Juvenile Emerald Tree Boa

600 miles from the Ecuadorian coast, the Galapagos archipelago rises from the Pacific. It's an evolutionary laboratory, shaped by primordial forces, providing us with clues to the origins of life. The birth of the islands began five million years ago, as a geological hotspot travelled across the ocean floor, bubbling up lava through cracks in the crust as it went. The oldest of the volcanos are now being swallowed up by the sea, where only the crescent shaped rim of the ancient crater remains...

The Patagonia region comprises the southern tip of South America, of both Argentina and Chile. Its southern most islands extend further south than Africa’s Cape Agulhas or New Zealand’s Stewart Island, often serving as base to launch expeditions into Antarctica. The weather is subpolar. Without any major landmass to inhibit its flow, the airstream rips around the south pole unimpeded. Wind here often exceeds 100km/h.

Although largely unknown to most travelers, one of the most influential ancient cultures of South America is that of Chavín. It served as an important pilgrimage site from roughly 1200-500 B.C.E. As it rose in prominence, artwork bearing its religious symbols began appearing throughout the central Andes and down to the Peruvian coast. This expansion points towards a widespread transformation of the Andean belief system within the archeological timeline, in what's been dubbed the Early Horizon.