Peruvian Soul

Our family of 5 had an unforgettable trip to Peru! Anne was very helpful and informative in the planning and booking stages of our trip. She was available during our trip as well to answer any questions or to help things run smoothly.
We had a great time at the Explorer's Inn. The accommodations were very nice and the staff was all very helpful and happy to share their beautiful home with us. Raul was a terrific guide. We really enjoyed our rainforest walks, visiting the tower, night walks, the clay lick and seeing Giant River Otters at the lake.
We were next in the Sacred Valley where we met Edwar and Guido. They took great care of us exploring the Sacred Valley and Macchu Picchu. Guido was a great driver both in the busy towns and on the winding roads of the valley. Edwar has an amazing amount of knowledge that he openly shared with us. The pace of our days was perfect. It was nice to have such an awesome guide to help navigate the train and 1 day hike on the Inca trail. We also went on a beautiful hike in the Colca Valley and saw Andean Condors. Edwar was the perfect guide both on the nature aspects and historical aspects of our trip.
He has a great energy and was a lot of fun to explore with. Edward and Guido make a great team.
Thank you to all the members of Peruvian Soul and the KimKim team!

We started planning very early & Jimena was amazing from the very start. She asked about our preferences and curated 2 starting off points. From there we were able to customize the exact activities we wanted. Jimena was incredibly supportive through it all, moving activities around & determining how much was possible each day. Once we got closer to our travel dates Jimena got on a call with us to answer any of our outstanding questions. During this call we asked about adding another activity & although it's a super uncommon option, she made it happen for us! We ended up with issues commuting to our destination & were delayed a full day. Jesus & Jimena were able to rework our itinerary so we didn't miss any of our planned activities even though we arrived a full 24 hours late!

While in Peru, we hit the ground running with Edwar (guide) & Wilmer (driver). Edwar was the PERFECT guide for us. He was honest and straight forward. He kept us on track without us ever feeling rushed, if things were running early or late we never noticed because he was taking care of everything in the shadows. He knew exactly when to call our driver back so the whole time in Cusco was effortless. Edwar even stayed with us all the way to the security check point for our domestic flight, to make sure we had no airport hiccups. I recommend KimKim 11/10 & plan to come back for any future travel like this.

Our trip to Peru was our third trip with kimkim and it could not have been better! The guides, excursions, hotels, etc. were wonderful. Our guides Martin, Diego, and Wilson were kind and knowledgeable and felt like friends. My husband had stomach trouble on the trip and within an hour of notifying our guide Diego in the Sacred Valley he came to our hotel with medicine and rearranged our schedule the following day so as not to miss anything. Thank you kimkim for another amazing trip!!

This was our first trip using kimkim to plan and book the entire experience. We were connected with Peruvian Soul and rep Anne Godoy. Because of Covid and then variouschallenges on our end, this trip was several years in the making. But Peruvian Soul and Anne really delivered. She helped us create an itinerary combining her recommendations and experience along with our research and goals. It was a true collaboration. And then Peruvian Soul really came through on the logistics. During the trip, their operation manager Jesus Martel, provided us with frequent updates as needed. He was available for questions. And he was able to make happen a short notice changes in our itinerary that became necessary. This was our first time trusting someone to take care of travel arrangements other than ourselves, and I was very impressed.
So many highlights but want to mention several that were suggested and/or coordinated by Anne & Peruvian Soul.
- Home visit and Homestay on Capachica Peninsula, Lake Titicaca: We visited two kind, delightful families to get a glimpse into their lifestays, and share several meals, next to Lake Titicaca. We were shown how they use local plants as everything from soap to medicine. We witnessed (and slightly helped) our host Ruffino fishing on Lake Titicaca by hauling in nets. It was a cool opportunity to get a bit of insight into their lives and to simply get to know them a little. We had a very good guide, Luis (forgive me, I lost his last name), who shared the history of the area and the customs of the people on the penisula.
- El Alberque, Ollantaytambo - in one place we were able to enjoy a Panchamanca lunch; learn about and roast a batch of coffee; and then create our own botanical liquor in their distillery. We had a fun and insightful afternoon.
- Misminay Community, Sacred Valley - We spent several hours in Misminay with were our local hosts showed us about their weaving; demonstrating the process and showing us how they create their colors with plants and minerals. Then we had a short lesson, trying to learn the local language, Quechua. From their compound, we were able to take a short hike to see the Moray terraces.
- Market visit and cooking glass in Cusco - Anne set us up with the restaurant Mama Seledonia to get a educational (and tasting) tour of 2 Cusco markets. From there, we took the purchases back to the restaurant to make our own lunch, cocktails and then to try a variety of fruits we purchased. The chef (Gustavo) was great and it was a wonderful experience.
- Not surprisingly, Cuscuo, the Sacred Valley and Machu Picchu were trip highlights. But what made it excellent was our guide, Luis Caceres. The poor guy was stuck with us for almost 5 days :) He truly made the trip excellent for us. It was more like travelling with a friend than a guide. (But a friend who knew a ton!)

I enthusiastically recommend kimkim and Peruvian Soul. Anne sincerely created an amazing experience for us and they all (Jesus, our guides and drivers) made it go great. They really took care of us.

Trip of a lifetime!
The organization was very good, the activities were well planned and Jesus' daily updates including with boarding passes for internal flights were excellent. It did not seem to me that Jesus went to sleep.
I thought the guides were very well chosen - Fernando in Quito was an amazing fount of information about Quito, its history and the area. Our guides in the Galapagos, Justin in Santa Cruz and Oswaldo in San Cristobal, were very well-informed and good hike guides, though they was not with us all the time owing to boat trips and island changes. I would like to mention our transport driver (Arturo?) in San Cristobal - he was very courteous and prompt.
In the Galapagos, I would only change our hotel - the Golden Galapagos. It did not meet the standards of our other hotels.
The Indigo seemed much more organized.

In Lima, Nancy was an excellent guide with lots of historical details that we learned from her. However, our guide in Cusco was exceptionally way above the guides we had on this trip (Julio and the driver Robert) were above and beyond. Partly it was due to the elevation and related issues, but they also had really detailed knowledge and insights that were very interesting to hear.

We had a great time!

What could you improve - ditch the Golden Galapagos. Also, I noticed that the company always picked the cheapest room in the hotels. Can you manage to upgrade it a bit, to the second lowest level? At least ask the question!

This trip was a dream every step of the way. I had a lot of questions which were always answered quickly in detail, and with patience. Peru has so many amazing locations and experiences but we were able to narrow them down to a perfect trip, customized to our exact preferences, budget and interests.

Once we got there Anne sent thoughtful notes to our room and checked in periodically to make sure everything was going well.

Everyone we met in Peru was so kind, accommodating and friendly. We spent time with several guides who were very knowledgeable and personable, but I’d give a special shout-out to our Cusco guide, EJ. His background in archaeology made every historical site even more interesting. We saw so many amazing things but wouldn’t have fully appreciated them without EJ’s insights and his photography skills left us with so many great photos and memories to take home with us.