Ballestas sealKaren definitely encountered the full Peruvian experience with her "Soroche", altitude sickness. On Saturday she was still in bed with nausea, diarrhea, headache and fever. What a bummer! The very nice hotel manager sent some oxygen up to the room to counter the effects of the sickness, and that started a gradual improvement in Karen’s condition. We were lucky enough to be traveling with Barbara Wise, who is a nurse practitioner, and the hotel manager also was an expert at handling this problem. They assured us that this would soon pass, and Karen gradually did improve throughout the day.
Our fellow travelers,John and Barbara Wise, traveled with Carlos to Amantanti Island where they stayed overnight with the islanders. On Sunday, they were to tour Taquille Island and then return to the Hotel to meet up with us again. They hated to go without us, but it could not be helped. Since I wanted to stay with Karen, Carlos arranged an alternate tour for me. Later in the afternoon, I toured the Sillustani Ruins that featured pre-Inca burial chambers sitting high on a hill overlooking beautiful Lago Umayo. It was very interesting to see how these ruins neatly coincided with all the other ruins that Karen and I have seen in Mexico and the Southwest. After that tour, the guide took us to a working Peruvian stone house farm where we got an up close and personal view of how they eke out a living. It was interesting to see the guinea pigs being raised in a stone walled pen for food, and the well-trained llamas. The farmer gave us a demonstration of how they grow their potatoes all by hand with primitive implements. He took me inside his sleeping quarters to show me how he made his bed mattress with tree branches. Later he showed me how he keeps his llama herd in line with a sling shot! Boy is he good with that sling shot!
I enjoyed the tour, but have to admit that I missed my traveling partner greatly. However, when I returned to the hotel, I was heartened to see that she had really improved. She continued to rapidly improve throughout the night which lessened our concern somewhat. Since we had spent so much time at the hotel, we had made good friends with all of the clerks, waiters and managers. They were all very happy when Karen ventured down for some “pollo dieta” (chicken soup) that evening.
We've used Adventure Life for several trips in the past and have always been very pleased with them. The staff is personable and professional at the same time. Erin put this trip together for us in just a few days, and it has everything we were looking for! I recommend them without hesitation.
benn
3 weeks ago
I served as the person responsible for planning a trip to Galapagos and Machu Picchu for a group of 14 people. Jane with Adventure Life was very helpful throughout the process. Making suggestions, offering insight, and in the end helped me overhaul an initial plan into something even better. Also, Jane makes all the plans including the flights within and between Peru and Ecuador. Thanks to her this is going to be a stress-free adventure. After making the final decision about the trip, Jane gathered the contact information for all the travelers and sent out the details to each traveler individually with links to pay deposits, upload passport info, and personal preferences. She also ensured a group email was sent out to the entire group welcoming us to the trip preparation process. Our trip is a year from now and we are excited to make this once in a life time trek. I am happy to have organized things through Adventure Life. However, two small issues came up that were a little off putting. First, Adventure Life adds $50 per person to the cost for each traveler as a donation to a Galapagos conservation fund. I think this should he offered as something that can be added at each traveler’s discretion. Instead, it is automatically added, and each person must ask to have it removed if they do not want it included. Second, although the trip deposit may be paid with a credit card without incurring an additional fee, the balance must be paid in another way to avoid a 3% credit card fee. Maybe this is standard with all travel agencies. In the end I would definitely go through Adventure Life for the next big trip.
Brenda Nielsen
1 month ago
I think it was very helpful that Franny and I spoke on the phone. I think she had a better idea of what we were looking for, and she planned a great itinerary for us!
Elizabeth
2 months ago
My representative Kevin was very responsive generally and in crafting our itinerary to our specific priorities.
Rocco Labella
3 months ago
Easy.
Great work on the follow up and details by Waru.