Latin America

El Gauchito Gil is an folk religious figure, or popular saint, especially in Northern Argentina. You see red shrines to him along the roadside all across the region -- this photo was taken in Tucuman province.

The ruins of Quilmes are found in the Valles Calchaquies, highland valleys of Northwest Argentina. This settlement was founded around 500 CE. After Spanish conquest, the remaining members of the Quilmes tribe were forced to move to a settlement outside of Buenos Aires, over 1000 miles away.

I happened to catch this group of young men rehearsing their Bolivian folkloric dance routine, just outside of Salta, Argentina. Salta has a very large population of immigrants from neighboring Bolivia.

Pato is a game unique to the Argentine Pampas. It's a bit like a cross between polo and basketball. This match took place at the polo grounds in the Palermo district of Buenos Aires.

This mural outside the Bellas Artes subway station in downtown Santiago, Chile was created by Valparaiso artist INTI.

Sometimes called the monkey puzzle tree or pewen, Araucaria araucana is the national tree of Chile. This photo was taken in Conguillio National Park in southern Chile.

This is one of the many carnival or festival masks on display at the Museo Nacional de Etnografia y Folclor in La Paz, Bolivia. There are much more elaborate masks than this one on display, but I was struck by this "gallo" (rooster) mask from Covendo, about 250 km northeast of La Paz.

This is a somewhat new tram system called "Mi Teleferico" in La Paz, Bolivia. It has revolutionized travel within the metropolitan area, significantly cutting down commuting times (and costs) for working-class residents.