Documentary Galleries: South America

The tango captures the passion of Buenos Aires, with its warm people and neighborhoods that reflect a European feel. Tango, in my opinion, is the sexiest dance in the world. From the street performers of La Boca to the late night milongas, ubiquitos tango seems to fill every corner and crevice of the city. Hands locked, partners share an intense stare-down with the determination of bullfighters, bodies pressed so close together that a piece of paper wouldn’t slip between them. Women in body-hugging dresses slit up to their shoulders and 1930’s style strappy shoes fling a fishnet stocking leg around their partners’ torsos in a graceful vice grip. Few leave the all-night dance halls before dawn.

San Antonio de Areco is the heart of gaucho country, about an hour outside of Buenos Aires. There is something that draws me to these wandering people who live in freedom, always in motion, just as I am inspired by the nomads of Tibet and Mongolia. I feel an immense respect for those who live so close to the land. I rode with the female gauchos, who carried themselves with such confidence they struck me as sexy as the tango dancers I’d seen in the city.

A five-hour flight from mainland Chile, Rapa Nui, or Easter Island, is one of the most isolated places on earth. A tiny 117 square mile blip in the Pacific Ocean, the locals refer to their home as the navel of the world, and it’s this remoteness which has helped preserve some of their culture including the larger than life moai which are scattered around the island.