The Americas Photos
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North America

Middle America

South America

 

Click on any of the thumbnails below.

 

North America

Toronto, Canada

Chicago, Illinois, USA

Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

Central Park, New York, USA from above

Quebec City is located in Quebec, Canada’s oldest and largest province. Quebec City is known as the most “European” of all North American cities.

Nuuk, Greenland
 

US-Mexico border: US (left) and Mexico (right)

United States and Canada  Border: At 5,500 miles, this long clearing in the trees marks the US-Canadian border. This vast border runs directly through the small town of Derby Line, cutting several buildings in half. (See line on floor.)

Everglades National Park in Florida is the largest tropical wilderness east of the Mississippi River, covering more than 1.5 million acres. The park was established in 1934 to protect the area’s fragile ecosystem and is home to 36 threatened or protected species, including the American crocodile and West Indian manatee.

Arches National Park lies atop an underground salt bed, which is the primary reason that roughly 2,000 magnificent sandstone arches have formed here. The park was established in 1929 and covers more than 76,000 acres.

Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York

Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay

 

Yosemite National Park CA

Great Smoky Mountains National Park TN/NC

Adirondacks NY

Honopu Beach in Kauai, Hawaii

The watery depths of the Everglades in Florida are a sanctuary for birds, reptiles and manatees, a threatened species. It comprises the largest mangrove ecosystem in the Western Hemisphere but the serious and continuing degradation of its aquatic system has led to significant signs of eutrophication, an excess of nutrients which has led to overly dense plant life, loss of marine habitat and a decline in marine species.

Icebreaker Louis Saint Laurent in Resolute Bay, Nunavut Territory, Canada

 

The Athabasca Oil Sands, Alberta, Canada: These oil deposits make up the largest reservoir of crude bitumen in the world, and as recently as 2006, produced over 1 million barrels of crude oil per day.

Autumn forest in the region of Charlevoix, Quebec, Canada: The hills of the Charlevoix region along the Saint Lawrence River in Quebec province are dominated by a mixed forest of deciduous trees and conifers. In 1988 UNESCO declared 1,800 square miles (4,600 km2) of this region a Biosphere Reserve. The Quebec forest, boreal in the north and temperate in the south, covers nearly two thirds of the province and has been exploited for lumber since the end of the 17th century. Today it contributes to the economic prosperity of Canada in the worldwide production of newsprint paper, paper pulp and timber, as well as Christmas trees and maple syrup.

Quebec City Canada

San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge

Savannah GA

Percé Rock is a massive siliceous limestone formation in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence on the tip of the Gaspé Peninsula in Quebec, Canada, off Percé Bay. Percé Rock appears from a distance like a ship under sail. It is one of the world’s largest natural arches located in water. The sparse vegetation on the summit of the Percé Rock offers refuge to a number of marine birds. The town of Percé (population 3,419) has its roots in the fishing industry.

 

US border with Mexico at Nogales

San Jose CA, May 2020: A protester took a knee in front of a line of police officers during demonstrations over the death of George Floyd.

Oroville CA, September 2020: The fast-moving Bear fire, propelled by winds as strong as 45 miles an hour, burned a hillside by the Bidwell Bar Bridge. The wildfire tore through 230,000 acres in one 24-hour period.

Kayenta AZ, November 2020: Members of the Navajo Nation heading to the polls. The reservation’s geographic isolation made absentee voting a challenge.

St George’s, the original colonial capital of Bermuda, is the oldest continuously settled British town in the New World.

Greenland is the world’s largest island, more than three times the size of the state of Texas.  Greenland’s capital, Nuuk, is located on the southwest coast of the island.

 

Andrew George, an Inuk from Kotzebue, Alaska, US, jigs for sheefish on the Bering Sea. Sheefish have become a critical source of subsistence since the caribou changed their migration patterns.

Waterline view of an ice floe in Admiralty Inlet off the west coast of Baffin Island, Canada: This is a super-sized landscape and seascape located in Canada's remote northeast. Baffin is the country's largest island, as well as the world's fifth-largest. Just getting to this region of Nunavut, the country's newest designated territory, is an undertaking, as the whole area is in the remote Canadian Arctic. The indigenous people of the region have been settled here for 4,000 years.

