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Laif

Locals perform a traditional dance at Punanga Nui Market, which opens every Saturday morning in Rarotonga.

A worker handles leeches bred for medical and veterinary therapies at a facility in Biebertal, Germany.

Medical leeches at a medicinal leech breeding facility in Biebertal, Germany.

A hiker visits a traditional barn in Zmutt. The hamlet is on the new Kulturwege trail, which highlights these centuries-old wooden structures.

This cacao is from Akesson's Organic farm in Madagascar, which produces the world's finest quality cocoa.

The California Zephyr train skirts the Colorado River.

Passengers traveling on the California Zephyr stretch their legs and smoke during a brief stop in Nevada.

Traveler Elisa Eymery watches the scenery roll by from an upper-level seat aboard the California Zephyr. The train is one of Amtrak’s Superliners, meaning it has several two-story cars.

Passengers are paired up with strangers for meals in the dining car on the California Zephyr.

The California Zephyr train travels one of America’s longest—and most scenic—railway routes between Chicago and San Francisco. Over 51 hours, it passes through the plains of Nebraska (shown), the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, and the deserts of Nevada.