A Month in South America

We are headed for a month in South America ~ Ecuador, Peru, the amazing Galapagos Islands and the Inca’s fascinating Machu Picchu, concluding with a stay in the Amazon Jungle.  Here’s the map of the coming week’s journeys.

This is a big passport stamp for me!

So come with us!   Come follow along ~ I think the wildlife pictures are going to be amazing.  Plus you will get to see me in jeans and hiking shoes with a backpack ~ henceforth unheard of!

Here’s the basic itinerary:

Day 1-4:  Quito, Ecuador.   This gives us time to acclimate, to unwind from the journey, and to explore  little bit of Ecuador before we go ~

Day 5-11:  600 miles off the coast of Ecuador to the 

Galapagos Islands.  We’re cruising in a small 100 foot yatch with just 8 staterooms; so it's us & 14 of our new closest friends (that we haven’t met yet) from around the world.   We’ll follow Darwin’s footsteps here, experiencing some of the most amazing and undisturbed wildlife in the world.  Plus they cook for us on the boat ~ I'm already planning to hang out in the kitchen a bit.  I guess it's the galley, though, right?!

Day 12:  Back from the cruise to stay overnight in Guayaquil, Ecuador  -- just to see something different before heading to Peru.

Day 13-14: Fly to Lima, Peru

Day 15-16:  Fly to Arequipa, Peru (with the intent of starting to acclimate to those hellacious altitudes -- ).  There's a famous Monastery here, even made a spot in "1,000 Places" (my travel Bible).

Day 17-18: Bus to Puno, Peru;  and Lake Titicaca, the highest navigable lake in the world.   They actually have islands made of floating reeds on this lake that house entire villages. I'm fascinated by this concept.

Day 19-22: Train to Cuzco, Peru.   Lots of ruins around here, and some day trips out to outlying areas. And this is where we'll take our cooking class for this trip.

Day 23:  Train to Aqua Calientes, Peru -- for Machu Picchu -- definitely the highlight of our trip!

Day 24-25:  Train back to Cuzco.  A couple more days to hang out with the locals and finish off our list before ~

Day 26-27:  It’s Jungle Pants Time – Fly to Puerto Maldando, then go by boat into the Amazon Jungle.

Day 28-29:  Fly back to Lima to catch our flight home the next day.

Day 30:  Sad plane day.  (It's always sad to have to go back home after these wonderful trips!)

Please join us!   Come along with us, I'll take you there!   At the bottom of this page there's a spot you can "follow along" ~ sign up if you haven't done this!   You'll get an email when there's a new post that way, so you won't miss any of the interesting sights and sounds of this fantastic journey on our sister continent.  

(You'll get a confirmation email that you'll need to return -- this assures that less-than-honorable bloggers can't just sign you up without your knowledge or approval).

Then you'll be able to ask questions, post comments, share your own experiences at all these locations ~ I would love to have that interaction with you all.

I'm all set, except to purchase my floppy equator hat, which Mr. C seems to think is a requirement.  

Other than that, I can't wait!