Hurricane Emily 2005 NASA

Ilulissat Icefjord in Greenland

Greenland at night

The USS Hampton, a nuclear-powered submarine, surfacing in the Beaufort Sea for Operation Ice Camp (March 2024), a Navy mission aimed at sharpening sailors’ combat skills in the Arctic as Russia expanded military operations there.
 

The flag of Greenland, known as Erfalasorput, flying in Nuuk, Greenland’s capital and largest city.

Icebergs drift in Disko Bay, by Ilulissat, Greenland’s third-largest city.

the remote village of Ittoqqortoormiit (population 300-400) in eastern Greenland

The northern lights, pictured here in Tiniteqilaq in the district of Ammassalik in East Greenland.

Snow-covered mountains rise above the harbor in Tasiilaq, Greenland (population 2,000).

 

Middle America (Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean)

The extinct volcano Xico in Mexico City

One of the poore areas of Mexico City

Dominican Republic

Mexico City

This region contains Costa Rica’s Monteverde Cloud Forest Biological Reserve. Shrouded in a unique misty cover, this biological reserve sets itself apart from other rainforests of Costa Rica. What we call clouds are actually mist produced by the high humidity at an elevation of over 5,200 feet above sea level. The Reserve is filled with a huge array of lofty and soaring trees. The moisture catches around the branches of the tallest trees, harboring a thriving ecosystem below. As a matter of fact, while the entire country of Costa Rica represents 0.03% of landmass on the planet, the Monteverde Cloud Forest Biological Reserve alone houses 2.5% of the world's biodiversity. The Reserve runs along the Continental Divide, where one side faces the Caribbean and other faces the Pacific. A private reserve, Monteverde also plays home to Costa Rica’s Quaker community that migrated here from the US in the 1950’s. The initial Quaker settlers entered into the dairy farming and cheese making business. Today, the cheese from Monteverde is some of the best in the country and is sold far and wide. The Quakers have played a huge role in developing Monteverde into the region it is. Firm believers in conservation, the community and others were able to raise money and started buying huge hectares of the cloud forest in 1972, to protect this habitat from being destroyed or overdeveloped. As a result, the Monteverde Cloud Forest Biological Reserve currently includes over 17,000 hectares of pristine jungle.

Cuba is one of those rare countries that seems frozen between the 18th century and the 1950s.

 

Montserrat is a Caribbean island - specifically in the Leeward Islands, which are part of the chain known as the Lesser Antilles. The island measures approximately 10 miles long and 7 miles wide, with approximately 25 miles of coastline. Montserrat is nicknamed The Emerald Isle of the Caribbean both for its resemblance to coastal Ireland and for the Irish ancestry of many of its inhabitants. In 1995, the previously dormant Soufrière Hills volcano, on the southern part of the island, became active. Eruptions destroyed Plymouth, Montserrat's capital city. Two-thirds of the island's population was forced to flee. The volcanic activity continues but a new town and port are being developed at Little Bay, which is on the northwest coast.

Curaçao is located in the southern Caribbean, off the Venezuelan coast and lies just 12° north of the Equator. It includes the main island as well as a small, uninhabited island. Curaçao is the most “Dutch” of its Caribbean sister islands. It has a land area of 171 mi2 measuring 23 miles in length with a maximum width of 5 miles. The island has a population of about 142,000. The capital, Willemstad, has pastel-colored colonial architecture, the floating Queen Emma Bridge and the sand-floored, 17th-century Mikvé Israel-Emanuel Synagogue.

A true city of the developing world, just an hour by air from Miami, Port-Au-Prince, Haiti, was preceded by a reputation for impoverished chaos even before the 2010 earthquake literally shook it to its foundations. The infrastructure is compromised, the gulf between rich and poor remains as wide as ever and the quake raised to the ground several of its major hotels and government buildings, as well as the national palace. And yet, the city remains one of the most vibrant and exciting in the Caribbean.  It’s a chaotic, exhilarating and compelling place. 

The Surinam toad has a unique way of reproducing. Males call to the females by making a clicking sound underwater. A willing female releases 60 to 100 eggs, and the male fertilizes them and pushes the eggs onto her back, where they stick to her skin. During the next few days, her skin grows up and around the eggs, forming a honeycomb structure of pockets, and eventually encloses them completely. After hatching, the young ride on her back for three to four months, continuing to develop under her skin. When ready, the pockets on her back open up to reveal the snouts and waving feet of the toadlets. They pop out of their holes and head for the water’s surface. The mother then sheds her skin, ready for the next breeding season.

