DH and I will spend 2 weeks in South America in early January. Fly into Santiago and finish in Rio.Since we are travelling all the way from Australia, we'd like to make the long distances worthwhile and spend an extra couple of weeks after Rio seeing some other interesting places.

Peru and Bolivia spring to mind but I have read that Jan/Feb is not a good time to visit due to rain. So I need suggestions of what to do for the other 2 weeks that is reasonably easy to get to from Rio.

My initial thoughts are Mexico ( perhaps a cruise); Panama Canal or the Caribbean.

We are aged 59 and 61, in excellent health, and are looking for an interesting and fun travel experience. Not too rugged as we've done that in our youth, I would welcome any ideas.

My husband and I are almost exactly your ages. We traveled throughout Peru in February a couple years ago, and while we were extremely fortunate to have fairly decent weather, I wouldn't want to risk it again at that time of the year. That said, Peru is an amazing destination which we hope to return to one day.

We just returned from two weeks traveling in the Yucatan in Mexico, and we loved it. Only wish we had had more time, as we felt that there was so much to see and do. If you are considering Mexico for your two weeks, I would highly recommend the Yucatan.

We flew into Cancun, stayed a couple nights, spending a day on Isla Mujeres, before renting a car and heading north. We visited Valladolid, Chichen Itza, Izamal, Merida, the ruins at Coba, and stayed a night on the beach in Tulum, before returning our car and flying home from Cancun.

The people of the Yucatan were absolutely wonderful, so friendly and very proud of their Mayan heritage. Without exception we felt welcome everywhere we went. We took many back roads, through small villages, stopping to swim in cenotes (amazing experience!) and having meals in restaurants along the way. The Yucatecan (Mayan) food is among the best I have had anywhere.

We stayed at comfortable hotels, but nothing that would break the bank. Our favorite hotel was in Merida, where we spent four nights at Luz en Yucatan, wonderful city and great hotel.

We also stayed at Mayaland on the grounds of Chichen Itza - we were upgraded to a bungalow, and the garden / jungle setting was beautiful. It was great to wake up in the morning and take a short stroll to the ruins ... we were there long before the day trippers and tour buses arrived.

We never felt that any part of our trip was unsafe, and the roads in the Yucatan were surprisingly good ... all in all it was one of the best two-week trips we've had.

Venezuela. I won't bore you with our trip details, but I think after you do your own googling, you'll be impressed. Except for Isla Margarita. Its a shame there haven't been any posts here since '10. Probably only Peru beats Venezuela, IMO.

Thanks to both of you for such excellent advice. I will check out both places. Anyone else want to jump in, please do so.

Copaair.com

direct flights to Panama

Yandupisland.com

lasolasresort.com nice there in Coiba area

Personally would do a nice Galapagos cruise

Celebrity Xpedition or locally with guanguiltagua.com

and the Gringo Trail to the Inca trail maybye

trek in to Machu Picchu with incalandadventures.com

Flavio from $300 good personal experience.

Cheaper better than to come up to CA from where u are

distances are vast.

Happy Hunting,

weather2travel.com

Climate guides accurate weather info

Coastal Peru Ecuador very little rain in Dec

odds are you will see more rain in CA than SA on the pacfic

Jungle around gets more avoid there...

Go a lot in December off season in SA cheap uncrowded nice

I love Mexico. It fits what you seek. That said, it is one HUGE and diverse country, so still needs a lot of planning to figure out exactly where you want to go within Mexico and how you want to spend your time.

Yes, I am leaning towards Mexico. But will need to narrow it down, so back to the drawing boards. Any suggestions of not to be missed areas?

Check out my Yucatán, Riviera Maya, and Mérida/San Cristóbal collections at the link below; there are blog and travelogue links on the main page of each collection and all my recommendations are embedded there. Happy trails!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/staceyholeman/collections

Parts of Mexico not to be missed just depends what you're after. There're wonderful coastal towns and cities (both Caribbean and Pacific side). Inland ruins. Colonial cities in the mountains. Rural regions. Major urban areas (Mexico City, Guadalajara).