First Time In South America Itinerary
 

Hello all,
My fiancé and I would appreciate your expertise. We are traveling to South America for the first time. Here is an itinerary I have worked on for quite some time.
Day 1 Arrive Santiago in early am
Day 2-3 Santiago
Day 4 Fly to Easter Island
Day 5-6 Easter Island
Day 7 Fly to Santiago pm
Day 8 Fly to Buenos Aires am
Day 9-11 Buenos Aires
Day 12 Fly to Iguazu Falls
Day 13 Iguazu Fallls Argentina
Day 14 Cross over to Brazil side
Day 15 Fly to Buenos Aires am; Fly to Lima pm
Day 16 Fly to Guayaquil
Day 17-25 Galapagos-already put down deposit
Day 26 Fly to Cusco
Day 27-32 Sacred Valley, Machu Picchu, and Cusco
Day 33 Fly to Lima
Day 34 Fly Home
Let us know your opinion.

Why are you flying from BA to Lima for a day and then the next day to Guayaquil? Is that the only way to get there? Seems like a waste of a day.
Do you mind paying the Visa fee to see the Brazilian side of IF?

You will spend more time getting to and from airports and flying than you will seeing anything . You really need to cut down on locations and add more days to each visit.
Did you ever see the movie "If This Is Tuesday, It Must Be Belgium" ?

Thank you both for replying.

yes travel--We need to be in Guayquil to go on out Galapagos trip. I am pretty sure this is the only way to get to Guayquil, but you raised a good point. I will check. Thank you for raising the Brasil Visa fee. I checked the Brasil Embasdy website which I believe I read correctly. This summer they are waiving the Visa fee due to the Olympics.

I totally agree with Scarlett, your itinerary doesn't make the best use of your 34 days in South America. Clearly you are trying to fit in as many iconic sights as possible but I feel you may have seriously underestimated the logistics of air travel in South America.

You are crisscrossing the continent which is both expensive and time consuming. Check out the route on Kayak. If you add up the actual flying time and allow say 6-7 hours per sector for airport waiting time plus transport to an from the airport, I would be very surprised if you didn't waste a week of your time just on that. Many of the flights you have planned are not direct and air travel in SA rarely goes to plan.

I would seriously consider reworking your itinerary so as to stay on the western side of the continent and maybe dropping Argentina completely. Maybe fly into Guayacil for the Galapagos ( if you can switch your deposit to a new date) first, then on down to Santiago for EI I would not spend any time in Santiago other than to transfer for you EI flight.

Also, do consider the altitude in Cusco and the Sacred Valley. You will be arriving from sea level and will need time to adjust before undertaking and strenuous activity. It take most people at least a couple of days to get used to the thin air.

Finally, it may be worth looking into the Lan Airpass for at least some of those flights. I think it has to be booked in conjunction with an international flight.