Is there something special about the view from your offices in Latin America or the Caribbean? If that’s the case, log on to our Facebook page and share your best shots. Our panel of editors and designers will be looking to find the most breathtaking image for a cash prize – and a special feature story. Check our our Facebook page for all the details. Any questions, check in with our Facebook hostess extraordinare  Bertha Leal.

Source: PR Newswire

PANAMA CITY — Marking its 16th property, and its first in Latin America, Hard Rock International today announced that the Hard Rock Hotel Panama Megapolis is expected to open in December 2011. The 66-story hotel, located in Panama City just a few miles from one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World, the Panama Canal, will offer stunning panoramic views of the city and Panama Bay, with its yachts and sailboats. Hard Rock Hotel Panama Megapolis, which brings the acclaimed “Hard Rock Hotel experience” to an ever-popular global tourist destination, is developed and owned by Megapolis Investment Group and will be managed locally by Decameron Hotels & Resorts.

Located on Balboa Avenue, and connected by bridgeway to the cross-street Multicentro Mall and the Megapolis Convention Center, currently under construction, Hard Rock Hotel Panama Megapolis is situated on more than three-quarters of an acre, with lush landscaping and an oversized, free-form infinity pool with private cabanas. The hotel will have 1,499 rooms, including 796 suites, ranging in size from 462 square feet to 2,659-sq. ft. Rock Star Suites, a signature of the Hard Rock brand.

In addition to the existing Hard Rock Cafe in the attached Multicentro Mall, the hotel will offer eight food & beverage outlets, including an indoor/outdoor bar & club on the 62nd floor – an exclusive place to be seen, and to enjoy a bird’s-eye view of the city and distant mountains – as well as a breakfast, lunch & dinner buffet. For those seeking relaxation, there will be a 7,800-sq. ft. Rock Spa® featuring 14 luxurious treatment rooms, and a Rock Shop® store for guest necessities and souvenirs. The hotel will also offer business travelers and special event patrons 24,250 square feet of flexible meeting space to accommodate gatherings large and small.

Throughout the hotel, guests will be able to see and experience an abundance of authentic rock memorabilia and state-of-the-art technology, including Hard Rock Hotel’s popular amenity program The Sound of Your Stay®, which lets guests download complimentary music from distinct curated playlists.

The opening of Hard Rock Hotel Panama Megapolis will allow guests to join Hard Rock’s global network of hotels/casinos/cafes and participate in events, both local and global, such as its three-day music festival, “Hard Rock Calling,” in London.

“We are proud to debut the Hard Rock Hotel brand in Latin America, a region with a rich musical culture,” stated Hard Rock International Executive Vice President, Hotels & Casinos, Michael Shindler. “Both Megapolis Investment Group and Decameron Hotels & Resorts have strong experience in the region, which will be invaluable as we look to open our doors this year.”

Jacobo Torres, owner of Megapolis Investment Group and together with Decameron of the Hard Rock Cafe Panama, stated, “Hard Rock’s blend of luxury and rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle provides an unparalleled guest experience, one that is most welcome in Latin America. Panama City, and the Megapolis complex, continue to thrive and grow, and Hard Rock Hotel Panama Megapolis can only enhance this for tourists and residents alike.”

“For 25 years, Decameron has operated properties worldwide, including across Latin America, and we are proud to work with Hard Rock in the launch of their first Latin American hotel,” stated Lucio Garcia, founder and president of Decameron Hotels & Resorts. “This will be our second managed property in the Megapolis complex, and we are confident that our experience in Panama City will be integral to the success of Hard Rock Hotel Panama Megapolis.”

Panama, the southernmost country in Central America, remains a popular travel destination for Americans and Europeans alike. With its tropical environment, spectacular wildlife and beautiful beaches, it also offers the largest rainforest in the Western Hemisphere outside the Amazon. The country is also known as the home of the Panama Canal, built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers between 1904 and 1914, and one the “Seven Wonders of the Modern World.”

