This sculpture meant to honor the bravery of the Indigenous Mapuche people of Chile proved controversial.

This iconic hilltop church doubled as a lighthouse in the 19th century, guiding ships into the port of Valparaíso.

This historic Chilean cemetery is the burial place of hundreds of European and American freethinkers and non-Catholics.

A fantastical and futuristic temple of light built from nine monumental glass veils.

The “City of Stairs” sits high in the Andes, above the world’s largest underground copper mine.

A beautiful deserted greenhouse in the middle of a park.

What was once a unique system of urban elevators is turning into a mechanical ruin.

This high-Andean reserve protects the graceful vicuña that was nearly hunted to extinction for its precious wool.

Situated on a sacred Inca site, this 16th-century cathedral took nearly 100 years to build.

On this tiny spot of land in the middle of Lake Titicaca the only ones who do the knitting are the men.

Visiting dignitaries and Hollywood stars once stayed at this 1920s hotel, alongside ghosts that are said to haunt its corridors.

This metal tower in the desert provides views of a handful of Nazca geoglyphs.

A fascinating little museum all about the rich history of Peru’s famous plant.

This Peruvian bone silo lined with hanging human skeletons and hundreds of skulls is topped with a remarkable Michelangelo replica.

Now containing the bones of the actual conquistador, instead of someone else.

A painting in the historic Cathedral Basilica depicts Jesus and his disciples dining on a traditional Peruvian menu.

The remains of what was the most important religious complex in coastal Peru for over a millennium.

A backdoor to Machu Picchu that only the most foolhardy infiltrator would attempt to breach.

Lima’s Museum of Anthropology is lined with thousands of elongated human craniums.

These giant mummies are set ominously into a Peruvian cliffside and topped with real human skulls.

These steeply terraced ruins are a stop along the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu.

The Uros people live on floating reed islands in lake Titicaca.

An unexpected desert oasis in South America.

Huge stone depressions which may have acted as an Incan agricultural experiment.