[Leica] Bolivia, Peru and the Amazon - advice requested

[henningw at archiphoto.com (Henning Wulff)]

At 6:41 PM -0600 1/20/08, Clive Moss wrote:
>We have just booked a tour to South America with our favorite tour
>company. SHMBO wanted to get away from the Chicago winter. I wanted to
>see the Amazon. This is the result.
>I would appreciate the collective wisdom of the group on the subject
>of our tour covering parts of Bolivia, Peru,  and the Upper Amazon (La
>Paz, Lima, Lake Titicaca, and ride on the river}. I know that that a
>group tour is not the optimal photo environment, but we have paid for
>the trip, so my question relates to what to take, what to do, and any
>other information that you care to offer.
>I am planning to take a D300 with 18-200 zoom, and a D200 with 12-24
>zoom, plus a 35mm f/2 in case it gets really dark.  The M8 feels not
>quite the right thing for this trip, so it stays at home.
>Details of the tour are at http://tinyurl.com/2ly4vo
>Advice solicited.
>--
>Clive

About 7 years ago we went on a trip to Peru and Ecuador, including 
Cuzco and Machu Picchu, Iquitos with some days on the Amazon and in a 
lodge there, and then the Galapagos and Quito.

I took some M gear and some Canon gear (12mm to 400mm, all film at 
that time) and used the M gear 80% of the time. In the end it really 
doesn't matter what gear you take though. Being familiar with it, 
taking enough storage space and keeping it clean and dry are the most 
important things. In the jungle you don't necessarily need to keep 
them in underwater housings, but water shedding covers are definitely 
necessary as rain showers can come quickly when on walking trips, and 
things can be drippy for quite a while. You can also find your own 
sweat dripping on things. It's often quite dark under the canopy, so 
you will find yourself using the 35/2 quite often.

Try to visit the Gold Museum in Lima; a huge amount of Inca 
artifacts. There are a lot of scandals and family in-fighting stories 
surrounding these artifacts, but they are still very interesting to 
visitors.

-- 
    *            Henning J. Wulff
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