Perú, Bolivia + Brazil

white endless expanse of the Salar de Uyuni to the futuristic metropolis of Brasilia — this was truly a journey packed with incredible and unforgettable highlights!

With the obvious crowd-pleasers of Brazil and Perú on the agenda, it was Bolivia that knocked me off my feet — or should I say took my breath away?  La Paz is the highest capital city in the world, and let me tell you — walking up a flight of stairs soon after landing is no joke!  And Potosí, in the south, is even higher — clocking in at an impressive 13,420 feet (4,090 meters)!  

Puns aside, Bolivia took my breath away because of its incredible and unexpected diversity.  The people were happy and friendly, the culture refreshingly alive, the natural wonders astounding;  but the cities, wow — each had such a remarkably different feel and character to it, which struck me as unusual for a country its size.  La Paz was intoxicating — just buzzing with activity everywhere you went, with magnificent architecture befitting a capital.  Sucre, Bolivia’s other capital city is a white-washed colonial gem.  Santa Cruz de la Sierra had a distinctly cosmopolitan air to it, as one might expect in the country’s largest city.  And Potosí, thanks to its incomparable silver-mining wealth (once one of the wealthiest cities in the world, actually!) — left me dizzy (quite literally) with the staggering number of its brilliantly-ornamented churches.