Lonely Planet and Trip Advisor suck !

The reality of the recommended travel agencies in Arequipa

By Henry Thorndike

Arequipa is the second most important city in Peru and it is well-known because it is the place where you can find active volcanoes such as Ubinas and of course it is the place where the deepest world canyons: Colca and Cotahuasi are located.

I decided to stay some days in Arequipa because I wanted to do some mountainclimbing in Arequipa and I was really interested to climb Ampato ,the mountain where Juanita “The snowmaiden” was found.

I visited several travel agencies specially those recommended by the Lonely Planet Guidebook and Trip Advisor.

At the beginning I was really confused because of the big difference between the prices but then I realized that the prices are different because there are very good travel agencies and there are others whose quality service is chaotic.

I started with the well-known Carlos Zarate and it was dissapointing for me because when I visited his travel agency the people there couldn´t speak English fluently. ¿How can that be?

The I moved to Ivan Jimenez travel agency called Quechua Explorer which is very popular in Arequipa. The girls there couldn´t speak English . I needed more information and they just show me a piece of paper with very basic information .

I wanted to see the equipment they use for the mountainclimbing and it was terrible.The equipment was really basic and old.For such expeditions a montainclimber has specific needs and as I realized the quality standards here in Arequipa are very poor.

Then I visited Colonial Tours who offer me not just the Colca Canyon Tour but also mountainclimbing. It was notorius that there was not even a backpack in the place,not a piece of equipment of all the tours they offer.

Besides from mountainclimbing they offer river rafting,mountainbiking and I realized that the old lady there is just another travel agency who survives thanks to commsissions!

That is why it is important not to buy adventure tours anywhere! Since adventure sports have a certain degree of risk a traveller has to look for security and guarantee.The worst option is to buy a tour inside hotels don´t ever do that!

I found out that all the travel agencies in Arequipa have very cheap prices because they pool their clients.For example if anybody wants to do mountainbiking everybody offers you DOWNHILL CHACHANI and you travel with a very cheap operator.

If anybody wants to climb a volcano in Arequipa literrally 99% of the travel agencies endorse their clients to Quechua Explorer and this travel agency pays a very high commissions to all the travel agencies which endorse their clients to them!That is why the equipment is terrible! Sustainable tourism in Arequipa? I don´t think so.

All these travel agencies have something in common: POOR QUALITY STANDARDS ,NON ENGLISH SPEAKING TRAVEL AGENTS AND ALL OF THEM ARE RECOMMENDED BY LONELY PLANET and TRIP ADVISOR!

To appear in Lonely Planet it is suppossed that the tourists write letters to the the guidebook so after a specific quantity of recommendations they are visited by a representative of Lonely Planet who invites them to appear in the guidebook and it costs 500 US.

I understand Lonely Planet it is another businness but al least they should qualify the travel agencies of Arequipa according to specific quality standards. How can a travel agency recommended by Lonely Planet not to have people who speaks English? It is a shame!
A written piece of paper with the program doesn ´t mean profesional!

I hope Lonely Planet guys take this advice into consideration because thanks to us tourists you keep your guidebooks in circulation. Do a better job please beause until the moment Lonely Planet sucks and Trip Advisor too!

Naturaleza Activa: Aventura y Calidad sin límites!

El mejor circuito de Downhill en Arequipa fué reconocido por la prensa arequipeña

Por The Colca Specialist

Finalmente este circuito turístico ha recibido el reconocimiento que se merece. Hecho en Arequipa y por arequipeños.

El circuito turístico de ciclismo de descenso conocido como “Downhill Pichu-Pichu” ha sido "el único circuito turístico de ciclismo de descenso en Arequipa" reconocido por los distintos medios de comunicación como el mejor circuito turístico en Arequipa, esto gracias a la labor realizada por la agencia de viajes y turismo Naturaleza Activa de Arequipa.

Eduardo Sánchez Bendezú ,el creador de dicho circuito turístico agradeció a los cientos de turistas que han hecho posible este reconocimiento gracias a la confianza depositada en NATURALEZA ACTIVA, una agencia de viajes de turismo de aventura en Arequipa,especializada en ecoturismo que ha venido trabajando desde hace muchos años teniendo siempre como único objetivo el ofrecer un servicio cinco estrellas a sus clientes buscando la satisfacción total de los mismos.

No hacía falta ser vidente para poder predecir el éxito de este circuito turístico en el que una vez más ha quedado demostrado que para lograr el éxito se hace necesario “trabajar con lo mejor y con los mejores”. Nada se puede hacer con gente mediocre ni con trabajadores mal capacitados.

