Ecuador/Peru/Bolivia, June 2008

Together with Claudia, I traveled to South America during the dry winter season. First, we hopped over the Atlantic Ocean with the Spanish Iberia Airline to Quito, Ecuador. From there, we journeyed with a private guide to the green, fertile highlands north of the equator. Back in Quito, we flew to the Galapagos Islands with AeroGal where we boarded a motor yacht for a five day discovery cruise. After having seen fantastic wildlife we flew back to the main land hitting Guayaquil in southern Ecuador. Using LAN, we flew down via Lima to Arequipa in the Peruvian desert. From there, we got a private tour to the impressive Colca Canyon. Back in Arequipa, we moved on by LAN to Cusco on the Peruvian highland. The city is said to be the birth place of the old Inca culture. From Cusco we trained down to the world-famous ruins of Machu Picchu. After this cultural highlight we flew down from Cusco to Puerto Maldonado in the Amazon jungle. We changed on a speedboat and raced up the river for several hours to get to a remote jungle lodge. This lodge was our base for a few days to explore the forest life. Back in Puerto Maldonado we flew to La Paz on the Bolivian highlands with LAN and TACA. In Bolivia we drove over the huge salt lake of Uyuni and boated on the beautiful Lake Titicaca. From La Paz we finally flew to São Paulo, Brazil with Aerosur and from there back home on an Iberia airplane. A map with all major destinations of the trip is shown below. The relating images can be accessed via the menu bar on the left.