"Gringo Trail?" and is Bolivia expensive?!

La Paz to Lima would be costly. You could get the bus from La Paz to Cusco and grab a cheap Star Peru flight to Lima for 70-100 bucks.

Buses--from past trips to both Bolivia and Peru, I have found it worthwhile to go to the bus station and see what is available yourself. Tourist agencies and Hostels get a commission for directing you to the more expensive over night bus rides.

However you also must be aware that some mountain roads take a lot of time in bad weather. I flew from Rurre to La Paz while friends took bus--they got stuck in mud a few times and their ride turned into a 30 hour trip.

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.

Price for full blown ceremony involving fasting, etc, runs about $1500 to $1800 in Peru.

ayahusca is in as it clears up wrinkles on womens faces better than Botox. ELLE magazine had an article about it being used by models several years ago. CCN recently had an hour long show on Iraqi Vets using it near Iquitos for PTSD treatment.

In Rurre, I was quoted $100 for following; ride across river on canoe; get on back of motorcycle and ride out into jungle for 2 hours; get off moto and walk for an hour into jungle . Meet shaman and take Ayahusca about 1900; Projectile vomit and projectile diaherria from 1900 to about 2300. Get visions all night. Problem--you must do it alone! Did not trust them.

@xinloi there's the rub... "trust". I didn't mention that with my 8 day $125 Ayahuasca trip... the guide disappeared for 4 days with my food and water. The shaman dude fed me, and I at least had brought a collapsible water bottle with iodine tabs. I was told later that shouldn't have been enough for that water. They said you have to boil it for 2hrs first THEN put in the tabs. I just put the tabs in, shook it up, and drank it after waiting about half an hour. Didn't get sick.

Another hiccup I didn't mention... is that when the guide did come back, evidently he'd run off to some neighboring village to get drunk with a girlfriend and spent the cash he was carrying to pay the shaman. Turned to me to cough up $43, but I told him his boss instructed me to bring no cash, or passport, or anything of value.

I tripped twice just to make sure I'd got the full effect. I took a one night break before the second trip. I got much less sick the second time, but it was still unpleasant because at this point I was really starting to worry the guide wasn't coming back. I didn't have any money or anything to trade to get myself back to Iquitos. I'm sure I could've convinced someone with a canoe to get me there with a promise of getting paid once I made it to Iquitos. But still, there was a little fear involved.

All in all, I didn't really think all the projectile vomiting and diarrhea was worth it. I've done a fair amount of tripping in other countries with various local plants, and peyote is still my favorite. More controlled and less chaos.

To be honest, it may just be that I'm getting "old", but I'm starting to simply appreciate balanced brain chemistry much more than rolling the dice and tossing my psyche into bio-chaos for a few hours. I don't regret the times I've done it, but at some point it feels like you're just on the same old roller coaster trying to get the same adrenaline rush you got the first time you road it. Not gonna happen.

I know that when I did it, it wasn't "all the rage" yet. Most I met hadn't even heard of it. The only reason I'd heard of it was because I'd been reading about William Burroughs and his Yage fascination letters. I think I also remember Terrance McKenna's talks influencing me a little too.

When I was in Bogota, Colombia a couple years ago... they were running Ayahuasca tours out of there. I don't remember how much, but I think they were in the $200 range. That included transport an hour or so outside of Bogota, food, preparation gathering, fasting, etc. You stayed in a tent, did the "ceremony" with about a dozen other travelers, then rest a day before getting a ride back to Bogota. I think it was basically a long weekend.

I didn't want to do it then because it seemed too "touristy". A friend in Brooklyn just did a pre-paid Brazilian ayahuasca retreat that cost him about $3500. It was for a week. That might've included RT from NY too.

Now that I think about it, I think I'd rather do a touristy version and pay a bit more. As you and I'm sure other's here likely know, if you're going to scramble your brain chemistry into some weird psychedelic chaos soup, you should feel 100% comfortable with your surroundings and feel safe. You don't want any fear in the mind that can manifest into a bad trip.

