Young girls practice their roller skating technique on a slab of concrete near the banks of the rivers Parana (left) and Iguazu (right, not pictured) in Puerto Iguazu, Argentina, on July, 3, 2016. From the point known as Hito Tres Fronteras, the three countries sharing Iguazu Falls can be seen. Standing in Argentina, Paraguay is to the left and Brazil to the right.
AAron Ontiveroz, The Denver Post
Three people ride a motor bike across the Puente Billinghurst, Peru's longest bridge on the Interoceanic Highway on July 18, 2016. The highway starts in coastal Peru in various cities, connects the country with Brazil, which until its completion in 2011 was a perilous journey across treacherous jungle roads.
AAron Ontiveroz, The Denver Post
Lovers embrace on July 20, 2016, at a local market in Rio Branco, the first major city to be connected to Peru via the Interoceanic Highway. The highway starts in coastal Peru in various cities and connects the country with Brazil, which until its completion in 2011 was a perilous journey across treacherous jungle roads.
AAron Ontiveroz, The Denver Post
A woman prays in front of the altar after Sunday Mass in Belgrano, Buenos Aires, Argentina, on June 26, 2016.
AAron Ontiveroz, The Denver Post
A family looks at paper Olympic torches that were made by local students in honor of the evening's celebration for the arrival of the torch in their town on July 28, 2016.
AAron Ontiveroz, The Denver Post
Alfredo tends the net as he and fellow students play soccer on a grass and dirt field. Their school, known as Piececitos Colorados, a name referring to the bare feet of the children being stained red by dirt, was founded more than 20 years ago without public funding. Teacher Daniel Vera said all funding had come from his friends around the world. What started as a tent in an area where kids regularly walk more than 10 kilometers to school is now an education center servicing more than 120 students and its own soccer team. When entered in one of their first tournaments, the team was defeated in their first game. When asked why, they said their new cleats were foreign to them and they preferred their barefoot style of play. Without cleats, they went on to win their next game.
AAron Ontiveroz, The Denver Post
Freddy lifts his brother Oscar to practice wrestling moves atop a bed of salt in a building made entirely of salt in Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia, July 13, 2016. The salt flat in southwestern Bolivia is the world's largest and sits at an elevation of nearly 12,000 feet. The outcropping of rocks and cacti are among the only signs of life beyond the salt.
AAron Ontiveroz, The Denver Post
As the sun begins to set, boys in Villamar Mallcu, Bolivia, begin to wrap up their game of soccer July 11, 2016. The boys of the town play soccer on the concrete slab until sundown when they return home for chores or more soccer in the dirt lots near their homes.
AAron Ontiveroz, The Denver Post
Llamas occupy a typical backyard in Quetena Chico, Bolivia.
AAron Ontiveroz, The Denver Post
Carlos Huayta, a Bolivian local with a vast knowledge of southwestern Bolivia, shoots a three-point basket as he plays basketball on a dirt court in Julaca. The town, which is near the gateway to the Uyuni Salt Flats, has little to offer in terms of recreational activities outside of this court, a small soccer pitch and a playground with swings and a slide.
AAron Ontiveroz, The Denver Post
A taxi driver makes the three-hour drive from Villazon on the border of Bolivia and Argentina to Tupiza, a city that acts as a gateway to the geological wonders of high altitude Bolivia on July 9, 2016.
AAron Ontiveroz, The Denver Post
Tourists sit in a thermal pool as temperatures dip near freezing in the surrounding area. At more than 14,000 feet, this part of Bolivia feels South America's most winter-like winters.
AAron Ontiveroz, The Denver Post
Children Natlia (R) and Diogo spar near the end of their taekwondo class as community members gather outside to watch the match at Gracie Barra Acre in Rio Branco, Acre, Brazil. The academy pictured is part of a chain of martial arts schools founded by Carlos Gracie Jr. in Rio de Janeiro.
AAron Ontiveroz, The Denver Post
People hike among the cacti during an early morning trek to watch the sunrise over Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia, on July 13, 2016. The salt flat in southwestern Bolivia is the world's largest and sits at an elevation of nearly 12,000 feet. The outcropping of rocks and cacti are among the only signs of life beyond the salt.
AAron Ontiveroz, The Denver Post
A taxi drives through the streets of downtown La Paz, Bolivia, as vendors and residents proceed through the streets in the early morning light on July 14, 2016.
AAron Ontiveroz, The Denver Post
An elderly man walks through a coffee shop at the base of Teleferico San Bernardo, a gondola that takes residents into the mountains for a look at the valley below in Salta, Argentina, July 8, 2016.
