"Gringo Trail?" and is Bolivia expensive?!

Defininitely cheaper to wait until you get there for transportation and accomodation, for many reasons. Also, you have more flexibility. The exception may be places like TdP refugios, Macchu Picchu entry or certain Galapagos services that relly get booked out far in advance. Most places (like Uyuni tours) are always looking for more customers. In addition, there are often disconnects between out-of-town tour organizers and the local companies that actually provide any service you actually need or want when you are there (if it is something you cannot do on your lonesome). It is better to arrange on the ground, and you can be sure they are ready for you.

bus from La Paz to Lima

Is that really sensible given you only have 10 days and apparently have in mind seeing a fair bit of Bolivia rather than Peru. When I took a bus from La Paz to Puno with a decent lunch stop at Copacabana on the way it took all day. Have you checked the details of getting to Isla del Sol and how it fits with transport to/from La Paz and Puno? Then Puno to Cusco takes all day (or overnight if you can tolerate it). And I think Cusco to Lima is about 20 hours. And what's the point of going to Puno or Cusco unless you actually stop there and see what is to be seen? You've only got 10 days, and it sounds like about half of them will be in Peru. You don't get to see much of Bolivia in 5 days. In Bolivia it is usually difficult to improve upon taking a day to get to the next place, then then a day to do something when you get there. Then you have the Bolivia factor that tight timetabling is dangerous in Bolivia because stuff happens.

Where the heck is anyone getting the idea I'm going to Cuzco? I'm NOT! I've already been there. I'm only going from La Paz to Lima for my return flight. I'm spending 38days in Bolivia, and saving 10 days to get from La Paz to Lima. Will make a few overnight stops to break up the trip. Bolivia in 5 days?! Are you kidding? I've never said anything of the such. I've got 7 weeks total. I've been told I need to allow for a week minimum to get from La Paz to Lima for my return. I've allowed for 10 days. There are only about 4 stops I really want to make anyway. From what I've read, even with a 3-day bus strike, I should be fine with 10 days.

Once again, I'm NOT going to Cuzco. I've already been there a few years ago. Not really interested in going back. It was ok, but I've been there and done that already.

Lot of people doing "cheap" Bolivia trips are Trekking and really are backpacking--not just throwing their pack on a bus.

I was disappointed to arrive in Rurre and discover it was not like Iquitos where any guy with a canoe will take you out on day trips for $10. The tourist people in Rurre appear to have made sure any one with a canoe is under contract to them. I did the jungle tour for something like $80 a day..but in my group were two young women who were doing the tour for free as they promised to stay for two weeks to teach English & German to the staff. Another couple from Belgium were getting a free jungle tour for taking pictures to be used on the Lodges website. Ayahuasa trips are only $100 in Rurre!

As to the salt flats--Big Toyota Landcruisers are not cheap and eat up a lot of gas each day. Don't think you could do it cheap...Unless you like walking across miles of Nothing.

And lot of Europeans are in La Paz to do relatively cheap (compared to Europe) mountain climbing up nearby 6,000 meter hills.

And Bolivia is inexpensive--lot of hostels or hotels for $5 to $8 a night with TV and bano. Easy to find great lunch for $1.

I've been going through the 2015 Rough Guide now that it's arrived. All looks quite doable on a fairly modest budget. I guess what I've been reading in the LP forums are a lot of people paying big bank to book in advance and have more comfort, etc. Doesn't appear to be quite as expensive as it was looking.

Jungle tour for $80 a day seems a bit steep. I did a jungle tour out of Iquitos, alone with one guide, a boat to get a few hours down the Amazon, a hulled out canoe, a basic stilted-jungle-cabin for the first night. The guide carried food, water, a shotgun (for big cats), and a spear (for boas). I stayed with a medicine dude for about 5 days. It was 2 days in and 2 days back out. The currandero took me into the jungle to show me the plants he'd use in the Ayahuasca, and he made enough for me to have 2 trips. The guide showed me some pink dolphins on the trip back to Iquitos. The whole thing cost me about $125 total. This was a few years ago though. Hard to believe the pricing has spiked that much.

