The only one festival we travel to each year is the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival in New York, but that's as much for the community as it is for the music.

My girlfriend and I are flying to Denver (my hometown) in two weeks for the Great American Beer Festival. You can try (or do your best to try)1800 beers from over 400 breweries. I went several years ago and had a blast. It's obviously not something everyone would be interested in, but definitely a must for beer lovers.

http://www.beertown.org/events/gabf/index.htm

Speaking of the written word, I highly recommend the annual Texas Book Festival in November in Austin.

The best thing about it, besides the wide variety of topics and speakers, is the location: the State Capitol. The largest sessions are in the state House and Senate chambers; pretty cool surroundings.

Jazz Festival in New Orleans.

Jazz fest in NOLA.

Kristkindlmarkt in Chicago (Not worth it totally on its own, but worth a day, and Chicago is a good place to Christmas shop and eat and see a show at Second City...) http://www.christkindlmarket.com/

For the media to present a story, it must be r-e-a-l-l-y entertaining. Often the truth is embellished or the sensational is emphasized. But with Papua New Guinea's Cultural Festivals there's no need to exaggerate - these cultural pow wows are what The Chicago Tribune rightfully calls "one of the 12 travel wonders of the world." Those who venture to this dance competition and gathering of the tribes say it's one of the most memorable travel experiences available.

One recent traveler said he was going to have to begin a 12 step Photographers Anonymous group, he couldn't stop taking pictures. Not only can you photograph the most exotic, colorful tribes people imaginable, the tribes people beckon you to take their picture for free. Friendly villagers are so proud to display their finery and culture. They recognize you have traveled all this distance to see them as rare human birds in their beautiful habitat. During the festival, the best pictures are as you watch face paint, feathers, shells, seed pods and other traditional decorations applied as body adornment.

The Cultural Festivals in May, June, August and September each differ. Though I have visited all the Shows in the locations over the decades, the newer, but more traditional Tumbuna Show is my favorite. It's smaller, with easier to access photo opportunities, there are no fences separating visitors from participants, and there are no interminable political speeches inflicted on everyone in the midday sun. There's convenient access to the groups; they are in a close-by oval area with shade. Best of all, there are only about forty or so travelers from the "outside world."

Does Size Matter - Does it Make it a Better Fit? The Goroka Show in September is usually the biggest. However, for crowd control the tourists and visitors are kept from the parading tribes people by a barb wire fence. Entrance for those cherished close-ups might be limited to an hour or two, after the energy and film have been spent. Hotel space in town is scarce during this show - and a written confirmation can mean nothing. I saw front desk personnel look at the hotel confirmation as a meaningless piece of paper. No matter how many letters, e-mails, and phone calls one has made, sometimes one is shifted to a less desirable hotel, far, far from town, with possible delays in getting to the Show. Or one takes charter flights for day visits to the festival, not the most desirable option for this renowned event. Also, the Goroka Show has on rare occasion been changed in date or canceled on short notice.

The mid-August Mt. Hagen Show is popular and dependable for the wow factor. Flights, however, especially on the day after the Show can be delayed, creating havoc on one's itinerary. There are only are only about 180 overseas visitors privileged to attend this two day celebration. This show is combined with a county fair type gathering. My frustrating experience related to the Mt. Hagen Show involves airline delays and complications. Since there are overseas clients gathered for this event, they all depart for international or domestic flights the day the show is over - so expect delayed flights or overbooking complications. It isn't fun, spending all this time and money to be sitting at an airport for four to seven hours or having to stay an extra overnight because airline priorities are other than what one the overseas visitor might need.

In my 27 years of experience I have seen competing travel companies promise much, and deliver a mixed experience. Some print exciting colorful photos of Papua New Guineans as a brochure cover piece, but don't travel anywhere near the area where these tribes can be seen. There are many fine honed details which can make a substantive difference to the Highlands Show trip. Verify if the trip is guaranteed to operate, if there is a trip escort and how long the escort has experience with PNG. Choose a trip with an experienced trip escort who can substantively enhance your understanding of the intricacies of this country which has 750 different languages. Does the Sepik River component to the trip have 15 or 45 travelers. Is there a day spent in transit on the open sea?

If visiting Papua New Guinea, make certain to include three days in the most colorful part of the country - the Huli Wigmen area and stay at Ambua Lodge with access to exciting jungle hikes, bird watching, and probably the most authentic, accessible traditional tribes people in the country. Most PNG travelers are experienced , but for this country it's more important to be well prepared.

Most of the festivals are in the Highlands, with a 5,000 to 7,000 ft. elevation, so the air is temperate and conducive to touring. Accommodations are comparable to the great wilderness hotels in Africa. The Cultural Shows substantively add to the cost and the quality of a Papua New Guinea trip. In a world of cultural travels, however, to attend one of these exciting, colorful festivals is to be immersed in sensory overload.

The destination is not value laden, but these tribal "Sing Sings" as the celebrations are called, are surely a worthwhile peak travel adventure. Now when travel has become a big business with hype and sizzle so common, the Highland Shows deliver an authentic travel experience. You will dine out on your stories and photos of the Mudmen, of the famous fierce Huli Wigmen and other tribes people competing in this dance competition. It's a photographers paradise and armchair anthropologists thrill to the cultural immersion. It's like being in a "National Geographic cultural documentary" but having nice accommodations and good food at the end of the day.

Despite the adverse publicity about rascals, headhunters, cannibals, crime, and malaria, if one chooses an itinerary with a reputable tour operator, one will enjoy a dependable adventure in this 'land of the unexpected." Realize travelers and the media frequently embellish the adventures, the hardships, the arduous treks, and the sensational. The stories depict more daring and dangerous adventures than what actually occurred. Since so few people travel to PNG (approximately three to five thousand a year) these stories are seldom refuted. Traveling with a reputable PNG tour operator substantially reduces the risk of a spoiled trip. Note to intrepid travelers: This is a country one does not visit on one's own.

