Meet our new partner! TUCAN TRAVEL – adventure tours and group travel around the world

27th March 2019

We are delighted to announce a new partnership with Tucan Travel – adventure tours and group travel around the world. They are celebrating their 32nd birthday on 27 March and for a short time enjoy some GREAT DISCOUNTS when you book with them! 

When you think of South America what comes to mind? Sun-kissed beaches or steamy, sprawling jungles?  Lost civilisations shrouded in mystery? Flamboyant, colourful parties with people dancing to the sounds of samba? Tiny communities who hold on to traditions that fascinate the Western world? 

© Tucan Travel – Peru

The continent has all of this plus much, much more and small group tour operator Tucan Travel, know it inside out. They have been taking avid adventurers to South America since 1987, first travelling from Colombia’s capital, Bogota down to Lima, Peru. 

© Tucan Travel (Shutterstock) – Brazil

Since then, they have expanded not only through Latin America, but also into Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East and even Antarctica (perhaps the ultimate adventure for some).

But South America holds a special place in Tucan Travel’s heart. They have two offices in Peru and operate the tours themselves. Travellers stay in locally-owned accommodation, using local transport to get from A to B. They can travel from Colombia all the way to Brazil, or do smaller portions of each country. Highlights include staying in the tropics of the Amazon Jungle, taking wine trips in Argentina, hiking in Patagonia and of course exploring the legendary Machu Picchu. 

© Tucan Travel – Machu Pichu, Peru

One of Tucan Travel’s most popular tours is the South America Highlights 32 day itinerary, travelling from Lima, Peru to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It encompasses the ‘must visit’ sights of the continent, and travels through 5 very different countries. 

Following the route of the itinerary, we have selected some of our favourite books for each step of the journey, that sum up the spirit of South America. 

Peru 

Conversation in the Cathedral by Mario Vargas Llosa

Under the rule of the unseen military dictator General Ordia, suspicion, paranoia and blackmail become realities of public and private life. Through the doors of the Cathedral, a bar and brothel in Lima, come the participants in this novel, including the central character Ambrosio.

Bolivia

Marching Powder by Rusty Young

Thomas McFadden was a minor drugs dealer in Bolivia who was summarily arrested and thrown into jail, the notorious San Pedro Prison. Within the grim walls of the corrupt institution, he discovered a world which mirrored many of the wrongs of South American society at large: bribery, drugs, intimidation and violence at every level. McFadden needed to raise $5,000 to get released and how he managed this – for instance, by giving backpackers tours of the prison – is much of the story. Inevitably, Marching Powder recalls the nightmarish world of Midnight Express, but is sufficiently different in its own right to remain compelling. Young’s account was written partly during a three-month stay with the unfortunate McFadden and reeks of authenticity. Not for the faint-hearted…

Chile

By Night in Chile by Roberto Bolaño

During the course of a single night, Father Sebastian Urrutia Lacroix, a Chilean priest, who is a member of Opus Dei, a literary critic and a mediocre poet, relives some of the crucial events of his life. He believes he is dying and in his feverish delirium various characters, both real and imaginary, appear to him as icy monsters, as if in sequences from a horror film.

Thus we are given glimpses of the great poet Pablo Neruda, the German writer Ernst Junger, General Pinochet, whom Father Lacroix instructs in Marxist doctrine, as well as various members of the Chilean intelligentsia whose lives, during a period of political turbulence, have touched upon his.

Argentina

The Buenos Aires Quintet by Manuel Vázquez Montalbán

When Pepe Carvalho’s uncle asks him to find his son, in Buenos Aires, Pepe is reluctant. All he knows about Argentina is the tango and Maradona, and he has no desire to find out more. But family is family and soon Carvalho is in Buenos Aires, getting more caught up in Argentina’s troubled past than is good for anybody. As he gets nearer to finding the son, he begins to realise the full impact of the traumas caused by a military junta who went so far as to kidnap the children of the political activists they tortured. A few excellent tangos, bottles of Mendoza Cabernet Sauvignon and a sexy semiotician are no compensation for the savage brutality Carvalho experiences in his attempt to come to grips with Argentina’s recent history.

Brazil 

Heliopolis by James Scudamore

Set against a city on the edge of reality, of high towers and seething favelas, of rich enclaves and social stratification. Ludo is a boy taken from the slum of Heliopolis and raised in the gated wealth of Angel Park. Highly credible characters locked in often extreme situations – By turns darkly humorous and poignant, Scudamore’s Booker Prize-nominated novel is a highly original take on the rags-to-riches story.

March 27th 2019 marks Tucan Travel’s 32nd birthday. To celebrate, they are offering 32% off tours departing before 31 July 2019 and 16% off tours departing between 1st August 2019 and 29 February 2020. Don’t want to travel in a group? You can also get 8% off any bespoke,Tailor-made tour. 

Contact them via their website and give them a follow on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram

Join team TripFiction on Social Media:

Twitter (@TripFiction), Facebook (@TripFiction.Literarywanderlust), YouTube (TripFiction #Literarywanderlust), Instagram (@TripFiction) and Pinterest (@TripFiction)

Subscribe to future blog posts