When you're a gringo, alone, hoping on the back of a motorbike, canoeing over the river, etc. then sitting there going into a controlled insanity in the jungle, after just got over projectile vomiting and explosive diarrhea, it's easy to let fear creep into your mind. "What am I doing here? This is insane! These guys could easily just hit me over the head and no one would ever know... etc." Not the kind of internal dialogue you want to be having right before your neurons get soaked in a serotonin/dopamine rush. ;)

You have to read "One River" by Wade Davis. Great book on plants along the Andes. he has another article somewhere about how you do NOT lick frogs, but wipe their froggy sweat on tobacco and then smoke it.

Anthony Bourdaine TV show in Peru--he does ayahuasca but will NOT talk about what happened!

You have to read "One River" by Wade Davis. Great book on plants along the Andes. he has another article somewhere about how you do NOT lick frogs, but wipe their froggy sweat on tobacco and then smoke it.

Anthony Bourdaine TV show in Peru--he does ayahuasca but will NOT talk about what happened!

Just added it to my Amazon wish list :)

Another rather amusing detail I left out was that when I finally got back to Iquitos and tracked down the old guide I'd arranged it with, I let him know about the guide taking off with my food/water, and the attempt at a shake-down in the jungle, etc.

He seemed genuinely apologetic about the whole thing and asked me if I wanted to go again free of charge. I don't him "No, I'm not interested in going through all that roundtrip jungle treking again." He replied, "You don't have to go to the jungle. I can arrange a ceremony in town at my friend's place. He has a beautiful garden." With a baffled look on my face, "You mean I didn't have to go to the jungle and stay with a shaman, etc.?" He said, "No. They do the ceremonies right in town. I just thought you were after the jungle experience since that was what you were asking about."

I didn't even know that was a possibility. I still likely would've gone for the jungle trek because it sounded way cooler and more "authentic", but it would have been nice to have been offered the option. ;)

All these hop on hop off bus pass are an unnecessary expense aimed at those incapable of booking their own tickets. Last year I travelled LA Paz to Lima on a great cama bus for just over $50

Many backpackers travel Bolivia for 20-30$ per day.

All these hop on hop off bus pass are an unnecessary expense aimed at those incapable of booking their own tickets. Last year I travelled LA Paz to Lima on a great cama bus for just over $50

Many backpackers travel Bolivia for 20-30$ per day.

Is the border crossing from Bolivia to Peru a huge pain? Or a cake walk?

One aspect of the "hop" busses that was somewhat appealing, is that they say they stop every now and then for photo ops. I'm guessing that's something you don't get on the other busses. I'm not sure I'd want to pay triple the cost just for that, but I am a photographer... so that would be a little advantage I think.

Going to the Uyuni and Colorado 3 days tour, you need a tour. We booked it for 600Bs per person but it wasn't peak season and we tried to book it as late as possible to get a better price.

If you are up to go to Salar de Uyuni by yourself, you may check this up: http://wp.me/p5kgaf-2J

We spent a night in the middle of the Salt flat for 60Bs pp and it's awesome.

I didn't follow the whole thread but you are planning to go to Amazon? If you want to go for a non-touristic route, you can take a cargo boat from Puerto Villaroel, northeast of Cochabamba, to trinidad. But it takes 4-10days to finish the whole trip as the boat is irregular and you need to bargain with the captain. And it's not necessary cheaper than bus. I didn't do it myself coz I didn't have enough time. I only talked to the locals and they told us that. I did some search on internet and also found travelers who did it. Seems very interesting and challenging. I would have done it if I had more time.

I'm probably going to go for a longer tour from Tupiza if the cost is reasonable. Trying to decide if I should just head straight to the salt flats first (mid Sept) or go the other way around and save it for the end portion of the trip mid/late October.

I'm not sure about the Amazon. I went to the Amazon in Peru via Iquitos... so I'm thinking I may spend the time going to Pantanal and Chaco instead. Another user made a good argument that it's more likely I'll see wildlife in the Pantanal and there are less tourists there. Can't decide though. Others say the same thing about the Pantanal being a preferred option.