Also, prepare yourself for post trip letdown; one can scarcely find a comparable exotic travel experience. When friends gather for a list of the top travel experiences, you too will will rightfully join the Chicago Tribune in calling the Highlands Show one of the twelve travel wonders of the world. Be ready to edit a huge kaleidoscope of many dazzling photos and travel memories.

Travel can be like an addiction, one needs fixes with the more exotic and less tried. After Rio on New Years Eve, India's Pushkar fair, Papua New Guinea's Highlands show, the oceanfront weekend street festival in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic has a "Parranda Navidea" every night from December 20 until New Years is a spectacle totally pleasing to the senses. Unlike the Papua New Guinea Highlands show which is during the day, this festival starts shortly before midnight.

At the open air amphitheatre with live and recorded music, people of all ages, shapes, dress mingle amicably. I've never seen so many diverse people having fun without spending any money except for refreshments or without getting intoxicated. There were grandparents
dancing with little ones, parents with their babies on their back,
couples dressed from very fashionably to the usual casual look. There were young, old, of all shapes, singles, couples, families. The people watching was fascinating eye candy. Sometimes it's almost hard not to gawk. It's as if the words "shy" and "inhibited" are not in the lexicon of this environment. More than a few four and five year olds were dancing and swaying at this late hour, just a few people with bare middrif, and there were no baseball hats or low slung pants. Mostly it's wholesome inexpensive family and friends enjoying a festival with a sense of community. there's also a Carnival and Meringue festival which I haven't seen.

For the visitor after an arduous day of sunning, swimming, and
reading, one is fatigued and in need of caffeine and Visine to be up for the adventure. But once the rhythm of the music and the spectacle of the dancing crowd takes over, one needs nothing else to enjoy life in the moment. Whatever hardships the people might have, they are buoyed by the music and dance. Lightheartedness reigns. (As clothing is major export for the Dominican Republic, I can imagine the "efficient" conditions the workers contend with.) These nights, for me, however, are a startling sight and makes me wonder what the nightclubs and party venues must be like. Only in Thailand and the Dominican Republic have I seen people enjoy the evening with so much verve.

The experience is IMAX - though most of the crowd is casually dressed, I saw men in sports coats, even wearing a tie, women in slinky, tapering dresses, a few in stilleto heels or full length silk gowns, grandparents, children on the shoulders of dancing parents, vendors sashaying through the crowd laden with balanced wares - couples in romance or out on the night with others, females dancing together, a line of young men gyrating, people freely changing dance partners, a unity with happiness ( no carb sweetness) to savor and celebrate.

At times there are tedious intervals with long dialogues teasing with the audience, while the band prepares for the live vs. the recorded component of the show. But for a baby boomer this is what one must endure to see Motown animation revised and prepared with a dollop of meringue in tropical Santo Domingo.

Just steps from the hotel one is in an authentic environment without the business of tourism. One segment had an audience member joining the band on stage (my jaded mind wondering if this was planted) and a competition of hip shimmying, gyrating, swiveling delighted the senses of the the crowd. Tahitian and Belly dancers would marvel at the possibities of the body display here.

Had I romanticized this, I thought as I returned the next night? The acts were different, male vocalists with the Motown choreography again, with more audience participation in waving, and singing the refrains to the standard songs, such as "Te Amo" which even if one doesn't understand Spanish, one can understand the heart and rhythm behind the lyrics. The plaza was packed with an audience of about five thousand. There may be other similar celebrations around the world or as close as a big city Salsa nightclub in the U.S. but here it is such wholesome fun to encounter this unexpectedly wholesome, sensory experience as an adjuct to a restful holiday.

Meanwhile, without fear, I safely return to the hotel at 1:30 am , take an appreciative peek at the ballroom of the hotel where a formal wedding reception continues - and yes, the dancing is amimated and fun, though not nearly as entertaining as in the street fair. And while there was no sense of preying at the street fair, at the glamorous hotel casino this is not the case. I am proud of myself, I didn't go to bed early, I ventured down the street to enjoy this marvel, and I occasionally took my hands out of my pockets! I bought some trinkets from vendors and
twice they reminded me to take my hotel pen. I felt well and pleased this experience was well worth trip from across the continent.

Do I suggest others to travel to the Dominican Republic just to see these annual weekend street festivals around Christmastime? Perhaps not, but it would make an amazing adjunct to one's stay at other places in this country.

I also do not like the crowds and high hotel prices that sometimes come with Festivals. That being said, I also don't mind bumping into them on my travels. Last summer I went to my nephew's wedding in Fond Du Lac, WI. I flew in and out of Millwaukee. Since I had never been to Millwaukee, I booked 2 nights in the city before coming back home. As I was out walking after having dinner, I found that a french themed festival called Bastille Days was going on 3 blocks from the hotel. Lots of quality stands as well as plenty of food and drink and 5 stages of entertainment, programmed until 10 or 11 at night!!. The next day on a visit to the Millwaukee Museum of Art, I found a separate lakeside festival going on with the Thunderbirds, and other airgroups rumbling overhead. Lots of fun. I'd love to go back again sometime. I'd also like to go to Montreal during the Jazz Fest. ( Seeing free concerts will take the sting out of high accomodation charges) I just came back from visiting my sister for the first time in Albuquerqui. The next time I go out, I am going to make sure it is during the Balloon Fiesta, at least I'll have a place to crash!!!!!