Exploring South America

Speed and Function Works Hard, Plays Hard

Recently we spent a month exploring South America. In that month, we visited Brazil (the north, the south, and the Amazon River), Peru (Lima and Cusco with Machu Picchu), Bolivia (La Paz, Santa Cruz, and Salar de Uyuni), and Paraguay (Asunción).

We arrived in São Paulo, which is a municipality located in the Southeast Region of Brazil.

São Paulo is a monstrously large, green city with big parks and huge skyscrapers. An estimated twenty million people live in São Paulo, the city of business, fashion, and culture. The rich and the poor, slums and skyscrapers, homeless people and expensive cars—this mixture makes São Paulo unique and vibrant.

After that we went to Fortaleza, the capital of the Brazilian state of Ceará, located in northeastern Brazil.

Fortaleza is one of the most dangerous cities of Brazil. On the other hand, it has great beaches. There we had a great time surfing, kitesurfing, riding a dune buggy, and eating lots of local fruit every day.

All kinds of people who love sports live here, so we had some good times! After several weeks spent here, we went to Manaus, the capital of the state of Amazonas, There we visited the Amazon River, the largest river in the world, and a real jungle with monkeys and parrots. The most exciting part was fishing for piranhas and swimming with dolphins in the Amazon River. After a few days of trekking in the jungle we went to the temple of the Sun — Machu Picchu.

Located at 2,430 meters (or 8,000 feet), this UNESCO World Heritage site is often called “The Lost City of the Incas”. It has incredible architecture and inspires mysticism. It is one of the greatest marvels of South America, we recommend that you visit it.

After the mountains we went to the capital of Peru—Lima.

Lima is a quiet town with regular life, but has the best surfing in Peru. Our last point was the most beautiful country in South America—Bolivia.

Many animals, birds, and the kindest, most beautiful people live here. We visited La Paz, the administrative capital located at the highest altitude in the world –3,500 meters above sea level. We also saw Salar de Uyuni, the world’s largest salt flat.

We flew from Rio de Janeiro—a huge seaside city in Brazil—where we took some time to rest and saw only the beach and a few tourist attractions.

Over the course of the trip we met many interesting people, explored plenty of interesting places in South America, learned to surf, caught a piranha, saw a sunset on Machu Picchu, ate our weight in fruit, and recharged. We had lots of energy when we returned to work!