Peru: Lima, Cusco and Machu Pichu (March 31- April 8) The spirit of the Inca is alive- in the mountains, the sky, and in the heart of the Sacred Valley in Peru at Machu Pichu. I began the week flying from Bogota to Lima with an open mind and came away with spiritual enlightenment and one of the most awe-inspiring scenes I will ever see. The Inca people had built this civilization to worship the Gods of nature and founded their economic capital in the city of Cusco and their spiritual center in Machu Pichu, located in the heart of the [View Full Entry]

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Bogota (March24-28) and Cartagena (March 28-31) Colombia… Everybody thinks danger and back to the days of Pablo Escobar but I found something different. Admittedly, when I initially read Lonely Planet about Colombia, it was quickly dismissed. But I had met several travelers that really enjoyed it and I had not seen much of the northern part of the continent yet. I further had to be in Peru the first week of April so I thought I’d give it a shot. I also confess that I did not tell my mother before going as she may have nightmares worrying about the guerilla [View Full Entry]

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Florianopolis, Brazil (March 12-21) Having had several friends visit and swear by it, I had to make a visit to the beautiful beach resort of Florianopolis, located south of San Paolo on the island of Santa Catarina off the coast with some 40 beaches. I had struggled for some days on whether to hit the beach life of Brazil again or do more cultural tourism through Argentina and Bolivia... I guess one last week on teh beach sounded appealing and several of my friends have claimed it´s close to paradise. After arriving late Tuesday, I spent the next morning negotiating a [View Full Entry]

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Mendoza, Argentina (the west coast) and Chile (Santiago and Vina Del Mar) March 6-13 Mendoza, the developing younger cousin of Bordeaux and Napa, has led Argentina in the charge to become one of the world´s largest exporters of wine. Early on Monday the 6th a few of us headed west to Mendoza to test the Argentinian methods for making wine. Mendoza is a surprisingly large (1+ million people) city with a thriving university that keeps it bustling. And with a pronounced urban plan to include lots of parks, wide tree-lined streets, green space dropped back against mountains, I found Mendoza [View Full Entry]

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Buzios (Feb 20-27) and Buenos Aires (Feb 27-March 6) Buzios... muy tranquilo- as the locals would say. I was last seen at a Rolling Stones concert in Rio celebrating my 19th birthday preparing to head south to El Calafate. It was such a good time I missed my flight the next morning to Buenos Aires and down to Patagonia where some friends I was supposed to meet were heading to tackle the cold southern mountains of the world. I couldn't make it down so I had to figure out what to do; that Sunday was one of those hungover days trying [View Full Entry]

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Rio is that beautiful woman you saw in the distance and finally approached. She is most of what you dreamt of when you saw her but she’s lived through a sorted past and accepts the failings of a society most only catch a glimpse of. Ahhh, Rio......... Such as beautiful yet unsettling place at times. I feel like I have spent more than 11 days there because of all the different experiences I had there. I rented a flat there as well and the manager, Mariana, was a tremendous help the entire time. I stayed in Ipanema, the pristine beach area [View Full Entry]

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One of the great urban gems in the world is undoubtedly the Buenos Aires of today. It’s a city of over 10 million people that boasts some of the best fashion, night life, beef and soccer traditions in the world along with a mix of the problems facing South America. The city of Buenos Aires is clearly the cosmopolitan capital of South America and contains a well-educated “porteno” (local BA people) population that don’t let normal hours constrain their days and nights. As my first destination, I was excited and wasn’t quite sure what to expect.. but it’s a [View Full Entry]

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