you going to do but wander from city to city to see what you can see? Good luck, Mississippi man. I hope you're smarter than Florida man who seems to get into all sorts of trouble. Head west. At least you'll be able to see our famous national parks with a few less tourists this season. Perhaps you won't have to walk a mile to the head of a popular trail because there are hundreds of hikers already on it. So many people on the paths, that it's like a platoon of soldiers marching on parade. Each tourist in his slot, with designated stops to take the perfect picture of the magnificent views. Tourist season. Privately I wondered why we couldn't shoot them, but then that would be no way to greet a curious adventure seeker from Mississippi. Getting lost in the wonder of a new city isn't a crime unless you're stuck behind him trying to get home to the loo.

Mamaru Endris is a professional tour service provider who is graduated  from Lion Ethiopia Tourism College specialized in local  tour operator and guide in different parts of the Omo Valley, which is one of the richest part in the South of Ethiopia located in the Great Rift Valley.  Mamaru is the perfect professional that could take you to Omo Valley Tours living and most fascinating cultures on earth. Mamaru being bornin and raised in Key Afer Banna tribe Village one of the unique tribal communities in Omo Valley South Ethiopia, Besides these tribes speaking fluently some of the tribal languages. You will be introduced into the local people, places and customs by the hand of an experimented local guide living thrilling and stunning experiences in this unique area with the ancestral traditions of its locals and its interesting landscape including valleys, rivers, lakes and other mountains. Apart from being an enthusiastic amateur photographer of his people and country, This valley is filled with communities having a unique set of cultural activities beyond the reach of the aggressive material civilization being totally dependent on what their environment provides with an amazing give and take relationship. In this exponentially dynamic world getting the opportunity to come and discover these unique tribal communities is a once in a life time experience for those who love to see and respect various perspectives that our mother Earth serves. Omo valley is unique with a big variety of different ethnical groups and tribes, which you can hardly find in other parts of the world anymore.

Mamaru Endris is a professional tour service provider who is graduated  from Lion Ethiopia Tourism College specialized in local  tour operator and guide in different parts of the Omo Valley, which is one of the richest part in the South of Ethiopia located in the Great Rift Valley.  Mamaru is the perfect professional that could take you to Omo Valley Tours living and most fascinating cultures on earth. Mamaru being bornin and raised in Key Afer Banna tribe Village one of the unique tribal communities in Omo Valley South Ethiopia, Besides these tribes speaking fluently some of the tribal languages. You will be introduced into the local people, places and customs by the hand of an experimented local guide living thrilling and stunning experiences in this unique area with the ancestral traditions of its locals and its interesting landscape including valleys, rivers, lakes and other mountains. Apart from being an enthusiastic amateur photographer of his people and country, This valley is filled with communities having a unique set of cultural activities beyond the reach of the aggressive material civilization being totally dependent on what their environment provides with an amazing give and take relationship. In this exponentially dynamic world getting the opportunity to come and discover these unique tribal communities is a once in a life time experience for those who love to see and respect various perspectives that our mother Earth serves. Omo valley is unique with a big variety of different ethnical groups and tribes, which you can hardly find in other parts of the world anymore.

Thalay Valley is in Ghanche, Gilgit Baltistan, Pakistan, on the bank of Shyok River, The Shyok River meets Indus River at Keris about 30 kilometers west of Thalay. Thalay is 16 large and small mohallah: Daltir, Chundu, Tassu, Harangus, Parangghus, Haltagari, Yarkhur, Daltir, Gagurik, Baltoro, Burdas, etc. House Valley is to the east, Karis Valley to the west, Shiger Valley to the north and Daghini/Balghar are located to the south. Thalay Valley is 40km. away on the northwest from the district headquarters Ghanche (Gilgit Baltistan), and 110km from Skardu city and situated at 2,647m above sea level and falls in the single cropping zone. The main occupation is agriculture.

