The Why of it.

Chris and Courtney are trying to make it to Lima, Peru by May 1st. A series of crazy events including a broken arm have thus far kept us from fulfilling our dream bike tour in South America. We waited it out here in Argentina and have seen many beautiful things, BUT inflation is high, work is hard to find, and wages are low so in order to make it north to Peru we're asking for help.

While we are in South America our goals are to learn Spanish, Culture, History and Agriculture. Currently we are studying Spanish in and out of the classroom. We are reading and conversing about the history of Argentina and it's neighboring countries. We have traveled to the far reaches of Argentina - gaining a broad perspective of the language and land. We have already passed many hours conversing with locals and learning about their stance on life and politics. When we set out on this adventure, we were hoping to make it more than just a vacation and we have succeeded thus far.

We want to travel to Northern Argentina, through Bolivia, Chile and Peru. From here we hope to learn about the many differences and similarities in Culture, History, and even Language these countries have to offer. Along the way we're hoping to volunteer on small farms.

In order to Achieve this goal we will need a few thousand dollars for visas, day-to-day expenses, shipping our bikes home, Spanish Lessons, and entrance fees to Cultural Events and National Parks, etc.

This is a tall order, but anything helps and the rest is up to luck and hard work. So this is technically a blog about our bike trip to Peru. And will be once we start our tour. But for now we will entertain you with stories about our time away from home thus far.

So you know just what you are contributing towards, we've constructed a tiered budget to show a continuum of comfort and completion of the trip.

Making a minimalist trip that takes us through Bolivia to Peru, and home:

• $200 - taking our bikes home on the plane
• $270 - reciprocal entrance fee to Bolivia for U.S. citizens
• $300 - bus and train rides through un-bikeable areas (the never-ending urbanity of Buenos Aires and deserts of Bolivia)
  
• $510 - food budget of $30/week for 17 weeks
• $300 - travel insurance

The minimalist trip costs us $1580. Doing the trip as we intend to, the budget goes up:

• $510 - fresh foods and the occasional bed and shower, to keep us moving while we're biking the Bolivian altiplano at 13,000 feet; again, this is over 17 weeks.
• $150 - Spanish Classes
  
• $400 - non-bicycle-activity fees such as entrance to parks for hiking the Peruvian Andes, tour of Uyuni Salt Flat, and seeing Macchu Picchu.
• $500 - preparation for the inevitable: inflation, broken equipment, unexpected costs.

Our total expected costs are $2540, and the cushion money puts our goal at just over $3000.

Please donate any amount to make our trip a reality. Short-term, interest-free loans are also welcome.

To learn more about us you can jump to the first post: Bike Tour Peru

Thank you so much for checking this out!