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Mon 6 Jan, 2003 02:06 pm
If you could only visit one South American country which would it be?
I recommend Brazil but having lived there 3 times I'd like to see Machu Picchu while it's still around.
I do, however, need to return to Brazil with some gringos (since the Brasileiros don't understand what's the big deal about it) and see the Amazon.
Patagonia - I display my ignorance but that's Argentina?
It might also be in Chille, I dunno.
Been to Argentina, had fun. Went up Aconcagua until we threw a rock through the gas tank. The driver got some stuff like a fruit rollup to plug the leak. He said it crystallized when it got into the air. It worked, I was suprised!
- would love to go to Machu Picchu!
So much in S America to chose from! Machu Picchu, southern Chile - all those little islands, Paraguay for some reason, the rain forrest of Brazil....
I think this is the area I learned about in college - the montane cloud forrest in the Andes.
Maybe this?
Does anyone know what the high, isolated regions of unique biodiversity are called? Is this them?
I'd have to reluctantly choose Brazil -- though I'd love to ride the absurdly high trains through the Andes in Colombia and Peru.
You mean the alto plano in Peru, little k, or are you looking for a generic term?
Now, though that's a cool place. This is rainforrest with unique flora-fauna diversity, atop high, hard to climb, flat-topped butte-like structures from what I remember. I think the link I found is it. I had a minute to go back and look somemore.
Apparently, it's a chain of high areas that run north-south up to at least Costa Rica.
Would choose a location instead: Machu Picchu
Welcome to A2K Kail! Seems Machu Picchu tops the list. I wanted to go so badly that I bought a Quetchuan language guide.
LittleK,
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2001/08/0813_cloudforest.html
http://www.unep-wcmc.org/forest/cloudforest/english/homepage.htm
Main Entry: mon·tane
Pronunciation: "män-'tAn, 'män-"
Function: adjective
Etymology: Latin montanus of a mountain -- more at MOUNTAIN
Date: 1863
1 : of, relating to, growing in, or being the biogeographic zone of relatively moist cool upland slopes below timberline dominated by large coniferous trees
2 : of, relating to, or made up of montane plants or animals
Yeah, I'm guessing that's them. What I learned in college was that they'd be protected by their lot - too tall, too steep for humans to muck around with. So sad that they aren't resilient.
This topic has been a matter of discussion for years in my household.
I prefer Argentina. They say it's like Europe in the 50s. Plus great meat, tango, and bargain clothes.
My wife prefers Brazil. Samba, beaches, night life, beautiful bodies. Doesn't care about crime.
We even differ over which side is better for the Iguazú falls. And we haven't been there.
I'd say the lure of Incan monuments like Macchu Picchu and Cuzco and the Nazca lines would put Peru first on the list. Brazil would be a contender, though. I'd love to see the rainforest and be in Rio for carnevale. I'd like to see Venezuela's Angel Falls and Argentina's Iguaczu Falls too.
What would be LAST on the list? For me, probably Colombia right now. Too much terror and kidnapping and drug wars going on.
The last? Guyana.
A friend who has been to 60+ countries, often camping in remote places, and who lived in rural Nicaragua in the midst of the contra war, says that when he went to Guyana, for work reasons, there was absolutely nothing to do or to see. He decided to go to a restaurant different that the hotel's. Well, he just had to go to another hotel.
He gave $20 to a man who offered to accompany him to the other hotel "as a gesture for not mugging me".
fbaezer,
I found out about Iguazu a day after returningt from the city by that name. While i was there I hadn't known about the falls (it was a perfunctory trip to Paraguay). I was VERY angry.
What a shame.
Make sure to pay a visit while you're still there. I've been told the sensation is awesome, at least just as strong as the sensation you feel at Niagara Falls, but also very different, since it's in the middle of the jungle and there are several paths to trek.
I'm not there anymore. I'm in California.
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