Southern South America is a place full of history and fascinating cultures that still permeate societies with their heritage showing in traditions, festivities, costumes and languages, and exploring them will give you an insight into the complex cultural world of Latin American countries; places that take you back in time like the lost citadel of Machu Picchu, ancient vestige from the Inca Empire dating back to the 15th century, nestled in the mountains of the Eastern Peruvian Andes, a central part of our Highlights of Peru trip, or places that are still inhabited by native, primitive cultures that struggle to adapt to the modern world yet trying keep their traditional way of life, like the little indigenous villages scattered along the banks of the Peruvian Amazon and its countless tributary rivers and which you can visit on our Amazon River Cruise.
The history of the human occupation of the last place on Earth to be settled by humans, Patagonia, which you can get to know first-hand through programmes like our Punta Arenas Nature & History Tour, Beagle Channel & Estancia Harberton and others that document the history of how these remote cold expanses of land were first explored by sailors that braved the weather and seas looking for suitable places to establish colonies, and then settled and occupied by sheep farmers and later the oil and gas industry that brought development to this tough wilderness.
You can also experience the Polynesian world in the remote Easter Island, an isolated piece of land in the middle of the Pacific Ocean where the Rapa Nui culture keeps its traditions alive, an island that holds invaluable treasures like the giant Moai heads, carved in stone from the volcanic quarries, and the wooden tablets with mysterious signs written on them that hold the secret to the ancient language of these people.