part from those in select parts of Brazil, South American beaches usually get lumped in with Central America and are more often than not, overlooked. While major resorts tend to be lacking in comparison with Central America or the Caribbean, if you dig around you will find more than a few palm fringed gems and surf haunts. Access to fine seafood, generally cheaper than a Happy Meal at McDonald’s back home, is always readily available.

Amdist the world’s economic downtourn, country’s that were once hard on the pocketbook have become the bargain deals of the past decade. Unaffordable has become affordable. Luxury hotels and resorts are being had a fraction of the cost that they were just one year ago. Several major currencies have sunk heavily against the dollar to their lowest level in years.

La Paz, Bolivia is the home of the world’s only museum dedicated to coca, the plant that cocaine is made from. With Bolivia’s new President Evo Morales being a former coca farmer who strongly supports the crop this museum is sure to gather much more attention than before. There is even a new traveling museum that goes on tours thanks to a new drug policy grant awarded to the museum.

In downtown Santiago, Chile there sits an always crowded market known as Mercado Central. On tours of downtown its a standard tourist stop, though it has yet to lose it’s authenticity as this photo reveals. Seafood is the draw, either from the overpriced eateries in the center where old school yellers lure you to a [...]