South America | FindPenguins

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South America
Salta Exploration
May 22 in Argentina ⋅ ⛅ 55 °F
We stayed out of the van today and did a walking tour of Salta, founded in 1582 by the Spanish Army. This city was the last fertile area for crops and livestock from the gold mines in Bolivia under Spain, but it was also a part of the Inca Empire.

Although we had hoped to see the a museum that houses three 500-year-old mummies from a 22k foot mountain, the museum was closed, but we did have a fascinating lecture on the history of this site.

After a huge steak lunch complete with wine Michael and I headed for the San Bernardino hill above the city—I went by cable car and Michael by steps. But we returned to the city by foot.Read more
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South America
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Andean Life
May 23 in Argentina ⋅ ☀️ 63 °F
We began the next phase of our trip by saying goodbye to the gaucho way of life in NW Argentina and heading to Jujuy to start traversing the Andes. We headed north toward Purmamarca, driving through burnt-orange valleys and twisting mountain passes.  We were in the Quebrada de Humahuaca (Humahuaca Gorge). This gorge traverses the length of the Rio Grande Valley and follows the path of the ancient Inca Trail trade route.

We visited an archeological site that predates the Incas and then watched a llama fiber weaving demonstration. Our hotel tonight is on the middle of a red mountain, just beautiful!Read more
Traveler Invasive species that we see on electrical wires AND on cactus. It will eventually kill the cactus. Epiphytes!
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South America
Colorful Hills and Purmamarca
May 24 in Argentina ⋅ ☀️ 57 °F
Today we explored the small desert town of Purmamarca, beneath the incredible Cerro de los Siete Colores. The “Hill of Seven Colors” with bands of reds, pinks, greens, and golds rising behind the town. After weeks in Peru and Bolivia, it was interesting to see how Argentina’s Andean culture has its own distinct feel while still sharing familiar traditions, textiles, and mountain landscapes.

Purmamarca itself had adobe buildings and dusty streets, but the main square was full of life thanks to the local craft market and a 3-day holiday weekend celebrating the May 25, 1810 date of the start of Argentina’s independence.

Dinner was a culinary experience where we made parts of our meal. Melissa focused on empanadas and Michael sliced llama tenderloin and made spiced potatoes.Read more
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South America
Up and Over the Andes
May 25 in Chile ⋅ ☀️ 39 °F
We left very early this morning for a 10-hour journey to the Atacama Desert. Along the way we reached the highest elevation either of us have been at 15,830 feet, saw tons of vicuñas, a few flamingos and rheas and towering volcanos, and just now experienced our first earthquake (6.9!).

We also officially crossed into Chile, which was an uneventful land crossing, combined with quite a bit of paranoia about what foodstuffs we could bring or not (our tour info had scared us a bit about tiny packs of peanuts resulting in $200 fines).

Not a super active day, but definitely a scenic trip that ended with a bang, or maybe a tremor is the right word?Read more
TravelerSo excited to hear more about the Atacama! We just brushed the southern tip of the desert and were totally awestruck.
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South America
Flamingos!
May 26 in Chile ⋅ ☀️ 73 °F
We spent the morning exploring San Pedro de Atacama, learning about the town’s history and culture while walking its dusty adobe-lined streets. We also visited the Church of San Pedro de Atacama, one of the oldest churches in Chile.

In the afternoon, we headed out to the Salar de Atacama salt flats and Laguna Chaxa, where we saw flamingos living in the middle of the desert. There are three types of flamingos here (Chilean, Andean, and James) and they spend up to 16 hours a day beaks down filtering for brine shrimp to get enough calories for the day. Every once in a while they would fly over which was a cool site.

We finished the day with a sundowner and sunset over the salt flats before heading back to San Pedro.Read more
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Geysers at 14,000 feet!
May 27 in Chile ⋅ 🌬 46 °F
We left at 5:30 am for a 2-hour journey to the Tatio geyser field, the highest geysers in the world at 14,000 feet. We doubled up on pants, shirts, coats…all the clothing. We enjoyed the experience, but were more intrigued by the wildlife we saw as we made our way down.

Our guide pulled over to feed us breakfast as we watched the vicuñas, and then we continued down to an “oasis” area in the desert with flamingos, ducks, wild burros, and the ever present vicuñas.

