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South America: Inspire Me!
DH and I are planning a 6-week trip for sometime this fall/winter (dates will depend on work, but probably sometime in October-January). I think we're going to go to South America.
We know we want to hike the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu. Aside from old monuments and ruins, I have a bit of an obsession with waterfalls, so I'd like to go to Iguaca Falls and maybe Angel Falls. Yes, I realize these three things are nowhere near each other.
Where else should we go and what else should we make sure to see? As you might guess from the above, we're pretty interested in history and nature when we travel (not strictly ruins and waterfalls), and like to be active. I'd be interested in the beach if there was one with good snorkeling nearby.
We normally prefer to stay at hostels and generally do everything on the cheap when we travel, though I don't think that will strictly be a requirement for this trip. And I definitely want to fly where we can rather than spending lots of time on long distance buses as we've done in the past. We haven't determined a budget yet, but I'm thinking maybe around $10K. Does that sound reasonable? We can afford more, but I'll definitely want to give myself some time to get over the sticker shock if we have to. It seems like flights to/around SA are really expensive, so I'm a bit worried.
I'd also love book suggestions (guidebooks or just good books that take place in the area).
Re: South America: Inspire Me!
Yeah, we're working again, and settled back into a pretty ordinary suburban life. One of these days I'm going to update my Nest location thing... but I kind of still like it, even though it's not true anymore.
We have been to Argentina, Peru, Bolivia, and Brazil. Argentina & Bolivia were my favorites.
From what we saw, a few of the top highlights for me: Buenos Aires, San Antonio de Areco (a couple hours from BA--we happened to hit it during a gaucho festival and it was so fun), Iguazu, Arequipa, Machu Picchu, Isla del Sol (a don't miss for me--loved it), and La Paz. We didn't make it to the salt flats in Bolivia, but that is supposed to be amazing too.
We used Lonely Planets for the most part.
We are mid-range travelers and usually stay at small, nice inns, but nothing fancy. It has been a few years, but outside of Brazil, everything was pretty cheap. Flights were pricey, but food and accomodations were easy on the budget.
If you do end up taking long range buses, spring for the more expensive ones. I found the drivers to be much safer. We did a couple of overnight buses in Peru and they were quite nice. So, if you can't find cheap flights, the bus may be worth checking out too.
We just got back yesterday from a 6 week trip. We spent 21 days in Peru, 7 days in the galapogus, 4 days at Iguaca falls, 4 days at Rapa Nui and 3 days in Tahiti.
Accommodation can be quite cheep, but food was more expensie than I expected (more than SE Asia seeing you've spent time there). Local buses are also cheep.
Our highlights were the Inca Trail (day 3 was fantastic), the Peruvian amazon, seeing condors in the Colca Canyon, the Nazca lines, snorkling in galapogus, the Devil's Throat and the 7 exploers in Rapa Nui.
We had no issues with security or feeling safe. Again I would say the countries were went to were similar to SE Asia, don't be stupid and you'll be fine.
Have fun planning, there is so much to see and narrowing down what you'll do exactly is tough!
Personally I would skip Angel Falls due in part to the political situation and in part to the location. I think you'll get more out of your time saving that for a separate trip.
I would probably split the trip into several weeks in Peru, Igauzu Falls and then more time in either Brazil or Argentina (or both, depending on how much moving around you want to do). PP mentioned Colca Canyon, which I've heard good things about. Mancora is supposed to be a fun backpacker beach town. Cuzco's good for several extra days beyond the trek. I'd love to go to Lake Titicaca too. And from Iquitos you can go on an Amazon cruise. All of these could be buses or flights, depending on distances and prices. A couple blogs I read which have talked pretty extensively about backpacking in Peru are http://www.baconismagic.ca/ and http://jackandjilltravel.com/.
Then from Iguazu I'd fly to Buenos Aires and do a week or so there, then take the boat over to Colonia, Uruguay, and head to Montevideo and potentially Punta del Este. Or fly to somewhere in Brazil, probably Rio. As you said, flights within SA are pretty expensive, and I've found flights to/within Brazil to be especially expensive, so that might not be the best destination for you guys.
Chile's got LOTS of amazing scenery and great outdoor activities too, but since you're already planning to be over by Iguazu Falls, I'm not suggesting it since it'd mean coming back to the west side of the continent. Happy to help with any further questions!
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If you're planning on flying a lot, I'd look into a RTW ticket, which may be cheaper than buying each flight on its own (we paid $350 each for the one hour round trip flight from BA to Mendoza, and that was off season).
I loved Buenos Aires and would recommend at least a week there (you can do lots of day trips) plus a few days in Mendoza. I also loved Colombia - Cartagena and Bogota especially, though lots of people rave about Medellin and the national parks/coast areas).
If I had 6 weeks in South America, I would probably do:
10 days in Colombia (Cartagena, Bogota and Tayrona National park)
10 days in Bolivia (La Paz and the salt flats for sure)
10 days in Peru (Cuzco and inca trail)
10 days in the Galapagos, or I'd do more time in each of the other areas.
Or, I would do:
10-12 days in Argentina, 10-12 in Brazil, 10-12 in Chile and then a week in Uruguay.
My rationale would be that I am never going to see and do all I want to in 6 weeks on the whole continent, so it makes sense to break it up into north vs south, or places that I would be able to visit on their own. From what I have seen, flights to Bolivia are pricey and many stop in Colombia or Peru, so I'd combine those. You could easily fill time for 2 weeks in Argentina and Uruguay, so saving that for a later trip might make sense.
I think the flights and transport are going to cost the most. After that, you get by pretty cheaply in most places. In Colombia in 2010, we spent $80 a night in Cartagena for a moderate hotel (A/C, mini fridge, private bathroom, wifi) and $30 a night for the same in Bogota. Food was a couple bucks per person, cheap drinks were under $1. In Buenos Aires in 2008, we spent about $70 a night on the same level of accommodation, and on our cheapest days we spent about $30 on food and wine for the two of us (though I know prices have risen since then).