Both of us had been wanting to go to the amazon rainforest and river. We were also planning to quit our jobs in Seattle, USA and move back to India. It just seemed to be a good idea to combine the two and visit the amazonas on our way back to India. The more we thought about it, the more we were leaning towards extending our amazon visit beyond the reach of the river alone. One by one we added countries to the list.
There were several things we considered when shortlisting the countries we wanted to visit -
In the first iteration of our plan we thought about covering Ecuador, Peru, Chile and Brazil (and maybe Venezuela for the angel falls). We decided our trip would last 1.5 months and we would cover as much as we could.
As we researched about the other countries in the area, we figured that visiting Bolivia would be a good idea. Bolivia also had the advantage that visa was provided on arrival. We also replaced Chile with Argentina - both provided similar landscapes in the patagonian region and in the glaciers further south. We also completely dropped Venezuela from the list since getting to the Angel falls sounded like an onerous task and we weren't sure if the falls alone were worth the effort to go there. Visiting all these places in the timeframe we initially thought of seemed tiring and so we also increased the duration of the trip to 2.5 months.
We started listing out places we would like to visit in each country. In Ecuador, we had Quito and Cuenca in the list already and we also added the Galapagos islands to the list and thus increased the time we had allocated for Ecuador. In Peru, we had with Lima, Iquitos and Cuzco in the listed and added Arequipa and Puno as well. We thought about visiting the Nazca lines but decided to skip it. From Puno, we intended to enter Bolivia through Lake Titicaca and in Bolivia, we wanted to visit La Paz, Sucre, Salar di Uyuni and Laguna Verde. We thought about crossing the border and entering Argentina by road and visiting Iguazu, Buenos Aires and Ushuaia. In Brazil, we wanted to go to the Pantanaal region and relax in and around Sao Paulo and Rio de Janerio.
With all this planned out, we booked a few hotels/hostels for Ecuador but nothing else. We wanted to keep our trip flexible so we could spend more time where we liked and leave early otherwise. We decided against doing the Galapagos cruises - Poonam gets sea sick easily and frankly the cruises were quite expensive and very few had the exact itinerary we wanted. Instead we decided to spend 3 nights each at San Cristobal and Santa Cruz and do day trips to other islands.
One of the things we decided was that we wanted to travel light. 1 carry on luggage per person, 1 camera bag and 1 day pack. When we started packing, we had to compromise on several things but I think we made the right choice in traveling light. Getting ready for the trip, we also took our travel vaccine shots a few days before we left. And we purchased 2 undercover pouches (1 per person) from REI so we could carry our money safely at all times.
Visas
There were several things we considered when shortlisting the countries we wanted to visit -
- visa - We both have Indian passports and several countries require visas for entry. Some are easy and quick to get and some are a lengthy process.
- variety - We wanted to cover different kinds of landscapes and also have the opportunity to see different wildlife.
- budget - We had set a budget for ourselves and some of the choices we made were based on the budget.
In the first iteration of our plan we thought about covering Ecuador, Peru, Chile and Brazil (and maybe Venezuela for the angel falls). We decided our trip would last 1.5 months and we would cover as much as we could.
As we researched about the other countries in the area, we figured that visiting Bolivia would be a good idea. Bolivia also had the advantage that visa was provided on arrival. We also replaced Chile with Argentina - both provided similar landscapes in the patagonian region and in the glaciers further south. We also completely dropped Venezuela from the list since getting to the Angel falls sounded like an onerous task and we weren't sure if the falls alone were worth the effort to go there. Visiting all these places in the timeframe we initially thought of seemed tiring and so we also increased the duration of the trip to 2.5 months.
We started listing out places we would like to visit in each country. In Ecuador, we had Quito and Cuenca in the list already and we also added the Galapagos islands to the list and thus increased the time we had allocated for Ecuador. In Peru, we had with Lima, Iquitos and Cuzco in the listed and added Arequipa and Puno as well. We thought about visiting the Nazca lines but decided to skip it. From Puno, we intended to enter Bolivia through Lake Titicaca and in Bolivia, we wanted to visit La Paz, Sucre, Salar di Uyuni and Laguna Verde. We thought about crossing the border and entering Argentina by road and visiting Iguazu, Buenos Aires and Ushuaia. In Brazil, we wanted to go to the Pantanaal region and relax in and around Sao Paulo and Rio de Janerio.
With all this planned out, we booked a few hotels/hostels for Ecuador but nothing else. We wanted to keep our trip flexible so we could spend more time where we liked and leave early otherwise. We decided against doing the Galapagos cruises - Poonam gets sea sick easily and frankly the cruises were quite expensive and very few had the exact itinerary we wanted. Instead we decided to spend 3 nights each at San Cristobal and Santa Cruz and do day trips to other islands.
One of the things we decided was that we wanted to travel light. 1 carry on luggage per person, 1 camera bag and 1 day pack. When we started packing, we had to compromise on several things but I think we made the right choice in traveling light. Getting ready for the trip, we also took our travel vaccine shots a few days before we left. And we purchased 2 undercover pouches (1 per person) from REI so we could carry our money safely at all times.
Visas
- Ecuador - Indian citizens can get their visas stamped when they land at the airport.
- Peru - There was a consulate in Seattle so we got an appointment with them (It took us several attempts to reach them by phone but I guess we got lucky one day). The consulate was in the garage of a house so we were a little confused at first and were not sure if we had the right address. Once inside, the process was simple - we were the only ones there. We handed over the documents and the money and we got the visa stamped in no time. The consular general there was very helpful in suggesting places to visit and stay. So our experience at the Seattle consulate was much nicer than what we had heard about the San Francisco consulate.
- Bolivia - Visas are given on arrival in Bolivia.
- Brazil and Argentina - Neither had consulates in Seattle and we didn't have enough time to send our passports to other cities and get them back in time. We decided to wing it. We would go to their consulates in either Ecuador, Peru or Bolivia and try to get the visas there. Let's see how that goes!
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