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The Best Travel Agency in Peru
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"...After talking to my travel friends at Tango Diva, I heard about Kuoda Tours, an agency that builds custom itineraries based on individual desires. They first asked about my interests, pacing, and timeframe before ever suggesting an itinerary..."
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Clients' Comments |
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We are all well and adjusting to life after our absolutely fabulous trip!!!
We have amazing memories and are enjoying sifting through all our photographs. The children have both made power point presentations for school and there has been a lot of discussion and reflection about the wonderful journey and experiences we’ve had.
Kuoda was brilliant and we can’t recommend you highly enough. The whole trip went really smoothly, the co-ordinators, guides and drivers were great, lovely people and all accommodation superb!!
We do plan to send Merry a CD with photo’s for Kouda to use but I don’t think she wants to have all 3000! So I need a bit more time to sort though them and will let her know when we send the parcel. What would be the best postal address to use to send these to her?
You asked what the children enjoyed most.
Here are the activities they discuss most. I have to add they are quite active, fit kids who like trying new foods.
Their favourite was dune buggy-ing, sand boarding near Ica
The flight over the Nazca lines in a small plane.
Ben really enjoyed his cycle ride with Pete in Arequipa (Rebecca was a bit small for the smallest bike) so she and I went horse riding for ¾ of an hour at the Mill in Arequipa instead and she liked that.(we organise the horse ride but I’m sure your company would do that too) and I understand it can be arranged in Colca canyon too?
Both children enjoyed the Convent in Arequipa, and were fascinated by the stories from the convent guide who was very entertaining.
Visiting Juanita’s museum was also of great interest.
Rafting in the Urabamba river was a highlight.
They really liked visiting the floating islands out of Puno especially the ride in a reed boat the man who took us has his little daughter on board and the children liked interacting with her. The children enjoyed encounters and opportunities to interact with local children. I wish they had been able to experience more of this but I guess we were travelling very quickly over the 4 weeks.
Rebecca liked the walk around the village and the dying, spinning and weaving demonstration in Umasabamba village.
All alpaca and llama contacts were appreciated especially when Rebecca was able to bottle feed baby alpaca and the encounter with an injured eagle in the Colca canyon.
Machu picchu was perhaps more interesting to mum and dad but the children were glad to have gone there especially after the trip when every one asked questions about it. They were very obliging and hiked for an hour up to the sun gate with us although it was very warm. They loved the delicious buffet and musicians playing in the lodge at Machu Picchu.
The train ride back from Machu picchu was entertaining for them with a fashion show Rebecca enjoyed.
They also enjoyed the train trip from Cuzco to Puna even though it was long for them.
At Sacsayhuaman they had a lot of fun on the stone slides and exploring the tunnels. Our lovely guide Eduardo pointed out things of interest to them .
They were both less comfortable with the jostling crowds at the Inti Raymi festival in the plaza and at the convent, however once we were at sacsayhuaman for the main event they enjoyed festival, I think it was the close crowded experience and waiting standing in the crowd around that was hard for them.
The Larco museum was found to be interesting by all of us and just the right length of time for the children to remain interested and focused on the exhibits. Jimmy our guide there was very good.
In the Colca canyon they were impressed with the condors (we saw 9!) but not so impressed wit the drive there as Rebecca was not too well.
In Bolivia they liked walking the valley of the moon and wanted longer to explore.
Pete and I cycled the worlds most dangerous road and organised this ourselves but the children came along and had a nanny on the bus from the Gravity company who took us she made the journey entertaining for them and they liked the animal sanctuary at the end of the ride and opportunity to swim there.
The children enjoyed the hands on musical instrument museum and made lots of noise and played instruments when we were there!
In Chile after leaving Bolivia we visited the Mirador interactive museum ourselves which I can’t recommend highly enough for children. It was wonderful hands on science and we spent 4 hours there. So if you have families travelling through Santiago I would strongly recommend it to them. Santiago.
Both children enjoyed learning to play Sappo with Eduardo and Raul . We are building a Sappo game now at home complete with a frog!
They also liked practicing their limited Spanish with some of the guides.
The markets were always interesting for every one.
Food and ordering food became fun to try. Great popcorn!!! We ate lots! We all love Cerviche!
