Only four more sleeps!!

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As lift-off gets closer, Bec and I are getting more and more excited about our big trip to South America. Wardrobes have been ransacked, outdoor shops have drawn muffled gasps (at pricetags), $USD has been purchased and nerves have been frayed. But we are getting closer to fitting our "must-haves" into our cases (surely I'll need more shoes???).

We leave Sunday for a night in Sydney, flying out on Monday morning. First stop after 16 hours on the plane, a six hour layover in Santiago, Chile, then another four hours flying to Lima. Time in Peru is 15 hours behind Canberra. We have a couple of days in Lima to try and recover from jet lag before joining our first tour to discover the Inca heritage, flying to Cuzco - South America's oldest continuously inhabited city and seeing the many ruins and natural sites there. Then we travel on to the Sacred Valley and stay in Ollantaytambo, before beginning the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu. It takes four days to hike the Trail - camping each night, reaching elevations of 4200m (13776ft) - so we have our fingers crossed that we aren't prone to altitude sickness (never having been higher than Kosciuszko). We finally reach the legendary Machu Picchu at dawn. The tour ends back in Lima where we have a few days to recover from (hopefully only) aching muscles. Then we fly to Iquitos, on the Amazon River, and join the riverboat Arca for a week cruising the Amazon and tributaries. You can see a quick itinerary (and lovely pictures) at
http://www.greentracks.com/Amazon-Riverboat-Expedition-Itinerary.htm
We are well equiped with Rid, suitable clothing, hats, cameras, binoculars etc, and are looking forward to seeing the snakes and pirhanas (well...some of us are).
Then we arrive home - worn out - on the 25th July.
So that's the general itinerary - as you see we'll only have a couple of opportunities to access computers, but when we do, we'll add an entry and some photos. The rest will have to wait til we get home!
Liz

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