West End Arch, Anguilla

Find out more about the caves at Naicia, Mexico. These large columns of selenite crystals (gypsum) are spectacular.

 

Panama Canal

Lake Nicaragua

Ciudad Nezahualcóyotl began as “irregular housing” or “colonias populares,” developed wherever there was vacant land, mostly to the west and north of Mexico City on the dry former lakebed or on very steep slopes. Over time it changed from an irregular settlement to a massive urban monster with around 1.3 million residents.

View of Havana Cuba at night

Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras, is situated in a valley, surrounded by mountains ... which makes flying into and out of the city a bit nerve-wracking.

Nevis
 

Pyramid of the Niches at El Tajin, Mexico

Bahamas: The Fantastic Pit in Ellison’s Cave drops 586 vertical feet.

Haiti

Panama City, Panama

Isla Bastimentos, Panama

Saint Lucia

 

Saint Martin

Mexico City

Cite Soleil slum, Port-au-Prince, Haiti

Mountains of central Costa Rica

The Swing Bridge in Belize City is the only functioning, manually operated swing bridge in the world.

Belize City, Belize 
 

San Jose is the capital of Costa Rica and is located in the country’s Central Valley.  The city grew around its main plaza, La Plaza de la Cultura and has become a modern, cosmopolitan city. It is presently home to a third of the country’s population.

San Salvador, El Salvador as darkness descends on the greater metropolitan area

Guatemala City, known locally as Guate, is the capital and largest city of Guatemala,and the most populous urban area in Central America. The city is located in the south-central part of the country, nestled in a mountain valley called Valle de la Ermita.

The Mercado Carlos Roberto Huembes in Managua, known locally as simply El Huembes, is one of the largest markets in Nicaragua. According to some estimates, the market can host as many as 10,000 small businesses and shops, although the number varies each day.

Managua, the capital and largest city of Nicaragua, is located on the shores of Lake Managua.

The Dominican Republic makes up the eastern two-thirds of the Caribbean island Hispaniola. After Cuba, it is the second-largest country, in both area and population, in the Caribbean.  Santo Domingo is the capital city.
 

Kingston, Jamaica

Jamaica is a mountainous island in the Caribbean. It is part of the chain of Caribbean islands called the Greater Antilles, along with Cuba, Hispaniola and Puerto Rico. Jamaica, the tip of a mountain rising from the sea floor, was formed when the North American and Caribbean tectonic plates collided about 25 million years ago. Nearly half of the island is more than 1,000 feet above sea level. There are lush rolling hills that are ideal for agriculture and coastal beach regions that are popular with tourists.

The Taíno people have lived on the island of Puerto Rico since around 1200, and they still live there today. When Christopher Columbus arrived in 1493, he made the island a colony of Spain by royal decree, calling it San Juan Bautista in honor of John the Baptist. In 1508, the island’s first governor, Juan Ponce de León, changed the name to Puerto Rico, which means rich port in Spanish. Gold and treasures from the Americas went through Puerto Rico before sailing to Europe. Around that time, slave traders forced African people to the island to build forts and work on farms.

Puerto Rico came under US rule after Spain lost the Spanish-American War in 1898. In 1917, the island became a US territory and Puerto Ricans were given US citizenship when President Woodrow Wilson signed the Jones-Shafroth Act. Although Puerto Rico is not a state, residents use the US dollar and services like the US Postal Service. US citizens, including Puerto Ricans, don’t need passports to travel between Puerto Rico and the mainland US. The capital city of San Juan is located on Puerto Rico's northern coast.

The Valley is the territorial capital of the small Eastern Caribbean island of Anguilla, a British Overseas Territory. The northern coast of Anguilla borders the Caribbean, while the southern coast borders the Atlantic. Malliouhana, is the original name of the island, bestowed on it by Anguilla’s indigenous Arawak population.

Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve, Costa Rica, is a 26,000-acre forest reserve that sits high in Costa Rica’s cloud forests. The Reserve consists of 6 ecological zones (90% of which are virgin forest), over 2,500 plant species (including the most orchid species in a single place), 100 species of mammals, 400 bird species and 120 reptilian and amphibian species.
 

