S. & Central America | Viator Travel Blog

[contest] Win 20 Free Nights at any Hampton Hotel!

21. October 2009

Editor's Note: The contest is now closed. Thanks again for contributing such fantastic answers, and stay tuned for the announcement of a winner! Enter our Hampton Hotel contest to wins 20 FREE nights at any Hampton Hotel (you'll have 1,700+ locations to chose from... Manhattan to New Orleans, San Francisco to San Antonio, Puerto Rico to Mexico to Canada and beyond!). And you'll receive a $200 Viator.com gift certificate. All you need to do is answer one question: What do YOU wish in life came with a 100% guarantee?

Atlas Obscura: Snakes & Salt Flats

18. September 2009

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What, you've never heard of the Atlas Obscura? The founders - Dylan Thuras and Joshua Foer - have created a compendium of the world's wonders, curiosities and esoterica. It's all about the wonder-inspiring, off-the-beaten-path places that don't make it into traditional guidebooks. This week's installment: endless salt flats and deadly snakes that melt human flesh!

An Open Letter to Complainers

31. August 2009

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Being a frequent traveler has its memorable moments, and one of them occurred recently when I had the chance to dine at a well-known Georgian restaurant in Moscow, Russia. It was a great meal, and the restaurant’s location combined with the balmy summer weather provided the perfect opportunity for a late-night stroll through the streets [...]

Easter Island Project: Let’s Start at the Beginning

20. March 2009

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Easter Island Project: Let’s Start at the Beginning

It started with a school movie, the 16mm kind they used to play on rattling projectors, with strips of amber film flap-flap-flapping at the ends of their reels. The great moai heads gazed out over a barren Easter Island landscape, as close to the middle of nowhere as you were ever likely to get. Why had the island's past inhabitants toppled their own monoliths? Why were scientists and linguists unable to translate the petroglyphs carved into stones? Were stories of the 'makemake' birdman cult true?

The Viator 50: The Year’s Top Travel Destinations

21. January 2009

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The Viator 50: The Year’s Top Travel Destinations

Before we say farewell to 2008, let us take a moment to honor the Top 50 destinations of the year as determined by Viator.com travelers. This is our third annual "Viator Top 50" list, and like last year, 2008 has been a great ride, full of surprises (good on ya Paris, Rome and Las Vegas) and some surprising absences (Mexico, we missed you).

Top 25 Things to Do in Central & South America

31. December 2008

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Friends, travelers, countrymen, lend me your ear: It is time to crown the Top 25 Things to Do in Central & South America in 2008. Each year the staff here at Viator compile a lists of the top-rated things to do in each of the regions we cover. Now it's time to crown the 2008 winners, the top 25 things to do in Central & South America based on the actual travel choices made by thousands of travelers over on Viator.com.

Suggested Itineraries: Belize

14. December 2008

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It's Better in Belize. You Better Belize It. It's Unbelizeable. If I had a nickel for each time I saw a Belize-inspired T-shirt, I'd have at least 60 cents by now. Maybe a buck. The problem is not a lack of T-shirts. Trust me, there are heaps on sale in Belize. The problem is that Belize is one of those places that refuses to become mainstream.

Viator’s Traveler of the Month

10. October 2008

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Editor’s Note: Mea culpa! You may notice a little gap in Viator’s traveler of the month. Somehow (the guilty have indeed been punished) we skipped July & August. In our defense, that’s the busiest time of the year for us, with thousands of people traveling across Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific. But we won’t lie [...]

A Visit to the Equator(s) of Ecuador

11. May 2008

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Mitad del Mundo To find the Earth’s equator is now pretty easy. You stand around where you think it is with your handy GPS and the gadget tells you where to go and when you’ve arrived. Back when the equator was first mapped, it was the 1700s, and no one thought to bring along their GPS. The [...]

I Have Never Been to Brazil

15. April 2008

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Iguazu Falls area - Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay I have not been to Brazil. That’s the official line and I am sticking to it. However, the reality is, I have been to Brazil. Well… My trip was simple enough. After visiting the Argentine side of Iguazu Falls we would transit the very corner of Brazil to Ciudad [...]