La improvisación es una palabra que no existe en el léxico de Naturaleza Activa. La única palabra que existe es KAIZEN o mejora continua. En Naturaleza Activa no se habla de Calidad Total. Se vive la Calidad Total. Eso marca la diferencia.

Naturaleza Activa además de ello está involucrada no sólo en el desarrollo de proyectos de turismo sostenible, sino que también es una empresa involucrada de lleno en proyectos de reciclaje y descontaminación a diferencia de la mayoría de agencias de viajes y turismo de Arequipa a las que sólo les interesa meterse al bolsillo los “gringo dólares” ofreciendo servicios turísticos miserables y paupérrimos dejando por los suelos la imagen del turismo en Arequipa caracterizado por la INFORMALIDAD ,LA IMPROVISACIÓN, EL POCO PROFESIONALISMO Y LA PESIMA CALIDAD DE LOS SERVICIOS TURISTICOS sin dejar de lado la EXPLOTACION de la que son víctimas sus trabajadores.

Naturaleza Activa ha logrado llegar a donde está gracias al trabajo honesto y responsable, sin tener que afiliarse a ninguna de las asociaciones de agencias de turismo de Arequipa las cuales se han convertido en el refugio de las peores agencias de Arequipa.

Esta comprobado que el 76% por ciento de los turistas no creen en la publicidad hecha por las agencias de viajes y turismo de Arequipa a través de sus páginas web.

Como pudimos comprobarlo personalmente, todas las agencias de viajes de Arequipa afirman a través de sus páginas web que son cien por ciento conscientes de la necesidad de la preservación del medio ambiente y del desarrollo de un turismo sostenible, cuando en la realidad hacen todo lo contrario. Se han convertido en “agencias parásito” que sólo viven de comisiones y nada más empobreciendo el desarrollo turístico de Arequipa.

Las más descaradas son aquellas que ponen certificados falsificados del ISO 13000 cuando en realidad el único certificado que deberían tener en exhibición debería ser un letrero de la SUNAT en el que debería decir “CERRADO POR INCOMPETENCIA, ESTAFA, IMPROVISACIÓN Y EVASION DE IMPUESTOS”. No sería mala idea que les pegaran otro cartel en el que diga” CERRADO POR ATENTAR CONTRA EL TURISMO”. Ese tendría mayor impacto. El número de infractores se reduciría.

Naturaleza Activa como marca no es lo que dice su propietario “que es” a través de su página web . Naturaleza Activa como marca es LO QUE DICEN LOS TURISTAS QUE ES. Ni más ni menos. Y ahora vemos los resultados.

Felicitaciones amigos de NATURALEZA ACTIVA! Y sigamos trabajando en pro del desarrollo del turismo sostenible en nuestra querida región Arequipa!

The Colca Specialist

About Trip Advisor advices

By Susan Breslow Sardone

The Bottom Line

Trip Advisor is a travel opinion aggregator. Recently some hotels — especially those with less-than-glowing reviews — have tried inducing guests with discounts, free nights, gifts, and other bribes to post positive reviews that counteract negative statements. Some hotels also encourage staff members to post bogus positive reviews. While Trip Advisor aims to monitor and remove fakes, there's no way the service can totally eliminate them.

Pros
· Trip Advisor is a unique, timely, populist travel resource
· Trip Advisor enables a variety of opinions to be voiced
· Trip Advisor's Quick Check is a well-integrated search engine for online booking

Cons
· Widely diverse opinions ("Loved it!"..."Hated it!") make it hard to objectively evaluate a place
· Dissatisfied guests use Trip Advisor as a venue to broadcast bad experiences
· Trip Advisor has many poorly written trip reviews
· Bogus positive reviews posted along with honest ones can confuse users

Description

· Cities and hotels, restaurants and attractions are covered in the Trip Advisor database.
· Trip Advisor's Hotel Popularity Index provides a ranking of the top hotels in a city.
· Trip Advisor also links to travel guidebooks and Web articles.
· Got a question? Nearly 2/3 of Trip Advisor forum posts get an answer within 24 hours.
· Candid photos by Trip Advisor members provide fresh perspectives.
· Free Trip Advisor emails include Trip Watch, a personalized newsletter, and Weekend Getaway Guide.
· Smart Deals on Trip Advisor indicate highly rated hotels with good prices.

Guide Review - Trip Advisor

Trip Advisor features some 45 million reviews and opinions, including both rants and raves about destinations, hotels, attractions, and restaurants.

If you're like most travelers, when planning a trip you appreciate hearing or reading others' opinions before you choose a place. Yet a surfeit of (often conflicting) voices can create cacophony and confusion. I recently received an email that said:

I am so happy I came across your info on About.com. I am trying to plan a destination wedding, but get so discouraged after reading negative reviews on Trip Advisor about every place I look in to. (Except for Four Seasons and the Ritz, which are too expensive for me).