Two countries on one 34mi2 island for almost 400 years … one of the Leeward Islands in the Northeast Caribbean. Divided in half and governed by two different countries – Sint Maarten by the Netherlands and St Martin by France. Pictured is Philipsburg, the capital of Sint Maarten, a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

Philipsburg, Sint Maarten

Antigua and Barbuda is an independent Commonwealth country, that includes its 2 namesake islands and several smaller ones.

The underground caves of Barbuda: Unique among the Caribbean islands, Barbuda is mostly made of limestone, which is highly prone to erosion. The result is a surprising number of large caverns under its surface.

The waterfront of Oranjestad, the capital of Aruba

Arikok National Park, Aruba
 

Nassau is the capital of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas,.

Barbados is an eastern Caribbean island and an independent British Commonwealth nation. Its population is predominantly of African ancestry. While it is technically an Atlantic island, Barbados is closely associated with the Caribbean. About 700,000 years ago, the island emerged from the ocean as a result of a rising body of soft rock in the mantle known as a diapir, located under Barbados, pushing it upwards. This process is still happening, and makes the island rise about 12 inches on average every thousand years. Currently, dozens of inland sea reefs still dominate coastal features within terraces and cliffs of the island.

Bridgetown, the capital of Barbados, is a cruise-ship port with colonial buildings and Nidhe Israel, a synagogue founded in 1654. 

The British Virgin Islands comprise around 60 tropical Caribbean islands. Most of the islands are volcanic in origin and have a hilly, rugged terrain. The twin pillars of the economy are financial services (60%) and tourism (roughly 40-45% of GDP).

Road Town, Tortola, British Virgin Islands

The three islands comprising the Cayman Islands are the peaks of an undersea mountain range called the Cayman Ridge, reaching up from the Cayman Trench - one of the deepest sections of ocean in the world, reaching depths of around 25,000 ft. All three islands are very flat, with the highest point on Grand Cayman being some 70ft above sea level. There are no rivers on any of the islands. The coasts are largely protected by offshore coral reefs and in some places by a mangrove fringe that sometimes extends into inland swamps.
 

The Cayman Islands is a self-governing British Overseas Territory, and the largest by population.  The capital city is George Town on Grand Cayman, the most populous of the three islands.

Dominica, often called Nature Island, is a mountainous Caribbean island nation with natural hot springs and tropical rainforests. Morne Trois Pitons National Park is home to the volcanically heated, steam-covered Boiling Lake.

Roseau, Dominica

Although only 21 miles long and 12 miles wide, Grenada produces many spices, which is how it got the nickname Island of Spice. Nutmeg is one of the country’s major exports. Grenada supplies nearly 40% of the world’s annual crop. You’ll also find cinnamon, ginger, cloves, allspice, bay leaves and turmeric on the island.

A US territory, the Virgin Islands are a group of Caribbean islands and islets. St Thomas island is home to the capital, Charlotte Amalie. To the east is the island of St John, most of which comprises Virgin Islands National Park. St Croix island and its historic towns, Christiansted (shown here) and Frederiksted, are to the south.

Saint Barthelemy, a French-speaking Caribbean island commonly known as St. Barts, is a volcanic island fully encircled by shallow reefs and has an area of 9.7 sq miles.
 

Gustavia, Saint Barthelemy

St. Kitts is the larger of the two Caribbean islands that comprise the nation of Saint Kitts and Nevis.The island on the left is Nevis.

Basseterre, Saint Kitts and Nevis

As a volcanic island, Saint Lucia is very mountainous, with its highest point being Mount Gimie, at 3,120 feet above sea level. The Pitons, two mountainous volcanic plugs, form the island's most famous landmark.

Castries Central Market in Castries, the capital of St Lucia 

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines is an island country in the eastern Caribbean. The island of Saint Vincent is volcanic and heavily forested and includes little level ground. Saint Vincent's highest peak is La Soufrière, a Holocene volcano that last erupted in 1979.
 

Kingstown, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

Trinidad and Tobago is a dual-island Caribbean nation near Venezuela, with distinctive Creole traditions and cuisines. Trinidad’s capital, Port of Spain, hosts a boisterous carnival featuring calypso and soca music.

