Northern coast of Peru
Peru | Jan 22 - Jan 27, 2018

bette
bette C.
Canada | Reviewed on Feb 03, 2018

Hi there, I am catching up on sleep and starting to feel more normal. I even cooked a Peruvian dish, tacu tacu, last night! My husband is on an alternating vegetarian diet. Loved the food, especially on the Phima portion of the trip. Remember we did an Intrepid trip to Machu Picchu before. All in all the trip was very good. The sites we visited were all very interesting and the meals that were arranged for us were fantastic. The only thing we were unsure of was tipping as we didn't know the price of the meals.
Our hotel room, for Trish and I, in Trujillo was quite disappointing.
I don’t think Bev and Amy’s room was as drab as ours. Unfortunately, there was a stain on the carpet, mildew in the shower and some windows opened into the hotel lobby and the others fronted onto the street, so it was very noisy.
I did feel that the reception and breakfast areas of the hotel were clean and modern looking and I do want to emphasize that the staff were very kind and helpful. I checked the hotel on line and some of the comments said that the owners were going to have to step up the quality of the rooms, but otherwise good value.
The itinerary was good . I thought the pace was pretty good and we really loved everything we saw. On day 4 we couldn’t go to Ventarron as there had been a fire, we went to Huaca Rajada museum and site, were supposed to go to the Bruning Museum , but opted to go to Tumbas Reales as we really only had a couple of hours after lunch and Jhon told us the museum closed at 4. The museum guide told us that it was open until 5 p.m. and you could stay in longer. If we had known that we might have taken in the Bruning museum. We really enjoyed what we saw in any event!
Just looking at the Itinerary now, We did not see all the destinations on Day 5, We went to the Bosque Pomac, there were a couple of pyramids in the distance,. I think they were Ventanas and Loro, but I am not sure that we went to the valley of the Pyramids in Tucume/ We drove through Ferranafe but did not visit the museum. We had lunch after going to the museum in Tucume though. I believe that driver Jhon had said that there was construction or some other obstruction on the road and he felt we should leave earlier to get to the airport so we could get our flight back to Lima. I think the itinerary was a bit too ambitious for that day.

One thing I might tell you, after going to the Sipan museum at the site of Huaca Rajada, we might not have seen the actual site with the Huaca and where the tombs of el Senor de Sipan y El Viejo were found if the local guide hadn’t taken one of our group there. This is a very important site and am so glad we saw it. It should be compulsory on the tour. It all fits in with what we saw at Tumbas Reales.
Regarding our guide Jhon’s English, I thought his knowlege was very good, but when you asked him a specific question, he either didn’t understand the question, or didn’t know the answer. His pronunciation could be improved, but he was fine to chat to. He tried very hard and was very pleasant and kind.

For future tours, it would be good for the Phima guide to know when Tumbas Reales closes. The museum guide, Orlando, said it closed at 5, but you could stay later.....we might have been able to squeeze in the Bruning museum. We were happy with what we saw that day.
Just to be clear, I didn’t think there were too many excursions in our itinerary, the pace was pretty good for day two and three. Day four, we didn’t go to Ventarron because of the fire, but really enjoyed the Museum at Sipan and Huaca Rajada. After lunch we didn’t have time to see both the Bruning Museum and Tumbas REales, so we opted to see Tumbas Reales which was fantastic.
I think I might be repeating myself. Sorry, still have a bit of jet lag. If you need any clarifications, just let me know. Gracias,

Local specialist: Shirley López
Shirley
Shirley López
Local specialist in Chachapoyas - Perú | Replied on Feb 09, 2018

Hi Bette, thank you for your comments about your trip to Peru, especially your experience with us. I am glad to know that you enjoyed our gastronomy and the places you visited.

Thank you for your comment and your recommendations, we will work on that to always improve our services.
I hope you can repeat your experience in Peru some day; the Phima’s team is here to serve you.

A big hug and thanks for traveling with us.