read review
write review
destinations
Q&A
travel guide
cruise companies
SOTH AMERICA
| Moai Statues, Rano Raraku, Easter Island, Chile This island -known as Rapa Nui to its natives- is a mystery of the first order. Some 3m years ago, three volcanoes emerged consecutively in a triangle that in time filled out to form this island, the most isolated on earth. Around the 4th century AD, the first "colonists" arrived, probably from Polynesia. In time they created the moai, statues up to 21 m high and 100 tons in weight, hewn from volcanic stone and erected by the hundreds along the shoreline. No one knows their meaning, or how they were transported to their final locations. These mysterious idols, the abandoned stoneworks in the crater of Rano Raraku, and a colorful festival make this a fascinating destination. Lan Chile flies there several times weekly. |
|
|
The Lost City of the Incas, Machu Picchu, Peru Llaqtapata, or the Town on the Hillside, is the first of the ruins that you come across if you begin at the traditional starting point for the Inca Trail, Kilometre 88 or Qoriwayrachina, Gold Sifter, which is where the local train stops briefly. It is easy to walk past it thinking that it is just an uninteresting set of agricultural terraces but if you come by road and start at Km 82 you will have a good view of Llactapata down below when you reach the edge of the hillside on the opposite side of the Kusichaca Valley. |
| The Statues of Ahu Akivi, Easter Island The statues were raised and the site restored in the 50's by famed archeologist William Mulloy. Studies suggest that the ahu itself was begun around 1442 and lasted until 1600. Van Tilburg has postulated that during that time 8 chiefs of this region could have ruled. It is thought that perhaps the statues where build by the 8th chief who was most likely a direct descendant of the others. |
|
|
Jesus Statue, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Rio de Janeiro, a.k.a. Rio, a Brazilian city in the Southeast coast of the country, has been known as one of the most beautiful cities on Earth. Meanwhile, one should note that the concept of a city is a bit bigger in Rio than in other nice small cities, like Rome or Paris. Rio has 5.6 million inhabitants in the city and around 10 million inhabitants in the wide region around it.The largest statue of Jesus Christ in the world can also be found in this city. By coincidence, it is also the highest, since it is on the top of a mountain (Corcovado). |
| Buenos Aires, Argentina |
|
|
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil |
| Sugar Loaf Mountain, Rio De Janeiro, Brazil |
|