The La Brea Pitch Lake in South Trinidad is the largest natural deposit of asphalt in the world. It is a 250-foot-deep, semi-liquid pool that’s both a site for asphalt mining and a healing site for its medicinal sulfur baths. Scientists believe that the Pitch Lake is similar to the hydrocarbon lakes on Saturn’s moon.

The Main Ridge Reserve in Tobago is the oldest rainforest reserve in the Western Hemisphere.

The Turks and Caicos Islands are a British Overseas Territory consisting of the larger Caicos Islands and smaller Turks Islands. The Turks Islands are separated from the Caicos Islands by Turks Island Passage.

The Turks and Caicos Islands are an archipelago of 40 low-lying coral islands in the Atlantic Ocean. The gateway island of Providenciales, one of the Caicos Islands and known as Provo, is home to Grace Bay Beach.
 

Cockburn Town is the capital of the Turks and Caicos Islands, spreading across most of Grand Turk Island. It was founded in 1681 by salt collectors.

The capital of Grenada is St. George’s.

Virgin Islands National Park

Charlotte Amalie, Virgin Islands

Bonaire, an island municipality of the Netherlands, lies off Venezuela’s coast in the southern Caribbean. Its reef-lined coast is protected by Bonaire National Marine Park. Beyond its rich marine life, the island shelters lizards, donkeys and birds within its immense Washington Slagbaai National Park, marked by beaches, lagoons, caverns and desert-like hills. Its capital is Kralendijk (shown here).

Bonaire has a natural fringing reef system, in which the coral formations start at the shoreline. The corals start at the low tide line and continue on, following the underwater topology of the island's base.
 

Sint Eustatius, known locally as Statia, is an island in the Caribbean and a special municipality of the Netherlands. Together with Bonaire and Saba, it forms the BES Islands, also referred to as the Caribbean Netherlands. Its capital is Oranjestad.

Saba, a Caribbean island in the Lesser Antilles chain, is a special municipality of the Netherlands. Measuring just 5 square miles, it consists essentially of the top of the dormant Mount Scenery volcano. Its surrounding Saba Marine Park is home to coral formations, dolphins, sharks and turtles. There are also offshore seamounts, or underwater mountains created by volcanic activity. Saba has four main villages, The Bottom (Saba's capital), Windwardside, St. John's and Zion's Hill (aka Hell's Gate).

Semuc Champey is a natural monument in Guatemala, near the Q'eqchi' Maya town of Lanquín. It consists of a natural limestone bridge, under which passes the Cahabón River. Atop the bridge is a series of stepped, turquoise pools, a popular swimming attraction. The name Semuc Champey is from the Q’eqchi’ language, meaning where the river hides under the earth.

A boat navigating a river in Sierpe, Costa Rica

Margarita Salazar wipes sweat from her forehead in her home during an extreme heat wave in Veracruz, Mexico.

Buildings cover Gardi Sugdub Island, part of San Blas archipelago off Panama’s Caribbean coast. Due to rising sea levels, about 300 Guna Indigenous families are relocating to new homes, built by the government, on the mainland.

 

People drive along a road littered with fallen power lines after the passing of Hurricane Rafael in San Antonio de los Banos, Cuba.

Friends and family fuss over a quinceañera in preparation for her photo session at Colon square in the Zona Colonial neighborhood of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

A mother coaxes her daughter into trying a spoonful of rice at a school turned into a makeshift shelter for people displaced by gang violence, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

A girl plays a jump rope game at a school housing residents displaced by gang violence in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

Tzotzil Indigenous people held candles as part of an ancestral celebration of Christmas in southern Mexico.

Motorcycle riders stopped to photograph an inflatable Santa Claus by a street corner in Havana, Cuba.

 

Tortuguero National Park (TNP) is located in northeast Costa Rica and is one of the main tourist icons of Costa Rica since it is internationally recognized for protecting the most important green turtles nesting beach in the Western Hemisphere.

The Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve is a Costa Rican reserve located along the Cordillera de Tilarán within the Puntarenas and Alajuela provinces. Named after the nearby town of Monteverde and founded in 1972, the Reserve consists of over 10,500 hectares of cloud forest.

Arenal is Costa Rica’s best-known volcano. It’s a stratovolcano – a large, symmetrical volcano that’s built on layers of ash, rock and lava – and at 5,437 feet (1,657 meters), it stands high above the rest of the countryside.

