Destination: Central and South America

Unexpected and exotic highlights of a South American ski trip include a moss-covered forest reverie and nighttime flames.

It’s love at first slide for a novice sandboarder, who falls -- again and again -- for the gritty sport while visiting a Peruvian oasis.

Grandeur -- magnificent churches, striking architecture -- and gritty reality coexist in the heart of the Ecuadorian capital.

A father and daughter travel to the Peruvian jungle for a firsthand look at -- and a better appreciation of -- life in an endangered area.

Porto Alegre’s urbane flair gives it a European cachet, yet it’s the blending of local cultural elements that gives it a rapid pulse of its own.

For amateur astronomers, observatories east of La Serena open up windows to whole new worlds, weather permitting.

This city of heady contrasts and breathtaking vistas is much like the girl from Ipanema: beautiful, and hinting at much to discover.

A California resident heads to the sunny Southern Hemisphere to learn to surf, and finds having fun, like finding the perfect wave, is hard work, even in laid-back Praia do Rosa, Brazil.

About 750 miles north of Rio de Janeiro, Diamond Highlands, a national park, protects a spectacularly dramatic and ecologically diverse landscape.

Passengers find rough seas, amazing scenery and exotic wildlife on a two-week cruise from Buenos Aires to Valparaíso, Chile.