South America Travel Articles, Photos and Panoramas

The Lost City, Colombia: A Guide to Hiking to La Ciudad Perdida

by Audrey Scott

Last Updated on January 6, 2023 by Audrey Scott

The hike to the Lost City in northern Colombia takes you 46km (28 miles) round trip through the jungles, hills and river valleys of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. We’d had our sights set on the Lost City Trek for years, so expectations had built up. Fortunately, the challenge, landscape, and experience exceeded so many of them.

This Lost City Columbia Hiking Guide shares why that is and includes a day-by-day overview of the Lost City Trek, all you need to know to choose the right tour, how to pack and organize so that you can enjoy the Ciudad Perdida and this multi-day hike to the fullest.

Huayhuash Trek, Peru: All You Need to Know About Hiking in the Cordillera Huayhuash

by Audrey Scott

Last Updated on November 18, 2022 by Audrey Scott

Doing the Huayhuash Trek in the Cordillera Huayhuash in Peru had been a dream of ours for over a decade. Although our expectations were high, the reality of our experience far exceeded them: eight high mountain pass crossings, surrounding peaks of 6,000+ meters (20,000+ feet), turquoise alpine lakes, stunning glacier-covered mountains, and a diversity of landscapes. Each day felt like a different experience, a new discovery. After answering endless questions about planning, organizing and preparing for a Huayhuash trek, it’s time to share it all in this Huayhuash Trekking Guide.

Brazil Experiential Travel Guide: 18 Things to Do, See and Eat + 2 Week Itinerary

by Audrey Scott

Visiting Rio de Janeiro on our Brazil Tour

Last Updated on April 26, 2024 by Audrey Scott

Are you interested in traveling to Brazil, but only have a limited amount of time? Maybe you have a couple of weeks and you feel overwhelmed by Brazil's size and variety of destinations. Don't worry, we've been there. That’s why we created this Brazil Experiential Travel Guide to get you started in organizing and planning your own trip.

A Favela Tour in Vidigal, Rio de Janeiro: How to Do One Respectfully and Responsibly

by Daniel Noll

Planeterra Vidigal Favela Tour in Rio de Janeiro

Last Updated on April 26, 2024 by Audrey Scott

In this piece, we explore the nature and meaning of favelas in Brazil and the ethics of favela tours. Through conversations with residents and community leaders in Vidigal favela in Rio de Janeiro, we consider how community-driven favela tour experiences can create positive social impact and reduce the exclusion and separative otherness of marginalized communities.

Argentina Food: A Culinary Travel Guide to What to Eat and Drink

by Daniel Noll

Last Updated on June 25, 2020 by Audrey Scott

Argentine steak, empanadas and pizza play a big role in the country’s cuisine, but there’s much more to food in Argentina. From asado (barbecue) to the stew-like national dish of locro, our Argentina food guide offers an extensive list of traditional dishes, European-influenced Argentine food favorites, desserts and wine. And it’s drawn from our travels across Argentina for four months, including meals in family homes, cafes, wineries and restaurants.

Colombia Travel Guide: 25 Experiences to Get You Started

by Daniel Noll

Last Updated on May 29, 2022 by Audrey Scott

When readers ask, “I’m traveling to Colombia. What should I do? Where should I go?” We’re left wondering how we’ll keep it short.

Because Colombia is so huge and diverse and serves so many different styles of travel, the answer is: it really depends on what you’re after.

To help (us and you), we created this experiential guide to travel in Colombia. It follows the sequence of our three weeks in the country. For any particular entry, maybe you like the image, perhaps the activity grabs your attention, or maybe both.

Travel to Colombia: First Impressions

by Audrey Scott

Last Updated on January 6, 2022 by Audrey Scott

Call it my imagination. While I looked forward to our visit to Colombia, I harbored the occasional image of thuggy bush-mustached Colombian narco-gangsters and aggressive gold cap-toothed street thieves shaking me down in the back shadows of Bogota or Medellin. (Yes, I realize I’ve probably watched one too many bad airplane movies.)

Colombia, thankfully, was altogether different. We spent time on our own, under the auspices of friends, on tours, in cities, way up in the hills, on the coast, and in destinations in between.

No narco-gangsters. No untoward experiences, for us.

Next Up: Exploring Colombia and Finding The Lost City

by Audrey Scott

Last Updated on April 22, 2024 by Audrey Scott

We're headed to Colombia tomorrow. We're off to see a country we were supposed to visit five years ago. We'll be on the trail for Colombian culture — from the Andes to the Pacific to the Caribbean — and to find The Lost City along the way.

Colombia. It's one of the countries that got away during the 15 months we traveled through Latin America a few years ago. We didn’t skip it because of safety concerns — in fact, even at that time ever more travelers were saying the opposite and urging us to go. We just happened to pass it at the height of rainy season and we figured we’d return when we were certain to have ample time to explore.

We didn’t expect it would take five years to return, but here we are.

We leave for Colombia tomorrow.

Wine Tasting in Mendoza, Argentina: Going Beyond Malbec and Loving It

by Daniel Noll

Last Updated on August 13, 2018 by Audrey Scott

Maybe you'd like to visit wine country in Argentina. You've heard about Mendoza, but you wonder: How to I go about wine tasting and touring wineries there? The options are many, but if you'd like to have a meaningful, enlightening wine tasting experience and an awesome time, here are a few tips on how to do so without blowing a ton of cash.

A Hot Dog Hunt in Valparaiso (Chi-Chi-Chi, Le-Le-Le)

by Daniel Noll

Last Updated on April 11, 2018 by Audrey Scott

Have you ever glommed on to a piece of information and carried it with you, even if you can’t remember its origins or vouch for its accuracy?

That was me with the city of Valparaiso and hot dogs (or completos, as they are called in Chile).