On clear days you can see both the Atlantic and Pacific from the top of Cerro Chirripó, the highest point in Costa Rica.

The Pacuare River, or the Río Pacuare, in Costa Rica has its source in the Cordillera de Talamanca and flows approximately 108 kilometres to the Caribbean.

Despite being one of the smaller Costa Rican parks in land area, Manuel Antonio is the most popular of the 30 national parks in Costa Rica. The park is known for its beaches, rocky islands, hiking trails, tropical forests, and a diversity of wildlife. Although the land area of Manuel Antonio National Park is small, the diversity of wildlife in its 19.83 km2 (7.66 sq mi) area totals 109 species of mammals and 184 species of birds.

South America

Carved by the Colca River, Colca Canyon in Peru falls from its rim to its floor for an incredible drop of 13,648 feet at its deepest point. The valley developed along a fault line in the earth's crust. Erosion during the course of thousands of years by the longest river in the Peruvian coast then deepened and defined the canyon. The highest ridges are in the permafrost region of the high Andes mountains. The valley floor thousands of feet below is much more temperate.

Santiago de Leon de Caracas, Venezuela's capital, sits in Cerro Avila Valley where mountain ranges soar 8,000 feet from the Caribbean. Caracas, a commercial and cultural center as well, is densely overpopulated and hectic. With a solid dose of crime and pollution, it is one of the top ten most dangerous cities in the world.

Santiago de Cali, usually known by its short name "Cali,” lies on both sides of the Cali River and is the most populous city in southwest Colombia. Cali is the sporting epicenter of Colombia with something of interest for everyone but it is also one of the top ten most dangerous cities in the world.

Nestled high in the Andes at 8,646 feet, Santafé de Bogotá is a city of contrasts. It's a city of high rise buildings standing next to colonial churches; a city of universities, theaters and shantytowns. It is a mixture of influences, Spanish and English and Indian; a city of great wealth and material well being and abject poverty. It is a city of wild traffic and calm oases reflecting a bygone day. In addition to being the capital, Bogotá is Colombia's largest economic center.

Cartagena, Columbia

Buenos Aires, Argentina
 

Moai Statues, Easter Island, Chile

Standing moai on the slopes of Rano Raraku volcano , Easter Island, Chile

Moai Statue, Easter Island, Chile

Chuquicamata, in Chile’s Atacama Desert, is the largest open-pit copper mine in the world, by excavated volume. The copper deposits were first exploited in pre-Hispanic times. Open-pit mining began in the early 20th century when a method was developed to work low grade oxidized copper ores.

Isla del Pescado is a hilly and rocky outcrop of land in the middle of Salar de Uyuni – a salt flat situated in Daniel Campos Province, Bolivia.

La Paz, Bolivia

 

La Paz, Bolivia

The Perito Moreno Glacier, Argentina, is one of 48 glaciers fed by the Southern Patagonian Ice Field located in the Andes system shared with Chile. This ice field is the world's third largest reserve of fresh water.

The border between Brazil (left) and Bolivia (right) shows the different levels of rainforest protection in those countries.

MOUNT RORAIMA - SOUTH AMERICA
 

Mount Roraima, Venezuela, is one of the oldest mountain formations on the planet. Surrounded by Venezuela, Brazil and Guyana, all four sides are sheer 1,300-foot-high cliffs.

Flock of sheep, Tierra del Fuego, Argentina: After the missionary period, between gold fever and the first drillings for oil, sheep-raising became the chief activity in the north of the main island, Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego. The local cabanas (sheep pastures) are huge sheep farms with 3.5 acres of land per head of livestock.

Barrios, Caracas, Venezuela: Caracas has grown enormously in the last 40 years, attracting people from all over South America, filling its narrow valley and climbing up the steep sides of the surrounding hills. These new districts, known as barrios or ranchos are home to more than 50% of Caracas's 3.8 million inhabitants.

After summering in the Arctic, whales return to the southern seas each winter to reproduce. From July to November, whales mate and bear their young along the coasts of the Valdes Peninsula in Argentina. Until the 1950s, this migratory marine mammal was extensively hunted for its meat and the oil extracted from its fat, which brought it to the edge of extinction. Protective measures were adopted after international attention was focused on the problem in 1937. In 1982 a moratorium was declared on whale hunting for commercial purposes, and in 1994 the southern seas became a whale sanctuary. After decades of protection, 7 of the 13 whale species, of which only a few thousand remain (10 to 60 times fewer than in the early 20th century), are still endangered.

