Rediscover Easter Island
Easter Island is famous in its own right. But there are a lot of things that aren’t common knowledge about it. Starting with why it’s on a blog about South America. While geographically, Easter Island is in the middle of the Pacific, administratively it’s a Chilean Province, and you need to go to Santiago to get there.
The official name is not Easter Island, but Rapa Nui, the native name given to the volcanic island by its original Polynesian inhabitants. Rapa Nui means “navel of the world”, and it’s symbolic of its location in the middle of the open Pacific Ocean. The nearest land mass is over 3000Km away, and is the uninhabited Chilean island of Alejandro Selkirk, part of the Robinson Crusoe archipelago.
Categories: All Blog Posts, Attractions, Fun Things To Do, South America Uncovered Tags: beaches, easter island, easter island heads, hanga roa, moai, rapa nui, south america
Surfing South America
Some people see the soft white sand of a tropical beach, with its tranquil sea breeze and beckoning shade of a parasol … and then run off into the pounding surf to stand on aboard and mock the sharks. These people are surfers.
Traditionally Hawaii and the California coast have garnered most of the surfer’s attention, but other places are starting get on the map that offer alternative experiences that are often more thrilling and challenging, depending on your vision of the sport. A lot of those are in South America.
Categories: All Blog Posts, Attractions, Fun Things To Do, South America Uncovered Tags: beaches, breakers, chile, pacific ocean, pichilemu, rolling waves, surfing
Rediscover Rio.
Rio de Janeiro is probably the most known destination in South America. One of the major cities in Brazil, it boasts a collection of attractions that would make any city jealous. Chief among them are Copacabana and Ipanema beaches, the lookout over the city know as “Christ the Redeemer” and Carnival. Some people have gotten to know the darker side of the city known as the “flavellas”, thanks to a few recent movies.
Rio is big. Really big. It’s the biggest city in South America, and that’s saying something. That means that there is a lot more to do there than in any other city. A lot of the reasons for visiting Rio revolve around the nightlife and the beaches.
Categories: All Blog Posts, Attractions, Fun Things To Do, South America Uncovered Tags: bikini, Carnival, copacabana, ipanema, paragliding, Rio de janeiro, sunbathing, surf
Venezuela at a Glance
Nowadays, Venezuela is becoming most known because of its eccentric and news-generating President, Hugo Chavez. But there is much more to this Caribbean nation than one man, of course. On the crossroads between the romanticized Spanish Main and the impenetrable vastness of the Amazon, there is a feast of activities and sites to see throughout Venezuela.
There are several well-known romantic vacation spots, such as Maracaibo and Curaçao (the latter being the namesake of a special spirit that is popular throughout South America). Most of the Venezuelan attractions are along the Atlantic coast, which is part of the Caribbean, and they are almost all stunning white beaches with palms waving in the breeze, hammocks swaying lazily with a travel snoozing under a straw hat. Across a small stretch of water are the Carabbean islands, with Trinidad and Tobago being the closest.
Categories: All Blog Posts, Attractions, Fun Things To Do, South America Uncovered Tags: amazon, beaches, birdwatching, caribbean, jungle, mountains, rainforest, wildlife
Uruguay at a Glance
Uruguay is a bit of a surprise, and seems rather proud of being the little country that could. On the north of the Rio de la Plata, but full of Argentines; it’s the combination of both Argentina and Brazil. And sandwiched between those two South American giants, it has a lot to live up to.
On the Brazilian part, it has wonderful beaches, among them is Punta del Este. It’s become famous as the place the “in” crowd of South America go to holiday and party. You can come across models, footballers and politicians all strolling down the streets peppered with haute couture stores.
Categories: All Blog Posts, Attractions, Fun Things To Do, South America Uncovered Tags: beaches, cuisine, football, rio de la plata, tango, Uruguay
Surinam at a Glance
Surinam is one of the “top three”, three countries in the extreme north of South America, previously known as the Guianas, and somewhat separated from the rest of the continent in history. Unlike the rest of South America which was colonized by the Iberian countries, and provided something of a shared heritage among them, Surinam was colonized by Dutch settlers. There is a broad mix of languages among its people, but Dutch is the most common, and as a consequence, Surinam is not part of Latin America.
Categories: All Blog Posts, Attractions, Fun Things To Do, South America Uncovered Tags: amazon, beaches, birdwatching, caribbean, Guyana, jungle, waterfalls, white sands, wildlife
Perú at a Glance
Perú has always an important role in the history and development of South America. Starting with the rise of the Inca Empire with its capital in Cuzco, later the Spanish established the seat of the Viceroy for South America in Lima. The port of Callao was the most important on the continent, and the principal link of communication with Spain. It was from here that the Conquistadores landed and then traveled to what would later be Bolivia, Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Ecuador.
Categories: All Blog Posts, Attractions, Fun Things To Do, South America Uncovered Tags: amazon, beaches, ceviche, cuzco, Inca, jungle, machu pichu, machupichu, pacific, peru, ruins, surfing
Paraguay at a Glance
Sandwiched between Argentina, Brazil and Bolivia, Paraguay could often go unnoticed if it weren’t for one very large and spectacular thing: The Iguazú Falls, or Foz do Iguaçu in Portuguese. Comparing them to the Niagra falls is to fall sort on the description; they are much bigger and spectacular than that.
But gushing about the falls aside, Paraguay has plenty of interesting places and activities that make it worth a visit. By South American standards, it’s a relative small country –barely the size of Germany- which is located predominantly in an arm of the Amazon basin called the Chaco valley.
Categories: All Blog Posts, Attractions, Fun Things To Do, South America Uncovered Tags: amazon, cataratas de iguazu, chaco, foz do iguazu, iguazu, jungle, paraguay, rainforest
Guyana at a Glance
Guyana has managed to stay out of the well-beaten South America travel trail, and it’s hard to see why. There is a wonderful array of attractions and reasons to visit this country, yet it has slipped the mind of most tourists. This makes it ideal for anyone looking to have a pristine look at one of the undiscovered treasures of Latin America. But hurry! After this article, it might be too late…
Categories: All Blog Posts, Attractions, Fun Things To Do, South America Uncovered Tags: amazon, beaches, birdwatching, caribbean, Guyana, jungle, waterfalls, white sands, wildlife
Ecuador at a Glance
Ecuador not surprisingly gets its name from the Equator which passes just a few miles north of its capital Quito. It’s a very interesting place to visit, and a must-see if you are in Ecuador, but there are plenty of other reasons to go there.
Let’s start with the beaches, with warm ocean water to swim in and fairly unpopulated in comparison to others. They are located along the Pacific, so there are lots of places where you can go surfing. Of course if you are on vacation you might want to just chill out on the beach withough worrying about being disturbed by hoards of people.
Categories: All Blog Posts, Attractions, Fun Things To Do, South America Uncovered Tags: amazon, andies, Equator, galapagos, hotsprings, pacific, ruins, surfing