South America Overview & Highlights
Waterfalls. Mountain peaks. Rainforests. Lost cities. Storied temples. Myth-making creatures. Unforgettable people.
When the legendary Spanish explorers discovered South America, they were awestruck by the sheer variety of the land before them. Thundering waterfalls, glaciated mountain peaks, and rainforests alive with colorful macaws and wildlife. Even more fascinating was the evidence of peoples who lived there: the Incas of the lost city of Machu Picchu; the pre-Columbian Moches with their gold-filled ancient tombs; and the Mayas with sophisticated astronomy and towering temples rivaling some of the greatest structures of the ancient East.
It takes a grand vision – and an ambitious plan to experience the extraordinary diversity of South America in a relatively short period of time. But we can make that possible. Using Bushtracks private air, you can cover remarkable distances without the long drives; you can see the best of these spectacularly different landscapes and wildlife reserves while exploring many of these ancient sites in a single journey.
Highlights of South America include:
- Atacama Desert—A landscape sprinkled with whitewashed adobe villages. See the Atacama salt flats, Flamingo National Reserve and the Valley of the Moons salt caverns and rock formations.
- Chiclayo—A major business hub in northern Peru, where routes come together from the coast, highlands and jungle. Nearby, the spectacular Royal Tombs of Sipán exhibit the most important archaeological remains of the Moche culture.
- Colca Valley—This canyon is reportedly the deepest in the world – thought to be twice as deep as the Grand Canyon – portions of which are habitable, with pre-Colombian terraced fields still supporting agriculture and human life.
- Cuzco—Considered the cradle of the Inca civilization, Cuzco is a magnificently beautiful city with its blend of Inca and Spanish cultures. Soaring cathedrals, fine museums, and charmingly narrow streets are a tribute to its Spanish heritage.
- Galapagos Islands—The islands boast a variety of wildlife, including the famed blue-footed Boobies, penguins nesting with their chicks and curious sea lions cavorting in the sparkling waters.
- Iguazu Falls—One of South America’s most spectacular sights, vast torrents of water thunder out of the jungle and plummet into the gorge below.
- La Paz—The cobbled streets are lined with colonial buildings leading to the city center with its soaring cathedral and Italianate Presidential Palace. The real attractions are the colorful markets and lively street life, packed with Bolivians selling blankets, nuts, herbs, and magic charms.
- Lake Titicaca—An ethereal lake alive with legends and considered the sacred birthplace of the Incas. With numerous Inca ruins to explore, including the spectacular Palacio del Inca, at 12,500 feet, this beautiful setting is at the top of the world.
- Lima—The city’s rhythm is more traditional and its friendly people give the metropolis the feeling, at times, of a cluster of smaller towns. Several excellent museums display and preserve Peru’s golden past.
- Machu Picchu—A stunning architectural masterpiece in an equally stunning setting in the Andean Mountains, the longest mountain chain in the world.
- Manu Rainforest—This World Heritage Site includes one of the best wildlife destinations within the entire Amazon basin, where spectacular canopy forest meets the Andes.
- Mirador Basin—The last tract of virgin rainforest remaining in Central America. Located in Guatemala’s Petén District, it is home to the largest and earliest cities in the Mayan world and is the area of many recent and important archaeological investigations.
- Nazca Lines—The Nazca Lines have become one of the greatest scientific mysteries in the Americas. These intriguing figures are a series of drawings of animals, geometric figures, and birds ranging up to 1,000 feet in size. The huge lines can only be seen from the air and are believed to be part of an ancient Inca astronomy system.
- Otavalo Region—Forced to become weavers by the Spanish, the people here have become one of the most prosperous indigenous groups in Ecuador. Every Saturday morning, the usually quiet streets teem with life and the market square becomes a feast of colors and textures.
- Panantal—One of the world’s most immense and rich ecosystems, the Panantal extends through Brazil, Bolivia, and Paraguay. It is an ecological paradise with hundreds of species of birds, a vast array of exotic wildlife, thousands of varieties of butterflies, and myriads of brightly colored flowers.
- Patagonia—This is a land shaped by water, wind and ice, past and present. Glaciers calve into mountain lakes and narrow fjords, waterfalls fill the air with their murmurs and roars, and winds shape trees to their will.
- Quito—Spanish colonial architecture at it finest, with walls of brilliant whitewash, deep blue railings and green tile rooftops dazzling the eye, reminiscent of its peaceful heritage and dedicated to the creation of artistic beauty.
- San Pedro—The most populated Atacamian town in the pre-Columbian era. Conquered by the Incas in 1450, the beautiful Iglesia de San Pedro is constructed of the same white adobe as most of the town. Visit the impressive museum. Nearby, Pukara de Quitor is a mountainside stone fortress built to withstand an Inca siege.
- Urubamba Valley—The sacred valley of the Incas is walled on the north by granite crags and the snowcapped peaks of the Cordillera Urubamba and the south by soaring cliffs above the shimmering Urubamba River, the valley below is lush and green with spectacular Inca sacred sites.
