Peru tours
Peru Information
Peru 4U
|
|
References from Peru4U's customers.
We are happy to share the following references received from
our customers.. Most recent comes first. The reactions have
not been censored in any way.
| From: Mr. Tom and Mrs. Terrie McC. (USA)
Date: Tue 3/15/2005 10:30 PM |
Jos:
The trip was fabulous. The ability to make mid course adjustments was most appreciated. This allowed us to trek in the Colca, which is not to be missed for anyone in reasonable shape. Jael and Alex in the Arequipa region were terrific and responsive to our every need which included a tour of the grand organ at the cathederal and many other interesting side ventures. When lunching on the tasty river shrimp in Aplao beware of the rising river if it is raining in the highlands!
Puerto Maldonado and the jungle portion of the trip exceeded our expectations due to our excellent guide and the four other people we were grouped with for our rain forest expeditions.
Cuzco is a bit too touristy for our taste although it appears prosperous.
We really love Peru and plan to return again next year.
Your staff and detail follow through was exceptional. We will send along some more detailed comments at a later date.
Saludos
Tom & Terrie
|
| From: Shirley and Mark (Dutch / USA)
Date: Tue 1/4/2005 1:15 AM |
Beste Jos,
Op wat administratieve probleempjes na, waar we als ervaren reizigers niet echt wakker van hebben gelegen, was de trip geweldig!!!!
Sonja heeft in Cusco als een moeder voor ons gezorgd: ze heeft kosten noch moeite gespaard om ons steeds een uitgebreid ontbijt te serveren dat voldeed aan alle dieet eisen die we hadden aangegeven, ze heeft ons steeds keurig op tijd gewekt (wekker waren we vergeten) en onze belangrijke documenten voor ons bewaakt zodat we deze niet konden kwijt raken tijdens de Inca Trail, zelfs heeft ze verse bloemen op onze kamer gezet - ze was geweldig. De Inka Trail was ook tot in de puntjes verzorgd. Mark en ik zijn zeer onder de indruk van de porters die alle tenten, kookgerei en eten over de steile bergen hebben gesleept. Onze begeleider tijdens de Inka Trail was erg gezellig en sprak goed engels - dit maakte natuurlijk de sfeer. Ook hebben we wellicht geluk gehad dat we in een leuke groep waren ingedeeld, en het aantal van 8 mensen was precies goed.
Voor de binnenlandse vlucht naar Puerto Moldonado heeft Sonja ons persoonlijk naar het vliegveld gebracht en ons bijna tot aan de "gate" gebracht.
Puerto Moldonado en het verblijf in Eco Amazonia lodge is ook erg goed bevallen. De accomodatie was perfect voor ons en ook hier hebben we weer heerlijk gegeten en men hield netjes rekening met de dieet eisen. We hebben genoten van de jungle en boottochten - was allemaal goed verzorgd. De begeleilders spraken wederom allemaal goed Engels en hadden een indrukwekkende kennis van de jungle en haar flora en fauna.
De binnenlandse vluchten zijn ook allemaal goed verlopen.
Vandaag is weer onze eerste werkdag... helaas. We verheugen ons nu al op de volgende vakantie.
De beste wensen voor 2005, bedankt!
Shirley & Mark
|
| From: Mr. William E. and Mrs Ruth C. (USA)
Date: Mon 11/08/2004 1:37 PM |
Jos,
Superb! Outstanding! The best, most interesting trip we've ever had!
Jael and Sonia are terrific. They couldn't have been nicer or more helpful. Truly sweet people.
Am now back in the office with the otherworldly pressures so can't provide enough detail about the trip right now..... but will tonight
when I have time to provide some expanded thoughts.
Thanks for everything. You did a great job!
