With me being in London last the week for work, most of the planning for the trip is coming down on Sally’s shoulders. Not that we aim to plan or book that much ahead, but for some things it’s quite essential. The 4 day Inca trail hike we want to do towards Machu Picchu, we have to book very early, as we will require a permit to hike on the Inca trail. And these permits are hard to get. The government only gives out a limited amount to not damage the trail to much. No clue what that number is, but hopefully it’s small enough so we don’t charge up the trial with hundreds of people on our day of the hike.

Similar problem occurs on our trip to the Galapagos Islands. To really experience the beauty of the Islands a Cruise is said to be essential. Only same as with the trail, places are limited, so book early. As Sally and I are meeting up with Sal’s two sisters in South America, and we will travel our last weeks together, so booking 4 places on the spot for both events could prove impossible.

So Sal has done an absolutely amazing job arranging the tours, and matching our round-the-world-ticket flights around them. That might sound easy, but does involve a hell of a lot of work; endless number of phone calls, emails, checking with and updating sisters and boyfriend, etc., etc. My involvement was only acknowledging her great work.

But now I had time to have a look at the tour packages, I finally have some input for her! Our Inca trail porter! :-) For US$ 45 you can hire a porter that caries 9kg for you up and down the Inca trail. OK, maybe not essential, but probably quite welcome when hiking at an altitude of 3500m. Plus who am I to deny the locals their work? It must be a good thing to support the local community!

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 17th, 2007 at 22:33 and is filed under South America. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.