Discovering the open spirit of Rio de Janeiro

RIO DE JANEIRO — "Should I use violence to restrain you if you want to buy too much?" my Italian roommate asked, seeing my...

Cuzco, Peru's often overlooked treasures

As many a Peruvian traveler can tell you, climbing Machu Picchu is easy, especially if you take one of those tourist buses that do most of...

Around the world in 23 days

Phileas Fogg went around the world in 80 days. I did it in 23. And I bet I visited more amazing sites than he — India's Taj Mahal,...

Scuba diving with Dad in Curaçao

We all marveled at the hideous thing, trying not to gasp through our regulators.

Underwater with the dolphins

Hector looks at me with disappointment. His eyes, 8 inches from my own, express pity for my inability to locate things at the bottom of...

Is Machu Picchu reaching its peak?

At the top of the mountain, where an attendant will take your $46 ticket, foot traffic is steady and cellphone reception is excellent.

In Peru's Colca Valley, a birdwatcher's paradise

Some people head to Peru to climb Incan ruins; some go to sip pisco sours. Me, I went for the birds. The very big birds.

100 photos and videos for 100 years of Machu Picchu

The road less traveled to Machu Picchu

Our first view of Machu Picchu was from across a cloud-covered valley. My daughter Betsy and I had hiked three hours in air so thick that...

It's a jungle all right in Guyana

Wary of jaguars, Wally Prince creeps around a cave formed by overhanging boulders. A few small bats drop from the rocks, flutter about and...

Chile's Atacama Desert: Otherworldly and timeless

Only four people live in the village of Machuca, 13,000 feet up in the Chilean Andes, and all of them are related to Joel Colque. Colque,...

The heart and soul of Pablo Neruda

It is said that the takeover of Chile in 1973 by Augusto Pinochet broke the heart of Pablo Neruda, the country's best-known poet.

Cartagena, Colombia: Gabriel García Márquez's inspiration, the seaport mixes Old World and New

I paused on a steamy February afternoon in Cartagena's Plaza Santo Domingo. In the square's center, tourists dined on fresh seafood and...

Mindo, Ecuador's cloud-forested wonderland

I've often fantasized about retracing the steps of such naturalists as Charles Darwin, Alexander von Humboldt and William Bartram, who saw...

Hone bargaining skills at São Paulo, Brazil’s many farmers markets and crafts fairs

The early bird may get the worm, but Camila Barrera Daza and boyfriend Kristian Kalva got the best deal by being among the last, not the...

Dancing to the beat of another country

Margit Edwards vividly remembers the exact moment she understood how to dance the samba.

In Panama, a taste of the tropics and a new state of mind

Racing through a Panamanian archipelago by sport boat, I couldn't help but feel like James Bond. It was just me and a mustachioed driver,...

A tourist and a participant in Brazil's Carnival

It was near midnight and the rain-drenched streets had already stained my white satin slippers. A Napoleon-style hat, adorned with golden...

Che's legacy looms larger than ever

It was a long fight, but the Cubans have finally conquered this forlorn Andean hamlet, four decades after Ernesto "Che" Guevara was executed...

The Lost World of Venezuela's Mt. Roraima