Source: TechFlash

Craving a trip to Mexico? You’re not alone, according to booking data released today by Expedia that shows a rising demand for travel to Mexico. According to the data, bookings through Expedia.com and Hotels.com have increased 25 percent over the last year, primarily from travelers in the U.S., Canada and the U.K.

“Year after year Mexico continues to be a preferred destination for Expedia customers, consistently ranking as one of the top three destinations for Expedia in terms of traveler feedback,” said Marco Tagliatti, Vice President of Market Management, Latin America, Expedia, Inc.

The report also said the number of hotels in Mexico that have partnered with Expedia have increased 30 percent over the last year.

Expedia has a new iPhone app, Expedia Hotels, that uses GPS to find hotels within walking distance of the traveler. The free app should be available in a few weeks, and is part of a larger set of mobile initiatives the Bellevue-based company plans to roll out over the next year.

Source: PRWeb

NEW YORK CITY — Thanks to Collectrium, a new “next-gen” mobile technology that recognizes works of art, Latin American collectors and collectors-to-be will experience art as never before at two upcoming international art fairs: arteaméricas in Miami Beach (Friday, March 25 to Sunday, March 27) and Zona Maco Mexico Arte Contemporaneo in Mexico City (Wednesday, April 6 to Sunday, April 10).

With the Collectrium app, a visitor to either art fair will be able to point her iPhone or iPad at any registered artwork and instantly receive extensive information on the artist and the piece; add the artwork to her “My Collection” favorites; share with friends via Facebook, Twitter, and email; and contact the gallery about the artwork.

Following the debut of its iPhone app at New York’s Armory Week in early March, the Collectrium mobile app has been warmly embraced by gallerists at the two upcoming Latin American fairs, and will now be available in Spanish and English for both iPad and iPhone. With Collectrium, visitors no longer have to make scribbled notes on postcards and flyers; the collector can leave a fair with a browsable list of her favorite artworks, complete with detailed information on each work, artist, and exhibiting gallery. Even if the collector snaps an unidentified artwork, she can easily enter the information and personal notes about the piece. She will have created her own virtual gallery and catalogue. Collectrium also functions as a QR code scanner, so for sculpture, installation, moving image pieces, or any work with a QR code on the label, visitors can use Collectrium to scan the QR code to identify works of art.

“Collectrium is streamlining the fair experience for visitors by offering one central place to browse through the full catalogue of works at the fair, identify, and store favorite works of art, and finally contact a gallerist. And for exhibitors, it makes it really easy to keep track of what they are selling and quickly add works on the spot,” said Zélika García, Director Zona Maco Mexico Arte Contemporaneo.

“This is a social art management system, part of the next generation of tools for appreciating art,“ says Boris Pevzner, the former Silicon Valley entrepreneur who founded Collectrium. “Our app makes the experience of visiting an art fair more interactive for the art lover—enhancing the on-site visit, while also allowing visitors to take the fair home with them.”

“Collectrium makes it possible for visitors to my gallery installation here at MACO in Mexico City to share works of art with friends around the world–in an instant. This app is making it so much easier for collectors and gallerists to connect with each other, and that’s exactly the kind of technology we need at an art fair. It’s really useful!” Pamela Echeverría, Director of LABOR in Mexico City.

Pevzner concludes: “We’ve created a bridge between the physical and virtual art worlds by bringing the power of online technology to that live moment of discovery.”

In addition to using the Collectrium app to automatically identify artworks, visitors to the participating fairs will browse the entire art show catalogue on their mobile device; enter images, details and personal notes about works of art not already registered in the system; and view all the programming and scheduling information about the fairs.

Furthermore, the visitors who store their own private collections on the web using Collectrium will have easy access to their artworks through the same mobile app, alongside the artworks exhibited at the art fairs.

