Give the Gift of Travel

There’s nothing you can give your family and friends that is more valuable than life experiences, and no better way to start the year than with adventure in your sights. To encourage this Knowmad is offering a $100 per person discount on trips booked between now and December 31, 2012. 

*Deposit and registration packet must be received prior to December 31, 2012. May not be combined with any other available traveler discounts. Exclusions may apply. Discount code disc_holiday/2012 must be mentioned prior to the time of booking.

(Pictured above: fox in Patagonia, Chile)

Knowmad & The Minnesota Landscape Arboretum Present “Lost Lands of the Inca”

Arboretum Peru Trip

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!

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Knowmad News: “Tis the Season to Lend

Tidings from all at Knowmad Adventures! There’s just something about the holiday season that makes us feel lucky. Maybe it’s that we’re warm and toasty inside as it grows frosty outside, but I think it’s the fact that we just are plain lucky. We find ourselves thriving in a downturned economy, living our dream, and helping to build unique travel experiences everyday in the far-flung corners of Chile, Argentina, Peru & Ecuador.
 
It’s when one’s traveling and gaining different perspectives on the world that one often times realizes how good you’ve got it (and that there are people out there that aren’t nearly as fortunate as you are). Through Kiva, an organization that strives to empower people around the world with their micro-loan programs, Knowmad is able to help in a little way.

Culture: La Prisa Mata

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!

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Parting Shots: Deanna & Brett Hike the Inca Trail

Deanna & Brett created a unique itinerary in Peru. They spent a day meandering around the barrio of Miraflores after their arrival to Lima and before their flight to Puerto Maldonaldo, in the Amazon Rainforest. Here they spent three days enjoying the tropical cuisine, rainforest excursions, and intense hammocking at the jungle lodge Reserva Amazonica.


Next Deanna & Brett flew up into the Andes and explored Cusco, the former capital of the Inca Empire, before heading to the Sacred Valley to visit the Amaru weavers and to get their legs working on some hikes near the Pisac ruins. A couple days there and they felt acclimatized to the Andean altitude to start their 4 day, 3 night trek along the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu, arriving to the Sun Gate just in time for sunset. They spent their last couple nights at the world-renowned Machu Picchu Pueblo Hotel where I’m sure those thermal baths were appreciated!

Thanks again to Deanna and Brett for these wonderful shots.

Featured Itinerary: Northern Patagonia Odyssey

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?

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Good Eats in Santiago

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 & Knowmad Gear!

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.

Knowmad Adventures at the Midwest Mountaineering Outdoor Adventure Expo in Minneapolis

Outdoor Adventure Expo Minnesota

Mark your calendars for the 67th Bi-Annual Outdoor Adventure Expo! Hosted by Midwest Mountaineering, “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. Chat with fellow adventure travel and outdoor enthusiasts, learn about new gear, and find great deals.

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Staff Pick Itinerary: Machu Picchu + Galapagos Islands Tour

Peru and Galapagos Combo Tour

One of my favorite types of trips to plan is what we at Knowmad affectionately call a “combo trip”, where we pair two countries together so that our travelers can get the most out of their adventure to South America. I specialize in travel in both Peru and Ecuador, and pairing these countries together makes for such a wonderful combo trip, not just because they are neighbors, but because of how they compliment each other. In one trip you can walk along paths taken by Incans, dine with local community members as they teach you about their traditions, see the famed Machu Picchu, snorkel with sea lions, stand amongst the giant Galapagos tortoises, and so much more. Joining both the beautiful culture and majesty of the Incas of Peru with the stunning architecture of Quito and surreal closeness to the wildlife in the Galapagos Islands is most certainly a recipe for an awe-inspiring adventure to South America.

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Parting Shots: Chile + Argentina Over 50 Travel Experience of a Lifetime

Senior Chile Travel

“We are a group of ‘seniors’ who love to travel, and are considering a South America destination for our next trip,” wrote Kathy when she first approached Knowmad. So, how is it that her group of adventurous ‘seniors’ ended up choosing Patagonia as one of the focal points of what eventually became a unique, 3-week trip to Argentina and Chile? Their route spanned from Buenos Aires to the jungles of Iguazú falls in Argentina and Brazil, down to the lush Bariloche area of Northern Patagonia, onward to the glaciers of Southern Patagonia, crossed through the Andes Mountains over to the jagged peaks of Chile’s Torres del Paine before ending in the Central Chile to explore bohemian ‘Valpo’, Santiago, and wine country. Read on to find out what makes Patagonia an outstanding destination for over 50 travel as well as for younger, adventurers alike.

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