We love to hear from our customers once they get back from their holidays. This week has been a goodie with some local clients dropping by yesterday to leave two beautiful framed photos of a jaguar they saw in the Peruvian Amazon. Just incredible images of an animal so rarely seen that apparently the guides were every bit as excited as our clients!
Then this rather splendid bit of feedback came in via Responsible Travel. What I particularly like about this is just that the client ‘got’ the places she saw and sums up rather nicely what it is that makes both parts of this Inca Trail & Galapagos holiday so special.
“A review of one of your holidays has been submitted by Jennifer regarding Peru and Galapagos adventure holiday.
1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your holiday?
The utter fearlessness of all the animals – birds, mammals and amphibians in the Galapagos – nothing had prepared us for this. There is nothing like standing eyeball to eyeball with a fluffy white Booby chick and it doesn’t try to run -or fly away. All other wildlife viewing will be ruined forever after that!
2. What tips would you give other travellers booking this holiday?
We also went to Machu Picchu and walked the Salkantay trail prior – we recommend that you ensure a full day at Machu Picchu and/or the local town of Aqua Calientes at the end of the trek in order to have an opportunity to visit the local museum and see the spectacled bears and vist the Sacred Valley and maybe even take in a bit of a shopping -we never had time to do any of thse things with only half a day to visit Machu Piccu and then the train journey back to Cusco.
3. Did you feel that your holiday benefited local people, and minimized impacts on the environment?
Absolutley -some barely spoke english, and those we communicated with were clearly from the local area. One of our most memorable and sublime meals was on a hillside looking across the steep valley to Machu Picchu. We ate at the table of a local farmer who had no electricity and no running water. We were served an entree of avocado with some vegetables, a main of trout caught in the river in the valley below with potatoes. And for desert a perfectly ripe banana grown near by. We hear a lot about ‘food miles’ and using local produce in trendy restaurant guides -but these local people live the dream and have been doing so since time immemorial -it is time we all looked at our priorities.
4. Finally, how would you rate your holiday overall?
Fantastic -it was everything we expected. Sometimes reality does not meet expectations but not so this time and we are both fairly well travelled. Everything went like clock work -we were met by guides at the airport and it was refreshing to stay in stylish, locally run and owned small hotels and not the big hotel chains. However -the clincher for us and what separates the men from the boys in any business is what happens when something goes wrong. Due to a volcanic eruption in Chile a lot of flights to Buenos Aires were cancelled and it appeared I would not make my connection back to Australia. It was difficult to try and rebook flights over the phone with recorded messages in Spanish! However Pura Aventura stepped in and organised new flights and the connection was made after all.
Finally, how would you rate your holiday overall?
***** I am reborn! Simply the best holiday I have ever been on.”
We try our very best to make sure that every holiday we deliver is up to these standards. If you would like to know more about our active holidays to Spain and Latin America, please call us on 01273 676 712 or visit the Pura Aventura website proper.
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.