Tag Archives: latam-2026

Oi folks!

Still in Brazil, we were not far from the city of Manaus, in the Amazon lowlands. We’d just finished exploring the anabranches of the Rio Negro, so now it was time for our next course of amazing Amazonia – the Amazon Jungle!…

There’s so much of it here that nobody really knows how much remains unexplored. Sure, they’re cutting it down mercilessly, but looking at a map, you get the sense the loggers will run out of steam before the jungle does. And out here in the middle of nowhere there are still tribes living without any contact with the outside world. Yep, really. They’re called uncontacted peoples. The internet says there are several such groups in the Amazon, but precisely how many is hard to work out. Maybe nobody really knows. Anyway, we were heading into perfectly civilized – even fairly touristy – parts of the Amazon jungle:

It’s hot and humid (who knew?!), but at least you’re almost always in the shade – with a few exceptions:

But first – a visit to a local tribe. Here’s the chief:

Read on…

Our tour of South America next took us to Brazil; specifically – to the city of Manaus (after a few adventures in São Paulo). But Manaus was just our base. The attraction was something a lot bigger and a lot more famous (just noticed – its Wikipedia page comes in a full 200 languages; rarely see that!). Have you guessed it yet? Yes, it’s the Amazon – the world’s largest (by both water volume and drainage basin) and arguably the longest river in the world!

Actually, we were more generally exploring Amazonia, aka the Amazon Basin, aka the Amazonian Plain, aka the Amazon Lowlands. And specifically – one of the Amazon’s main tributaries: the Rio Negro. Why? Because in these parts the Amazon is very silty and murky, and so there’s not much to see or do there. The Rio Negro on the other hand has much cleaner water and contains fish and dolphins and more, the surrounding ecosystem is richer, and indigenous people live along it in the jungle.

I say cleaner; here’s proof: the meeting of the muddy Amazon and the cleaner Rio Negro:

If you zoom in you can see it better:

And this mixing of clean and muddy water goes on for dozens of kilometers downstream from where the rivers meet. Here’s the confluence on Google Maps.

So where to begin? With the jungle, the indigenous people, and the rest of the locals? Local customs? Grottoes in the rain lit with shafts of sunlight?…

Read on…

Bye-bye, Atacama Desert!…

We pile into the cars, double-check we haven’t forgotten any suitcases or bags, and hit the road. Where to? The airport, of course!…

The nearest airport is in the small city of Calama, about 100km from our cozy digs in San Pedro de Atacama:

Read on…

I’d heard a lot about the thermal fields and geysers in Chile, and figured it was time to go see them for myself since the photos online were kind of underwhelming.

// Let me say this right away: Atacama does have thermal fields – but geysers? None. That’s why the “geyser” photos from there look so unimpressive. But whatever – onward to the El Tatio geothermal fields!…

All as per for thermal fields: much hissing, gurgling, bubbling, rumbling, and spraying of boiling water:

Read on…

Atacama – pt. 1
Atacama – pt. 2
Atacama – pt. 3

So, shall we keep moving across the majestic mountain expanses of Chile’s Atacama? Of course we shall! How could there be a different answer? We didn’t come here for boredom, relaxation, assorted sybaritism, or spiritual languishing. We’re contemplative tourists. Show us the views – lots of them! :)

The next installment of entertainment to calm our restless tourist souls was catching a sunset in the Valley of Death (here) (Valle de la Muerte / Valle de Marte), which, curiously, doesn’t have a Wikipedia page)…

Beautiful – insanely so. The rock formations are painted in totally fantastic colors. But there’s a catch: the sun setting behind us, who were looking east. The shadow kept creeping over the landscapes around us, more and more relentlessly…

Read on…

Atacama – pt. 1
Atacama – pt. 2

The next must-see stop on our winter trip through South America was Valle de la Luna (Valley of the Moon) (here). It’s the usual Atacama deal: unreal mountain scenery and intense colors, and meditative raptures while beholding the same. Today I’ll be showing you photos of it all, but you really need to see it for yourself!…

Read on…

(Atacama – pt. 1: Rainbow Valley and petroglyphs)

The Atacama Desert is all about multicolored mountain landscapes, vast lifeless expanses, and volcanoes lining the horizon. In this post, there’s more of all that – especially the multicolored mountain landscapes bit – but with a difference; where? Devil’s Throat, or in Spanish – Garganta del Diablo!…

Devil’s Throat is a narrow canyon carved into relatively soft rock by water. It winds left and right, sometimes doubling back on itself before twisting again. At some sharp bends, the rock has eroded into overhangs – almost like little grottoes. The trail along it is about 2.5–3km one way, so with photo stops and breaks, it’s roughly an hour-and-a-half to two-hour walk. Most people do it by bike, but we decided to hoof it.

Here’s where we’re headed ->

Entering the Throat! ->

Read on…

Ola folks!

Getting to Atacama – sweet. Staying the night in Atacama – neat! Next up – Atacama proper…

Our to-do list had a full nine items:

1) Rainbow Valley
2) petroglyphs at a place called Yerbas Buenas (which turned out meh)
3) Devil’s Throat Gorge (curiously, there’s a Devil’s Throat at Iguazu Falls – though it’s not a gorge but a waterfall)
4) Moon Valley
5) Death Valley
6) Lake Chaxa (with flamingos)
7) the stunning Miscanti and Miñiques lagoons
8) the El Tatio geyser field
9) stargazing through telescopes

Off we go!…

Read on…

Our South American road-trip early this year was a belter – as regular readers already know. As per, thousands of photos are still being sorted to be turned into (hopefully interesting) photo-based stories, with videos getting uploaded too. As usual, I’m sharing practical info along the way: the routes we took, where things are on the map, where we stayed, what the comfort levels were like – that kind of thing. And on today’s menu: where we stayed in Chile’s Atacama Desert in the town of San Pedro de Atacama (here)…

It was a hotel called Our Habitas. It belongs to a chain of stylish hotels in cool locations around the world (Latin America, the Middle East, Namibia…). But this isn’t an ad for the chain or this particular hotel. There are other solid options here too – including simpler and cheaper ones. We just happened to stay here, so that’s what I’ll be writing about. Let’s go!…

Read on…

I’ve been sorting through photos for upcoming posts about our LatAm-2026 road trip. Next up: Chile’s high-altitude Atacama Desert. Spoiler (no, these can never be spoiled): the views are jaw-droppingly oh-my-grandiosely-gorgeous-gradients!…

And while I was sifting, sorting, and editing the pics of South American roads – an idea came to me…

Read on…