My best,
Bill
|
| From: Mike B.and Nicole D.(USA)
Date: Tue 9/14/2004 9:03 PM |
Hi Jos,
The trip was awesome. Everything went according to
plan, and we had a great time. There was always
someone waiting for us at the bus stations and
airports, and our guides were friendly and
knowledgeable. Thank you for helping us plan our trip
and for setting everything up. I will recommend you
to my friends.
|
| From: Dee J. and Sue S.,(UK)
Date: Friday, September 03, 2004 02:44 AM |
Jos
I just wanted to mail you to say thank you so much for
arranging our trip in Peru. I am now at Lima airport on your way
back home and have a few moments to spare to say thank you. We really enjoyed Nazca and the coach and flights run
smoothly. Your reps at Nazca were extremely helpful and very kind. Thank you so much for help us arrange our holiday
We will spread the word about Peru4U. If we go to south america
next year perhaps you could help us with a different destination. In the
meantime if you want to stay in touch about new destinations that you cover
please use the original email addresses. Once again thanks a million
Sue and Dee (on your way home from Peru) |
| From: Ursula M. D. group of 6
pax. (Europe) Date: Thu 9/2/2004 4:56 PM |
Dear Jos,
I´m writing to let you know that I woke up today
feeling much better. The antibiotics must have really
taken effect. David is better as well-he was feeling ill
too but not as bad as I was in terms of not making it
to the jungle. We both stayed in today to fully recover
and we will both be going to Puerto Maldonado tomorrow.
Also, I wanted to say that Sonia has been a magnificent
host in taking care of us. I really have not experienced
such great service in Cusco before. Thank you for all
your help and flexibility. It is really rare to find people
with such eagerness to help here in Peru sometimes.
Thank again for everything,
Ursula.
|
| From Chris P. and :Araceli C.
(USA) Date: Thu 8/26/2004 11:40 PM. |
Dear Jos,
thanks for the email, yes we're back from Peru and we had a great time, very enjoyable indeed. Arequipa was beautiful, and we're glad we took your advice on time and not going to Puno, we were pretty tired after the Colca Valley!!!
We really did have a great time and we both credit you
for making that happen, I'm very happy to have worked
with you and will happily recommend Peru4U to my friends.
Thanks again for your help, especially at such short notice,
Thanks and regards,
Chris. |
| From Chris and Ron.(USA) Date:
Thu 8/26/2004 6:05 PM |
hello jos.
everything on our trip was great. sonia and rubin were so amazing. i felt like i was staying in a home. they were so warm and welcoming. i had missplaced my camera lenses before we went on the trek but never realized it until i got back. they had them put in a safe place for me. that was just so nice. that would never happen in ny....
the hike was amazing and so beautiful. our guides names were jose and marco. they were excellant. the sites were beautiful and i would recommend that you always use them if you dont already.
the amazon was nice but it was too long. we left one day earlier because the heat was too much and we had seen all of the animals we were going to see. if i did it again i would only do 2 days. but, the people there were so nice and the accomadations were wonderful. they were also very helpful in getting us an earlier flight out. so we spent one night in lima which was nice. i didnt think that we were really going to be able to see much of the city so getting there earlier was a nice treat. we had a friend there that we met up with and he showed us all around.
i do wish that i had more time in peru. unfortunately for us americans 2 weeks is all we really get. i would love to go back. i cant tell you how amazing it was and how nice the people were. you did a great job and thank you thank you thank you for helping us out on such short notice. we appreciate it all very much.
chris and ron
|
| From: Jon B. and friends (UK)
4 pax. Date: Thu 8/12/2004 10:26 PM |
Hello Jos,
We have just come back from Peru where we had a brilliant
time. The weather was great, Peruvian people are very
friendly and everything you organised went very well,
especially the Inca Trail which was excellent and it was
nice having a small group of only ten tourists.
I would also like to make a special mention about Jael
in Arequipa and Sonia in Cusco who were both very friendly,
knowledgeable and helpful and could not do enough for
the party.
Whilst on the Colca Canyon tour we also met a Dutch family
who said they knew you and were in Peru at their sons
wedding.
Thus, I would like to thankyou for all your help, especially
with the domestic flights (the earlier flight to Arequipa
was better anyway) and I will definitely recommend your
company to others wishing to go to Peru.
Thanks again.
