This week, Amy hosts the photo challenge and she picked one of my favorite songs of all time to feature, Louis Armstrong’s What a Wonderful World. She writes, “This week, our photo challenge is “It’s a wonderful world”. Louis Armstrong‘s What A Wonderful World came to my mind”… You can view her entire challenge post here.

I haven’t traveled the entire world, but between viewing images from my fellow bloggers who are more traveled than I, there is no doubt of the validity of the feelings in the lyrics of that song. From my own travels, I will share images that focus on the landscapes and some of the people and wildlife I have encountered in my journeys over the years. For my opening photo, I submit a proud iguana on a walk near Belize City, Belize.

In Nicaragua, during the Easter season, a pilgrimage of faithful embark on a week-long journey. In the days before Holy Week, the faithful who will be participating in the centuries-old event gather in Nandaime to prepare for the journey to Popoyuapa. Their goal is to honor Jesus the Rescuer, their devotion in thankfulness for the miracles given them in their lifetime. To these faithful Christians, the pilgrimage is one of the most important religious experiences in their country.

The miracle of life itself is nowhere more amazing than in the deserts of the world. Even in the drier parts of the world, plants that seem to grow from lifeless rocks renew their beauty each and every spring. A brittlebush plant shares a rocky ledge with a hedgehog cactus blooming in apparent competition to attract pollinators.

In Huatulco, Mexico, a Pacific coastal city of about 50,000 population, a pair of children are making door-to-door deliveries of fresh vegetables.

Even our cities, troubled as they are sometimes, have a beauty in their own right. This is a view of the city of Honolulu, Hawaii. Iconic Diamond Head is visible in the background at the lower right of the image.

I don’t have to travel far to enjoy the beauty of this wonderful world. The largest natural lake in North Dakota is Devils Lake seen here as sunset approaches from the right front seat of a small aircraft.

Even closer to home for me, a short 10-minute drive will take me to the western edge of the Red River of the North as it winds its way to Winnipeg, Canada. This image was captured on a summer day in Orchard Glen Park just south of Fargo, North Dakota.

The farthest from home that I have ever traveled is to the island of Tabuaeran, part of the Republic of Kiribati. One of the more remote islands in the Pacific Ocean, the atoll can be found about 1,211 mi (1,949 km) south of Honolulu, Hawaii, and 1,642 mi (2,643 km) northeast of Tahiti, French Polynesia. Even this island of only some 13 sq miles (33 sq km) has a population of over 2,000 as of 2015.

With that image, I invite you to click on any of the images above. That will take you to a gallery of Wonderful World images for a closer view of each of these, as well as a larger collection of Wonderful World images.

To close out this challenge post, here’s some background music for you, the incomparable Louis Armstrong:

John Steiner