Travel Review: Tour of Peru, Ecuador & The Galapagos Islands, Cusco, Lima, Puno, Quito, Lake Titicaca, Machu Picchu

Our travel agent did a terrific job of including all the requirements that we set forth for our trip to the Galapagos and Peru, which included travel between specific dates (May 7 and June 1, 2016), a week in the Galapagos and being in Cusco May 24, and 25th for Corpus Christi.  He set us up in some great hotels and we feel we saw all that we could during that time.  Before the trip started, Lynn, my wife, felt that the hotels were better than we needed, but we were overjoyed at our agents selections once we were on the trip.

Talking about hotels, I will be specific:

           The hotel in Lima was nicely situated and the staff could not have been more helpful.  The included breakfast was great, possibly the best on the trip which is saying something when you see the other hotels we stayed at, but each had something special.

            The hotel in Quito was very nice and again the staff was great and spoke English well.  The porter who took our bags to our room was so good at explaining all the special advantages of our room.  You could tell he loved his job and did it well.  I just loved how real and nice he was during our entire stay there.  I think it is important to note again how well English was spoken at this hotel.

            Our stay in the Galapagos was great with  two general exceptions.  First the greatness.  The staff could not have been nicer or more helpful, both on the ship as well as getting to and from shore.  The tour did a great job of allowing us to see and experience as much as we could handle.  We usually would walk on one of the islands and snorkeling in the morning and then again in the afternoon on a different island or location.  Sometimes we would snorkel again, yes three times in one day besides the two walks.  We just loved the snorkeling.  What we didn't expect was how strenuous this would be.  I think this level of activity would scare off some people, although some guests sat out some of the activities, we did not.

Now for the less than great.  The food was just good, not great.  Maybe there is a limit as to what can be done on a small ship.  The biggest negative was the level of English spoken by the naturalist guides.  Yes, they spoke English, but you could tell that they could not tell us all that they knew, because they just repeated the same things all the time.  One of the four guides we came into contact with on the ship had good English skills and could tell a good story.  The others, I feel, didn't talk much because they were not as comfortable with the language.  It is important to remember that all the guests on the ship spoke English well even though they were not from English speaking countries.

The best guide from the company was the one that took us to the tortoise reserve, "El Chato" / "Primicias", on land while there was a transfer of passengers from and to the ship on Santa Cruz Island. She would not stop taking and transferred so much information.  We just loved it and I think the other guests did too.

One thing Lynn and I feel should be added to the tour of the Galapagos is an evening naturalist talk about the animals we will see the next day.  Although this is done on land, sometimes it is hard to hear due to the wind or you are snorkeling and have no guide near by.  I will add this to the section on what can be improved.

I am rambling a little now, but this relates to the entire tour, but especially the Galapagos portion.  This has to do with tipping.  After paying $5,000 to $6,000 dollars for a week tour of the  Galapagos we are asked to tip the staff $20/day and the guides $8/day.  We paid this, but considering the cost of the trip, it seems that something this small should be included in the $5,000 to $6,000 dollars.  This was the only time that we were specifically hit up for tips.  I tipped all drivers and guides everyday on our three plus weeks trip and never did I feel that the drivers or guides were hitting us up for tips, in fact, they mostly seemed surprised that I gave them a tip.  I would appreciate a comment of this paragraph and will add this to what can be improved. Maybe there is a good reason for the lecture on tipping on the boat.  I am willing to learn something.  In summary, after paying $5,000 to $6,000 why have a lecture on tipping when it could easily be incorporated in the original billing.

Continuing the review of hotels:

          Hotel in Lima  This was a good choice for our stop over on the way to Cusco.  It is interesting that this hotel does not supply bottled water and it is a good thing that at check in, we got a ticket for a drink at the bar where we selected bottled water instead of a drink. 

          Hotel in  Urubamba was a highlight for hotels.  We will talk of this place for the rest of our lives.  Everyone should stay here once in their lives.  I can't begin to tell you how great this hotel is. 

         Hotel in  Machu Picchu  Nicely situated

         Hotel in Cusco  The staff and bellman were very helpful.  We tipped the bellman when we left and the person who made up our room.  These people were warm, friendly and helpful.  Everyone at this hotel was great and helpful.

         Hotel in Puno   The staff was again very nice and helpful.  I  did order a beer at the bar and the bar tender poured a beer that was 1/4 beer and 3/4 head and then over flowed the class and make a mess on the table, which the bar tender  cleaned up quickly.  This was the only hotel that didn't have forced air heating.  There was a 2x2 foot heating panel on the wall that the porter plugged in when we were taken to our room.  The room was cold and that heater never got the room real warm.  It is very difficult to adjust the shower without getting wet.  I do have pictures of this unusual shower setup.  This hotel had its own dock where we were picked up and dropped off in the morning and afternoon to start and end our day tour, which was very nice.

In summary, we are very thankful for all the planning that our agent did and we were very thankful for all the fine guides.  Of all the guides I felt the best were the ones at the tortoise reserve on Santa Cruz and the one in Quito.  The reason for this is their ability to express themselves in English, and their desire to express their knowledge.

Lynn will want to add her own take on this wonderful trip.  You will not be disappointed.