Knowmad Adventures in conjunction with the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum is proud to announce an incredible group trip “Lost Lands of the Inca: An Exploration of Peru, Machu Picchu, and the Amazon.” The trip is our seventh with the Arboretum and comes in the wake of an extremely successful trip to Costa Rica last year. It is open to Arboretum members as well as non-members – this includes you!
As the holidays descend upon us, with shoppers forming lines at insane twilight hours to get into their favorite retail stores and buy, with Santa Claus is Coming to Town playing in malls before Thanksgiving even, and lists being checked and rechecked – I’d like to share this image by a graffiti artist in Valparaiso, Chile. It translates to “Rushing Kills” and makes me smile, because somedays in South America you feel like no one has to be anywhere. If you give your waiter any sort of look after waiting for your bill for forty-five minutes, he’s really the one thinking you’re crazy!
Thanks again to Deanna and Brett for these wonderful shots.
The Story
We are thrilled to be kicking off another great Patagonia travel season and would like to share an itinerary that will always remain close to our hearts with you all. Just after we got hitched three years ago (wow, how the time flies!), Jordan and I hopped a flight down to Chile to start the journey that is Knowmad Adventures. Chile’s about as diverse as you can get, with the Atacama Desert stretching north, the vineyards and cities of Santiago and Valparaiso in the central region, and all the way down to the end of the world – Patagonia. We decided to start with Northern Patagonia, a region that held a lot of intrigue for us. It saw very little international tourism, and even the Chileans that had visited there were few and far between. But what we had heard of it sounded like a little slice of paradise; giant volcanoes sleeping over lush green landscapes, gauchos living off the land as they had for generations, German immigrants brewing tasty beers and serving up that delectable kuchen. Who wouldn’t get lured by that?
These shots attest to the diverse landscapes they encountered. Thanks for sharing!
The travel magazine Afar boasts in its October issue about a yummy find in Chile’s capital city:
“The chef behind Santiago’s restaurant Boragó is on a mission to promote his country’s overlooked ingredients, such as the superacidic copoa fruit, which grows in the Atacama desert.“
Pictured above (courtesy of Afar) is grouper baked in a mud oven, a technique used by the indigenous Mapuche peoples for centuries.
Knowmad Adventures provides restaurant recommendations for each destination that you arrive to in your Buen Viaje document before you depart. The Buen Viaje document also contains handy info like 24-hour emergency contact numbers, your hotel addresses and maps.
Win this FREE daypack and Knowmad gear! How?
1) ‘Like’ the Knowmad Adventures page on Facebook.
2) Get your Facebook friends to ‘like’ our page too. (Hint: More the merrier! The more friends of yours that like our page, the better chance you have to win.)
3) Once we reach 1,000 likes we’ll choose a winner at random and if you suggested they like our page you win too.* (Can you say win, win?!)
It’s simple. Get Knowmad to 1,000 likes, and you and a friend could be hiking in style in no time!
*The chosen winner will be contacted via Facebook message.
Un Beso, Tara
Ps. All of these photos were taken on travels to South America – click on any photo for an itinerary that will bring you there.
We’re so excited to welcome Carmen to the Knowmad Team! She is a joy to have in the office, exuding positivity wherever she goes and helping Knowmad meet its goals and grow. Read on to find out Carmen’s best kept travel secret, her favorite activities and more.
Fellow adventurers, it’s that time of year again – join us at the bi-annual Midwest Mountaineering Outdoor Adventure Expo this April! “The Expo” has over 60 exhibitors and more than 100 presentations by experts in a multitude of fields: parks and trails, high-adrenaline adventure, nature conservation, and of course, travel.
Snorkel in the Galapagos Islands, marvel at the stars on the Inca Trail, and meet penguins in Antarctica in this year’s Knowmad Adventures Annual Photo Contest.
Journey through the rugged and otherworldly terrain of Southern Bolivia, exploring lagoons, volcanoes and Uyuni salt flats before ending in the capital of La Paz, perched atop the Andes Mountains, stopping at the historical rich communities of Potosi and Sucre along the way. Ideal connection with Chile’s Atacama Desert or start and finish in La Paz.
Everything went perfectly and all 8 of us enjoyed every element of the trip. The guides were all excellent, everyone was always on-time and the hotels were exactly what we wanted. The Estancia turned out to be exceptional and I would say a highlight – the real thing, and right in the park. We ate the trout we caught one day for dinner and everyone loved the horse riding. I would say the unanimous judgement was one of the best trips we have ever taken.
By traveling alongside Knowmad you will be taking part in culturally and environmentally sustainable travel. You will be spreading the love, and the wealth. You will be doing Good Works. Learn more about Knowmad’s eco-travel efforts.
The Knowmad team put together the trip of a life time for us. Everything was perfect, from the guides to the accommodations to the activities, and your extensive knowledge of the area and personal relationships with the people we met in Chile were invaluable. We can’t recommend Knowmad highly enough.
After traveling to Chile two years ago with Knowmad Adventures there was no question as to who was going to help plan my trip to Peru! Thank you so much to Knowmad Adventures. The places they recommended, connections, and knowledge of these regions were impeccable. I highly recommend using Knowmad Adventures to plan your next trip to Peru or Chile!
Our trip was everything we dreamed it would be and more. Your group did a great job everywhere we went. We especially loved our guide Paula, and Explora was top notch too. All perfect.
Please don’t ever change the way you operate. You fulfill lifelong dreams and provide people with the chance to live what they thought could only be read about.
You put together a one-of-a-kind vacation for my group that I’ll long remember and enthusiastically recommend. I thank you and look forward, with much anticipation, to my next adventure with you.
We got back last night and I must say that the organization of the entire trip was AMAZING. We all loved Peru and thanks to Knowmad we even enjoyed it a lot more. Thanks a lot Jordan for everything as we had sooooo much fun. I’ll definitely recommend you to anybody that wants to experience Peru.
Journey through the rugged and otherworldly terrain of Southern Bolivia, exploring lagoons, volcanoes and Uyuni salt flats before ending in the capital of La Paz, perched atop the Andes Mountains, stopping at the historical rich communities of Potosi and Sucre along the way. Ideal connection with Chile’s Atacama Desert or start and finish in La Paz.
