South America itinerary advice please

Hi all,

I have finally decided to do my trip to South America - I have 2 months from Mid Oct - Mid Dec 2009.

I have planned a rough itinerary and was wondering if I could get some opinions please from you seasoned travelers. Just looking at is makes me feel exhausted - and I am worried I am seeing lots of it from a bus - but maybe I have spent enough time in the places?

A map of this itinerary can be found here;
Click here for Map


The places in map that are in green (or ** in text below) are the places I REALLY want to see, the places in between are mostly places that I would like to see if they are on the way, or they are simply a way to get from a to b. If anyone could suggest other quicker ways to get to all my green (** text below) places that would be great (but i know flights are very expensive..).

Cheers + thanks in advance. :]

----
Day 1 - Arrive Lima, fly to Cusco
**Day 2 - 2 days in Cusco acclimatising**
**Day 4 - 4 day Inca Trail trek**
Day 9 - Cusco to Puno (10 hour day bus)
Day 10 - 2 days in Puno, visit floating islands, home stay
Day 12 - 1 day visit to South Shore Town - return to Puno
Day 13 - Puno - Copacabana (4 hour day bus) cross border
Day 14 - Day trip to Islands of Sun & Moon (Isla Del Sol/Luna) - overnight stay
Day 15 - Copacabana to La Paz (4 hour day bus)
Day 15 - 2.5 days in La Paz
Day 17 - La Paz to Uyuni (7 hour night bus)
**Day 18 - 3 day Salt Flats Tour**
Day 22 - Uyuni - Potosi - Sucre (9 hour day bus)
Day 23 - 1 day in Sucre
Day 24 - Sucre to Santa Cruz (15 hour night bus)
Day 25 - 1 day in Santa Cruz
Day 26 - Santa Cruz to Quijarro (21 hour night train ‘death train’)
Day 27 - Quijarro to Corumba - cross border
Day 28 - Corumba to Campo Grande (6 hour day bus)
Day 29 - Campo Grande to Rio (25 hour day bus)
**Day 30 - 5 days in Rio**
Day 35 - Rio - Ilha Grande (5 hour bus/ferry)
Day 36 - 2 days Ilha Grande
Day 38 - Ilha Grande to Paraty (4 hour ferry/bus)
Day 39 - 3 days Paraty
Day 42 - Paraty - Sao Paulo (6 hour day bus)
**Day 43 - 5 days Sao Paulo**
Day 48 - Sao Paulo - Foz do Iguaçu (16 hour day bus)
Day 49 - 1 day Foz do Iguaçu
Day 50 - Foz do Iguaçu to Puerto Iguazú (bus) cross border
**Day 51 - 1 day Puerto Iguazú - boat trip?**
Day 52 - Puerto Iguazú - Buenos Aires (18 hour day bus)
**Day 53 - 7 days Buenos Aires**
Day 60 - Depart Reply to this

Hi Brendan,
Nice itinerary you've got there, I'm going to do a similar trip in the next few months.
Only thing I would recommend to revise: 5 days in São Paulo. From my own experience and from what I' heard of other travellers, I would totally skip São Paulo and do some other things instead.
For exemple Paraty -> Curitiba -> Train to Morretes -> 2 or 3 days Ilha do Mel -> Back to Curitiba -> Overnight bus to Foz de Iguaçu.
Ouro Preto in Minas in Minas would be nice as well... Reply to this