8 weeks Andean Countries -- Costs?

[TJ123]

Hello Mark and everybody else,

could you help me to estimate how much the following trip may roughly cost? (a guesstimate totally suffices):
- 8 weeks Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia (end June-end August)
- the first 2 weeks a Spanish school in Ecuador with one-on-one classes and a host family
- i'd assume the usual "suspects" along the way in regard to sight-seeing (you mentioned in another thread that Machu Picchu will "hurt" one's budget; by how much is that?)
- private room in hostels but i am really flexible in re to the quality

I have spent 3 summers in Central America and speak i'd say some okay-level of Spanish. Unfortunately i don't have much clue about prices in the Andean countries.

Many thanks!
Torsten :-)

P.S: Having seen your pictures, I'd love to hike Cotopaxi, too. Any ideas how that could be possible, given that i'll be traveling by myself? Guides were really expensive already in Guatemala, so we did tours by ourselves. That however did not include walking across glaciers and only went up to around 4,200 meters.

[Mark]

Hi Torsten,

As a general rule of thumb a daily budget between 12$ and 15$ should cover basic costs (food, accommodation, transport). This excludes the many wonderful attractions such as visiting Machu Picchu.

Quito has many great Spanish schools. You can check out this Quito Spanish Language School package to get an idea. I myself followed a one-on one course in Quito for 2.50$/hour (no family home stay) but that's a long time ago.

Hiking the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu costs a few hundred dollars. Check out a 4-Day Inca Trail package. Only 500 permits are issued daily so it's best to book this in advance.

Climbing Cotopaxi was an awesome experience. Breathtaking. I got lucky when I shared a room in Quito with Jorge, an experienced mountain climber from Switzerland. He guided me to the top of Cotopaxi. Here is a 7-Day Cotopaxi Volcano Climb package.

Do google and check out local travel agents before setting with a package. Maybe someone else can share some travel agents with excellent packages.

Enjoy your trip! Keep us posted!

Best wishes,

Mark

[solace2]

Nice question, learned a lot from it, ive been wondering about the cost of a three day trip, transportation and accommodations