“The Collectrium app eliminates a lot of the guesswork and confusion from the fair experience and that is invaluable for collectors looking to document their favorite works of art and connect with gallerists. It’s also a great way to help people make a purchasing decision when they can access and take the gallery and art piece information with them,” says Giselle Delgado (Gigi), Creative Director of arteaméricas.

About Collectrium

Founded by Boris Pevzner in 2009, Collectrium is a New York-based company providing innovative technology for discovering and displaying art on the web and mobile devices, including the revolutionary art identification and art similarity tools. Over time, the Collectrium team—which has extensive expertise in the fields of in technology, finance, and the contemporary arts—will offer collectors and galleries integrated services for art storage, appraisals, financing and other needs.

Pevzner’s business ventures are built around a deep understanding of how different kinds of communities can be enhanced and transformed through innovative technology solutions. In 2003 he helped to conceive and develop xfire, a revolutionary social networking online service ($102M exit via a sale to Viacom). He has also co-founded Centrata, a pioneer in cloud computing for enterprise-class datacenters, and conceived and developed Lontra, a leader in service management of Information Technology.

Pevzner is a frequent speaker at IT industry conferences, and he often serves as an advisor to senior technology executives of Fortune 500 companies on issues of IT management and security. Pevzner holds undergraduate and graduate degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He was born in St. Petersburg, only a stone’s throw away from The Hermitage.

The Fairs

arteaméricas and Zona Maco are the preeminent art fairs for the Latin American community. This year arteaméricas presents close to 50 galleries in more than 80 spaces and showcasing more than 300 artists, from every country in the Americas and Spain, in the Miami Beach Convention Center. In celebration of arteaméricas’ ninth consecutive year, this year fair organizers are mounting a special tribute to Mexico.

This April, Zona Maco assembles 90 galleries from around the word in order to display the work of more than 900 aritsts in the vast Centro Banamex exposition hall in Mexico City.

Zona Maco and arteaméricas iPhone apps, powered by Collectrium, will be available from the Apple App Store one week before the fairs start.

Source: SmarterTravel.com

Low-cost carriers JetBlue and Spirit have announced new connections between the U.S. and Central and South America. Each airline is taking a slightly different approach, but the net effect is more service to popular and up-and-coming destinations.

Just as JetBlue has interline agreements with Lufthansa and Aer Lingus to Europe, it has now expanded south with an interline agreement with LAN Airlines, one of Latin America’s largest airline groups. The idea here is that customers can book a single ticket to any of LAN’s destinations (including Santiago or Easter Island, Chile; and Lima, Peru) from any JetBlue departure city, connect via New York’s JFK airport, and fly the domestic portion of the trip on JetBlue and the international leg on a LAN carrier. According to JetBlue, “In the coming weeks, customers will be able to purchase JetBlue-LAN travel via the GDS, online travel agencies, and by calling LAN reservations or visiting LAN.com.”

Spirit, meanwhile, has announced new service between Ft. Lauderdale and Toluca International Airport, about 25 miles from Mexico City, starting on June 3. According to Ben Mutzabaugh over at Today in the Sky, the airline also has plans to launch service between Ft. Lauderdale and San Salvador, El Salvador, on June 13.

Source: NYTimes

CARACAS, Venezuela — President Hugo Chávez is known to have expressed little patience for imported leisure pursuits like golf or Scotch whisky tippling. Now he has reserved some ire for another practice that is beloved in Venezuela: breast augmentation surgery.

Blame for the boom in such surgeries here, Mr. Chávez said on state television over the weekend, rested with doctors who “convince some women that if they don’t have some big bosoms, they should feel bad.” He said it was a “monstrous thing” that poor women were seeking breast lifts when they had trouble making ends meet.

“What is this, friend?” Mr. Chávez exclaimed to his viewers.

Mr. Chávez’s comments come at a time when Venezuela has emerged as one of the world’s leading markets for breast augmentation. Between 30,000 and 40,000 women here undergo the procedure each year, according to estimates by the Venezuelan Society of Plastic Surgeons.

