South America has the most startling contrasts. With no recorded history before the Spanish arrived in the 16th century, we can only make guesses about ancient civilisations which have left us with magnificent and mysterious monuments such as the lost city of Machu Picchu and the strange Nazca lines in Peru. Modern Latin America also has some of the most sophisticated and wealthy cities in the world – Rio de Janeiro, Caracas and Buenos Aires, but along with the wealth there is appalling urban poverty, and in the heart of the huge Amazon jungles, stone age tribes live much as they did thousands of years ago.

GEOGRAPHY
South America also has incredible scenery – the longest continuous mountain range in the world (the Andes) is only a few miles from the world’s most arid desert (the Atacama); the vast Amazon rainforest covers one sixth of the continent; both the highest and the most spectacular waterfalls in the world are here, as well as some incredible glaciers and vast expanses of pampas.

CLIMATE
The southern hemisphere summer falls between December and February and is the hottest season, becoming very hot in Chile and southern Ecuador and with the onset of winter the coldest countries are furthest south including Argentina and Chile. A wet season does affect the continent sometime between February and December depending on which side of the Andes you are and at what latitude.