A trek into the jungle in search of Colombia’s “Lost City.”

By Luke Armstrong

Our group grabs the packs from the top of the Jeep’s rusty roof before we set off for Ciudad Perdida, or Colombia’s Lost City. Our guide, Tunyi, decides to begin the six-day trek by telling us about eight tourists who were kidnapped on September 15^th, 2003, by the National Liberation Army (ELN) on the very trail we were hiking. “Three months they held them captive,” he tells us. “They were lucky to be released.” The three Australians in our group find this funny while the two boisterous Russians become quiet and pensive after I translate this bit of information for them. Perhaps Tunyi should have started by pointing out the names of some native fauna.

After the kidnapping incident, tourist treks to the city stopped until 2005. Though an air of danger still lurks on the forbidding trail, Colombia’s army now patrols the path, and according to our guide, the number of robberies have taken a dive. Within the first hour we pass a small group of soldiers wielding semi-automatic weapons. The Russians seem especially agitated by the troops, and they request in broken English that I ask our guide in Spanish their purpose.

We venture into Colombia’s Sierra Nevada mountain range along narrow and seemingly impossible trails in saturated air. After a few hours we have crossed the same river a dozen times as it snakes along our difficult path. (more…)

Your guide to heading out of the city and exploring what lays beyond Buenos Aires.

By Katie Hammel

For the ambitious traveler, the best of Buenos Aires can be seen in a few days, and even those who want to take a more relaxed approach can get a good feel for life in the city in about a week. But chances are you shelled out a good amount of money for those tickets to Argentina, so taking a short trip is hard to justify. Luckily, there are plenty of other areas in Argentina worth visiting nearby. During a recent trip to Argentina, my husband and I decided to spend a few days in Mendoza, then take a couple of day trips to the Pampas and to Uruguay, all doable side trips beyond the border of Buenos Aires.

Mendoza

Two hours by plane from Buenos Aires, Mendoza City sits at the heart of Argentina’s wine country. The area’s high desert climate at the base of the Andes mountain range is responsible for the uniqueness of the wine produced here. The city itself is small enough to explore in an afternoon, so you can devote the rest of your time to wine tasting or taking advantage of the region’s outdoor activities. For our first day, we chose to concentrate on the wine.

We’d booked a room at a bed and breakfast in the center of town. The owner’s son, Javier, offered to arrange a day of wine tasting for us. Since planning tastings in Mendoza on your own can be a little daunting for newcomers — staff at many places don’t speak English and reservations are mandatory — we decided to take him up on the offer. (more…)

The easy part of about Playa Grande is falling for it immediately. The hard part? Getting there.

By Matt Stabile

I STUCK MY HEAD OUT THE OPEN DOOR OF THE BUS and looked down a steep cliff wall that descended into a wide bay. The public buses in Colombian towns are usually beat-up looking affairs, with rusty fenders, faded stripes painted across their bodies, and, as is custom across many parts of Central and South America, manned by both a driver and an assistant who hangs bravely near the door and collects the fares as they are passed up to him after the passenger settles in.

This particular assistant didn’t seem fazed the slightest as he stood precariously near the open door, clinging to a bar above the windshield and staring lazily out the door of the bus, his foot hanging in the warm breeze. We were crossing over the small row of hills that separate Santa Marta from Taganga, a sleepy fishing village on a quiet bay that, incidentally, has become the region’s capital of scuba instruction. I was not heading there to take advantage of the diving but rather as a jumping-off point to head one beach further to Playa Grande, a secluded stretch of sand with an esteemed reputation for beauty. (more…)

Maybe secluded bays and pristine beaches aren’t the first things that pop into people’s head when they think of Colombia, but a trip to Colombia’s Caribbean coast reveals just that. And the best part? No tourists.

By Matt Stabile

AS I LOOKED OUT THE BUS WINDOW AND INTO THE NIGHT SKY, I could see flashes of lightning igniting the colorless clouds lingering high above the Caribbean Sea, portensions of things to come. It was Friday night. Cumbia music was blasting from a radio hanging by a wire above the driver’s head. Behind me a girl was meticulously applying her makeup with the aid of a small compact mirror. Two seats in front of me, a group of young Colombian men were passing a bottle between themselves and joking with each other. I peeled my shirt away from my chest, damp from a combination of a slight drizzle and the tropical humidity that had blanketed my body the moment I stepped off the plane, and I couldn’t have been happier. I had traveled here to Colombia’s Caribbean coastline to visit its famously beautiful and remote beaches — beaches whose mythic-like images were planted enticingly in my mind by other travelers during cold, rainy nights in Bogotá hostels and Medellín cafes; usually described in hushed tones, like the disclosure of the whereabouts of a lost city that few had seen.

It was only fitting that the rain began to fall the minute that I stepped off the plane. At first it was a small drizzle, but as the hours wore on, the rain progressed into what I would soon learn was an once-in-a-decade “weather phenomena” that, during the course of my stay along the country’s tropical Caribbean coastline, would cause rivers to overflow, shantytowns to flood, city streets to become deluged and hidden beneath torrents of water flowing from the nearby mountains, and for me to seriously question what vendetta had I with the gods that was causing this storm to strike during the exact period of time that I would be there.