Children almost always find long trips in cars and early starts more difficult or times when they are a little unwell e.g. with altitude sickness. However Ben and Rebecca were fairly good during these times, they read and had puzzle books and some of the guides were very good at talking to them. Some guides and drivers are better than others of course. Jimmy in Lima, Eduardo in sacred valley and Cuzco, Raoul (driver), and our guides in Arequipa, Puno and Colca were particularly good with the children.
If we had a day with an early start it was also nice to have a later start the next day (this occurred most of the time in our agenda). It was great for them and us staying somewhere for 2-3 nights and having a familiar base for a few days. This is idea if there are no time constraints in someone’s trip agenda.
Laurel, I hope this isn’t too waffle?
I would imagine the children enjoyed the sorts of things you would think they do.
We had a wonderful experience!
If we did it again. We said on reflection we would have liked more time overall especially another day in the sacred valley (to see the salt pans and visit other villages), another day or 2 in Cuzco and another night on the island of the sun to chill out and other day in La Paz. It was great as it was though and certainly saw the best in the time we had available!
I’d better sign off and do some work.
Please thank the whole Kuoda team for us. Thank you Laurel for putting together such a great ittinery!
We will send some photo’s soon.
Kind Regards." |
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Gabriella Albers-Greenway
Housewife
USA |
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Sorry this has taken me so long! I don't know where our summer went and now the kids are already back in school. Although we are sad to see summer go, it is somewhat nice to be in a routine again!
I have asked the kids what their thoughts were on our trip. Joby and Emily had a little more to say than the twins. But they talk about the trip every day—as do Tom and I. It was one of those trips where I feel at times words just do not convey even close to the thoughts and memories that I have. They just don't do it justice. We speak very highly of you all and have recommended you to all of our friends, whether or not they have plans to travel J. As you can see, the Amazon was pretty high on their list of favorite places!
I hope you received the CD of photos we sent over. I put the kids statements on the bottom of this note.I hope you are all well.
Sincerely,
Lianne Herbruck
Emily Herbruck (age 11): I really liked the Amazon section of the trip. It was really fun swimming in the Tambopata River, and the tour guides there were the nicest in the whole trip, although, all of them were good. I thought the salt flats of Maras were really amazing. I also enjoyed seeing all of the llamas at the farm that Edward took us to. Machu Picchu was . . . amazing. But I thought that the town (Aguas Caleintas) wasn't authentic enough. I didn't like the hot springs there very much. Lake Titicaca was really cool. The people on Uros were very kind and friendly. I enjoyed making bread with some of the locals in Oropesa. There were too many churches for my liking. Peru was totally cool.
Joby Herbruck (age 10): I liked the Amazon and the Tour Guides. I really liked Gorge and one of the other guides, Pati. We saw a Harpe Eagle when we were out on the Tambopata River on our way to fish. The McCaw's were awesome and I also really liked the Strangler Fig Trees, especially the one Gorge had us climb inside of. We even got to swim in the Tambopata River. I am glad we went in the Dry season. The bugs were not so bad. I also like Lake Titicaca. Ivan was a great guide. The people of Uros were so friendly. I don't recommend the hot springs in Aguas Calientes.
Sarah Herbruck (age 8): My favorite place in Peru was the Amazon. I also really liked seeing all the llamas at the llama farm near Pisac. Machu Picchu was very fun because we got to go inside all the ruins. I also liked swimming with the sea lions in Lima. It was amazing in Peru.
Megan Herbruck (age 8): My favorite part of our trip to Peru was the Amazon. I liked it because there were a bunch of animals and it was just really cool. Also I really liked the Reed Islands of Uros. I loved feeding all the Alpacas. Basically, I just loved the whole trip. My favorite guide was Gorge because he was in teh Amazon and he taught us a bunch of cool stuff about the Amazon. Now I think of Peru as a really far away place and I can't believe I went there. The trip was awesome!."
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Herbruck Family
USA |
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I returned last week from the Peru and Bolivia trip with my two friends Jan and Valarie. We had the most wonderful time and learned soooo much! Our Kuoda guides were always waiting for us when we arrived at new places. They went above and beyond what was expected to make our trip comfortable and problem-free. I will recommend Kuoda tours to everyone. In fact I am emailing you to thank you for all of your hard work with the planning of this trip and also to plan a trip for next summer.
