A tour with me

I keep thinking of doing a guided tour of Peru, or Central America.  Both have a very strong appeal for me, and both would pull me in many directions.

A tour of Peru would cover a lot of ground, and ideally would go from the north to the south (or vice versa).  I could see taking a group from Trujillo to Cusco, and then down to Nazca., or doing Cuzco last.  That would take about 17 days to do decently, and more time would allow for diving into deeper detail in the ruins that are throughout Peru.  My best guess at cost would run about C$4,000/person, including airfare from Vancouver, staying in a mix of hostels and a few hotels, meals, entrance fees and guides, but not including booze.  please note that that is a budget whirlwind of a trip, spending a lot on airfare within Peru to skip the time taking a bus.

The short version for Central America would start in Cancun Mexico, them Tulum, then on to Caye Caulker in Belize, then San Ignacio.  Cross the border into Guatemala and see Tikal, stay in Flores for a day, Antigua, Lake Atitlan, and then off for Nicaragua for a week, with the flight home from Managua.  The problem with that is the current political unrest in Nicaragua.  i would be reluctant to take a trip there, not in terms of personal safety, but in terms of reliability of travel.  Skipping Nicaragua and Costa Rico to go to Panama might make sense, but would up the cost by quite a bit.  A 3 week trip would cost around C$3,500.  Increase the cost to 4,000 if we fly to Panama and do the canal.