Travel to Latin America

Cartagena is still defined by the massive wall surrounding its old city. Inside, narrow streets run between houses whose balconies are covered with bougainvillea, while thick stone walls provide shade from the strongest heat.

In Getsemaní, the atmosphere is less formal. Murals cover the walls and much of daily life takes place outside. The Caribbean is present in the air and in the late-afternoon light across the squares. The city is best explored on foot once the temperature begins to fall.

In the Amazon, movement happens along the rivers. Boats pass through dense vegetation where the canopy closes around the water. In the morning, mist hangs low and the calls of birds and monkeys fill the air.

As the day develops, movement becomes visible: something shifts in the branches, a bird lifts away, the surface of the water breaks. The pace is set by the surroundings, and the larger picture emerges gradually. After a few days, details that initially disappeared into the abundance begin to stand out.

Costa Rica moves quickly between very different landscapes. Volcanic regions give way to dense forest, which in turn opens towards the coast. Distances are relatively short, but the contrasts are clear.

In the forest, trails pass through habitats where wildlife is close. Sloths, monkeys and birds are often first noticed through movement and sound. At the coast, the pace changes again. It is the contrast between these environments that gives a journey through Costa Rica its shape.

Machu Picchu stands on a narrow mountain ridge where the Andes meet denser forest. Terraces follow the slopes and remain intact after centuries. In the central areas, stones fit together without mortar with a precision that has helped the structures withstand a demanding climate.

The journey arrives by train through the Sacred Valley or on foot along historic Inca routes. At the citadel, the landscape opens in every direction, with steep green mountains and the Urubamba River far below. The setting makes clear both why the site was chosen and how skilfully the Inca worked with the terrain.

In the Galápagos, many animals show remarkably little fear of people. Sea lions rest on beaches, birds nest openly and marine iguanas lie across dark lava fields. Distances between islands may be small, but the variation is considerable.

The landscape can be stark: black rock meets clear water, while greener zones appear higher up as the climate changes. Each island has its own character, and the relationship between wildlife and geology brings coherence to the archipelago as a whole.

In the Sambadrome, thousands of performers move through the night in choreography far more precise than it first appears. Drums, song, costumes, elaborate floats and dance combine in a spectacle whose full scale only becomes apparent inside the arena.

The celebrations extend far beyond the Sambadrome. Street parties around Copacabana and Ipanema, the steep bohemian streets of Santa Teresa and the older quarters of the city centre reveal very different sides of Rio. During Carnival, performance, everyday life and celebration occupy the same streets.

The Pantanal opens out along rivers and savannah-like wetlands. The conditions for seeing jaguars in the wild are better here than anywhere else on the continent. From small boats, you follow riverbanks where the cats move between forest and water, sometimes at surprisingly close range.

The birdlife is prolific. Toucans, hyacinth macaws and jabiru storks cross the open landscape, while caimans gather at the water's edge and capybaras graze among the vegetation.

Buenos Aires was built with ambition. Its broad avenues, stone façades and early twentieth-century parks still shape the way people move through the city.

During the day, you can wander between bookshops in former theatres and historic cafés whose interiors have barely changed. In the evening, people gather at neighbourhood parrillas. Dinner stretches on, and conversation with it. Tango is present too, often more as an undercurrent than a performance.

Torres del Paine is dominated by steep granite towers rising directly from the landscape. Below them, glaciers and lakes spread out in sharp shades of blue. Wind moves constantly through the region, changing the light and making each day different.

From a boat, you can watch ice calve into the water. On foot, trails climb towards viewpoints overlooking entire valleys, where the human presence appears very small. Travelling through Patagonia continually reveals the scale of the region from a new angle.