In 1998 I received a magazine from a tourism promotion company that was helping Embratur to promote Brazil. Unlike promotional material I'd received from other countries, it didn't tout the cities or the hotels. Instead, it was promoting the natural wonders of each state and their efforts to promote ecotourism. Many of these places I'd never heard of, since most brochures in travel agencies only featured Rio, Manaus and Iguassu Falls, even though Brazil is roughly the size of the lower 48 states in the U.S.
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I often tell people that when you visit the Amazon, a good guide can be the difference between a "black and white experience" and a "full color experience". There are lots of guides who can spot animals, but they might not be able to explain the relationships and other details that a good one can go into depth about.
Mendoza is one of the world’s premier wine destinations, renowned for its breathtaking landscapes and exceptional wines. Did you know there several different districts in the region?
The most relevant are Maipu, Lujan de Cuyo, and Uco Valley, each with its own unique terroir, climate, and wine production. Understanding the differences between these regions is essential. Continue reading and find the best insights of each one.
There are now several cruise lines that have ships sailing from Argentina up the Chilean coast, but none of the others can offer the same type of experience that the Stella Australis and the Ventus Australis offer.
Today I read an article in which the author was talking about how she uses AI to help to make all of her travel decisions. I can see where that could be possible as far as commodities, such as flights, hotels and day tours. AI can help to choose the cheapest flights or ones with the best schedule. It can help to choose the best hotels for you, based on location, star ratings, etc. These are all facts that are fed into data streams.
But can it help to choose which Amazon jungle lodge will give you the best experience? Though Machu Picchu, found in 1911 by Hiram Bingham, is obviously a huge draw for tourists to Peru, there are numerous other archeological sites in Peru and other countries in South America that are also very impressive, but are not visited nearly as often. I will mention a few of the major ones and several recently discovered minor ones that come to mind.
We have been busily updating our website for 2024, and in doing so have added quite a few new tour options in Peru and Colombia that we think are pretty exciting.
We had stopped offering tours in Venezuela a few years ago when there were a lot of problems and tensions were high between the governments of Venezuela and the U.S. But we noticed that people were still looking at our Venezuela tour pages and one person who has been operating tours there for over 30 years told us that tourists were still coming.
I attended the Adventure Travel Trade Association's event in Arequipa, Peru in early December. While one of the focuses was to promote travel to less visited and less well-known destinations, another focus was on how to use tourism to empower the local indigenous communities in positive ways, if they desire it.
I attended Colombia's 2023 Nature Mart Conference in September 2023 and participated in one of the 6 tour options that were offered prior to the conference in various regions of the country. Each of these focused on community-based initiatives geared to conserve the environment and to help the local people. This is keeping in line with the government's emphasis on Regenerative, instead of Sustainable tourism. The graphic below shows the difference.
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AuthorJim has been an agent for over 20 years and has specialized in South America for much of that time Archives
April 2025
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