For Real??

Searching around for new destinations, I came across some VERY eccentric and beautiful places that I hope to check out in my lifetime. I love how big our world is sometimes.

Looking like flora straight from Pandora, I was amazed to find out that there are 71 glowing mushroom species here on Earth. This one, found in the forests of Japan and Brazil, is called the Mycena chlorophos. They emerge during the rainy season, causing the floor to glow with spores. The light show generally happens in the late summer months, although the mushrooms only do really well where, not surprisingly, there are no people to disturb them.

Glow in the dark water? Thanks to the fortuitous trio of luminescent waters called La Parguera, Mosquito Bay and Fajardo, the undoubtedly surreal experience of wading in up to 160,000 microscopic dinoflagellates per liter can be yours in beautiful Vieques, Puerto Rico.

Again focusing my thoughts on Avatar for a moment, Venezuela is apparently harboring special lands unlike dreamscapes only seen on film. This towering, flat-topped mountain punctuated with hundreds of free-flowing water falls and seemingly cotton-candy like flowing clouds is known as Mount Roraima. Those who favor mythical tales involving spiritually enlightened natives living in harmony with magical plants and flying dragons might prefer the alternative name given to this two billion year old geological formation – The Lost World, after Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s 1912 novel. Due to its remote location far from the prying eyes and hands of the developed world, a diverse range of animal and plant species – completely unique to that area – have been able to flourish, including exotic-looking “carrot” formations as well as bell and pitcher-shaped flowers. Wow.....

In certain part of New Zealand and Australia, travel underground and suddenly it appears as if the night sky has followed you. Thanks to common "glow worms", cave ceilings are turned into stunning bioluminescent points of light. Actually, they're not actually worms, but larvae of the gnat fly. They spin a nest of silk on the cave ceiling and then hang down as many as 70 threads with drops of mucus (delicious) attached to snare prey. The larva all glow (even more brightly if they haven't eaten in a bit) to lure victims to the threads. Incredibly, nearly 100% of the energy input is turned into light. Incredible.