To find out more about this festival click on September Celebrations for the most up-to date information and events.

Burgess Park will be transformed into an oasis of Latin culture, with traditional entertainment, food, crafts and more throughout the day. The crowds will be out to party in a vibrant festival atmosphere, bubbling with Latin rhythms and flavour. A parade of floats and costumed dancers will make its way to the park from Elephant and Castle, featuring dancers, floats and entertainers.

A selection of concerts will take place on the main stage, presenting a selection of live acts in the sun. Crowds can party down with some international merengue and salsa stars. The Lebron Brothers will be performing this year, and you can sample other acts from Paraguay, Brazil, Cuba and other Latin American countries at Carnaval del Pueblo 2010.

Burgess Park will be bubbling with song and dance during a day of fun and festivities, with plenty to see and do for visitors of all ages. A selection of well known musicians and artists will be taking part in events on the day including artists from Brazil and the Dominican Republic. The crowds can enjoy world class entertainment and have a go themselves in an upbeat party atmosphere.

This year’s Carnaval Del Pueblo is expected to be one of the biggest ever, attracting streams of partygoers to South London for a colourful day of music and merriment. A salsa dancing Guinness World Record attempt is set to take place, and the local community and visitors to the area can come together to celebrate Latin culture in the sun at what promises to be one of the biggest festival dates of the year.

Carnaval Del Pueblo 2010 takes place at Burgess Park, Camberwell on Sunday 1st August. Events at Burgess Park continue until 10pm.

The carnival procession begins at Elephant and Castle at 12pm and will make its way along Walworth Road and Albany Road, finishing at Burgess Park at roughly 3pm. All events are free to attend.

As one might expect of a Brazilian festival, the Boi Bamba is a riot of colour, music, dancing and drinking. Three days is a long time to party with Brazilians – so pace yourselves.

The main event takes place in a purpose built arena. The festival was founded around the story of one Pai Francisco and his family’s theft of a prize bull from a wealthy landowner. As one would expect, a life-sized re-enactment of the story would not do, and, as ever, the cunning thievery is replayed using huge floats of dazzling creature creations and dancing troupes all moving to hypnotic beats.

Boi Bumba next occurs on 28th, 29th and 30th of June 2010.

Every Sunday in a vast public gym in El Alto, 4,150 metres above sea level, a dozen female wrestlers turn up to fight. Of indigenous Ayamara origin, the women wear the traditional skirt, bloomers, plait and hat to enter the ring. The locals call the fights “the highest wrestling matches in the world.”

Foreign tourists pay a high price to watch the show compared to locals but if you can afford it why not take a look. Tours from La Paz usually include transportation, entrance, snack, a small souvenir, and ringside seating.

According to Incan mythology, Inti was the sun god, and the name Inti Raymi comes from the Quechuan language meaning ‘Festival of the Sun’. Inca religion focused predominantly on the worship of the sun, being an essential aspect of life: it provided both light and warmth, and crop growth depended on it.

Inti Raymi therefore grew as a religious ceremony in honour of Inti, but it also marked the winter solstice – when the sun is furthest from the Earth – and the start of a new year. It took place at the end of the potato and corn harvest to thank the sun for a successful crop, and to ask for another good crop the following season. Although the winter solstice ‘officially’ begins on 21st June, the Incan sundial – known as Pacha Unachaq – showed that the sun remained in the same place for a few days before rising on 24th June. So it was that Inti Raymi festival was dated 24th June.

Today, Inti Raymi celebrations take place 2km outside Cusco, in the magnificent walled complex of Sacsayhuamán. It is the second largest festival in South America, after Rio’s carnival. Peruvians, South Americans and visitors from all over the globe come together for the week-long celebrations that include music, concerts, dancing, street fairs, exhibitions, religious ceremonies and elaborate traditional dress. By day the streets are filled with the sound of celebration and the scent of fresh flowers, and by night popular Peruvian groups put on free concerts in the main square, the Plaza de Armas.

Yet the real highlight is on the day itself, 24th June. A procession, led by the Incan emperor Sapa Inca on his throne, and followed by elaborately robed priests, nobles and other celebrants (some 500 actors bring the past alive with their portrayals of typical Incan citizens), winds its way from Santo Domingo church in central Cusco to Sacsayhuamán, where it is met by huge crowds. Sapa Inca then sits upon a sacred altar, in view of everyone, and the day proceeds with speeches, a sacrificial llama and prayers for the fertility of the earth. As the sun sets, fires are lit and people dance. Inti Raymi finishes, and new year begins, with a similar procession back to Cusco. To be honest, it is all rather cheesy, but it does give a hint of the incredible spectacle the original festivities would have presented.

