Shall I elaborate?

One 20-something couple travelling for 56 Days going though Peru, Bolivia, Chile and Argentina. Walking Machu Picchu, Seeing the Nazca Lines, Visiting an Amazon Jungle Lodge, Photograhing Macaws, Visiting Lake Titicaca, Worlds most dangerous road, Worlds largest salt pans, Sailing though Chilian Fjords, Trekking Southern Patagonia, 120 Foot Iceburgs, even higher Glaciers and the Magellian Straight. Whew.

All Prices are in New Zealand Dollars!

H’ok. Two sections, pre-travel, and costs per country. Note that I don’t include flight costs in the per country breakdown as we got a special deal for combining it all together. Also note that the costs are for two people, not one!

Quicky breakdown for per day costs, keeping in mind this includes EVERYTHING except flights. Thats tours, food, transport, the lot (cheapest to most expensive):

$100 / day – Bolivia (all meals at resturants, private rooms with bathrooms)
$138 / day – Chile (self catering, sleeping in dorm rooms in cheap hostels)
$140 / day – Argentina (self catering, sleeping in dorm rooms in cheap hostels)
$166 / day – Peru (all meals at resturants, private rooms with bathrooms)

Pre-Travel

Medical

$791.05 – Anti-Malarial, Hep B, Typhoid Shots, consultant fees
$195 – Geri’s 3 rabies shots
$58.80 – 4 x Doctor Consultant Fees
$65.30 – our share of a travellers medical pack (Marzine, Buscopan, Loperamide, Diamox, Romicin, Ciprofloxacin)

Total: NZD $1110

Travel

$4968 – International Flights
$2242 – Local Flights

Total: NZD $7210

Equipment

$450 – Two Gortex Outershells (over 50% on sale)
$80 – 2 x Water Filter Bottle
$30 – Lonely Planet Bolivia (25% off)
$40 – Lonely Planet Chile and the Easter Islands (25% off)
$14 – Rubber bands + Oven bags (cheap camera waterproof cover ) and travel diaries.
$486 – 4x 2GB CompactFlash Memory cards for the Camera
$93 – 5 miniDV video camera cassetts, and a camera tripod

Total: NZD $1193

Other

$1000 – Personal Spanish Lessons
$320 – More Spanish Lessons
$10 – Mag to read on the plane
$199 – Bank fees recieved due to taking money out in South America via their ATMs

Total: NZD $1529

Countries

Peru

$272 – Transport
$3591 – Tours
$371 – Accomidation
$397 – Food
$171 – Souvineers
$69 – Net and Laundry

Total: NZD $5171

Bolivia

$80 – Transport
$380 – Tours
$95 – Accomidation
$58 – Food
$179 – Souvineers
$10 – Net and Laundry

Total: NZD $802

Chile

$171 – Transport
$1044 – Tours
$192 – Accomidation
$157 – Food
$81 – Souvineers
$10 – Net and Laundry

Total: NZD $1655

Argentina

$180 – Transport
$272 – Tours
$115 – Accomidation
$100 – Food
$35 – Souvineers
$1 – Net and Laundry

Total: NZD $702

Exchange rates used

NZD$ 1 will get you:
2 Nuevo Soles (Peru)
5 Bolivianos (Bolivia)
350 Chillian Pesos (Chile)
2 Argentinian Pesos (Argentina)
0.63 Dollars (USA)

Well, bloody shitty crappy poo! The reason I havn’t been updating as regular as I could have is a little bit arse.

Bad

Bascially, I got Haemerroids just before I had to do the four day hike to Machu Picchu. Then, after that, my Haemerroids burst. Yup: bloody hell. I had to have an emergency operation to cut out what looks like a 3cm aborted featus from my arse. The next day I then flew to the Jungle for a four day expedition up the Rio Tambopata.

If thats not all, Geri has got Cairo Quickstep three times, mum once, and all three of us had got a cold. Geri wanted to murder me cos I was such a miserable barstard, and we all got sick and tired of how dirty Peru was.

Good

Now, with that out of the way, we have been having an absolute corker of a time! I have used up 8GB worth of photos already (I have to consistantly prune just so I can take more photos), we have been to soooo many cool places, and met some really wonderful people, I just can’t stop gushing.

Currently I’m in the witches market of La Paz, Bolivia. Just spent 4 hours on the net updating some photos. I have left out the GPS locations of the photos as that takes me ages to figure out.

Arequipa went off. The parade went on for twelve hours. Geri and Mum got wisked away to dance in the Parade numerous times, and I got to skull back some lovley Chicha! The accomidation of the Spanish style inner courtyard buildings was wonderful and rustic, and mum enjoyed the wine.

We did a Colca Canyon trip and managed to see the famous Andean Condor right upfront and personal. I mean they flew within one metre of the crowds!

Next stop Cuzco, where Geri got the trots, we did Machu Picchu, my haemerroids burst, I had an operation, we went to the jungle, and saw amazing views in the Sacred Valley. Heh, no-one liked Cuzco cos we all got sick there

The Jungle was actually the best place for me to recover from an operation. Spent over 12 hours lying on my tummie while we crusied the Tambopata to and from the Inotawa Lodge (which was fantastic btw). I just wished I could have snoozed in the hammocks there.

Lake Titcaca is just like Greece, except its cold, and they are not Greek. Did a two day tour of the Islands floating and non-floating before we then went off to Bolivia.

So far Bolivia rocks! Its cleaner than Peru (they actually finish building their houses), and just seems to have a better vibe.

We Cycled down the worlds most dangerous road, and it was great. Except the fact we didn’t get full suspension bikes. Oh god, my arse. The best bit was the end, when we discovered The Senda Verde Campgrounds. This place rocks. Go there.

Ok, its now dinner time and Mum and Geri are getting hungry. So I will just have to leave things at that. We are catching an overnighter to Uyuni tonight to see the famous salt flats, while mum flys home.

Love you all
-Richard and Geraldine

Huts on the famous Uros floating reed islands in the shallows of Lake Titicaca.

Blue and yellow macaws fly past the famous Colpa Colorado / Colpa de Guacamayos de Colorado clay lick on the Rio Tambopata, while other macaws and parrots chow down.

As we were watching the macaws and parrots feasting at the Colpa Colorado (Colpa de Guacamayos de Colorado?) clay lick, a scarelt macaw decided to pay us a visit! OMG!

(The gps coordinates might be a bit off, I couldn’t for the life of me find GPS coordinates for the claylick).

Geraldine watching the river go past as we go up the Rio Tambopata in our river boat. We are on our way to a macaw clay lick to take photos of those most colourful of parrots.

Thats right, its the money shot. We successfully walked the four day Machu Picchu walk to the most famous of Inca ruins.

It bloody well pissed down the entire morning we walked from the Sun Gate to the ruins themselves. However, it fined up enough for us to take this photo, before it clouded over again until midday. heh, poor day tourists

Ruins just above the city of Cuzco. Sacsayhuaman, sounds like “sexy woman”, was a huge Inca temple. However the only bits left are the bits the Spanish couldn’t carry away with them. The stones are HUGE!

Salineras salt terraces / salt pans. Created by Inca or pre-Inca people, they use water from a salt laden spring to get salt via evaporation.

Andean Condor flying within metres of our head at Cruz del Condor, in the Colca Valley of Peru. Sooo many photos!