I consider it an ordeal to travel in Africa. My parents traveled a lot when I was younger and I have always wanted to travel too. The way they talked about living in Northern Nigeria, it feels like a different world from now. They never felt like strangers whenever they left home, but Africa is changing. It's meant to be the height of experiences; for young people to pack a bag and travel to see the continent but present day Africa could be as hostile as it is beautiful. Being a stranger is not just about changing GPS location, it's about being where you are not expected to be. I am Nigerian and I am skinny. One would think identity and body size are just what they are but along with identity comes the burden of stereotypes. After a few months of arriving South Africa from Nigeria, I visited an Indian Doctor in Hatfield, Pretoria. The first thing he said was "You are Nigerian, so you gonna pay me with drugs? Ahh! I am joking!" Very inconvenient joke I must say, but that was my reward for being Nigerian in South Africa. In moments like those you almost feel as if you are not welcome, that you are a stranger. South Africa is a good place but when it comes to making jokes, it sucks some times. Some locals tell you how they actually think about you -probably something bad- and then they add that it's just a joke. What better way to peddle stereotypes than to make jokes about them? Now every Nigerian who leaves home is a drug peddler? The moment we step out of our borders we are labelled. I have also heard that Indians are rapists and drug abusers too. Should I have said so to that doctor and probably added "I am joking?" The student medical aid is compulsory for all foreign students including Nigerians who are just a little different from South Africans. The medical aid is crap from what I hear and I am sure they also know I am Nigerian and think "probably he is a drug peddler." What happens when I need to use this aid? What if someone does not attend to me just because they think I am a criminal. The day I visited the GP at Hatfield, I had to pay the Indian Doctor with cash that I don't have and he told me it might take another century to get my claim back. It actually took a century to get the claims department and they never paid. *sigh* That day after telling me what was wrong with me, the Doctor gave me some drugs and warned that I must eat before taking the drugs. He said "You look skinny, either because you don't have food or you are just skinny." After worrying about my citizenship, now I had to worry about my body size. There are fat humans, average sized humans, skinny humans and so on and so forth. How long would it take for us to accept these differences? The whole idea of racism and apartheid thrived on the idea that skin colour is a definitive element of your humanity. Skin colour, body type, hair or any other body feature are things no one chooses. Yet a lot of us are made to feel like we don't fit in, just because of these things. People avoid you for as little as the fact that how you look or talk or walk is strange or new to them. I am skinny not by a fault of my own, my body structure is far from perfect for those who have seen me. I limp slightly, and it's not from an accident. I was born with a birthmark on my forehead and for years I felt different. There are so many funny things that are not "right" about my looks but everyone has their own weird features. If you looked around you, there are at least a hundred people who don't look exactly like you just because they eat different or live in a different environment. But these people are just as human as you are. Holding a Nigerian passport or walking with a limp doesn't make one human better than another. The value of life is one and the same all over the world. Being a stranger in Africa stems from the dying culture of inclusiveness, community and hospitality that Africans used to be known for. There is a hate culture eating deep into the fabric of our lives, we have been hunted, haunted and broken by strangers. Understandably, suspicion and fear becomes a defence but must we lose the beauty of Africa to fear and hate? We need to embrace universal citizenship, to travel, to love, to eat with and walk with people who seem different from us. There's no need for us to be strangers in our own world.

Let's start with the basics! Her name was Joyce, she was born on a stormy Wednesday night on the 21st day of August in the year 1991. She was born and raised in Florida with her mother Michele, her father Albert, and her little sister Christie. She was a normal child who loved playing with her barbies and running around outside with other kids in the neighborhood. She played dress up with her dad and played house with her mom. She learned how to ride a bike and teased her little sister. Her parents weren't rich they struggled but they lived in a beautiful house and her parents were professionals at making it seem like they had everything. When she was born her dad was a business owner who owned a donut shop/diner called Mrs. Murphy's. It was pretty retro, it had the black and white checkered tiled floors, with red leather spinning stools at the bar, and it had yellow benches at the booths. Her mom ran the shop during the day and her dad ran it at night. Her mom before she had Joyce's sister would take Joyce to work with her and sit her at a booth or on the spinning stools with crayons and coloring books to last her for the rest of her days. Her favorite part about going to work with her mother would be whenever her mom had to walk to the back. She used to sneak behind the counter and steal all the boston creme donuts and go hide in a cabinet before her mom came back. But she was always found before she had the chance to eat them all. Joyce would get in so much trouble, but it was worth it. Shortly after Joyce turned five her behavior began changing, yeah she would have her moments where she misbehaved but one of her most popular things to do was call people a "Poopoo-head." But this was not like a normal fit, her mom noticed she was saying it at the most random of times. So she had Joyce seen by a doctor, that was when she was diagnosed with Tourettes Syndrome. For those who do not know what that is if you look it up in the dictionary the definition will read. "Tourettes Syndrome - a neurological disorder characterized by recurrent involuntary movements, including multiple neck jerks and sometimes vocal tics, as grunts, barks, or words, especially obscenities." -www.Dictionary.com Joyce did all of that, the grunting, barking, obscenities, she would also flick people the middle finger, hit them, spit, and kick. Now when her mom and Joyce talk about it she would tell Joyce that her favorite tic that she would do would be to shout "SHIT, FUCK, ASSHOLE!" in a loop three times really fast. It got so bad to the point where she wasn't Joyce, she was just a big walking blob of Tourettes. She also went to a public school that had over 500 students from kindergarten to the fifth grade and Joyce was the only one in that school with a disorder like hers. The worst years for Joyce was the 3rd and 4th grade. By that time, all the students knew her and they knew what was wrong with her, but they didn't know why she was the way she was. Someone started telling people that she was possessed by a demon and whenever she had an outburst it would be when the demon is attempting to take over her mind. So she started being referred to as "The Demon" suffice to say Joyce didn't have any friends. Whenever there was a new student was one of Joyce's favorite times, it was rare but it was an opportunity for her to make a friend. Someone that didn't know what was wrong with her. But if someone didn't get to them and tell them about Joyce before she did, they would see it for themselves eventually and she'd end up scaring them off. So Joyce gave up on the whole friend thing for a while. She did have one friend, her name was Rebecca she was there for Joyce because they met in kindergarten and she had the chance to get to know Joyce before she started having her symptoms. She stayed friends with Joyce throughout school but they were never in the same classes. So Joyce never got to see Rebecca and during lunch time they weren't allowed to sit with the kids in other classes, they had to sit at the table their grade and class were assigned to. Joyce's life went on like that until she reached fourteen, and her body started "changing." She noticed her Tourettes became easier to control without medication and she started making friends who liked her for who she really was. She still had her outbursts like the occasional shouting of "BITCH!" in a auditorium or "ASSHOLE" in a Wal-Mart parking lot. But the reaction from society was a bit more understanding than what you would expect from judgmental 4th graders. Eventually Joyce learned that her disorder made her a freak, and she was okay with that.