A sapling of the legendary tree where conquistador Hernán Cortés sat and wept after an Aztec uprising.

A tomb in the shape of a traditional Mexican hat and shawl for the father of modern rancheras.

No telescopes, no power, no gift shop: The Observatory of Chichen Itza, one of the world's oldest observatories, takes astronomy back to basics.

Every equinox this Maya pyramid puts on a spooky ancient light show.

This sculpture garden is a serene oasis wedged in the middle of a busy highway.

A fairy garden in an old hotel hidden in La Marquesa forest.

Stained glass windows bathe this botanical garden in cosmic light.

An airy Art Deco space devoted to the weird and wonderful folk art traditions of Mexico.

CDMX's home for the world's culinary delights.

Psychedelic murals coat the inside of a nondescript research library.

Public clocks around the city chime with bullfights, cockfights, old railways, and other local traditions.

This ornate church designed by a self-taught architect is an eclectic masterpiece in the heart of Central Mexico.

A formerly derelict railway workshop is home to a new world-class contemporary art museum in Central Mexico.

A uniquely robust and historic look at Mexico's omnipresent dance with Death.

An island filled with hundreds of hanging, decomposing, decapitated dolls.

The fully functional, submerged Vanuatu Post Office is definitely one of a kind.

The U.S. military dumped millions dollars worth of goods off a beach in Vanuatu, purely to spite the British and French.

Nestled in the jungles of Vanuatu are the remains of what was once a cannibal oven.

A failed utopia, shut down by a more legitimate nation.

The "Mother Temple of the Pacific Islands" stands at the center of 20 acres of lush, tropical prayer gardens.

The world is full of swimming holes, but few compare to Samoa’s idyllic To Sua ocean trench.

An unmarked, overgrown path through dense vegetation leads to the largest ancient structure in Polynesia.

A museum now occupies the mansion in Samoa where the prolific Scottish writer chose to spend the last years of his life.

This volcanically volatile island town is home to an abandoned series of tunnels left by the Japanese during WWII.