Hi I am planning a 6 mnth trip to S America Jan 11 hoping to do Brazil, Peru, Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, Columbia, Venezuala & the Galapagus Islands. How much money would I roughly need, baring in mind I will be doing the Brazilian Carnival, Galapagus Islands and all the tourist sites such as Machu Pichu and the water falls etc??? I am happy to eat cheap food take local transport and stay in cheap hostels?? Any help would be much appreciated.
Thanks travelers 
Galapagos is an expensive side trip from the Ecuador mainland - depending on whether you take a boat trip around the islands or stay on one island and just take day trips, you'll be up for an additional $1500 - $2500 for the Galapagous portion of your trip. Having said that - I went last year and it is absolutely incredible!
If you exclude airfares to and from South America, I spent about AUD$6500 in 3 months travelling through most of the places you are intending to. I did take a few internal flights though (to save time), but stayed mostly in hostels.
Hi KoalaGirl,
I'm planning a similar trip to that suggested by claretrick and am also wondering what the budget would be.
If Galapagos was taken out of the trip, would you suggest AUD$5000 for 3 months would be stretching it, comfortable, or extravagant?
It's quite hard to say really, and I'm certainly no finance expert, but for me $5000 would be comfortable. It would mean staying in hostels and taking mostly buses with the odd flight or two for long hauls (read more than 40 hrs on a bus), but I found with this amount I was able to eat out most days (assuming you look for local or street food) and it allowed me to do the major tourist attractions and a few adventure activities (like paprgliding in Rio).
Galapagos and Brazil are expensive destinations, you keep that in mind.
Excluding those two, you can get by comfortably on US$30 pppd, excluding long-haul transport and excursions. US$20 pppd would be rock-bottom. For Brazil, it depends a little on where you go but I think you should count on US$40 pppd. Galapagos is a LOT more expensive.
For long-haul bus traffic, count on some US$10 per hour travelled and you'll be left with some money at the end of your trip.
So all in all, I think US$5000 is one awfully tight budget for 6 months...