So if you cant tell by now, I love South America (SA). It is a beautiful continent with beautiful people and some of the most amazing things to do and see ever. From my time there the following are my favorite places in no particular order. (ps-I have pictures of these places but most are before my days of digital so they are not great quality)

1. Iguazu Falls: These are the second largest waterfalls in the world (next to Victoria) and is one of the most impressive things I have ever seen. The falls are on the boarders of Argentina and Brazil and cover an immense amount of area with 275 – 350 separate falls. It takes days to see all of it. The biggest fall is called Garganta del Diablo (Devil's Throat) and it is outrageously huge!

2. Patagonia: This is an area of land at the southern end of South America and it reaches through Argentina and Chile. Much of the land is flat plains but it contains the Andes mountains and the largest ice fields and glaciers in the Southern hemisphere (besides Antarctica). I visited the Argentine side of Patagonia and it is filled with amazing sites like glaciers and ice burgs and huge mountains. My favorite site was the Perito Moreno Glacier (see photo). It is huge and the pieces that fall into the water are amazing. I got to hike on it using crampons which was one of the coolest things I have ever done!
3. Buenos Aires, Argentina: This is my most favorite city in the whole world. I love the people and the food and the ginormousness of the city of 13 million people. I loved learning my way around but still getting lost, using public transportation and the adventure of every day. I LOVE the Spanish they speak (Castellano) energy of a city that never sleeps. I hope to go back some day.

4. La Paz, Bolivia: I visited La Paz on a trip to decide where to move to do mission work. It was the top city on my list and even though I am not going to live there I still loved it and was fascinated. It is located high in the Andes mountains at about 12,000 feet and I think it is the highest capitol city in the world. It is located in a valley with building and houses built into the mountain sides. It has some of the steepest streets I have ever seen. Interestingly the higher in altitude you go the poorer the people get which is somewhat opposite of the US where If you are rich you live in the mountains. The people look very indigenous (hope that's not racist to say) because the Indian population continue to move into the city to live.

5. Tierra del Fuego: Land of Fire, also known as the end of the world. This area lies at the very end of SA below the Strait of Magellan. I visited the city of Ushuaia and it was a gorgeous little town squeezed right in between the mountains and the ocean. The buildings were painted brightly and stood out against the dark mountain slopes. It had a few quaint little restaurants and coffee shops to hang out in and many outdoor adventures to go on and get into trouble...which I did!

Now I have seen a lot of SA but there is so so so much more to see. I am sure there are places I do not even know of yet that I want to visit. But from what I do know the following are my top 5 places I want to visit.
1. Machu Picchu: I am always amazed at how few people know of this places when it really is top on my list in the entire world. It is an old Incan civilization tucked into the clouds of the Andes mountains of Peru. It was built around 1450 and not discovered again until 1911. I like to imagine how that explorer felt the first time he saw this site knowing what an amazing treasure he had found.

2. Angel Falls: Sometimes I forget about Angel Falls, but it is located in Venezuela and it is the worlds tallest free falling waterfall at 2421 feet. That's about all I know but I'm convinced. Who wants to go?

3. Amazon River: Another water adventure would be to see or even float the Amazon River through Brazil. It is the largest river in the world by volume and it is never crossed by bridges because most of the flows through the Amazon Rain forest. (this way I get to see the Amazon River and Rain forest and kill 2 birds with one stone) It has over 3,000 species including a river dolphin, piranhas, and anacondas- scary stuff!
4. Rio de Janeiro: Rio would be an amazing city to visit. It is ginormous also and has so many things to see and do including crazy Carnival, the giant Jesus statue, Copacabana beach, awesome music and food, and some of the best soccer players ever. It is also a very poor city with many areas called Favelas (shanty towns) where the poorest of the poor lived and are shunned.

5. Torres del Paine: This is my newest interest (see the picture at the top of my blog) because it is in Chile! (Hooray) This is a range of mountains and some of the are so pointy and radical they are amazing. They were formed by glacial ice which just baffles me to think about their formation and how long it must have taken. I doubt my rock climbing abilities would let me climb to the top of some of these peaks but man I would love to see them. Also, this is located in Patagonia also so this would be another 2 bird killing!

If you actually made it to the bottom of this blog, thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed the pictures. They are my favorite part! Isn't SA beautiful and amazing and huge! I hope you will visit me and we can go somewhere awesome together!