Our Top 10 Lists from South America

It’s been almost two weeks now since we left South America for Mexico and we’ve had time to digest the last two months. Here are the Top 10 Lists for Tony, Ruth and Alana. Any overlap is coincidental as the lists were prepared independently.

Alana:
1. Galapagos Islands
2. The Bird Park at Iguazu Falls (Brazil side)
3. Rio de Janiero (mostly Copacabana Beach)
4. Seeing how the Natives live in Peru
5. Shopping in Valparaiso, Chile
6. Mendoza wineries
7. Soccer game in Brazil
8. Meeting people who travel too
9. Seeing the Alto City in Bolivia
10. Buenos Aries

Ruth:
1. Having so much time together as a family.…
2. Alana’s company; laughing until we cried
3. Trekking in the Andes; reaching the summit at 15,000 feet
4. Peruvian native culture in action: dress, customs
5. Galapagos zoo without cages; Tony’s sea lion encounter; Marine iguanas
6. Being taken care of after long days on the road; Romina’s kind care and optimism in Buenos Aries 
7. Meal time discussions and Hot beverages with David, our guide on the trek
8. Argentinean Beef and Malbec
9. Rio’s Beaches and the View from Sugar Loaf Mountain
10. Cusco and the rooms and courtyard and atmosphere at the Novotel, our hotel there

Tony:
1. Getting up close and personal with the land and marine life in the Galapagos
2. The exhilaration of seeing Machu Picchu
3. The architecture and interior finishings of the many Catholic cathedrals throughout the continent (and I’m not Catholic!)
4. Native culture in the Peruvian Andes
5. Richness of the flora and fauna in the Amazon jungle
6. Vastness of Lake Titicaca
7. The glaciers in Patagonia, Argentina
8. Traveling to the End of the World at the tip of South America
9. The energy of Buenos Aries
10. Friendliness of the people throughout South America