The good thing about rain, particularly the kind of rain that falls in the warm, humid months of November and December along the Colombian coastline, is that it’s still far better to be caught in than, say, a snowstorm in the icy, frigid streets back in New York where, had I been at that exact moment, I would certainly not be wandering around in a pair of swimming trunks and sandals, stopping into various shops, and lounging on the beach with a concoction of freshly squeezed coconut and orange juice served in a plastic mug shaped like a coconut shell.

“When do you think it ends?” I asked a bored barista the next day, shortly after I had ordered my third straight cup of coffee. (more…)

A taste of true Brazilian culture is waiting for you just a short trip from Rio in Minas Gerais.

By Lindsey Witthaus

When most people picture Brazil they usually conjure up images of Rio de Janeiro and its many postcard-worthy locations such as Sugar Loaf Mountain and the famous Ipanema and Copacabana beaches. But let’s be honest, these sites are travel-bait, crawling with tourists all year round. In fact, whenever friends or family have visited me in Brazil, we almost always made the trip there. I’m not saying there’s something wrong with wanting to visit Rio — I was personally obsessed with the idea before my first trip to Brazil — however, why stop with Rio when there’s so much more to see just a short trip outside of the city?

When my two best friends came to visit me in Brazil last summer, I insisted we beat the Rio scene and take the short trip north into the state of Minas Gerais for an authentic glimpse of Brazil’s rural — or Caipira — culture. It was one of the best times of the year to go; during the months of June and July, all the little towns come alive for the annual celebrations, Festa Junina and Julinha. These parties are far from your average church function. Held in small communities or in the courtyard of Portuguese Colonial churches, these blowouts boast live music from bands playing well into the night. You can try an array of special drinks, including hot chocolate with cognac, or a favorite mixed drink consisting of tropical fruit blended with sweetened condensed milk and vodka or cachaça (sugar-cane alcohol). Tents are full of locals selling seasonal food such as roasted corn and the traditional canjiqua: a warm, sweet concoction, best described as a maize porridge. (more…)

Here’s the third and final video from my trip to Colombia: Cartagena.

Cartagena is easily one of the most beautiful cities in the world and one of Colombia’s most popular cities to visit. In this video I wander the city’s picturesque “Old Town,” visit a museum dedicated to the city’s history of inquisition and torture, and explore the underground tunnels beneath the massive fort, Castillo de San Felipe de Barajas.

Here’s the second video from my trip to Colombia: Medellín. Next up is Cartagena and Colombia’s Caribbean Coast.

Medellín, Colombia’s second largest city, is a favorite amongst visitors to Colombia due to its amazing scenery, friendly people, and surprising number of sights to see throughout the city.

Here it is, my Bogotá video, the first of three videos I’m doing from my trip to Colombia. Next up is Medellin, then Cartagena and the Caribbean Coast.

Bogotá, Colombia’s bustling capital city, is one of the best places to explore Colombian culture for the very reason that the city is full of Colombians from all over the country. In this video I check out the view from the top of Cerro de Monserrate, see the sights around Plaza de Bolívar, and travel to the small town of Zipaquirá, where I head deep underground to visit the famous Salt Cathedral, a cathedral carved out in the middle of a mountain.

Though considered mild by most standards, the end of the winter in Buenos Aires is greeted with a jubilance that could only be seen in Argentina

By Madi Lang

Imagine a 50 year-old taxi driver in a beat-up but recently washed taxi. He’s pulled over to the side of the road and has nodded off under a dark, gray sky; a hallmark of a Buenos Aires winter. He has abandoned his thermos and mate; little green yerba leaves and lukewarm water have spilled onto the empty passengers seat. His body is bent over and his arms are folded to protect him from the freezing air. His head rests against the cold window where condensation accumulates as he breathes gently onto it. He only wakes up to cough, and then curses at the disturbance.

Suddenly, a ray of sunlight pierces through the window and the taxi driver bats open his tired eyes. Without a moment of hesitation, like a bear awakening from his hibernation, he squints, smiles and unfolds into a full-body stretch. He revs the engine, dusts off the dashboard, and begins the first day of the rest of his life with a renewed energy and a refined sense of hope.

This is how spring arrives in Buenos Aires. (more…)

A Canopy Adventure in Chile

By Valerie Martin

“I don’t want to do it!” Fara hissed.  The French tourist’s eyes widened with fear as we stood on a wooden platform, 1000 feet above sea level, on the western slope of the Osorno volcano.

Glacier-capped Osorno is often referred to as the Chilean Mount Fuji. It’s one of the most active volcanoes in the country, with 11 eruptions recorded since the 16th century.

As I peered down the endless steel cable that would send us flying through treetops and over deep canyons, I was suddenly afflicted by some first-timer doubts of my own. What if the pulley breaks? What if I get stuck on the line before reaching the next platform? What if I crash into the tree? What am I doing here?! (more…)