Category Archive: South America

Lake Titicaca, big stuff. South America’s largest lake, the world’s highest commercially navigable one. And if you take it all in from Bolivia’s Isla del Sol, something beautiful. Deep blue skies hang above inky fresh waters, clouds pop over a lonely landscape, and the whole scene is wrapped by the 20,000 foot snowcapped mountains of the Cordillera Real.

It’s one thing to admire the lake from the shores of Copacabana, Bolivia’s main outpost on the lake, but it’s another to hike the length of Isla del Sol. Breath-taking, quite literally. Continue Reading »

Have you ever wondered which UNESCO World Heritage site is the least visited?

When we heard a rumor calling out the Jesuit ruins in the towns of Trinidad and Jesus in Paraguay as the least appreciated UNESCO World Heritage site, we figured they were worth a visit.

Open the panorama below in fullscreen (tilt up) and then consider the back-story of a community founded on the ideals of education, sustainable agriculture and integration — almost 300 years ago. Continue Reading »

Patagonia: the home of otherworldly landscapes, uplifted granite, glaciers, unrelenting wind, and the toughened skin of a Pinot noir grape. At the region’s northern reaches, where fabled mountains yield to desert flatlands, there are wineries.

We couchsurfed and hitchhiked our way to find them, and when we did, we were pleasantly surprised to find that we had them virtually all to ourselves.

Adventurers, read on. For those of you interested in the details of do-it-yourself wine touring in this area, read Patagonia Wine Tasting, a How To. Continue Reading »

Article Series - Wine Tasting in Argentina

1. Patagonia: Hitchhiking the Wild West of Argentine Wine
2. Red Rocks and Wine Tasting: Cafayate, Argentina
3. Wine Tasting in Mendoza, Argentina: Going Beyond Malbec and Loving It

When we poked around Buenos Aires earlier this year, our food quests were focused not only on understanding Argentine cuisine but also seeking out various ethnic cuisines that we hadn’t encountered much while traveling the Andes and Paraguay. A couple of times a week, we’d head out with a restaurant recommendation, a gigantic map of the city, and scribbled notes as to our bus route.

We often got lost. We always ate. And we discovered something.
Continue Reading »

Some places are best suited to road trips. They speak: move at your own pace, get lost, stop off in small towns, have the flexibility to enjoy whatever experiences might come your way.

The area around Salta and Jujuy in northwest Argentina is one such chunk of perfect road trip territory. Listen and watch the audio slideshow below to find out why. Continue Reading »

Article Series - Road Trip Northwest Argentina: Salta, Cafayate, Jujuy

1. Road Trip Northwest Argentina: Where Gauchos Go To Party
2. Three Vignettes: Beautiful Everyday People of Northwest Argentina
3. Audio Slideshow: Northwest Argentina, Road Trip Style

When I think about my first contact with the concept of Argentine cuisine, I recall a discussion twelve years ago with an unassuming foodie friend in San Francisco.

“I bet the food in Argentina is great!” I offered with blind optimism as visions of gauchos stepping to a tango beat danced in my head.  Argentina seemed so damn far away; therefore the food must be exotic and varied.

My food-wise friend brushed off my enthusiasm without skipping a beat, “Yeah, if the only thing you like is steak and wine.”

Continue Reading »

In a future incarnation, we will run world tours that seek to deliver extraordinary travel experiences through encounters with ordinary people. And when we do, a road trip in Northwest Argentina will be one of our first stops in South America.

After stumbling upon a dazzling gaucho festival on the first day of a week-long road trip, we figured our travel karma would have run out. Instead, our journey across the valleys outside of Salta featured interactions with engaging people open to odd encounters.

Here’s a taste. Continue Reading »

Article Series - Road Trip Northwest Argentina: Salta, Cafayate, Jujuy

1. Road Trip Northwest Argentina: Where Gauchos Go To Party
2. Three Vignettes: Beautiful Everyday People of Northwest Argentina
3. Audio Slideshow: Northwest Argentina, Road Trip Style

The Incan ruins of Machu Picchu outside Cusco, Peru grab the lion’s share of that country’s travel press. But before the Incas stormed through this region in the 15th century, there were actually some other clever people living in Peru. They built an impressive city and lived in circular houses on a mountaintop in the north, near the town of Chachapoyas (meaning “People of the Clouds”).

A shot of the ruins of Kuelap, the citadel they built in those clouds, can be seen in the panorama below.

We tend to carry a healthy dose of skepticism with us when visiting ruins, but this particular pile of rocks — and its stories — exceeded our expectations. Continue Reading »

As our rental car began to drift atop a layer of windblown sand, I grabbed hold, down-shifted and noticed the hills around me were swirled in a peppermint twist. All those Ruta 40 signs in Argentina finally delivered on an implied promise: you’ll be impressed, and what once captured your imagination will now claim your full attention. But it wasn’t the fabled Route 40 of Patagonia that would provide the exclamation point on our time in Argentina. It was a week-long road trip across the quebradas of Northwest Argentina, where chilies dry in the midday sun, llama comes served with wine pressed just down the road, and gauchos hold harvest festivals in the hills.
Continue Reading »

Article Series - Road Trip Northwest Argentina: Salta, Cafayate, Jujuy

1. Road Trip Northwest Argentina: Where Gauchos Go To Party
2. Three Vignettes: Beautiful Everyday People of Northwest Argentina
3. Audio Slideshow: Northwest Argentina, Road Trip Style

On the topic of trekking in Patagonia, the two names most bandied about: Chile’s Torres del Paine and Argentina’s El Chalten. Although their hunks of uplifted granite are similar enough, the prevailing style of hikes they offer are quite different.

Whereas the “W” and Circuit treks at Torres del Paine are mainly about the long haul, El Chalten’s strength: its day hikes. On the edge of Argentina’s Glacier National Park (Parque Nacional Los Glaciares), El Chalten also offers the thrill of nature at a lower cost than its Chilean neighbor — with the added feature of a microbrewery on the way home from the hills.

In other words, two Patagonian trekking centers; two rather different experiences. Continue Reading »