South America The Beautiful Trivia Quiz

The Salar de Uyuni, or Salt Flats of Uyuni, in Bolivia, cover 10,000 square kilometers in area with little to no change in elevation. It may be surprising that the flats are at a high elevation of 3,656 meters above sea level. The salt flats are meters thick and contain a rich assortment of sodium, lithium, and magnesium. Due to the large, flat, well-reflected area, the flats are ideal for calibrating GPS satellites. Often the Salar de Uyuni is listed as Bolivia's top tourist attraction with remarkable hotels constructed out of salt!

The Obelisco de Buenos Aires in Argentina was constructed in 1936 to commemorate the 400-year anniversary of the city. At about half the height of the Washington Monument, the obelisk only took 31 days to build! The monument has served as both a Christmas tree and, with an unusual modification, a symbol for World AIDS Day.

Unfortunately, the monument has also been the target of extensive vandalism, especially in political protest.

Christ The Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, is one of the most well-known structures in the world. Standing at 30 meters in height, the statue is the largest global Art Deco sculpture. Construction took about 10 years from 1922 to 1931 with most of the statue being made of cement with an outer layer of soapstone.

The original design would have had Christ holding a globe in his hands but was then changed to the arms outstretched. In 2006, the chapel of Our Lady of the Apparition was consecrated at the base to allow for weddings and baptisms in sight of the statue.

In 2007 Christ the Redeemer was voted as one of the New Seven Wonders of the World.

Machu Picchu in Peru is now a well-known site in South America. The Lost City of the Incas was not discovered by Westerners until 1902, over 300 years after it was abandoned in 1572. Unfortunately, there are no written Incan records, so archeologists have to use deductive reasoning to suggest the purpose of each building. One of the structures is the Intihuatana which served as an astral clock, sundial, and possible sacrifice site. Two other buildings have been called the Temple of the Sun and the Temple of the Three Windows.

Many of the buildings at Machu Picchu have been carefully restored to give a better picture of what the site looked like in its prime. In 2007 Machu Picchu was also voted as one of the New Seven Wonders of the World.

Kaieteur Falls in Guyana is one of the most powerful waterfalls in the world that combines height and flow rate to make it a truly impressive site. The Potaro River feeds the drop of 226 meters which is four times higher than Niagara Falls. The first European to discover Kaieteur was Charles Brown, a British surveyor.

The name Kaiteteur comes from the Patamona Indians with a meaning of "old-man-fall." Legend has it that a Patamona chief sacrificed himself to the god Makonaima to help his people. Another legend says that a cantankerous old man was put in a boat by his family and shoved over the falls. I kind of like the second story better! Remarkably, the Kaieteur International Airport is only a 15-minute walk from the falls, so visiting the falls is quite doable.

The hand of Punta del Este in Uruguay was created by the artist Mario Irarrazabal as part of a sculptor's convention that took place in 1982. There was limited space on the city square, so Mario decided to build his sculpture on the beach instead. His idea for the sculpture was originally going to be of a hand that was drowning as a warning to beachgoers about the danger of the water.

However, his final creation is much more surreal. It appears like a giant hand coming up and out of the sand. Remarkably, it only took Irarrazabal six days to complete the sculpture and it has quickly become one of the most well-known and visited landmarks in Uruguay.

Almost one thousand Moai statues were created on Easter Island, Chile by the Rapa Nui people between 1250 and 1500 CE. Oral tradition holds that the statues were representations of island chiefs or prominent leaders with their size dependent on how much mana (spiritual power) they were perceived to have. Most of the sculptures were carved out of solidified volcanic ash called tuff.

The heads of the statues are disproportionately large with emphasis on a broad nose and a wide chin. The lower portion of the statues are often buried underground with underdeveloped legs tucked under the body in a kneeling position.

The statues, weighing dozens of tonnes, were carved within the quarry area and then remarkably brought to their display areas on the coast of the islands.

Interestingly, almost all of the statues were placed facing inward as if they were set to protect the people rather than scare off anyone visiting the island by sea.

The Basilica del Voto Nacional in Quito, Ecuador is the largest Catholic cathedral in the Americas. Father Julio Matovelle dreamed of building the church in 1883 and was able to raise 12,000 pesos to start the project. After 30 years of construction, the cathedral is 140 meters long and 35 meters wide. Off of the long central nave, there are 24 chapels each dedicated to one of the provinces of Ecuador. On the outside, the cathedral has unusual gargoyles in the shapes of local animals. Officially, the cathedral is still under construction as legend has it that once complete the world will come to an end! I'd leave the under-construction sign up too!

Located in Asuncion, the neoclassic Palacio de los Lopez is the residency and workplace of the president of Paraguay. Carlos Antonio Lopez commissioned the palace to be built for his son General Francisco Lopez in 1857. Ten years later the palace was nearly complete when it was bombed during the Triple Alliance War. General Lopez was killed during the fighting and never got to enjoy his namesake palace.

The palace was restored and now serves as the seat of power in Paraguay.

Angel Falls in Venezuela has an estimated height of 979 meters with an uninterrupted plunge of 807 meters. Contrary to popular belief, Angel Falls is actually the second tallest waterfall in the world as Tugela Falls in South Africa is listed as being 983 meters.

The waterfall was named after Jimmie Angel, an American pilot who was the first to fly over the falls in 1933. Four years later, Angel came back and tried to land on top of the Falls on Auyan-tepui mountain where his plane got stuck. It took him almost two weeks to hike back to civilization.

In 1939 the Venezuelan government named the falls in Jimmie Angel's honor. While Angel Falls is on many the bucket lists, the remote, jungle location makes it difficult to get there.