People gambling in a giant eBay slot machine in Las Vegas’ MGM casino.

We spent 2 nights and 1 day in calurous Las Vegas. An Ethiopian taxi driver confessed that he moved from Washington D.C. seeking for his home town’s climate.

Long sleeve shirts at midnight were a pain in the open unconditioned air, but they didn’t convince Bellagio’s Pure nightclub bouncers to overlook our prohibited white sneakers. We then walked The Strip from Excalibur north to Venettian, spending and earning some money in the virtual roulette machines. $10 were to much of an opening bet to sit down on a table.

Sunset at Monegros Desert Festival 2008, Zaragoza, Spain

Ravers walk the muddy path towards a giant, packed, well organized techno festival in the middle of Spain’s Monegros desert. Starring the best DJs in Europe and attracting people accordingly, this year’s edition was blessed with an opening shower that milded the temperature and made it less dangerous for the dehydrated dancers at 12 a.m. next morning.

A member of Diables de Sant Cugat juggling with fire staffs.

Sant Cugat del Vallés, 10 km. from Barcelona, Spain, is home to the wealthiest citizens in Catalonia. Each summer the space Barraques of the Festes Majors (the town’s annual celebration) is target of the neighbours’ complaints while local and foreign youngs rejoice amidst fire and drums, live music, alcohol and hashish.

Promotional photo of The Poches, a music band from Valldoreix, Barcelona, Spain.

As they say in their webpage, “The Poches is a band born in the forgotten garage of an old summer house in one of the last hippy havens remaining in Valldoreix”. They don’t sound as good as their presentation… yet they have a nice promotional photo!

A young student sings love songs in Sant Jordi’s day.

Maybe the best occasion to wonder the streets in Catalonia is Sant Jordi’s day. Coinciding with Shakespeare and Cervantes’ death in 1616, the 23rd of April Catalans express their love to their nearest with red roses and books. Dining one sunny Sant Jordi’s day, music brought our attention to a young performer singing songs to his beloved under the complacent gaze of fellow students in the Vila Universitària of the UAB.

A toast with tequila shots Thursday night in Mundo Canibal.

My first contact with a fish eye lens, supported by an external quality flash, was during three working days full of activities that rendered funny and amazingly colored instants.

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Far east setting moon mimics the pattern of a tea house roof.

Out of the frame a Shanghainese crowd celebrates the New Year of the Rat in the Yu Yuan Gardens. Hundreds of souls breezily cram the zig-zagging Crooked Bridge with shopping bags and yang rou chuan (lamb skewers).

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Sheep flock on the path to Queen Maeve’s grave in Knocknarea, Co. Sligo, Ireland.

It’s the closest thing I’ve done to pilgrimage. Climbing Knocknarea has something of trascendental as you carry a stone from the foot to the top and contribute to bury deeper -or honour, depends on who you ask- mythical Iron Age Queen Maeve. The 45-minute walk displays a range of sights and sensations: cows and sheep roam the green hillside, passing-by tourists greet you with a nod and, as you make the top, the Irish landscape displays itself, cloudy, the pinkish fields and the low hills in the distance, the smell of turf.