Amaru Bolivia

Bolivia has soooo much potential to be an amazing place to visit but from the beginning of our trip everything was a hassle. We arrived to La Paz at 2:30am my husban and my 8 year old daughter are Americans are they were treated very poorly we with the most absurd demands of paperwork and visas ($130 each ) that the government officials didn’t even know how to work in the computer..it’s very obvious they don’t want Americas to visit because all the Americans that came in that flight were the last ones to leave the airport . I came with a Colombian ID and there were no issues. We left the airport at 6:30 am super tired to only arrived to a terrible hotel, smells soo bad with very uncomfortable beds and terrible food.. La Paz didn’t have much to offer. Then we took a 8 hour bus ride.. we couldn’t sleep the driver was going over every speed bump possible and was a very reckless driver 🥺 Uyuni was absolutely gorgeous Almost magical but our tour guy didn’t speak any English and his personal hygiene wasn’t great and makes us listen to his music in the car the whole 3 day tour.. silence could be much better. The first hotel “palacio de sal was pretty good and the service was great it had a nice warm pool that after a long drive or trip was a nice treat.. also it had a beautiful architecture. The second hotel Flamingo longe was terrible. They didn’t have our reservations, then the heater was broken so the whole place was freezing, the Internet works for few hours so by the time to arrive to the hotel they had turn it off.. there is not much to do there.. the next day we went to the lagoons and hot springs.. long ride for a child who got very sick from the altitud and fainted in an area with poor hygiene, the bathrooms were traumatizing, no water the smell of feces was unbearable .. to only found out that the oxygen tank that the our driver had in the car was empty and the mask was super dirty so you can literally die in the middle of no where with not medical attention or the minimal basic aid kit .. I’m sorry but $2000 + for this tour was a total rip off we will not recommend this tour to anyone specially with children.. the tour company should had been more informative.. this was definitely not a family trip..it was like vacation from hell.. we canceled our hotel reservation that the tour had booked for us.. to book our own hotel in La Paz to be able to sleep and rest before leaving Bolivia.. at the airport again to exit it was another nightmare.. the immigration officer gives you a code to scan everyday during your stay and let them know of every place you stay.. how are you supposed to do that is there is not internet ?? Well there is another huge fee.. we had travel all over the world and had never experience anything close to this.. very disappointed with this tour. Highlights definitely the salt flats.. everything else 👎👎👎

The guides were exceptional. All of them went out of their way to help us resolve any issues we encounter. They were very accommodating based on our capabilities and needs. Without their knowledge and willingness to please this trip would not be possible.

I want to reiterate this on all of them, Juan Carlos, Moises, Pablo, Elsa were unbelievable on the way they conducted themselves. Their knowledge of the place, people, culture were crucial to make the experience what it was.

We really enjoyed the trip and Collin was great about listening to what we wanted and making it happen for us. For the most part, the trip was easy and enjoyable and things ran smoothly. The accommodations, food and guides were excellent for the most part.
There were a couple of communication errors -- For the Salar de Uyuni trip, we were not informed of any details during the 3 days, so for example, we were not told to bring suits and towels for the hot springs. Also when we arrived to our hotel in Sucre, we were told they did not have a booking and we were sent to a different hotel, where they told us they had booked a matrimonial suite with one bed for us. Everything worked out in the end, but it was a little stressful and we don't understand why we weren't told of the change until after we had arrived at the wrong hotel.
For the Salar de Uyuni tour, we had been told it was just us on the tour, but when they picked us up to leave the next morning, they left us waiting for another family for over one hour and we didn't depart for the salt flats until after 11:30 am. This family expected a French language tour and came with a screaming 5-year old child. They kept us waiting several times over the 3-day tour, resulting in some rushed sight seeing and late arrivals in the evenings. The Uyuni guide was good, but also said some things that we thought were less than professional. While we understand this is "luck of the draw," we can't help but feel that this wasn't quite the tour we had arranged and paid for.