We just posted our review of the best little hotel in the Coffee Triangle region of central Colombia: Sazagua Hotel in Pereira.

This is a stylish, artistic boutique hotel that is apt to please any cultured, well-traveled guest. It’s a clear step above most of the city business hotels and rustic hacienda hotels dotting the region. Sazagua is a visual delight throughout and its Prana Spa is especially impressive for a hotel of this size. The upscale restaurant here has a good reputation as one of the best in the area.

See our full review of Sazagua Hotel in Colombia.

There are not a lot of hotels owned by the family of a sitting president, but here’s one for you: Los Sauces Casa Patagónica in southern Argentina.

Kirchner pedigree aside, this 38-suite country hotel is an elegant getaway that attracts moneyed foreigners who are also used to the finer things in life.

There’s little to complain about when you’re in such a fabulous natural setting, just outside a town filled with fine restaurants and bars, and sleeping in an estancia-style luxury lodge where low lighting and a hot Jacuzzi await guests after long days out in the wilderness.

And oh yeah, one of the world’s most dramatic glaciers is nearby. See our full review of Los Sauces Casa Patagónica

This is a time of year when it’s especially important to unwind, unplug, and enjoy time with your family. Nobody has to tell them this in Latin America, which is one of the things I love.

Happy holidays to you and yours, until we post again…

Photo above is from Miraflores, a suburb of Lima, Peru.

The Leading Hotels of the World just put out its new directory for 2010 and it includes four new hotels in Latin America. Fortunately for you, we’ve got reviews of three of them.

Banyan Tree Mayakoba, Riviera Maya, Mexico (pictured above)

Grand Velas All Suites & Spa Resort, Riviera Maya, Mexico

Bristol Buenaventura, Buenaventua, Panama

I don’t always agree with which hotels they sign up as “leading” and the fact that it’s a paid membership program can skew the results. I’m skeptical about the fourth new one—Tivoli São Paulo Mofarrej—but overall the group is pretty good at including large hotels with plenty of amenities and a good reputation for service. We’ll keep an eye on the Tivoli to see if it’s worth adding to our reviews now that it’s gone through a renovation.

See the full list at LHW.com.

Here’s a photo I snapped at Machu Picchu when I visited. For most of the porters carrying tourists’ belongings, tents, and food on the Inca Trail, this is as close as they ever see to their great wonder that is so close. It’s expensive to get into Machu Picchu, far beyond the income of what these guys make. Plus there’s the transportation issue, including the shuttle bus ride up to the ruins from Aguas Calientes at the bottom.

I found out about a program to rectify this, at least a little, through an organization called Karikuy. They’re trying to drum up donations to help these hard-working men get into the great citadel. See details here at the Karikuy-Haugen Fund.

If you were touched by your trip to Machu Picchu and the thrill of seeing it with your own eyes, any donation you make could help some key locals experience it as well.