The Editor

The picturesque town of Iruya, in northwestern Argentina, is known for its geographical beauty. It is situated along the Iruya River at an elevation of 9,120 ft and nestled within a dramatic mountainous Altiplano landscape.

Calilegua is the largest national park in the Argentine Northwest, covering a biologically diverse environment. It is also the largest protected area in Argentina dedicated to the conservation of subtropical evergreen mountain rain forests known as Southern Andean Yungas.

Serra do Caparaó is a range of mountains located on the border between the states of Minas Gerais and Espírito Santo in southeastern Brazil. Caparaó National Park was created to protect the Caparaó Mountains and the representative Atlantic Forest found here.

The Serra da Mantiqueira is a mountain range that spans approximately 320 km (200 mi) across three Brazilian states: São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Minas Gerais. Rivers formed in these mountains supply a large number of cities in the Southeast Region of Brazil with water.

Morne Diablotin is the highest mountain in Dominica and the second highest in the Lesser Antilles. Morne Diablotin National Park protects two endemic parrots and some of the least disturbed stands of tropical rain forest on the Caribbean island.

Ollantaytambo is a town and archaeological site located at the northern edge of the Sacred Valley. It was a military, religious and agricultural center. At the time of the Spanish conquest of Peru, it was a stronghold for the Inca resistance and is the only Inca town that is still inhabited.

Main Ridge is the primary mountainous spine of the island of Tobago in the southern Caribbean. The Main Ridge Forest Reserve, which encompasses about 10,000 acres of tropical rain forest, is one of the oldest protected areas in the world.

The Nazca Plate is an oceanic tectonic plate in the southeastern Pacific Ocean off the west coast of South America. Its subduction beneath South America is responsible for the Andes Mountains. The Galápagos hotspot is responsible for the Galápagos Islands.

The Cocos Plate is a tectonic plate beneath the Pacific Ocean off the west coast of Central America. It is named for Cocos Island, which is the only emergent island of the plate.

Yendegaia National Park is located in the Magallanes y la Antártica Chilena Region of extreme southern Chile, within the Tierra del Fuego archipelago. The Darwin Range and Lake Fagnano frame its pristine landscapes.