We returned at noon, and Melissa took a siesta. We were off again at 3 pm for the Valley of the Moon and the Valley of Death (Chile’s version). Nothing living in these area with great sand dunes (and plenty of sand in our shoes). We were then off to a home-hosted dinner where Melissa practiced Spanish, and we ended our day with at an observatory to see the stars. A very full day!Read more
TravelerLove the landscape
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Traveler Cool view… wow!
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South America
Travel Day
May 28 in Chile ⋅ ⛅ 64 °F
We transitioned to the big city of Santiago today, leaving st about 11:30 am and riding 90 minutes to Calama in the van for our flight. Calama is the site of the world’s largest copper mine and is surrounded with wind mills and solar fields powering the mine. Our flight was full of men leaving for their homes for a break after working several weeks straight at the mine.

After a 2-hour flight we arrived in Santiago after dark and were taken to dinner at our hotel.Read more
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South America
Exploring Santiago
May 29 in Chile ⋅ ☁️ 72 °F
After a bountiful breakfast at the Hotel Intercontinental we heard a presentation by a Chilean who told us his quite a complicated story of how he lived through his country’s transition to a 17-year dictatorship.

We were then met by our local guide for a walking tour of the city core. She also touched on the military coup that brought Pinochet to power and the reform to democracy in the late 1980s.

We then separated from the group for some free time making our way to the Museum of Human Rights to learn more about this era in Chilean history. We made our way back to the hotel via the metro system, which is extremely easy to use with tap and pay.

Dinner was at a revolving restaurant with views of the city.Read more
TravelerOur former exchange student’s mother was a public defender and very active for human rights under Pinochet
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TravelerIt is a fascinating history and so shocking that there are so many people still supporting Pinochet…including current president 🫠
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South America
On to the Last Leg of our Journey!
May 30 in Chile ⋅ ☀️ 72 °F
We had just one last group activity with our North Argentina and Chile group and that was a winery tour just outside of Santiago.

It was a beautiful fall day with warm sunshine and crunchy leaves at the winery. We tasted our way through a tour at Cousiño Magel winery, highlighting the red wines. After some delicious cheese and prosciutto we got into the bus for the last ride together and said goodbye. Everyone else is heading home tonight and we are headed to Easter Island for a few days before we return to Colorado.

It’s always a strange transition when you end a group tour, we really enjoyed our travel companions and especially our guide Tincho.

We moved our luggage to a Hyatt nearby before heading out on the metro to partake in a free day at the Museum of Pre-Columbian Art. Upon arriving we found the streets packed for Heritage Day and all the museums were free. Although very busy everyone was well mannered and carefully lined up to see various sites. We didn’t get much out of the museum but did enjoy watching people partaking in their holiday.

Tomorrow we are off for an early 5.5 hour flight to Rapa Nui!Read more
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South America
Arrival in Easter Island
May 31 in Chile ⋅ 🌬 72 °F
Early wake up for us as we had a morning flight to Rapa Nui (Easter Island). It’s a 5.5 hour flight to one of the world’s most isolated (yet inhabited) places.

Easy flight on LATAM and we arrived in the afternoon and were surprised to learn we were on mountain time! This is a tiny place and we probably could have walked from the airport, but arrived at the Taha Tai Hotel and set out to explore. Warmer, yet very windy with nice ocean views. We saw our first moi from Hanga Roa.Read more
TravelerAlways wanted to go, but was never convinced it’s worth the effort. Really interested if you classify this as a “must see!”
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TravelerNow have photos popped up on my post (WiFi not consistent at hotel)…I think if you are in Chile for other things it is a must see for a few days. I wouldn’t do a trip from US just for this. But for me, it is fascinating.
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Rapa Nui Moai Day 1 Tour
June 1 in Chile ⋅ 🌬 70 °F
We had booked a 2-day private tour of the island and were met promptly at 9 am by Nakia, who drove and walked us around the southern coast and inland showing us nonstop 🗿 🗿🗿🗿🗿🗿🗿

We visited these sites (I think they are in order, but the Rapa Nui language reminds me of Hawaiian where there doesn’t seem to be enough variation in letters for me to distinguish one site from another!)

