Clarksville, a historic district of Austin, Texas, has lately emerged as a stylish dining and shopping enclave. Among the area’s most compelling new businesses is La Embajada, a design shop housed in a 1923 Craftsman bungalow. Combining the hospitality and interiors expertise of its founder, Raul Cabra — who has designed tableware for some of Mexico City’s most celebrated restaurants, including Rosetta and Pujol — La Embajada presents a refined, regionally diverse selection of Mexico’s artisanal offerings. A series of small rooms display vintage and contemporary furniture, from stately midcentury armchairs and 1970s glass sconces to a minimalist agave fiber rug by the Oaxaca-based textile artist Trine Ellitsgaard. The house is also an actual residence. Cabra often stays in the bedroom up the creaky stairs, and he’s recently made it available for short-term stays (bookings include a daily basket of baked goods from Austin’s Swedish Hill). Guests can purchase the room’s handmade décor, such as a pair of sleek bedside lamps in milky white onyx, a 1960s La Malinche dresser and a bedspread from a Michoacan manufacturer that once supplied Herman Miller. Downstairs, glassware, candles and gifts fill a section modeled after a typical general store in a small Mexican town. But La Embajada’s heart is its inviting kitchen, where visiting chefs cook elaborate meals and staff prepare ice cream and coffee. In another twist, every bespoke detail — including a hammered copper sink, caramel-colored tiles and waxed pine cabinets — can be custom-ordered for one’s own home.
This Iconic South American Country Got a New National Reserve — and It's a Whale-watcher's Paradise
17.08.2024 - 01:50 / travelandleisure.com / El Niño
There's a new national preserve for you to love. And it comes with some of the most beautiful ocean views on Earth.
In the spring of 2024, Peru announced that it approved the nation's newest protected area — The Grau Tropical Sea National Reserve — following more than a decade of collaboration between the government and nonprofits. Located in the nation's northern region, off the coasts of Piura and Tumbes, the reserve covers a massive 286,059 acres, ensuring aquatic life in the protected waters can thrive for generations to come.
According to the International Climate Initiative, the area is the habitat of 70 percent of Peru's marine species, including turtles, humpback whales (which specifically travel here to give birth), hammerhead sharks, the Humboldt penguin, and the Pacific seahorse. And as Climate Initiative added, the new reserve will not only help preserve wildlife but it can also help «develop the area's tourism potential, help reduce the negative impacts of climate change and the El Niño phenomenon, and contribute to the 30x30 goal of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.»
Courtesy of Visit Peru
There is one more bonus to this new habitat: it will help protect the area from overfishing while also bolstering the local artisanal fishing community that lives in the area. «We have learned and understood that one of the most important challenges to reducing the gap in marine conservation in the country is to strengthen the alliance with the communities that inhabit the northern coast of Peru,» Mónica Alzamora, the coordinator of Nature and Culture International’s Coastal Marine Program said in a statement about the program.
Courtesy of Visit Peru
As Nature & Culture International added, it helped to support the «initial effort to inventory the artisanal fishing fleet» and then established space for conversation with the fisherman, along with co-developing a training program to help them grow their operations in a way that works for both them and the environment. In 2020, it helped train 45 fishermen from Foca Island in the reserve to lead through administrative work and surveillance to ensure only the most sustainable practices remain.
As for how travelers can come to check out the region, they just need to make their way to either Piura or Tumbes, both known for their fantastic beaches that offer spectacular opportunities for surfing, whale watching, culinary offerings, and, naturally, their easy access to all this glorious protected outdoor space. However, the best time to visit may be between July through October when the whales make their way to the area for breeding season, making a whale-watching excursion a must-do activity.
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Frontier adds 11 new routes, including new JFK service and return to Dulles
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Going Antiquing in the South of France with Designers Clare Vivier and Kate Berry
When Los Angeles–based designer Clare Vivier began decorating the 19th-century house she'd bought in her husband's hometown of Saint-Calais, in France's Loire Valley, she had a particular aesthetic in mind. “I love color and patterns but wanted something peaceful, so the intention was to create a dialogue between those two things,” she says. She wanted the house to have a blend of contemporary pieces, antiques, and textiles from heritage maisons to create a space that, much like her namesake handbag and fashion label, channeled both California fun and French sophistication. She also knew that she wanted her longtime friend Kate Berry, a designer and creative director, to help her make it happen.
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The 9 most spectacular beaches on St Thomas, US Virgin Islands: welcome to paradise
Aug 16, 2024 • 5 min read
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