LATIN AMERICA
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Iguaçu Falls are considered to be one of the seven wonders of the modern world. At the heart of this immense body of water is the Devil's Throat, where 14 separate falls join forces. Most of the falls lie in Argentina, but the Brazilian side offers a more superb panoramic view of the whole falls and is best visited in the morning when the light is better for photography. The Argentine side offers closer views of the individual falls.

Easter Island is over 2,000 miles from the nearest population center, (Tahiti and Chile), making it one of the most isolated places on Earth. A triangle of volcanic rock in the  South Pacific - it is best known for the giant stone monoliths, known as Moai, that dot the coastline. The early settlers called the island "Te Pito O Te Henua" (Navel of The World). Admiral Roggeveen, who came upon the island on Easter Day in 1722, named it Easter Island. Today, the land, people and language are all referred to locally as Rapa Nui.

The Galapagos Archipelago is a cluster of some 13 volcanic islands and associated islets and rocks located just under the equator, about 600 miles west of Ecuador in South America. The oldest of the islands are about 4 million years old and the youngest are still in the process of being formed. Indeed, the Galapagos islands are considered to be one of the most active volcanic areas in the world.The islands were discovered by chance in 1535 when father Tomas Berlanga, the bishop of Panama sailed to Peru to settle a dispute between Francisco Pizarro and his lieutenants after the conquest of the Incas. Charles Darwin was the first to make a scientific study of the islands in 1835.

Machu Picchu, rediscovered in 1911 by Yale archaeologist Hiram Bingham, are one of the most beautiful and enigmatic ancient sites in the world. While the Inca people certainly used the Andean mountain top (9060 feet elevation), erecting many hundreds of stone structures from the early 1400's, legends and myths indicate that Machu Picchu (meaning 'Old Peak' in the Quechua language) was revered as a sacred place from a far earlier time. Whatever its origins, the Inca turned the site into a small (5 square miles) but extraordinary city. Invisible from below and completely self-contained, surrounded by agricultural terraces sufficient to feed the population, and watered by natural springs, Machu Picchu seems to have been utilized by the Inca as a secret ceremonial city. One of Machu Picchu's primary functions was that of astronomical observatory.

Jesuit ruins are in the Littoral region: eight in Paraguay, seven in Brazil and fifteen in Argentina. Some of them are in good conditions and others are inaccessible. They are the result of the evangelical determination of the priests of the Society of Jesus to convert the Guarani Indians, inhabitants of this region, to Christianity. This attempt did not produce the excepted results so the priests decided to live with the Indians in reducciones (settlements of converted Indians).

Old Havana is a great place, take a walk in the small streets, enjoy the people around and the music you'll hear from everywhere, Have a drink in the small cafes / Bars or lunch in one of the restaurant, enjoy the book market and all the amazing architecture of all the surrounding buildings. When you go to the bars, try the famous drinks of Cuba “The Mojito”! Ask the barmen’s for the best local drinks, they will gladly recommend.

Old San Juan, is a 465-year-old neighborhood originally conceived as a military stronghold. Its 7-square-block area has evolved into a charming residential and commercial district. The streets here are paved with cobbles of adoquine, a blue stone cast from furnace slag; they were brought over ballast on Spanish ships and time and moisture have lent them their characteristic color. The city includes more than 400 carefully restored 16th- and 17th-century Spanish colonial buildings.

Old Santo Domingo, Stones speak a historic and romantic language in this fivefold hundred-year-old city. Through many years they have witnessed a history and its immortal glories. In fact, numerous are the primacies of The Hispaniola and the City of Santo Domingo de Guzman to many respects. This city is indeed the cradle of America. Here an important civilization was born, which offers itself to the visitor in full splendor and pureness.

Tikal is the largest of the ancient ruined cities of the Maya civilization. Tikal was one of the major cultural and population centers of the Maya civilization. Monumental architecture was built here as early as the 4th century BC. The city was at its height in the Maya Classic Period, approximately 200 AD to 850 AD, after which no new major monuments were built, some of the palaces of the elite were burned, and the population gradually declined until the site was abandoned by the end of the 10th century. The name "Tikal" means "Place of Voices" or "Place of Tongues" in Maya, which may be an ancient name for the city, although the ancient hieroglyphs usually refer to it as Mutal or Yax Mutal, meaning "Green Bundle", and perhaps metaphorically "First Prophecy". Scholars estimate that at its peak it had a population from 100,000 to 200,000.

The Copan Ruins are located in the western part of Honduras, about 60 kilometers from the border with Guatemala. Copan - known as Xukpi to the Maya - was the dominant Mayan city in the south of their territory. Its rich stone sculptures and intricate hieroglyphs make Copan a feature attraction along "La Ruta Maya". Exploring the ruins you see a huge complex consisting of several plazas and many temples built on various levels. This larger site, Copán, is Mayan, whereas the smaller one, Las Sepulturas, is Lenca and about a kilometer from the main one.

Granada is the oldest colonial city founded in Central America. It was the most important city in the region, not only for being the oldest but four being the best located in that time founded by the Spanish conqueror " Don Francisco Hernández de Córdoba" in 1524. The cathedral of Granada is one of the most prominent buildings of the city. It is located at the east side of the central park of Granada (Parque Colón).

