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.

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.

You may be pondering where to go on your next vacation, since it's getting close to summertime in the northern hemisphere. Let's take a look at what your interests are and see what places you might consider.

In September we had the opportunity to visit Southern Patagonia as a hosted buyer in ATTAs  (www.adventuretravel.biz) AdventureNext event in Magallanes to Reconnect, Reactivate and Regenerate. This was our first trip to the region in 3 years for obvious reasons and this time was special because the Reconnect part was with some of our best, decades old friends and industry partners in the region. In Torres del Paine, Rio Serrano hosted the event, Hotel Lago Grey hosted a magnificent gourmet evening event and Hotel las Torres displayed their famous Bar Pionero Mixologist in a Sustainable Bar Tending lecture and hands on class.

Looking for somebody knowledgeable about Patagonia to help you to plan a trip there? Jorge was one of 32 people from around the world selected to be hosted at an Adventure Travel Trade Association (ATTA) event in September called AdventureNEXT Patagonia – Magallanes. The event is designed for a diverse set of industry professionals to have the opportunity to gain insight on travel trends and tools, build business relationships, and work together to reactivate the adventure community after the terrible effects of the pandemic.. Together they will share ideas and case studies on how the travel industry can regenerate the planet.

Over the years, I've been asked many times if it is safe to travel to South America. I had one American guy who was planning a family multisport trip, but he had read that somebody was killed in Peru, so he decided that he didn't want to travel there or to Ecuador, Chile, Argentina or Brazil because they were too close to Peru and it wasn't safe.

I recently read an article in "Travel Weekly" where a travel consultant said:

Did you know that there are 16 World Heritage sites in Argentina and Chile and 1 across the border in Uruguay? Ten are Cultural Heritage sites, five are Natural Heritage sites and two have Intangible Cultural Elements. Below are the sites:

Many people are eager to travel to South America again and are looking for information about when that will be possible. We will try to keep this post updated with the latest information we get from our local operators in each country.

When the worst of this pandemic is over and people start traveling internationally again, they will want to make sure that they can do it safely. Besides thinking about airports and airplanes, they should probably also consider some things about the destinations that they are traveling to. So here are some things that they might consider:

Many people never consider buying any form of travel insurance and many just figure it is an unjustified expense. Young people subconsciously feel they are invulnerable, but a lot of older people realize that they or their close relatives are living a more fragile existence and that the chances of some health crisis popping up are greatly increased, so they do consider getting insurance, in case they need to cancel their trip.

But there is one type of travel insurance that is increasingly becoming more important in this day and age....