Time to summarize

As our trip in South America is wrapping up I thought I would take a moment to think over our time here and write up some thoughts on our trip, things we learned, things we would have done differently, etc. It is amazing that it has already and yet only been two months since we started our journey and that we still and only have four months left.

I don't really know where to start but I'll jump right in and let the order take care of itself.

Bolivia is the cheapest country to travel through in SA. From what I have gathered from other travellers the order from cheapest to most expensive is as follows: Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Paraguay, Uruguay, Columbia, Brazil, Argentina, Chile. I don't know of any tests done to confirm this but from the talk this would be a rough outline. Argentina and Chile are every bit as expensive as Europe from what I have been told. Venezuela has been excluded because the only people I met who went there were robbed on their first day in front of military guards and left as soon as they could after that. I don't recommend going to Venezuela for a few years at least.

At the outset of our trip we would probably have only done one thing differently. Throughout Central and South America there are options for two week Spanish immersion courses and home-stays. These are affordable and extremely useful. Most are six hours of learning per day and then speaking with your host family for the rest of the time. I very much wish that we had known about and decided to do this before we started out.

We have learned to read between the lines of our guide books and evaluate what we really want to see when someone tells us about a sight to see or a tourist attraction. The books are valuable information but they are there to bring out the positive qualities of a place and not to be negative. Likewise people may have had a good or bad experience somewhere but it is very situational. The weather or a bad or good employee might make the difference for the entire trip. That is why we have also been learning to take things as they come and appreciate what we can about it. Our Machu Picchu experience was hampered by the fog and how expensive it was to see it but we absolutely loved walking to the Inca bridge, hiking around the ruins, and sitting to enjoy the quiet of the fog when we were able to get away from the tourists.