Focus on South America
South America presents the
traveler with several choices. It just so
happens to have the highest waterfall, Angel
Falls, in Venezuela, the largest river, the
Amazon, the longest mountain range, the
Andes, and the driest desert on the earth
called the Atacama. (Nope, sorry..
Sahara...the winner is the
Atacama.)
South America also boasts the
largest rainforest (jungle), the highest
capital in La Paz, Bolivia, the highest
boatable lake, Lake Titicaca, and....if you
overlook St Nick's summer home, the
southernmost permanently inhabited
community, Puerto Toro, Chile. Brrr!
South America's major mineral
resources are gold, silver, copper, iron
ore, tin, and petroleum.
South America is split into four
imaginary regions: The Southern Cone, which
is the southern portion, the Guiana Region
which sits on the Atlantic coast, Brazil
which inhabits the interior and the Andean
states which share the Andes mountains.
It is always interesting to note
that South America, though seemingly made
for it, doesn't have a good road system
overall, nor does it have a rail system that
will get you very far. The main form of
continent travel in South America is the old
fashioned passenger jet.
The numero uno language in SA is
Spanish, which will get you far.
However, in Brazil, Portuguese is the
fashion, though, with some difficulty, any
good Brazilan (spelled Brasilan in Brasil...er,
Brazil) will be able to comprehende.
Elsewhere, in Guyana, Suriname
and French Guiana, the official languages
are English, Dutch and French respectively.
The safe bet, when in South
America is to do as your travel provider
tells you, but in a pinch, use common sense.
Learn the magic words of please and thank
you, wherever you travel, and don't identify
yourself by your garb as a rich yanqui or
continental tourista. Leave your
irreplaceable and/or flashy items back in
safe at the hotel, so that if you do get
chosen for special treatment, you don't wind
up losing more than your lunch money.
South America is so vast and
varied, that it is beyond the scope of this
page to begin to cover it all. Select a
country above or below and click for LOTS
more specific information.
When you are ready, use our #1 travel link above
to speak to experts on whichever countries
you are most interested in. For South
America adventure travel, you'll want to use
the #3 link. |
