The fabled cities of the Inca are ingrained in our consciousness with images of towering stone walls and glittering golden armor.  But the Inca were only the last in a long line of rich and fascinating cultures that peopled the high Andes and coastal areas of South America. This very special journey visits the ancient remains of these mountain and desert peoples: the Inca, the Moche, the Wari and the Chimor cultures. From the fabled Inca sites of Cuzco and Machu Picchu to the gold-rich tombs of Sipan, we will experience the wealth of Peru’s archaeological and historical past and visit scientists in the field as they contribute to its ongoing study. We will visit vast adobe pyramids and intricate stone palaces of these ancient peoples and see their fine textiles and delicate gold work.
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TRAVEL TO POLYNESIA

Travel to Easter Island

EASTER ISLAND including the Tapati Festival

Our trip begins in Chile’s capital, Santiago, where we will visit the Natural History Museum and Precolumbian Museum. We will travel to the lovely coastal city of Vina del Mar to enjoy a specially arranged private visit to the Rapanui Museum. Along the way, we will stop to enjoy a wine tour of one of Chile’s renowned, award-winning wineries.

At the southeastern tip of the Polynesian triangle lies windswept Easter Island, one of the most remote spots on the planet. Surrounded by an endless ocean as blue as the sky and located 2,300 miles west of Santiago, Chile, this tiny dot of land is sixty square miles of rocky grasslands, extinct volcanic cones, and steep ocean cliffs. Called Rapa Nui by the Polynesian people who live here, this island is a unique open-air archaeological mu-seum. Nearly a thousand immense stone statues, called moai, gaze with brooding eyes over the gently rolling hills, hundreds of perplexing petroglyphs stand out from rock surfaces, and colorful cave paintings depict brightly painted birds in flight.

We have timed this trip to include the wonderful Tapati Festival, a celebration of the Rapa Nui culture. Each day will dawn with new and exciting contests of strength and skill, while evenings will bring the mesmer-izing melodies of Polynesian music as grass skirted dancers perform beneath the stars. It is a time of revelry and feasts, and of honoring the past with performances of cat’s cradle, the hypnotic chant used to hand down the island’s history from generation to generation.
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