HomeTestimonialsKaren Griffith-Hedberg (Mar, ...

Karen Griffith-Hedberg

(End of the World, Mar 2009)

During pre-departure, I appreciate that someone takes the time to respond to my emails no matter how trivial the question may seem!

Great accommodations throughout. The eco camp luxury suite domes would have been more comfortable than our basic dome, but we chose not to upgrade. The bed was comfortable and the dome surprisingly warm considering no heat source. Certainly better than basic camping!

Excellent planning, for sure. All the guides (from simple airport "fetch-the-tourists" to actual excursions) were prompt and helpful and very professional. We were very impressed. In previous experiences in Turkey and Greece, we felt like a crop to be harvested (ie with respect to tips) but in this S. America trip we felt like the guides never even thought about getting tips...they were just doing their best to do their job as well as possible. In some cases the hand-off from one guide or "meet and greet person" to another came so quickly we did not have a chance to tip the first one, and were sorry.

We had a very nice time on our glacier trek and ice climbing day, even though it was a long day! The guide from NYCA in Chalten (Pedro) was all ours, and was the perfect mother hen, keeping us safe, keeping tabs on how we were holding up (it was a 25 km day!), and providing careful instruction in crampon use and glacier trekking. My husband wanted ice climbing lessons and Pedro made a special point to provide a variety of situations on the glacier where various techniques could be employed (I passed on the opportunity to be climbing down a blue hole into the heart of the glacier, but my husband loved it). Since the Perito Moreno glacier experience was closed to "over-65s" this adventure out of Chalten filled the bill of being a better and more adventuresome alternate activity.