Machu Picchu Pack

Chile, San Pedro de Atacama: Today was a great day, traveling through the desert in our own 4×4

Bolivia, Uyuni Salt Flats: It’s been an excellent trip across beautiful Bolivia, incredible to witness the vastness of the salt flats!

Perú, Amazon Jungle: Having an amazing time on the Delfin III, the Amazon Jungle is a wonderfully rich environment 🙂

Unu Raymi Tour Operator & Lodges is the best. They planned our amazing trip to Peru, Edwin our guide, Jesus our driver. James managed our trip through airport accidents and transportation strikes, making sure we didn’t miss any of the main highlights of our trip. Truly amazing! I highly recommend it and would certainly go back on our next incredible journey.

The Inca Trail was nothing short of amazing, thank you so much!

We have had the time of our lives and the best is still to come. We are very happy with everything! We loved Puno and everything else has been amazing 🙂 Thanks

Mimi and I have just completed a one-month trip of a lifetime with Unu Raymi Expeditions. We are experienced independent travelers who, as active retirees, enjoy private, escorted touring that is customized to our interests and abilities. Originally planned for early 2020, the trip was severely disrupted and reorganized many times due to the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Potentially, these changes could have spelled the end of our wish to visit Peru and all that went with it. However, James Mackender and his team worked overtime to maintain and amend our plans and ensure the trip went ahead when clear to do so.

The result was well worth the wait. At every turn, James and his team planned, booked, confirmed, and followed up on all details resulting in a stress-free visit which we cannot fault. The quality of accommodation, guides, transport, drivers, and advice was just as we anticipated and such a result does not occur without professional input.

Mimi and I would highly recommend Unu Raymi Expeditions and James and his team without reservation. If we return to South America on another visit, James will be the first person we call.

Accommodation.

Great.

-The staff at all locations were engaged and reacted rapidly to any concern. We appreciated and enjoyed each hotel’s facilities, food and locations/access to local sights and amenities (food, shopping, walking areas).

-Although the accommodations in the Iquitos Doubletree were very nice, we must comment on the internal noise impacting guest rooms/suites overlooking the pool. We would strongly recommend a plaza-side room in preference to a pool-side room. The noise (loud disco/club music) on the poolside was unremitting from morning through evening and far greater than the traffic on the plaza side. Additionally, this hotel was the only one of our accommodations that did not provide daily drinking water. Our personal complaints initially made to staff were subsequently reinforced to management by James. These complaints were heard and we were satisfied with the resolution. Our concerns are the loud music and lack of water represent the hotel management’s standard operating procedure, and this practice will remain. We would have preferred a bottle of drinking water each instead of a cookie!

The Lima Hilton hotel staff, particularly at the front desk, dining room and executive lounge, deserve special commendation for exemplary customer service and friendliness. We greatly appreciated this.

Of the hotels, El Albergue in Ollantaytambo was the stand-out. We loved the setting, the spacious room, the friendly staff and truly enjoyed being on the train platform. The restaurant staff was very accommodating with our requests for ‘light’ dinners and the staff stayed late as we chatted with fellow travelers after dinner over another (!) bottle of wine. Memorable.

The Amazon cruise with Delfin 1 was off the scale. We were accommodated, educated, fed, watered, and pampered beyond belief; strongly recommended. We were also very pleased we booked on the smallest of Delphin’s ships. This made the onboard and outstanding expedition experiences personal and so enjoyable. Delphin’s staff are exceptional.

Transport.

Excellent. The standard of the vehicle was most suitable and the drivers were very professional and safe. Jesus was particularly good.

As an aside I would recommend the Hiram Bingham train in preference to the Belmond Andean Explorer. This is due to sleep being extremely difficult on the Andean Explorer on night one due to sub-standard trackwork and altitude on night two. The train, food, staff and accommodation were magnificent but if you cannot get a good night’s sleep it makes for a less than wonderful activity. Again, the Belmond staff were exceptional.

Food.

Excellent. We loved being introduced to the local fare, although we are not accustomed to big meals at lunchtime! All the restaurants were wonderful; we especially enjoyed the cooking lesson at the restaurant in Lima and the picnic at Ollantaytambo.

Locations.

Excellent. In our early planning process, we only personally chose Machu Picchu, Lake Titikaka and the Amazon. They were magnificent as expected, as were all the other sites recommended by Unu Raymi, especially in the Sacred Valley. All sites and experiences exceeded our expectations. We learned so much and since our return to Australia, we have referred to our books on Peru to review and seek additional information on our experiences.

We recommend visiting Colca Canyon as a 2-day trip. For us, it was too long a round-trip drive for a one-day experience (especially allowing for the altitude). But we loved seeing the condors soaring, and we would have not wanted to miss that.

Professionalism.

Excellent. Nothing needs to be added. We greatly appreciated James’ and Martha’s concern and willingness to help us retrieve a lost phone. Truly above and beyond the call of duty.

Communication.

Excellent. Before, during and after the trip communication was outstanding. During the trip James contacted us every day to confirm details and address any issues. We could not have asked for more.

Safety.

Excellent. Especially when it came to road transport. The drivers demonstrated the patience of Job, and they all kindly and consistently made our comfort, health and safety issues, especially in relation food and water, a priority. Our safety was clearly a concern of the guides during all of our activities.

Guides.

Excellent. All guides were well-chosen to manage visitors of our age. At no time did they attempt any activity before first confirming we were OK with the prospect. Additionally, at altitude and when climbing steps, the guides checked regularly on our comfort level. Their individual knowledge was wide-ranging, and we learnt so much more than anticipated due to the guides’ education and backgrounds and ability to put tours into a much-larger cultural and historic context. Martha, Herbert and Freddie were standouts. We commend Martha’s willingness to amend the itinerary on our final day. She and the driver literally made a u-turn and gave us a very special final experience at Pachacamac.

Finally, in addition to the history, culture and amazing sites, landscape, nature we experienced with the guides and drivers, we will long treasure the daily informal interactions we shared with the guides and drivers: Lots of laughter, family stories, and commonalities despite our supposed differences.

We also greatly appreciated the ‘down time’ built into the itinerary, especially around travel days.

Payment Process.

Needs Improvement. The problem may well have been due to international rules and Covid delays, but the process of payment requires addressing. In these days of global credit, it should not be difficult to pay/transfer funds.

Simon VL Willis and Miriam C Flaherty Willis

17 October 2022