AAron Ontiveroz, The Denver Post
Families hold one another as they wait for their bus to arrive in Porto Velho, Brazil, on July 22, 2016. Unlike the United States, many people cannot afford the cost of air travel across South America and a great majority rely on the vast bus system to travel throughout the continent.
AAron Ontiveroz, The Denver Post
Men play an afternoon game of futsal in Porto Velho, Brazil,on July 21, 2016. Futsal is a hardcourt version of soccer not unlike the indoor version of the game. Five players, instead of the traditional 11, play on the smaller, faster surface.
AAron Ontiveroz, The Denver Post
Performers wait for their chance to dance on the main stage at Praa Brasil before the arrival of the Olympic torch at an evening celebration in Volta Redonda, Brazil.
AAron Ontiveroz, The Denver Post
Mateus Borges spikes the ball over Éder during a volleyball game at the Belmar Fidalgo Sporting Complex in Campo Grande, Brazil, on July 25, 2016. The complex is a city center for all activities sports related. The park boasts basketball courts, running paths, beach volleyball courts, workout centers and more.
AAron Ontiveroz, The Denver Post
People pose for photos with the Olympic rings at the Barra Olympic Park before the start of the Rio 2016 Olympics on Aug. 1, 2016.
AAron Ontiveroz, The Denver Post
People show up en masse to protest the arrival of the Olympic torch in Volta Redonda, Brazil, on July 28, 2016.
AAron Ontiveroz, The Denver Post
People line the streets to greet the Olympic torch in Volta Redonda, Brazil.
AAron Ontiveroz, The Denver Post
People line the streets to greet the Olympic torch in Volta Redonda, Brazil, on July 28, 2016.
AAron Ontiveroz, The Denver Post
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Young girls practice their roller skating technique on a slab of concrete near the banks of the rivers Parana (left) and Iguazu (right, not pictured) in Puerto Iguazu, Argentina, on July, 3, 2016. From the point known as Hito Tres Fronteras, the three countries sharing Iguazu Falls can be seen. Standing in Argentina, Paraguay is to the left and Brazil to the right.
Follow on , where he’ll be sharing images from the Rio Olympic Games through Aug. 21.
RIO DE JANEIRO — In the middle of June, every conversation I had went like this, “Don’t get Zika,” “I hope you don’t die,” and, of course, “I will miss you so, so much, Dad.”
There exists this belief that South America is a disease-riddled land rife with stomach-stabbing thieves and back-alley thugs. A land where toxic waters wrench guts like cut men squeezing bloody sponges into rusty buckets. A place where civilization ends and lawless jungles abound.
This, however, is a considerable exaggeration of the reality that is the other America. This America is a beautiful mix of the old and the new, the cultural and the corporate. A continent still forging a modern identity, while maintaining all the things that make it real. It is the America to the south — the America hosting its first Olympic Games.
AAron Ontiveroz, The Denver Post
Freddy lifts his brother Oscar to practice wrestling moves atop a bed of salt in a building made entirely of salt in Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia, July 13, 2016. The salt flat in southwestern Bolivia is the world's largest and sits at an elevation of nearly 12,000 feet. The outcropping of rocks and cacti are among the only signs of life beyond the salt.
In preparation for Rio 2016, my brother, Austin, and I set out on a 6,500-mile journey across the continent to document life outside of the Olympic purview to see face-to-face the host continent.
The journey spanned five countries and lasted more than six weeks. We traveled from Buenos Aires to Iguazu Falls at the border of Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina. We got lost traveling across rural northern Argentina on dirt roads that were not unlike those of our home state Wyoming in the American West. We felt an overwhelming and eerie sense of calm as our miniature rented Chevy Classic balanced on knee-deep ruts and men on horses tended to cattle on land that felt like it would go on forever.
From Argentina we traveled to the high-altitude Martian landscape of Bolivia, where we slept in unheated buildings made entirely of salt as temperatures outside dipped below freezing. Bolivia led to Peru, where we traveled the Interoceanic Highway — one of the continent’s true modern marvels. Before its completion in 2011, the journey from Peru into Brazil took roughly a week on treacherous dirt roads through jungles and over rivers. The highway’s completion marked a true marriage of the continent as its oceanic coasts were joined.
AAron Ontiveroz, The Denver Post
A woman prays in front of the altar after Sunday Mass in Belgrano, Buenos Aires, Argentina, on June 26, 2016.
From the border of Brazil, we traveled across the country, touching down in seven of its states and multiple cities and towns along the way — each with its own flavor and shared tranquil vibe. Brazil’s reputation of danger for tourists failed to live up to the hype even once during our three weeks in country before Rio 2016.
Within in this place, we found communities bound by just that — community.
Doors were opened, stories were shared and sports were played for no medals or glory. In South America, there exists a land and a people who are special beyond definition.