The Masaya Volcano, also known as POPOGATEPE meaning the "MOUNTAIN THAT BURNS" in the language of the indigenous Chorotega tribe one of its craters, Santiago, currently displays gaseous activity and incandescent lava in its interior. During the pre-Columbian age, Masaya Volcano was on object of veneration by the indigenous people. They believed the eruptions were signs of anger from the Gods and to appease them they offered sacrifices, which offer included small children and maidens.

The Rainforest of Costa Rica, despite its small size, has high levels of biological diversity with some 12,000 species of plants, 1,239 species of butterflies, 838 species of birds, 440 species of reptiles and amphibians, and 232 species of mammals. Costa Rica has an ambitious conservation program, perhaps one of the most developed among tropical rainforest countries, that protects more than 10 percent of the country. One protected strip of forest runs uninterrupted for 40 miles through nine ecological zones from sea level to 12,500 feet.

Panama La Vieja (Old Panama) is the name used for the architectural vestiges of the Monumental Historic Complex of the first Spanish city founded on the Pacific coast of the Americas by Pedro Arias de Avila on 15 August 1519. This city was the starting point of the expeditions that conquered the Inca Empire in Peru (1532). It also was a stopover point of one of the most important trade routes in the history of he American continent leading to the famous fairs of Nombre de Dios (God’s Name) and Portobelo where most of the gold and Silver that Spain took from the Americas passed through. The fire, destruction and pillage that were caused by Henry Morgan in 1671 provoked the move and construction of a new city in 1673, which today is known as the Old City Center or Colonial Panama (Casco Antiquo). Old Panama is one of the urban attractions that can easily be visited and seen while walking through its old stone paved streets now overgrown with grass to appreciate its 476-year old history.

The Panama Canal is both an engineering marvel and one of the most significant waterways on earth. Seeing a huge ship nudge its way through the narrow canal, with vast tracts of virgin jungle on both sides, is an unforgettable sight. Stretching 80km (49mi) from Panama City on the Pacific coast to Colón on the Atlantic side, it provides passage for nearly 14,000 ocean-going vessels per year. The easiest and best way to visit the Canal is to go to the Miraflores Locks, on the northeastern fringe of Panama City, where a platform offers visitors a good view of the locks in operation. There's also a museum with a model and a film about the Canal.

Angel Falls is located in the Guayana highlands, one of five topographical regions of Venezuela. It plunges off the edge of a "tepui", or table-top mountain, and free falls 2,421 feet to the river below, making it the tallest waterfalls on earth. In total it is 15 times higher than Niagara Falls with a total of 2,937 feet.

The falls are named after Jimmy Angel, a barnstorming bush pilot from Missouri who has become a modern legend. Jimmy Angel first saw the falls in 1933 while searching for a valuable ore bed. He returned in 1937 with his wife, Gustavo Heny and Heny's gardener, and landed on top of the tepui. His Falamingo monoplane settled down into the marshy ground atop Auyan-tepui and remained there for 33 years before being lifted out by a helicopter. Jimmy Angel and his three comapnions managed to descend the tepui and make their way back to civilization in 11 days.

Tiwanaku, is one of the more important archaeological sites of Latin America. Ciudadela pre-Hispanic of Tiwanaku shows the technique of a civilization bloomed in the plateau the south of Lago Titikaka, that got to be one of the greatest and outposts of the continent.

Their astronomical knowledge, like the observation of the constellations and the solar cycles, took to tiwanakotas to a total control of their agricultural cycles, with the construction of terraces, ridges (Suka Kollos) and Qochas.
Its huge architectonic conception in litos has been shaped in samples like the door of the sun, monoliths and the great temples (Kalasasaya, Akapana and Puma Punku are good sample of it), in one ciudadela that was an important ceremonial center.

Fuerte de Samaipata, is known to have been occupied and used as a ritual and residential centre by people belonging to the Mojocoyas culture as early as AD 300, and it was at this time that work began on the shaping of this great rock. According to the Spanish priest Diego de Alcaya, writing at the beginning of the 17th century, it was occupied in the 14th century by the Inca, who made it a provincial capital. This is confirmed by the features that have been discovered by excavation - a large central plaza with monumental public buildings around it and terracing of the neighboring hillsides for agriculture - which are characteristic of this type of Inca settlement. It formed a
Bulwark against the incursions of the warlike Chiriguanos of the Chaco region in the 1520s. The strategic location of the site, which had attracted the Inca to it, was also recognized by the Spaniards.

The Salar de Uyuni, at an altitude of between 4,000 - 5,000 metres, is one of the largest natural salt lakes in the world and the contrast of the brilliant white and the vivid blue sky is extraordinary. Travel by 4WD vehicle along the shore of the lakes and lagoons, where encrusted crystallised salt and gypsum contrast with the red algae-rich saline water on which the vibrant James flamingos feed and breed. Curiously Uyuni is also the end of the road for the steam train enthusiast, for here in the desert is the 'train cemetery', a collection of locomotives and carriages rusting in the sun. A trip across the Salar de Uyuni is one of the highlights of a visit to Bolivia.

The lines of Nazca are in the Peruvian desert, about 200 miles south of Lima, there lies a plain between the Inca and Nasca valleys. Across this plain, in an area measuring 37 miles long and 1 mile wide, is an assortment of perfectly straight lines, many running parallel, others intersecting, forming a grand geometric form. In and around the lines there are also trapezoidal zones, strange symbols, and pictures of birds and beasts all etched on a giant scale that can only be appreciated from the sky.