Argentina

Hi Alan - Yes, home safe and sound and a wonderful trip.  Feel greatly relaxed and looking forward to planning another trip sometime in the near future. And now for some feedback......   - What was the highlight of your holiday? Was there a low point?

• The highlight was definitely the Iguazu Falls and generally the service everywhere was exceptional and staff were overly helpful.  The low but not so low point was the Hotel Loi Suites - great lobby and the rooms were great but the bar was in the pool room and full of kids and the restaurant wasn’t great. Equally, the Time Suites in Santiago were definitely past their prime and in need of a bathroom upgrade.

• Everything worked extremely smoothly. All pickups happened and all the guides and drivers were knowledgeable, friendly and willing to go out of their way to give us a good time.
• In Mendoza, the hotel offered us a better rate than the company that organised our transfers
• And its possible that the other 5* hotel (Frank will give you the name) was nicer than the Hotel Casa de Uco - but this hotel was very nice too.
• Hotel Terra Atacama was amazing and although expensive was definitely worth the money.  I hadn’t realised that all food, drink and tours were included so that was a lovely surprise.  All staff and tour guides were amazing and the food was delicious.  Would definitely recommend to others.

• Not sure - only in the sense that tourism brings in money.

• Enjoyed it all

• Recommended by a friend.

A Strasser, Australia, May 2019
» Iguazu Falls Tour

- What was the highlight of your holiday? Was there a low point? The trek was the highlight.  The highlight was the fact that we were the only people not from the local community on the trail.  The night spent under canvass in the river valley was amazing.  It was magical.   I did struggle a bit with the altitude (not actually altitude sickness).  I was a bit breathless which affected my walking.  I found it difficult to eat on the first two days but that did pass.  I had an upset stomach and suffered from nausea - had to take tablets to keep it all under control...   The two guides for the trek, Lucia & Uli, were amazing.  They produced excellent meals at lunch and in the evening.  They were both very easy to be with.  They were knowledgeable and I trusted both of them completely.  The organisation of the trek was excellent.   We stayed one night with Paula (the wife/mother of the two mule men).  We were made to feel very welcome.  The guides appeared to have a comfortable relationship with Paula and her family.  We felt well looked after by all of them.  (Think the two men found us rather amusing).   When we stayed in Nazareno we ate in the local cafe.  We met two teachers from the local school who were delighted to find three foreigners in the village.  They would have liked us to come to the school and meet the children.  The teachers did not speak English but that did not seem to matter…  Pancho said that the people of Nazareno were very resistant to the idea of tourism - the government had apparently proposed building a hotel there.  They are certainly resistant to ‘mass' tourism but I suspect that they would have fewer reservations about people travelling on foot like us.  He was very conscious of the need to find a comfortable balance between bringing people (and money) into the area without changing things too much.

M Glentworth, UK , 2018
» Salt Flats of the Altiplano trekking tour