Patagonia is home to one of the most accessible wild puma populations in the Americas. With an expert tracker, you read the land for signs and scan the hillsides for a glimpse of a cat moving through the golden grass.

Wind and time have carved this valley into ridges of salt and sand that look like another planet. As the sun sets, you watch the cliffs turn gold, then rose, then violet, with the Andes glowing beyond.

On the slopes of this volcanic crater, hundreds of moai still rest where they were carved, some half buried and some never finished. A Rapa Nui guide shares how they were shaped and moved, and the stories behind the ancestors they honor.

Deep in northern Patagonia, waves have carved swirling caverns into marble along the shore of a turquoise lake. You glide through by small boat as the stone shifts from white to blue to gray with the light.

High in the Andes, mirror-still lagoons reflect snowcapped volcanoes, and three species of flamingo wade through the shallows. Their pink feathers against the deep blue water make it one of the most striking scenes in South America.

Fifteen moai stand in a single row on Rapa Nui's eastern coast, their backs to the Pacific. You arrive in the dark and watch the sun rise behind them, lighting their faces one by one.

The three granite towers that give the park its name rise above a glacial lake at the end of a spectacular hike. Along the way, guanacos graze the hillsides and condors circle overhead.

Rise before sunrise to reach one of the highest geyser fields in the world just as the steam columns peak in the cold morning air. As the sun climbs, the plumes glow golden, and breakfast is served beside the bubbling springs.

High, dry, and far from city lights, the Atacama has some of the clearest skies on the planet, which is why the world's great observatories are built here. An astronomer guides you through the Milky Way and the constellations the Atacameño people read in its dark clouds long before telescopes arrived.

A boat carries you across Grey Lake past floating icebergs in impossible shades of blue to the face of a glacier flowing down from the Southern Patagonian Ice Field.

A small expedition ship carries you through the Strait of Magellan and the fjords of Tierra del Fuego, stopping at tidewater glaciers and penguin colonies. On the right voyage, you can step ashore at Cape Horn.

On this misty island, colorful houses perch on stilts above the tide, and wooden churches built by local carpenters are recognized by UNESCO. Lunch is curanto, a feast of shellfish, meats, and potatoes cooked over hot stones in the earth.

This grape was thought lost to the world until it was rediscovered growing in Chile's vineyards. You tour a family winery, taste among the barrels, and settle in for a long lunch overlooking the vines.

Ride antique funiculars up the hills of this poet's port city, where every staircase is painted in murals. You wander the colorful lanes, visit Pablo Neruda's house above the bay, and stop for seafood with views of the harbor.