I am currently working at a customer site in Cachoeira Paulista, Brazil. It is halfway between Sao Paulo and Rio. Nothing to see here.
I'm not a pro; just an avid amateur. I've been to Peru twice. The first time I took my Canon S5 IS (point and shoot) camera and the second time I took my Canon 40D (as well as the S5). If you know how to use a dSLR camera, you will certainly enjoy having it with you (and if you are an enthusiast you won't mind the weights so much) but you can get great pics with a decent "regular" camera as well. Just learn how to use it (i.e. guidelines of good composition and how to use the manual settings when appropriate). The pictures from Costa Rica were done with the S5. The pictures from Panama were on the 40D. If you go to Machu Picchu (and you are not hiking the Inca Trail), I highly recommend staying for two days. Most tourists take the 7AM train from Cusco, arrive at Aqua Caliente at 10, visit the site and leave on the 3PM train. My suggestion is that you take the 7AM train, enjoy the main site on the first day and take a 2k hike up the Inca Trail back to the Sun Gate (Inti Punku). That will give you some amazing views and some peace and quiet as not a lot of people do this. The Sun Gate is the first view people who hike the Inca Trail get of Machu Picchu so the few people you do see will be very tired but all smiles. After that, go to Aqua Calliente for the night. The next day get up really early and get on the first buses for Machu Picchu (something like 5AM) and then go DIRECTLY to the back of the site and get in line to hike up Huayna Picchu. Huayna Picchu is that mountain you can see behind Machu Picchu. They let 500 people a day climb up. It is all stairs (cut by the Incas) but it is strenuous. It is magical (and I really hate using words like that). You can spend a hour or so at the top with the other hikers (great place to meet people from all over) and either come back down the way you came up or climb back down the back to the Temple of the Moon (google that if you want to go). Bring insect repellent to Machu Picchu (or wear long pants). I never was bothered at the ruins itself but on my hike down the back of Huana Picchu I was bitten by mysterious bugs (not mosquitos) and, while it didn't really hurt then, after a week or so the bites itched like CRAZY. A few even left some scars. Not dangerous; just VERY annoying. Machu Picchu with Huayna Picchu behind it. The "guard hut" is to the right. View from Huayna Picchu Another view from Huana Picchu
Machu Picchu does look pretty incredible, but the thought of it being overrun by tour busses and fanny packs seems like it'd taint the experience a bit.
Beautiful pics. Might be doing a race in the Atacoma Desert (Chile) in March and would love to drop by Patagonia, not sure if I'll have time or energy after the race though.
Seems like everyone has mentioned Machu Picchu and rightfully so. Place is amazing. But what I enjoyed even more from my two trips down to South America is Iguazu Falls in Argentina. Around 275 waterfalls over 1.5 miles right in the middle of a rain forest. You should definitely stop off there for a day or two. One of the most amazing places I have ever seen. Here is an awesome panoramic shot of the falls from Wikipedia. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/95/Iguazu_D%C3%A9cembre_2007_-_Panorama_1.jpg
I've been cooped up in a windowless office for the past week (including the weekend) for 14 hours a day.
I have not had the opportunity to check out the females outside of the office, although this particular customer site has the most attractive female employees for any site I have ever been on.
Be ready to pay mass visa fees for Chile/Argentina. I didn't think Santiago was that fun compared to everything else on your list, but that might be beacuse the friend I traveled with was vomiting and diarrheaing every 20 min during the time we were there... so yea try to avoid drinking tap water Take a day and go to Valparaiso. That place is fantastic. There's relatively cheap ~hourlong bus rides from Santiago all day. On Sundays in Valparaiso there's a really nice antique fair, we probably spent 4 hours just looking at old collectible stuff, and there's tons of people playing board games in the park etc... and there's an amazing amount of really beautiful graffiti in the city itself. Definitely take a ton of pictures, the scenery is totally different out there! Some pictures I took while I was there... http://denniscao.com/gallery/south-america-2010/
I know the feeling. If there is one thing in my life where I would say that I am glad I did it for a couple of years, but got out of it, it's consulting. I guess it is good for some people, but it definitely wasn't for me. The worst was when I worked in a bank (laying off people and working on the board's new strategy) and half of the damn internet was blocked due to their stupid policies (that was before the days now when you could bring your own phone and just use that to access the internet - well, I guess I might have gotten a bit more work done due to most of the internet being blocked... ).
I just clicked on your link...and just realized that this is the exact camera a good friend of mine has been talking about and that he just bought - it's just that it is called 550d in Europe. Apparently he got some 18-135mm kit with it, I guess one needs to buy that extra? Is the whole thing not too heavy to carry around?