Jon and party. |
| Andrew and Pamela (The Netherlands)
Date: Wed 8/11/2004 1:45 PM |
Dear Jos,
Sorry it has taken us so long to get in touch after our
trip.
We just wanted to say Thank You to Peru 4 U for organising
our itinary so effectively. It was such a delight to know
that everything was being taken care of and to have people
to meet and transport us to various locations. We were
particularly impressed by the team in Arequipa - they
were very friendly and most helpful. The country itself
is fantastic and a real experience of nature, culture,
history and cuisine; and having all the practicalities
looked after, enabled us to enjoy and focus on these aspects
all the more.
Thanks again for your help and support in both the planning
stages and during the vacation itself. We would definitely
recommend you to others in the future (and use you ourselves
again, of course).
Just as an aside - the letter to the spiders obviously
worked as they stayed well away from Pamela!
Best wishes
Andrew and Pamela |
| From: Henk en Hermien H. (The
Netherlands) Date: Sun 8/8/2004 8:18 PM |
Hallo Jos,
we willen alleen even laten weten, dat we terug zijn
van een magnifieke Perutrip.
Uiteraard zijn we onder de indruk van het land, maar
we zijn ook zeer tevreden over jou als operator.
Als je een meer gedetailleerd verslag wilt - en een
goed glas wijn - ben je van harte welkom!
gegroet,
Henk en Hermien
|
| From: Francine A. and Daniel
L. (USA) Date: Thu 8/5/2004 3:04 AM |
Hi Jos,
Sorry it took so long to reply. I've been quite busy since
I've been back as I prepare to move to Europe. But here
is as promised a summary of our trip, what we like, what
we didn't, what were the surprises, what we would do different...
We arrived in Lima on the evening of Saturday the 19th.
The airport parking lot was extremely crowded and I must
say a little bit overwhelming, but the driver was there
with our name on sign and he took care of us. We didn't
have to wait around or anything, he took us straight to
the car. We later learned that there was another couple
arriving on the same flight as us but they were given
a ride separately. This was done so that if one couple
came out of customers faster the other one didn't have
to wait around. I thought that was very considerate.
Mami Panchita was a very clean and comfortable hotel.
Water pressure was very good! We enjoyed meeting Toon
- he is very friendly. On Sunday we did a guided tour
of Lima; we were happy to get a good idea of the city
but we were also happy not to spend any more time there
because we weren't excited by what there was to do there,
and the weather was very gray.
The next day, we left for Cuzco. When we arrived there,
Sonia was waiting for us. Having people wait for us with
our name on a sign at every airport made the trip a lot
easier: it took out a lot of guess work and figuring out
what to do.
La casa de mi abuelo is a comfortable hotel, not luxurious,
but nothing to complain about. There is not much hot water
coming out of the shower, but other than that, everything
was great.
The first day we arrived, we were scheduled to do the
city tour. And for some reason, I think Sonia forgot to
book it and only got the bolleto turistico. So we were
disapointed not to have the city tour. However since I
wasn't feeling too good because of the altitude, it was
not a bad thing to take it easy.
The second day, we went on the Sacred Valley tour. The
morning of the tour consisted of a visit to the Pisac
market. I must say I would've prefered visiting the Pisac
ruins. The market is not much different from the markets
in Cuzco and the ruins would've been more interesting
to us. The afternoon of that day was great - we really
loved visiting Ollataytambo and Chinchero.
The following day was suppose to be a free day in Cuzco,
but since we had not had the city tour, Sonia suggested
that we do the tour of the sites near Cuzco by horse.
We thought it was a good idea so she arranged it for us.
Our horses were changed a number of times along the road,
and we didn't understand why until we talked to the owner:
Sonia had insisted that we get good horses. What the owner
explained to us is that at this altitude, most horses
are pretty weak, so he lent us his personal horses. We
liked going by horse it was quite nice, but I wouldn't
recommend to real hard-core horse enthusiast because the
horses are pretty anemic. The other complaint we had about
this tour is that we were suppose to get a guide to describe
the different sites that we were visiting and we didn't
get one. We found out later that all the guides were down
at the plaza de arma for the Inti Raymi parades.