Billboards in Caracas advertise bank loans for the surgery. Gossip blogs speculate on the enhancements done to contestants in the Miss Venezuela pageant. Last year, one candidate for the National Assembly, Gustavo Rojas, tried to finance his campaign by raffling off a breast lift (he lost anyway).

“I’ve never seen more silicone anywhere else,” Mireia Sallarès, a filmmaker from Spain who focuses on feminist issues and is working on a project about Venezuela, told the newspaper Tal Cual.

While Mr. Chávez lamented the amount of money spent on cosmetic breast surgery, there is also a darker side to the procedures, with reports of surgical mistakes resulting in the deaths of some patients. One 20-year-old woman, Paola Ríos, died in Caracas this month because of complications from breast augmentation surgery.

Mr. Chávez’s stand on such a fixture in Venezuelan popular culture prompted swift reactions from some quarters, notably the medical profession. “I don’t think there should be any type of discrimination against these aesthetic procedures,” said Dr. Ramón Zapata Sirvent, a leading plastic surgeon here.

In an acerbic editorial on the subject on Monday, the opposition newspaper El Nacional compared Mr. Chávez to Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, the Libyan leader, who regards Mr. Chávez as a friend. “Now comes this antiquated, militaristic, coarse, repressive attitude on the freedom of women to do what they want with their bodies,” El Nacional said.

The president, however, made it clear that breast augmentation did not square well with his revolutionary priorities. He said that among the thousands of letters he receives from supporters, one arrived asking for his help for a breast lift, which could cost as much as $7,000. “Of course I had to reject it,” he said.

State media outlets agreed with the president on the subject. The state newspaper Correo del Orinoco contended this month that plastic surgery was “as common as dentist appointments and it is not unusual for wealthy parents to proudly buy their 15-year-old daughters breast implants for ‘coming of age’ birthday presents.”

If you were the fastest runner in the world, you would naturally want your own running track – correct? (Photos below)

Well that’s exactly what has happened for Usain Bolt, who has smashed record after record in recent years becoming known as the fastest man ever to live. On a recent tour of Jamaica, his homeland, Nearshore Americas got the chance to see Bolt’s private training facility – just footsteps from the main campus of the University of West Indies, in Kingston.

The track – just constructed and completed last summer – is part of an advertising contract between BSW (which makes the super delux “Regupol track”) and Usain Bolt as celebrity endorsement for the company’s sports floor products.  In the future, the track will be used for training not only by Bolt and his team colleagues in the “Racers Track Club” but also by top athletes from all over the world who come here to train and run in competitions.

The new top-ranking track brings the University of the West Indies a good step closer to its goal of having the best sports facility in the Caribbean. During the inauguration ceremony, BSW’s CEO Ulf Pöppel said that the track would help the Jamaicans to continue producing the world’s best sprinters, just as Brazil produces world-class footballers and the USA the best basketball players.

Let’s face it – Nearshore outsourcing does have  its benefits. Just take a look at the scenery we found during our recent visit to Montego Bay.

SOURCE: NewsBlaze

I was strolling along Rio’s famous Copacabana Beach when suddenly I felt forceful yanking at my throat. I thought my assailant had gotten my backpack with valuable documents and money, but to my relief, I realised the miscreant had ripped a thin gold chain with a small diamond from my neck. He’d also gotten my faux gold earrings, all while riding a bike. “My diamond!” I screamed. Luckily he dropped the goods – I learned later that resisting can lead to bodily harm – and with the help of a wonderful ‘abuela’ (grandmother) I recovered my lost gems.

I was foolish to wear jewellery in Rio. Warnings abound in South America’s capital cities about street crime, largely committed by ‘favela’ kids so poor that theft is their only option. The threat of being accosted is real but can be avoided and there is so much to commend the continent that fear of crime should not dissuade women travellers from exploring South American treasures.

On a recent trip to South America I was rewarded with amazing treats. These ranged from learning about Inca culture to listening to music from wonderful wind instruments; from making new friends to eating delicious local cuisine; from exploring the metropolis of Buenos Aires to taking in the splendid mountains surrounding Machu Picchu and the Sacred Valley of Peru.