First up was the Rako Raraku, or the quarry where the Moai were carved and there are more than 150 of them on the hillside in various states of creation.

Then came the Tongariki site, where 15 Moai have been reassembled on their platform (called an Ahu). All the Moai had been pushed over throughout the island, but this one was rebuilt in the 1990s.

We visited Orono, site of 150 years of the bird man competitions where men would risk life and limb diving down a cliff and swimming through crazy waves over to bring an egg back and claim the prize of leadership for a year and a virgin. This site has an amazing volcanic crater.

Then Vinapu where a lovely rainbow 🌈 appeared out on the ocean while we walked among toppled Moai.

Such a full day and hardly anyone is here. We can’t believe that we are often the only ones at these sites.…our guide is a bit in the “mystic” side of things for Melissa’s taste, but he’s definitely showing us his heritage.Read more
TravelerOur guide has quite an unusual set of beliefs. Into conspiracy theories, anti vaccine, doesn’t like using WhatsApp, etc.
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Traveler 😀
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TravelerInteresting place
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South America
Day 2 Rapa Nui
June 2 in Chile ⋅ ⛅ 68 °F
Day two of searching for all the Moai had us on a different part of the island. We first visited a beach with several Moai reinstalled on their Ahu platform. The beach was mostly deserted at that time and we did a little exploring to see a cave and an old anchor left from the 18th century when the island was being visited regularly by those looking to earn a profit usually at the expense of the native people.

We then visited the quarry for the red rock “top knots” for the Moai. These hat-like toppers represented the hair worn long and in a knot in top of the head. The quarry was in a totally different part of the island than the Moai quarry so with great effort the people would roll the huge top knots to where they were needed and then somehow hoist them to the top of the Moai—all people labor, as the largest animal on the island was the chicken.

We also saw the seven seekers that legend says the king sent to find Rapa Nui. These seven were memorialized as Moai and are the only ones who face the ocean, looking toward where they came from. All the others face their communities.

We were dropped off for lunch and then things got a little weird. In our last footprint we mentioned that our guide was a little “off.” We were supposed to meet him at 2:45 pm. We messaged at 2:30 pm where to meet us. Then at 3 pm we messaged that we were walking to a site since we hadn’t heard from him. Then by 3:45 pm we figured something must have happened and messaged that we hoped he was ok and that we were done for the day.

Two hours after he was supposed to pick us up he messaged that he was sorry, had an accident and his phone wasn’t working….we said we were done for the day and then received about a dozen messages from him wanting to come meet with us. Awkward…it’s kind of a bummer because we had enjoyed yesterday, but it just got too weird. Oh well, we felt like we got to see enough and that what we learned was good information, but we could do without all the constant “theories,” and odd philosophical statements.Read more
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South America
Travel Day!
June 3 in Chile ⋅ 🌬 72 °F
We awoke in Rapa Nui and went to sleep in Santiago. In between we got some walking in around Hanga Roa to say goodbye to the Moai, and then headed to the airport to watch the chickens as we got ready for our 5-hour flight back to the mainland.Read more
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South America
Last day and heading home!
June 4 in Chile ⋅ ☁️ 73 °F
We had a late arrival at the Hyatt Centric last night in Santiago so we slept in and got a bountiful breakfast buffet.

We headed out about 10 am to tackle the funicular (well Melissa rode the funicular, Michael hiked up under his own power). After arriving at the top and checking out the giant Madonna statue on Cerro San Cristobal we walked down. It was a long trek, but nice to get some miles in before a 16-hour travel journey.

We took the metro again and then checked out the mall before arriving back at the hotel for our Uber to the airport. We’re trying our Delta’s premium select seating on our 10 hour overnight flight to Atlanta. Melissa is excited!Read more
TravelerThat Funicular picture grabbed me. Not only did we ride that 2 months ago, but just last week we rode the one in Pittsburgh. Strange feeling not moving horizontal or vertical, but both at the same time. 😀
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South America
We’re Home!
June 5 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 84 °F
Our first try at a long haul flight in economy plus. Melissa loved it, check out the leg room!

Overnight flight from Santiago to Atlanta, then on to Denver. A shuttle took us home.
TravelerGoing places is GREAT! Getting there ….. well …. Not so great. 🫩. Welcome Home!
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Trip end
June 5, 2026