Machu Picchu/Peru Trip

Peru | Jun 28 - Jul 7, 2018

Rolfi (Guide) was exceptional. His knowledge of the places we visited and his personality made for a memorable experience. He is easygoing, has a great sense of humor and was extremely flexible when we needed/wanted to make adjustments to the schedule. He was our guide when we arrived July 1st and our friend when we left July 7th.

Juan Carlos (driver) also took great care to make sure we got everywhere safely and even though his english is limited, we were able to have some good laughs.

Of course, we enjoyed the major sites/cities Rolfi took us to: Machu Picchu, Cusco, Ollantaytambo, etc. What we enjoyed most with Rolfi was when he took us off the "traditional tourist path" to local food and goods markets, restaurants, street food vendors, etc.

I would recommend anyone traveling to Peru to make sure Rolfi is their guide!

Where we do have issue is with the Kimkim - Quechua Treks relationship. We feel there are some areas where the trip could be enhanced - some of the little things that separate the good tour companies from the great tour companies. We paid Kimkim to connect us with a tour company and expected that company to be thorough in communicating all options, opportunities, etc. Naturally, these are issues specific to us and our travel experiences but I am certain many would have similar comments, namely:

1. When arranging the intra-country flights and train schedules, you should ask if travelers have a seating preference. On all internal flights, one of the seats was always a middle seat - very uncomfortable. You should have asked our seat preferences

2. Additional with number 1 above, you should advise price difference for various travel classes. Most people would not be opposed to a minimal upcharge for an upgraded, more comfortable class of travel

3. For meals that were included (we had 2 lunches at restaurants with Rolfi), we understand that alcoholic drinks are extra. However, you could include in the package pricing non-alcoholic drinks. It is one of those "little things" - if you charged me $5 - $10 more a day when we had a restaurant included meal and we could get water, tea, coffee, soda and not have to pay out of pocket, just makes sense. For the amount we paid for the trip, another $10 - $20 would not have been the difference between going and not going

4. With hotels you recommend, you should include an activity sheet for that property. We would have liked to know in advance all the available excursions @ Inketerra Pueblo Machu Picchu and Inketerra Amazonica, especially about the bear project excursion or at the Inketerra Pueblo. We missed out on a couple things we would have included. Knowing in advance helps planning for stays at the properties.

5. You should provide more specifics about baggage limitations for certain internal flights and limitations (train) for going from Ollantaytambo to Machu Picchu. Had we both done the hike from 104KM, there was no arrangement for bags to get to the hotel

6. We were advised we did not need much local currency almost everything was included. There were many places that took neither US dollars or credit cards so you need to review how you communicate the issue of cash needs.

Hoping these suggestions are helpful in improving your communications with future travelers. Overall, it was a fabulous experience. Rolfi is a tremendous asset to the company!

Please feel free to email or call if you would like to discuss any of these points further.