Cartagena’s old town (a UNESCO World Heritage site) has winding cobbled alleyways and colonial-era churches within 8 miles of ancient stone walls. Its outer town, by contrast, is one of Colombia’s modern vibrant and chaotic hubs.

Patagonical Chile

 

Chile's Patagonia has one of the most stunning and fascinating caves on the planet, Marble Caves. Lying on the banks of the General Carrera Lake, it is recognised worldwide for its calcium carbonate walls.

Chile’s Marble Caves are an extremely special geological formation of varying colors of marble monoliths, that have formed by waves over the past 6,200 years.

Paraguay has 2 main natural regions, divided by the Paraguay River: the Paraneña region (a mixture of plateaus, rolling hills and valleys) and the Chaco region (an immense piedmont plain). About 95% of Paraguay's population resides in the Paraneña region, which consists of an area of highlands in the east that slopes toward the Río Paraguay and becomes an area of lowlands, subject to floods, along the river. The Chaco consists predominantly of lowlands to the west, also inclined toward the Río Paraguay, that are alternately flooded and parched. Paraguay is also home to various rivers and lakes, including the Paraná River, one of the largest in South America.

Easter Island, Chile

the Belmond Andean Explorer train, Peru

Huaca Pucllana, an ancient adobe and clay pyramid in the heart of Lima, Peru, is surrounded by comparatively modern architecture in the upscale neighborhood of Miraflores. The pyramid, now an archaeological site, was built around 1,500 years ago by members of the Lima culture, a Pre-Incan Indigenous civilization.
 

Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia: the world’s largest salt flat,  12,000 feet high in the Andes

Guyane is an overseas department of France located on the northern coast of South America. Fully integrated in the French Republic since 1946, French Guiana is a part of the European Union and its official currency is the euro. It is the only territory on the continental mainland of the Americas that is still under the sovereignty of a European nation. Its capital is Cayenne (shown above).

A large part of Guyane’s economy depends on jobs and businesses associated with the presence of the Guiana Space Centre, now the European Space Agency's primary launch site near the equator.

Guyana, an indigenous word which means Land of Many Waters, is a country on South America’s North Atlantic coast. It is defined by its dense rainforest and is culturally connected to the Caribbean region.

Guyana’s capital, Georgetown, is known for its British colonial architecture.

Suriname's culture and society strongly reflect the legacy of Dutch colonial rule. It is the only sovereign nation outside Europe where Dutch is the official and prevailing language. Suriname is a developing country with a relatively high level of human development. Its economy is heavily dependent on its abundant natural resources, namely bauxite, gold, petroleum and agricultural products.
 

Suriname is highly diverse, with no ethnic group forming a majority. Proportionally, its Muslim and Hindu populations are the largest and third largest, respectively, in the Americas. Most people live along the northern coast, in and around the capital Paramaribo, making Suriname one of the least densely populated countries on Earth.

Ecuador is a country straddling the equator on South America’s west coast. Its diverse landscape encompasses Amazon jungle, Andean highlands and the wildlife-rich Galápagos Islands.

Quito, the capital, is known for its largely intact Spanish colonial center, with decorated 16th- and 17th-century palaces and religious sites.

Lima Peru: The City Of Kings

The Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas) are a remote South Atlantic archipelago. With rugged terrain and cliff-lined coasts, its hundreds of islands and islets are home to sheep farms and abundant birdlife. Britain reasserted its rule in 1833, but Argentina maintains its claim to the islands. 

The Falkland Islands’ capital, Stanley, sits on East Falkland, the largest island. 
 

Santiago, Chile: About two in five of Chile’s 18 million people live in greater Santiago, yet in the capital’s heart there is no sense of sprawl. Central Santiago is compact, graceful and green, punctuated with palms and hills – notably the Cerro Santa Lucía, decorated with flamboyant architecture.

Paraguay’s capital, Asunción, is on the banks of the Paraguay River.

South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands is a British Overseas Territory in the southern Atlantic Ocean. It is a remote and inhospitable collection of islands, consisting of South Georgia and a chain of smaller islands known as the South Sandwich Islands.

King Edward Point is the capital of South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands.

