Adventures in South America: The Plan

This trip began as a suggestion by my dad.  My youngest brother is in high school and his spring break was approaching.

"I want him to go on a trip," my dad told me, "but I don't want to go.  I'll pay half if you plan a trip and take him."

So it was, less than a week later, that I had put a proposal together that involved a week in Bogota, Colombia and Quito, Ecuador.

My brother and dad both liked it, so we were set.  Then I mentioned that rather than coming back from Bogota, we could go on to Lima, Peru and fly home from there.  My dad's response was unequivocal: "do it."

So I bought our return flights from Air Canada.

Then my brother gave me a new challenge: "I'd like to go to the jungle."

None of Bogota, Quito, and Lima are in the jungle, so that would mean another jaunt. 

Since our trip was short, our options were limited, and none truly involved a complete jungle experience.  Nonetheless there were ways we could get close to the jungle in Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru, most of which required additional flights and had various pros and cons. 

Eventually though I came up with my favorite, albeit most expensive option: fly from Bogota to Leticia, Colombia, where we would stay for 24 hours before going on to Quito.  We would be on the banks of the Amazon River, along the border with Brazil and Peru.  In fact, we could walk into Brazil and take a boat across the Amazon, something that got me pretty excited.

We would not be able to get into the jungle per se but we would be in a jungle town, and given our time constraints it seemed to be the best we could do. 

By now I was projecting the trip to cost us each $2,000, up from about $1,400 originally, but my dad didn't blink: "book it."