Hotels are crowded the weeks surrounding Inti Raymi, so be sure to book a room in advance.

Last year Antigua Guatemala was named the most attractive tourist city in the world at the Wanderlust Travel Awards 2009.

The unique nut has always contributed to the community’s economy, especially for its women, who have been able to secure additional income for their households by selling cashew products. The situation is even better today, as the product is more often sold directly to local consumers and tourists than to distributors in Belize City, as it was in the past.

The cashew tree provides fruit as well as nuts. These succulent, very sweet and juicy fruits are made into jam, wine, vinegar, preserves and even pastries. The nuts themselves grow on the outside of the fruit and have to be carefully cooked for hours before they are palatable, which is why they tend to be so expensive elsewhere.

Apart from sampling the cashews and cashew foods, the festival also features storytelling and live music.

The venue is more commonly known here as the Biennial Pavilion and is one of the modern architectural splendours of the Ibirapuera Park, a masterpiece of design by Oscar Niemeyer. It’s a fitting location then for Brazil’s best art galleries and a select collection of international guests from around the continent.

Experts and art lovers come here to reflect on art trends, the process of creation and production, and the trail from artist to exhibition and commercial sale.

Perhaps the most famous Semana Santa celebrations occur in Ayacucho, Peru, where the entire town participates in the Holy Week event. Semana Santa celebrations are concentrated in the Andean highland villages, where the mix of Catholicism and pagan religions creates some of the most colourful and fervent festivals. Ayacucho, Cuzco, Huaraz and Tarma each have week-long observances, but Ayacucho is most famous for its Holy Week celebrations.

In Ayacucho, the ceremonies begin on the Friday before Palm Sunday, with the enactment of the meeting between Christ and his mother, the Virgen Dolorosa. Palm Sunday is a festive occasion, with mules and palms waving throughout the city. Throughout the week, daily and evening processions allow the participants to demonstrate their devotion. An open air market with crafts, food, and music draws a huge crowd who enjoy chicha or chacta with a chew of coca leaves. A traditional belief holds that since Christ is now dead, and not yet risen, there is no such thing as a sin. Consequently, participants in Ayacucho’s holy week celebrations use this time to party and behave as they please until Sunday’s resurrection ceremonies.

Tarma is often called the Pearl of the Andes for its scenic beauty. The streets where the processions march are covered in carpets and arches of flowers (see image), created by the devout citizens of the town. Celebrations begin on Thursday with the procession of the Virgen de Dolores, continue with the daily observances, and end with the traditional Easter Sunday processions. A tradition for the artisans creating the floral works is to end the day with a calientito, hot tea with lemon and chacta (cane liquor) to keep the creative spirit warm.

In Huaraz, year-long preparations culminate in a carefully choreographed week of celebrations. Beginning with Palm Sunday, an effigy of Christ is carried on a donkey into the city. Celebrations end on Domingo de Resurrección with fireworks and the release of hundreds of birds. Huaraz observes Semana Santa rituals with piety and devotion.

In Cuzco, capital of the Inca Empire, Semana Santa observations revolve around the Señor de los Temblores. Legend has it that the statue of Christ, sent by Philip V of Spain to aid in the conversion of the Indians, became emaciated and blackened following an earthquake on 31 May, 1650. The statue, now resembling the native population, has been revered since as the Cristo de los Temblores (Christ of the Earthquakes). The processions through the streets are coloured by strips of textiles woven with gold thread that hang in the windows of houses, enlivened by firecrackers and noise makers. A different slant to the religious rituals occurs on Good Friday when abstinence is not practiced. Instead, participants feast on twelve traditional dishes, from soups, fish, potato dishes to desserts.

In Chiclayo, processions feature wooden pasos, platforms for statues of Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary, that represent different stages in the last few weeks of Jesus’ life. Although now a major commercial centre for the region, Chiclayo was originally an Indian village run by Spanish priests. Local ceremonies and traditions are a paradoxical mix of Indian and Christian customs. Bands and costumes are a big feature during Semana Santa, with festivities lasting well into the early hours.

In Arequipa, the Semana Santa celebrations take the form of massive processions in the centre of town, with participants dressed in mourning clothes, in the style of Seville in Spain. On the morning of Easter Sunday, Penitents vent their anger by the burning of effigies of Judas in two of the town’s plazas. The celebrations for Semana Santa in the picturesque colonial town of Arequipa are some of the best to visit in Peru.