Here are some highlights recorded in my travel journal: “At the Arcos de Lapa, a 17th century viaduct in Rio, we watched the annual Easter Passion Play enacted by 100 professional actors. As Christ made his way through the Stations of the Cross to his crucifixion, I was so moved I wept. …The biggest attraction in Rio is the beauty of the city itself, especially when viewed from Sugar Loaf Mountain or Rio’s iconic Christo Redentor (Christ the Redeemer). … Rio is superbly situated with mountains, sea, and bay forming exquisite vistas.

“No wonder Buenos Aires is called the Paris of South America! Wide boulevards and neighbourhood cafes abound in this cosmopolitan city. … At a parilla (steak house) we ordered sirloin tip steaks and a bottle of Malbec; both melted in our mouths like butter. … In the Cemetario Recoleta everyone who is anyone in Argentine history, including Evita, has a spectacular monument. … We went to the central square, site of the weekly marches of the Madres de Plaza de Mayo and the old presidential palace, Casa Rosa, where Evita made speeches to adoring crowds. …San Telmo and La Boca are colourful, bohemian neighborhoods…the tango show in which four couples perform the amazingly sensual and difficult dance of Argentina was terrific…We took the Subte (subway) to the Museo de Evita Peron, housed in a gorgeous mansion she acquired as a women’s shelter. There are videos, photographs, the big black Cadillac limo, Evita’s clothes and more. I continue to be perplexed by this woman but one thing I know for sure: she had great taste in shoes!

“Chileans are extremely friendly and playful, easily given to laughter. …The Plaza des Armas is a lovely square with plentiful palm trees, a fountain, sidewalk artists and people milling about. … At the Palacio de la Moneda, the large government building where in 1973 Salvadore Allende died when the Pinochet revolution began, we watched the changing of the guard as they marched with the precision of New York’s famed Rockettes. … In the neighbourhood of Bella Vista, we visited one of Pablo Neruda’s three houses in Chile. Neruda called the house he designed, La Chascona, “the woman with the tousled hair” after Matilda, his third wife. It is intriguingly full of Neruda memorabilia. Bella Vista is also where the rickety funicular takes visitors to the top of Cerro de San Cristobal for a bird’s eye view of the city. I could hardly look down as we ascended but the view was spectacular!

“As we drive to Valparaiso and Vin del Mar vineyards are plentiful. … En route to Santa Cruz, mountains surround us, with occasional glimpses of snow-caped Andes. Men on horseback in traditional flat-top sombreros dot the road. Along the ‘Ruta de Fruta’ acres of vineyards form a palate of goldenrod, autumnal browns and Christmas red and green. The sun burnishes the landscape with that special light captured by Impressionists; everything is bathed with a calm aura of expectation.

“Pabel, our tour guide, meets us at Lima’s (Peru) Airport with a great bear hug and a kiss on the cheek. … The cuisine, as everywhere else we’ve been, is the best; we think Europeans must overcome their andocentric culinary ideas and wine snobbery! … Cuzco is one of the most beautiful cities I’ve ever seen. Surrounded by mountains, bustling and bigger than I’d imagined, its main plaza is a gardened centre of activity. The spectacular cathedral is representative of 16th century Spanish architecture. Shops and cafes surround the plaza, arcaded for shade. Women in colourful indigenous dress wander with their llamas in hopes of a few solas (coins) if tourists photograph them. …We make our way to the bus that will take us up to Machu Picchu, hairpin curve by hairpin curve. Verdant mountain spikes surround us; occasionally we see white-peaked Andes above the river running like a long ribbon below. …Machu Picchu and the Sacred Valley are awesome: Incredible landscapes and Inca marvels of architecture, myth, practice.”

These excerpts barely reveal all there is to see, taste, experience, and enjoy on the beautiful, friendly continent of South America.

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