I wish to visit Salar de Uyuni since there was not time this summer.
I would like to see Uyuni, Laguna Verde, and the Avaros National Reserve on a 4 day tour of the salt flats. I will either be traveling by myself or with my fiance ( I'm trying to talk him into going!). I wish all airfair and transportation prices to be included as well as the guided tour, food, and all overnight accommodations.
I wish to have a Kuoda bilingual guide with me for the entire trip since I am just learning Spanish. I would like the salt flats vehicle to be reserved for just us -me, my fiance, the guide, and driver, with no other tourists. I want a very reputable Land Rover tour company for the flats to avoid accidents and breakdowns as much as possible. I just got my Bolivian visa (which wasn't easy and another reason I want a guide with me) which I believe is good for 5 years. My fiance would have to obtain a visa at the border and I would like that to go smoothly this time around for his sake because he's a first time traveler.
Please let me know what you can come up with. I am looking at the end of July next year (2009). I don't know how to get to Uyuni. Do we have to fly into La Paz?
Please email me with any questions you have. I am just in the beginning stages of planning this trip so I'm sure there is a lot of information I don't know about. I am mainly interested in photo opportunities of landscapes and wildlife. I think it would be interesting to stay in a salt hotel, but I don't know how the locals view this. I know environmentalists are against it.
Thank you again, for such an awesome trip! I look forward to planning this next one with you." |
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Kimberly Geer
Elementary School Teacher
Michigan, USA |
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Thanks so much for your lovely emails. I have done a fair amount of traveling in my life, from backpacking/hosteling to higher end accommodations, and I just want you, Mary and all the wonderful guides and drivers we had from Kuoda to know that our trip to Peru was probably the best of my life. I think the rest of my family and the DeMattia/Katz's would agree.
Peru is a country of extraordinary historical, cultural, geographical and natural wealth, but seeing it with delightful guides who were able to inform us so fully was invaluable. So was not have our limited time unnecessarily wasted on the usual problems of orienting ourselves to each new place. The whole itinerary was thoughtfully planned (we avoided any real issues with altitude because of the gentle acclimatization you made possible) and varied (we thought the river rafting and sea lion adventures were basically for the kids, but the truth is we all had a blast!). We wondered if the ten hour drive to Puna would be worth it, especially when poor Hugo had to suffer being stopped by the police twice for no other reason than that he was driving us, but after seeing the floating islands, taking a ride in one of the boats and hiking Taquille after a delicious and fact-filled lunch with Percy, I'd have to say I wouldn't want to have missed it.
We all very much appreciated the slightly off-the-beaten path activities, especially the weaving community and the salt mine. Extraordinary! The lovely picnic lunch, all by ourselves down at the lake was a wonderful addition too! So many special moments. The hotels, Inkaterra and in the Sacred Valley, were especially memorable too.
If there is any suggestion I would make it might be that we probably should have put a little more thought into our last day. After that terrific experience with the sea lions in the morning, we had too many hours to kill before our 1:40am flight home. For lack of anything else to see locally near the hotel, we ended up walking over to the mall and seeing Batman, with Spanish subtitles. The kids loved it, but it was a decidedly odd end to the trip.
Last thing. I've been telling everyone about Kuoda. You may actually be hearing soon from someone named Lennard, who was thinking of going to Egypt with his girlfriend, but after hearing about our trip said he thinks he may look into Peru instead. Yeh! When I get a chance, I'll go on Trip Advisor and put in a good word, as we promised Mery!
Thanks again for all your patience and goodwill! Your personal attention made all the difference!"
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Lisa Rosebaum |
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"If anyone is looking for an excellent Tour Company in Peru.......I highly recommend Kuoda Tours. I booked them for our family trip to Machu Picchu and they were outstanding! Our family consisted of the two of us and our two adult children. They booked 2 rooms for us at each hotel and took care of all the details of our trip.
When I inquired about them via the internet, Lauren contacted me that night by phone. She gave excellent service, and was invaluable in helping me figure out the details of our trip. She sent us a questionnaire so that she could customize our trip to fit our needs. Talk about service!!!
