"Home to the Amazon, Andes and Atacama, our fourth-largest continent is unruly and enchanting with some of the most varied and dramatic landscapes on the planet. It has a turbulent history with deep cultural roots, ancient civilisations, European colonisation, struggles for independence and power grabs. It is a contested space that echoes with stories of pain, cruelty and violence. And yet it has attracted travellers for centuries, reeling them in and getting under their skin. lt is a place for explorers and adventurers, naturalists and scientists, those who need to hide and those who want to discover. Voyagers tell tales and spin stories that weave themselves into our dreams. They tell us what it was like for them. What they saw and heard and felt helps us to experience it too.
And that is the value of travel writing. We can go with these writers, read their words, hear their voices and experience a little of that great and magical land."
——Celia Dillow, Editor

★A unique new collection of great writing about South America.
★An enchanting scrapbook of personal narratives from travellers in arguably the world’s most exciting and varied continent.
★Comprising both historical accounts (by famous figures) and contemporary articles or blogs (many by well-known personalities), this deftly curated collection of fine travel writing conveys the sense of excitement and awe that characterises explorations of a very special part of the world.

Ever since South America was ‘discovered’ in the 15th century, the continent has played upon our collective urge to travel and explore.

Across 11 chapters featuring 12 countries, some of the world’s most famous destinations star:-

The Inca citadel of Machu Picchu, cloaked by cloudforest
The Amazon jungles
The Argentine pampas with its gaucho cowboys drinking yerba maté tea and eating plate-sized steaks
The beaches of Brazil
The wildlife wonders of the Galápagos
The Andean mountains
The big skies of Patagonia
At the foot of the continent, the fabled Tierra del Fuego
Authors of the carefully curated group of stories include:-

Seminal figures of the past such as Charles Darwin, Gerald Durrell, Christopher Isherwood, Jan Morris and WH Hudson
Modern-day TV personalities like Sir David Attenborough, Michael Palin, Simon Reeve and Kate Humble
Acclaimed writers including Matthew Parris, Hilary Bradt and Stephen Moss
Their styles differ markedly – from light and comic pieces to weightier, more reflective articles – as does the subject matter.

There are cities and wilderness, wildlife and eco-tourism, exploration and exploitation, food and drink, backpacking and hiking, books and art, gauchos and their horses, adventure and misadventure.

Learn who risked being mistaken for a condor’s lunch, how to make the perfect empanada or drink the bitter tea known as yerba maté.

Go in search of the world’s rarest hummingbird or test how far you would travel to eat Argentine steak.

Launched to complement publication of the new centenary edition of the legendary South American Handbook, this new Bradt South America Travel Writing Anthology will delight and inspire anyone who has ever journeyed through Latin America – or has longed to visit while remaining in the comfort of their armchair.

About the editor
Celia Dillow’s first experience of South America came in the 1980s when she moved to the Uruguayan capital of Montevideo, accompanying her diplomat husband, who was posted there for several years. This early residency initiated a love affair with this unruly and enchanting continent. When not on government duty, the couple were able to explore the quiet corners of Uruguay, always on the lookout for its extraordinary birdlife. Seventeen years later, they returned to the continent, this time to live in Argentina, with three teenage sons and a shaggy dog. Dillow has travelled extensively throughout the continent and has developed a passion for South American literature and other people’s travel stories. In 2019 she won the coveted Bradt New Travel Writer of the Year prize and in 2021 edited Travel Write, a selection of entries from 20 years of Bradt’s travel-writing competition.

Introduction
Argentina
Brazil
Bolivia
Chile
Colombia
Ecuador
Guyana and Suriname
Paraguay
Peru
Uruguay
Venezuela