I´m currently on a year long stint in SA.
My only advice would be not to spread yourself too thinly. Unfortunately you´ve already said you want to see the Capitals etc.
I enjoy myself far more when I don´t have serious time pressure. For me, it´s so important to have some flexablity and if you meet people who your having a great time with, maybe you can stay for longer or go in the same direction or whatever. Also, better to really get to know a place. If you make your trip about ticking boxes, that could be all you end up doing!
I loved Buenos Aires but only after living there for a while. Bariloche, Mendoza and Salta are all great in Argentina. You could easily busy yourself for 2 months in Arg alone. Obviously Brazil´s huge and one of the reasons I´m not going is cos I wouldn´t know where to start, but the Northeast sounds the most interesting part to me.
Cusco is very cool but touristy. A trek there is a must! I´d recommend the Salkantay as I did in another thread. You should also see lake titicaca, although the Bolivian side is better. There are other interesting places in Peru but I´m not going to go into it because there are better places to go.
I notice you didn´t mention Bolivia, which was a real highlight for me. It´s got better food than a lot of SA, it´s got a traditional culture, less tourists than Peru, and far more little gems packed into a small Country IMO.
So I´d say sack off 2 of your Countries and do the other 2 more comprehensively. Actually a great journey would be to start in Santiago and corss the Andes to Mendoza (which is spectacular), then head to Bariloche and further into patagonia if you like, then you could head North to Salta. The journey from Salta to the Bolivian border is gorgeous. There´s loads to do in Bolivia, which I´ve mentioned elsewhere. I´d do the Salt flats, Sucre, Rurre and Titicaca if you have time. Then you could cross into Peru and head to Cusco. I think that would pretty much fill your time and would be a great trip. I´ve realised I missed out BA. Maybe you could start in BA, although as a place that takes a littel while to really appreciate, you might then be pushed for time.
I´m probably not much help cos you´ve probably decided already what you want to do, but maybe just give it some thought.
Reply to this 