Uruguay is part of the Southern Cone region of South America, known for its verdant interior and beach-lined coast. Uruguay is ranked first in the Americas for democracy, and first in Latin America in peace, low perception of corruption and e-government.

Ecuador’s capital, Montevideo, revolves around Plaza Independencia, once home to a Spanish citadel. It leads to Ciudad Vieja (Old City), with art deco buildings, colonial homes and Mercado del Puerto, an old port market.
 

Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area and the seventh most populous. It is one of the most multicultural and ethnically diverse nations, due to over a century of mass immigration from around the world, and the most populous Roman Catholic-majority country.

Brasília, capital of Brazil

Galápagos tortoises are the giants of the tortoise world. Males can weigh more than 500 pounds, and females average about 250 pounds. They have thick, sturdy legs to hold up all that weight, but they still spend a lot of time lying down to conserve energy. Although they are massive animals, their shells are not solid. Instead, they are made up of honeycomb structures that enclose small air chambers. This makes it possible for the tortoise to carry the weight of the shell without much difficulty. The shell encompasses the animal’s ribs, so a tortoise cannot "walk out" of its shell. The lungs are located on the top of the tortoise’s body, under the top dome of the shell. Galápagos tortoises tend to lead a peaceful, lazy life that centers on eating, relaxing in the sun, or wallowing in puddles. They are herbivores that eat prickly pear cactus (a favorite) and fruits, as well as flowers, leaves and grasses. Tortoises can go without eating or drinking for up to a year, because they can store food and water so well. When threatened, the tortoise pulls itself into its shell with a hiss. The hissing sound is the tortoise letting air out of its lungs. If a fight breaks out among males, the tortoises face each other with ferocious glares, open their mouth and stretch their head as high as they can. Whoever reaches the highest wins, even if he is much smaller overall than the other male. The loser pulls his head in with a noisy hiss, and the battle is over. To us, this looks like they’re just putting on a show; but it’s a serious matter to the tortoises, especially in the wild, where fights occur over mates or food.

Dragon Waterfall, Venezuela

snowcapped Andes looking northwest 2014 NASA

Buenos Aires 2014 NASA
 

Guanacos with Torres del Paine in the background, Patagonia, Chile

The banks of the Amazon River in Colombia: The Amazon River system, which sustains around 30 million people across eight countries, is drying up.

A fisherman carries his catch of the day to market in Manta, Ecuador.

A gaucho, or South American cowboy, bathes a horse during the Criolla Week rodeo festival, in Montevideo, Uruguay.

People walk through a part of the Amazon River that shows signs of drought in Santa Sofia, on the outskirts of Leticia, Colombia.

People fish next to drainage that flows into the Paraguay River in Asuncion, Paraguay.

 

Children play with the ropes of a ship docked on a beach in Parika, Guyana.

The Christ The Redeemer statue overlooking fireworks exploding all over Rio de Janeiro on New Year’s Eve 2024.

Medellín, Colombia’s second-largest city, has emerged as an epicenter of reggaeton, a genre with dance hall and hip-hop elements that was born in Panama and popularized by Puerto Rican artists. 

Barred from running for president herself, María Corina Machado, the leader of Venezuela’s opposition, helped galvanize support behind the candidate challenging President Nicolás Maduro in 2024 elections.

Cloud forest in Ecuador

Lençóis Maranhenses National Park, Brazil: sand dunes, mangroves and freshwater lagoons

 

 Brasília, Brazil’s capital since 1960, surrounded by darkness

A brief but brilliant flower bloom is unfolding in Chile's Atacama Desert, a rare event that occurs every 5 to 7 years depending on rainfall patterns. At elevations ranging from 8,000 to 13,000 feet, the desert is considered the driest region on Earth outside the Arctic and Antarctic. The Atacama averages less than 0.1 inches of rain per year. Meteorologists said the 2025 season brought a relatively enormous 2.3 inches of rain to parts of the desert during the winter season, fueling the vast number of dormant seeds. Scientists are studying the genome of the primary flower species in the bloom, the pata de guanaco, for clues to produce more drought-resistant crops.

Calama, a Chilean city in the Atacama Desert, purportedly went without measurable rain for nearly 400 years, from 1570 to 1971.

 

 

 

 

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Copyright © 1996 Amy S Glenn
Last updated:   11/03/2025 0430

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