They picked us up in Lima, took us to our hotel, picked us up the next day and put us on a flight to Cusco. Then, they arranged for us to have a driver and a guide at each place we visited. They were efficient, honest and spoke excellent English! You can personalize your trip to what ever your needs are. We stayed at four hotels, took the Vista Dome train and the bus to Machu Picchu. We had an excellent guide there too. They also arranged for us to go horseback riding in the Sacred Valley, took us to weaving demonstrations, restaurants and essentially transported us all over the Sacred Valley, Cusco, and Machu Picchu! You can customize your trip with them and they will take care of all the details. Sheila and Fabrizio were our guides, and the amazing Freddy was our driver for the entire trip. Merry (the owner) even met us in Cusco!
I can't speak highly enough about them. Our week in Peru was too short, and we wish we could book them whenever we travel in other countries too! At the moment they are concentrating on South America and the Galapagos Islands. You can be sure we'll use them for that trip too!" |
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Ellen Crimmins
Retired Teacher
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"The hike was incredible, Machupicchu is every bit as cool as we had hoped, and yes, we did plenty of filming - maybe even too much!
The trip went well, and we've begun the editing process. Hopefully in 6-8 weeks, we'll have a cut that we're happy with, and you can be sure that we'll be sending copies down to you and Juan Carlos.Iin fact, I'd be happy to encode some of the video for your website...you can believe that whenever I hear about someone going to Peru, I'm going to recommend they get in touch with you.
So i'll stay in touch, Mery. and again, THANKS!" |
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R. Morton, Film Shooter/Produce,
USA |
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"We had the best time in Peru. The time flew by. I feel that I've got a much better sense of the culture and people. I saw some splendid weavings, different in each village (could have seen more!), and meeting the weavers was really fun. Ed and I particularly liked the guides who all were well versed in the history of the region, as important though, unique personalities which gave us an additional insight into Peruvian life and ways....What we've been talking about is swimming with the sea lions, the guides, Machu Picchu ,Lake Titicaca, the home stay and much more. Thank you so much for your hard work in helping us to organize this trip. We loved having the private guide and driver, we had so much flexibility. We would not hesitate in using Kuoda again.
Thanks!" |
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C. Beckman,
Fiber Artist
Colorado, USA |
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"We are delighted with the trip and will certainly tell others who ask about your company and the individualized assistance Kuoda offered in crafting the itinerary to our time constraints and interests.
I am grateful for the special things we enjoyed because of each of the guides, drivers, and Kuoda consultants each one of you added something special to our enjoyment of Peru.
I wanted to let you know that we're very pleased about our recent trip to Peru.
In any case, all went very smoothly with our trip ....I was particularly impressed by Mery's willingness to come out and get us from Ollantaytambo late one night ather than waiting for us to arrive in Cusco. That saved my sleepyhead kids and us tired parents an hour of transit so that we could more easily meet our early commitment in the morning for the train...In any case, you can share with these guides, drivers, and other assistants that we had a more restful and enjoyable trip because of their skill and attention than we ever could've had if we'd been responsible for our own transportation and information and arrangement of everything! I can't imagine traveling internationally without huge amounts of help within the destination country. Thank you for being there and using your expertise, associates' skills, and flexibility to navigate the Webb family through our pleasing itinerary. We'll never forget it.
Sincerely and thankfully" |
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J. Webb, homemaker,
Webb Family
NYC USA |
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"Mery, the owner of Kuoda Tours met us at the airport and you instantly saw how she loves not only her job, but her country. She pointed out buildings, told stories and talked about the itinerary ahead....Special thanks to Lew for an amazing trip, to Mery and Laurel for helping put together an amazing itinerary, Paul, our amazing guide from Explorama Lodge, Daniel, the encyclopedia of knowledge in Iquitos, Jesus, who took care of us in Iquitos, and the Belen Market, Esmerelda, who knows an amazing amount about Machu Picchu, and Ulises who showed us Pisac and told us about the Incas. I was very impressed with the itinerary, trip and people representing Kuoda and Explorama. Things went smoothly, all questions were answered, all concerns addressed and it gave a wonderful impression of Peru...Bravo on a job very well done" |
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S. Stancliff, Lew Robertson Photography
Los Angeles, California, USA |
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