Our holiday in South America lasts 30 days and was a self-composed menu garnished with inspiration from the travel agent. We did only buy the airline tickets and booked a hostel in Lima before taking off. The rest was up to the options met and by relying on our Lonely Planet guide.
Some practical advices and learnings
We searched the Internet to find name and addresses on hotels in the cities we expected to visit. Very often we asked the local hotel about their colleagues in other cities with great success.
We sew in hidden waterproof pockets in our pants to store passports, traveler's checks and airline tickets. We had an extra set of papers as copies in case we lost the originals. Claus had also scanned the most important papers on his computer and saved it on a internet page, he only knew the correct address to. We felt pretty sure, that we could re-produce our papers no matter what.
As for Rio we where adviced by our brasillian relations to always have a reasonable amout of money in our pockets. When robbers get disappointed they tend to get very violent. Better save your health and loose a bit. We also got the advice to have a fake purse with obsolete credit cards and the money for daily use - easy for you to get, and dispensable in case stolen.
We bought our guided tours locally after reading the guidebook and checking the prices here and there. You normally have to pay upfront, but the guidebooks advices count a great deal in their marketing, so I guess bad behaviour is punished. We had absolutely no problems with tour organizers. The tourist busses are great. The luggage are handled with tickets as in airports and are actually controlled before given to you - so keep you receipt tight - and still be careful and aware.
If you travel two at a time then take the advantage. Never read the map at the same time. When one of you studies the map, the other studies the surroundings. Being awake and looking actively at people approaching keeps problems away. If you have an expensive camera, then make it less attractive. I had taped on some fixing tape so it looked broken and used.
Medicals
We brought and used: Imodium (against diarrhea), pills against constipation, paracetamol, Diamox (againt altitude sickness), mosquito repellant, plaster and bandage.
Economy
We used approx. EUR 4,600 all together inclusive souvenirs for EUR 450. The airline tickes inclusive taxes was EUR 2,400 for the flight from Copenhagen to Rio, from Rio to Lima, from La Paz to Rio and back to Copenhagen. The tickets allowed us to change schedule once without penalty. The flighti from Lima to Cuzco was bought in Lima with help from the hotel keeper and cost EUR 213 for both of us.
When calculation the cost it should be menioned that we stayed for free the last week in Brasil, but Rio. In all cases we had a double room with private bath and no heating at a cost between US 10-30. Even hotels with standard prices at US 40-50 was willing to reduce the price if you insist.
Food is inexpensive in Peru and Bolivia. A 2 course lunch cost you EUR 3,- including a beer and a dinner is about EUR 8-10. On the other hand, it would be fair to say that food is a bit low quality or just boring - but you won't starve, that's for sure. Brasil is quite expensive, but you are able to find good and nicely priced restaurants, unless you have to eat right at the beach. But we have to, it's the best view in the world and how often do you visit Rio anyway?
References
Here you'll find some of the Internet sources we used in our planning and underways (some are in danish).
Bootsnall.com: An English written site for backpackers with lots of advices and stories from travellers all over the world.
Lonely Planet: Maybe the best guide books in the world. Unfortunately their success lead to the fact, that every tourist visits the same places.
Nyhavn Rejser: Our travel agent in Copenhagen. The clerk had just returned from South America and knew bits and pieces about the locations.
Niños Hotel, Cuzco: Our hotel in Cuzco (Peru) where a dutch woman supports street children with housing, food and education for your fee (English).