The fourth day in Cuzco was Inti Raymi. Sonia really saved
the day on that one. The tickets that 6 of us had (us
+ other people staying at the hotel) didn't include transportation
or guide. Sonia arranged for Jose to drive us and give
us some explanations along the way. Without that, we would've
been clueless as to where to go - first at the temple
of the Sun, then at the Plaza de armas and finaly at Sacsayhuaman.
We really enjoyed it but once is enough. It was a pretty
tiring day: going up to Sacsayhuaman took at least an
hour and coming down was double that.
The next day, we set off for the Inca Trail. I had read
in a number of places that they come pick you up at your
hotel really early. Well, they came around 9:00. I was
nervous about that, but then found out that the first
day of the trek is actually really easy, only 3-4 hours.
We were a little bit nervous about the second day of the
trek because we were going through the high pass. Our
guide recommended that we get porters just for that day.
I'm not sure if this follows the rules set for the trail,
but we thought it was a good idea to play it safe rather
than suffer too much, so that's what we did. The hike
up wasn't as bad as we had feared. Going down was worse
than I expected - our knees suffered quite a bit there.
The third day started in the rain, and less than an hour
into it, we had snow!!! Big huge snow flakes. Everybody
was miserable because we were all wet, but it made for
an adventure. Going up and down the second pass in the
snow was slow because everyone was very careful. The warm
lunch that the cook and the porters prepared for us was
quite welcome. Actualy we were really impressed at the
amount of food that we were served all along the way.
We had brought some snacks with us, but really didn't
need them - we were constantly fed something by our cook.
The fourth day, we got up really early to try to beat
the other groups to the gate and we arrived there as the
third group which we were quite happy with. We were a
pretty small group - only six of us. That was really nice
because we didn't have to wait around too much. We then
arrived in Macchu Pichu. That was just as impressive as
I had imagined. Wow! We took the train back to Cusco.
The train was a bit long. Before the hill that goes up
to Cuzco, people come on the train to offer a bus ride
up to the city. I wanted to do that, but I knew that we
would have people from the agency waiting for us at the
train station so we decided not to.
When we arrived at the train station, someone from the
agency was there, as well as Sonia. It was nice to have
such a welcome committee. We also found out that somehow
we had gone on the Inca Trail with a different tour agency
than Sonia had booked us on. Not sure exactly what happened
but it seems that one agency passed us on to another.
That didn't really affect us. We later heard one similar
story from one woman and it did affect her trip: she had
booked the inca trail, and was told the night before that
she was going on a different trail, which was not the
inca trail and this trail was going throught he glaciers.
I must say, for me the Inca Trail was a critical part
of the trip and if I had been put on a different trail
I would've been really disapointed.
Right before we went on the Inca Trail, we found out about
the issues with Tans Peru, and we were very happy to find
out that you and Toon had worked to change the tickets
while we were gone - thank you for that.
Also, during our stay with Sonia she was incredibly helpful.
Dan (my boyfriend) had
to receive and send back a fax. She helped us use their
fax, and when that didn't work to send the fax back, she
took us to a store where we could send it. Also, we were
looking for some baby clothes, and she took us to special
stores that she knew off where we could get better prices
than on the market. She really went beyond the call of
duty on a number of things. The last morning in Cuzco,
she took us to the airport, and was helping us out until
the last minute. She even gave us a CD of peruvian music.
She was truly incredible.
Puerto Maldonado was a very different experience. Very
relaxing. We liked the lodge very much. We stayed there
5 days and we thought that was a bit long - we would've
been satisfied with 4, maybe 3 days. We probably would've
liked to have stayed one extra day in Cuzco.
Leaving Puerto Maldonado took a while - there were flight
delays and all. We eventually made it out to Lima and
we were happy to see that there was someone waiting for
us at the airport once again.
So overall we had a wonderful trip. I would be happy to
recommend your services and the services of Sonia and
Toon to any one who has doubts.
Thank you once again for your excellent services.
Francine
|
|
