Andes, Amazon and Atlantic cities

South America

South America connects high mountain country, tropical rainforest, wine regions and long ocean coasts. Music, food and daily life shift noticeably as soon as you cross a border or mountain range.

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South America offers journeys on an imposing scale. Trek through the Andes, travel up an Amazon tributary, take long-distance buses between colonial cities or stay in a neighbourhood where markets and music set the pace. Indigenous cultures, European colonisation and later migration have shaped complex societies that resist a single narrative.

Altitude, climate and travel time determine what is practical. A short distance on the map can take a full day because of mountains or limited connections. Check rainy seasons and acclimatise gradually at elevation. A regional focus leaves time not only for headline sights, but also for understanding the places in between.

From the magazine

Stories about South America

Editorial stories linked to South America and to the countries and places within this region.

Article

What Paramaribo Cooks Begins at the Centrale Markt

Boats and trucks bring fruit, leaves, roots, fish and spices to the Centrale Markt beside the Suriname River. Inside, those ingredients lead towards roti and pom, saoto and peprewatra, and towards the histories that shaped Paramaribo’s kitchens.

A Hamba-redactieAisha

Article

The High Path from Cebollapampa to Laguna 69

At Cebollapampa, the trail follows a stream across the green floor of a glacial valley. The hard climbing comes later, when grass gives way to loose rock and Laguna 69 waits above a second wall of switchbacks.

D Hamba-redactieDaan

Article

What Comuna 13’s escalators changed on Medellín’s hillside

In Las Independencias, six pairs of public outdoor escalators cut through one of Comuna 13’s steepest residential slopes. They eased the climb home for people carrying groceries, heading to school or returning from work, then became part of a crowded route of murals, guides, music and small businesses.

S Hamba-redactieSofia

Article

Three Wooden Churches at the Heart of Chiloé

Castro wraps its timber frame in yellow and purple metal. Achao holds an older sanctuary together with wooden pegs. Dalcahue faces the channel behind nine wooden arches. These three churches show how Chiloé’s carpenters adapted Catholic forms to an island world of timber, boats and wet weather.

S Hamba-redactieSofia

Article

Cuenca and the Ecuadorian Hat Called Panama

Cuenca turns pale coastal fibre into shaped, finished hats for shops and export, but its workshops tell only part of an Ecuadorian craft rooted in Manabí. The name “Panama hat” records where overseas buyers encountered the hat, not where Ecuadorian makers produced it.

S Hamba-redactieSofia

Article

Ten responsible places to watch for whales from shore

These ten coasts put people on paths, platforms, dunes and cliff tops while whales follow their own routes offshore. Pick the right season, stay on land and accept the essential uncertainty: even in peak months, the sea may hold no whale in view.

M Hamba-redactieMara

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