Visually impressive, sure! I was startled and fascinated by their constant, changing soundtrack, so unexpected from this vast frozen panorama of limitless shades of blue ice formations. Shifting, moving, sometimes calving in great, majestic glacial chunks. Our first views were of the Perito Moreno Glacier in El Calafate Argentina’s Los Glaciales National Park with an ice field that controls the world’s third largest reserve of fresh water! Once every four …
Magallanes and Chilean Antarctica, Chile became a favorite within minutes of arriving. A park with everything hikers like me dream about. Narrow but stunning valleys that separate hypnotic geological features, glaciers, and lakes of impossible shades of blue. In fact, Paine means “blue” in the native Tehuelche (Aonikenk) language.and is pronounced PIE-neh. Torres del Paine National Park, located in the extreme south of Chilean Patagonia, is world-renowned for its spectacular views, formidable mountain ranges. And …
At first my jet-lagged brain could not process more than their looming yet beautiful presence, and proximity to the nearby town. I had imagined them constructed in the middle of some vast, remote, practically inaccessible stretch of desert wasteland…as is over 90 percent of the remaining country. But they were here in all their significant historical splendor. All three! The most famous, the Great Pyramid of Giza is the oldest …
What is Machu Picchu? There is no reference to Machu Picchu in Inca literature or folklore, so what is this culturally sophisticated engineering city in the Andes of Peru? Many archeologists believe that it was constructed as a retreat for the Inca nobility between 1400 and 1500 AD. But the extensive terracing suggests it may have been a center for crop testing or used as a trading hub. Who lived …
High in the Andes Mountains of Peru live direct descendents of the ancient Inca people, invaded by Spanish Conquistadors in the 1500’s. This indigenous group of people are called the Q’ueros. They are the few that escaped forced labor by the Spanish, those able to live in “villages in the clouds” in the refuge of the holy mountains (Apus), guarding much of their sacred knowledge and keeping it intact over …
Although the trail to the remarkable Inca engineering and cultural achievement called Machu Picchu is Peru’s most famous destination, Cañon del Colca, or Colca Canyon is a grand and extraordinary experience…one not to miss! One of the deepest canyons in the world — nearly 14,000 feet from its highest point to its lowest, twice as deep as the Grand Canyon, it is home to the Andean condor, a sacred bird …