Did you mean that $100 US just for an ayahuasca trip is a good deal? If so, geez! I didn't realize the ayahuasca trip had become so fashionable with Williamsburg-hipster pricing. ;)

Where the heck is anyone getting the idea I'm going to Cuzco? I'm NOT! I've already been there. I'm only going from La Paz to Lima for my return flight. I'm spending 38days in Bolivia, and saving 10 days to get from La Paz to Lima.

Sorry, misread what you wrote, understand now. Via Cusco is the most straightforward way from La Paz to Lima by surface, but you are not in a hurry so that isn't necessary.

Where the heck is anyone getting the idea I'm going to Cuzco? I'm NOT! I've already been there. I'm only going from La Paz to Lima for my return flight. I'm spending 38days in Bolivia, and saving 10 days to get from La Paz to Lima.

Sorry, misread what you wrote, understand now. Via Cusco is the most straightforward way from La Paz to Lima by surface, but you are not in a hurry so that isn't necessary.

La Paz to Lima via Cuzco is the most direct?! Look at the map from this "HOP" company HERE they show 2 different routes from La Paz to Lima. One of them is via Cuzco, is more expensive, and appears to be MUCH further and MUCH less direct. What am I missing here?

To be clear, I'm not necessarily even going to use the HOP service. If it's half as much to use public busses, I'll likely do that instead.

I would like some credible reports about "Hop". It sounds like a new expensive service, there are no prices yet on the website. Hopefully it works better than the disasterous pass companies like Southpass, Bamba and Green Toad. Guess we'll have to see. In the meantime, I would probably just use the regular buses. I do not like the way they are dismissive of the "public buses", which are in fact private bus companies as well, and some of them in Peru and Bolivia are quite good. Funny how the OP is mentioning this new company so much.

Its been going for about a year to two now. I haven't used it in Peru. Nor have I read any reports on it.

Local buses are fine. Cheaper and definitely have more flexible departure times (that is much more frequent departures).

There was a poster who used to rave about this company (I always got into arguments over him about it) and I haven't seen him post recently.

I would like some credible reports about "Hop". It sounds like a new expensive service, there are no prices yet on the website. Hopefully it works better than the disasterous pass companies like Southpass, Bamba and Green Toad. Guess we'll have to see. In the meantime, I would probably just use the regular buses. I do not like the way they are dismissive of the "public buses", which are in fact private bus companies as well, and some of them in Peru and Bolivia are quite good. Funny how the OP is mentioning this new company so much.

There are actually prices their site posted a link to. You have to click on the route you want to show the prices. And I have absolutely nothing to do with them. I found them after doing a search for transport from La Paz to Lima. They came up in a Google search. There are reviews of them on TA. Most good, but a few bad too. However, it looks like the owner responds to the bad reviews. I just wanted to see approximately what would cost to go from La Paz to Lima overland. Nothing more. They have some maps showing the stops they make and some of them I hadn't thought of.

I don't even know if I'll use their service, but I did email them and got a reply back within a day.

That's all I know, other than the info on their site is well laid out. You can see their prices by clicking on the route of your choice. The route "pass" I was looking at from them has 8 possible "hops" in route to Lima for $169. There's another "pass" that adds in Cuzco (9 possible "hops") for $199 I think.

They have other routes too, but none I was interested. Look for yourself if interested. I've never used them before. Can't speak for the quality of their service. If I feel comfortable going it alone with "hopping" and it saves me money, I'll likely just do that. If they have some advantage of getting you over the Bolivia/Peru border easily and without getting hit up for a bogus fee or bribe, and they don't cost that much more, then I might consider using them. Once I get there, I'll ask around if anyone has used them. If it looks like an over-priced service that doesn't offer any real benefit over the "public" companies, then I won't use them.

Does anyone who's been there and passed from La Paz to Lima, know if there would be much benefit to their published fees? I wonder how much just a one-way flight between La Paz and Lima would cost?

FYI: Just did a quick Kayak search for my departure date to see how much a one-way from La Paz to Lima costs. Best price I could find is $325

Most likely, after get acclimated to using Bolivian transportation, I'll just save the money and do public busses. I've been to Peru before, but I didn't go to the South and I didn't go to Titicaca. If I bus it overland, it looks like there are some good options/stops to break up the trip. The Oasis place where you can sandboard looks cool. The deep canyon and condors sound cool, didn't do Nazca the first time, and a couple of the cites on the way seem worth a stop.