Here's my advice to get the most from Trip Advisor:

· Take what you read on Trip Advisor with a grain of salt. If you see a scathing one-star review but no other writers complain about the same problem(s), it's safe to write it off as an isolated incident.

· However, if you encounter the same complaint about a hotel repeatedly on Trip Advisor (e.g. "terrible service," "dirty bathroom"), I'd trust it.

· Conversely, a glowing, this-place-couldn't-be-better report on Trip Advisor — especially when it's surrounded by others' complaints — could have been written by a ringer.

· Use Trip Advisor as one — but not your only — resource for travel information. You can get a balanced picture by speaking with trusted friends and acquaintances, talking to a travel agent, and visiting other travel sites in addition to a property's own Web site.

The worst tour guides are from Colonial Tours

Tourists complain against Colonial Tours from Arequipa

by the Colca Specialist

I was reading Trip Advisor just few minutes ago and I saw this comments which I consider very useful so I decided to republish them here.

What is happening with travel agencies in Arequipa? It seems that they just care about filling their vans and buses with lots of tourists! What about the service? What about the clients?

It seems to me that these guys from Colonial Tours they just care about making money and not about the tourists.

Tourists are clients. Without them Colonial Tours is nothing.

Tourist are human beings not walking US DOLLARS notes.They are not walking credit cards my friends so it would be better if you recognize that your service is not good.

If you want to continue in this businness better think it twice because if you continue working the same way you will end on the street.

If you have problems with the tour guides is because you are cheap and stingy. Colonial Tours don´t have good tour guides because they are exploited and not well paid. That´s the main problem in Arequipa. Travel agencies don´t work with professional tour guides but with youngsters who need to work.Exploitation is everywhere in Southamerica. Peru in not the exception. Corruption is another disease that affects tourism in Arequipa too.

How good can be a 23 year old tour guide who has NO EXPERIENCE?

How good can be a 23 year old tour guide who is thinking about making a 10 soles commission per passenger?

How good can be a tour guide who is NOT FROM THE AREA who just know local discoteques and touristic restaurants?

To be a tourist doesn´t mean to be stupid!

As tourists we need to be sustainable too. We should NOT travel with companies that are just exploiting their workers!

Besides the voice of tourists should be heard too. Clients in the past they complained and their voices were never heard but thanks to internet the voice of the clients can be heard very loud all around the world. The compalints are a good oportunity to see what is wrong with our service in order to improve it. The decision is in your hands.

I recommend all foreign visitors to read this blog and if you like you can download the information about the Colca Valley and the Colca Canyon which is very useful for those tourists who are seeking for the local culture. Thank you very much for your attention and don´t forget that this virtual magazine is dedicated to all my tourists around the world.

The Colca Specialist

Complaint against Colonial Tours (taken from Trip Advisor)

We booked our 2-day trip to Colca Canyon Through our hotel and the company They Used WAS Colonial Tours. The canyon itself is well worth seeing but I am sure the experience could have been a lot better with a more professional company.

The canyon is well worth seeing Itself But I am sure the experience Could Have Been a Lot Better With A more professional company.

Right from the start it was clear that our guide wasn't going to speak much English, although the tour was supposed to be both in Spanish and English.
Luckily we understood some Spanish but I have to say that even then his commentaries and instructions weren't that clear.

All the way through the trip, he failed to tell us at each stop where we were; how long we were stopping for; what was worth seeing in the place; etc. 

Basically there was a complete lack of communication.During the 2 days, we learned hardly anything about the area.  He only bothered to say something if someone asked a question and even then the question wasn't repeated and the answer very vague.We approached the guide and told him that we felt completely ignored and weren't very happy about the tour.

This made no difference. Colca Canyon was an amazing place and I would definitely return to the area. However, I will never use Colonial Tours again! Esta crítica es la opinión subjetiva de un miembro de TripAdvisor, no de TripAdvisor LLC.

Another complaint taken from Trip Advisor

“Colca Canyon with Colonial Tours - Not recommended”

Our hostal in Arequipa (Colonial House Inn) set up a Colca Canyon tour with Colonial Tours. We had a very negative experience with Colonial Tours and I would not recommend them to anyone. We feel that we wasted our S/65 plus the S/35 required to enter the Chivay area. (Total = S/100 per person.)

Leo, our guide, made us feel like he could not be bothered speaking English since we were two of the few English speakers on the tour. The tour we were sold was supposed to include a 2 hour trek in Coporaque on the first day, which our guide felt was too much effort. (Instead, we stopped no less than 6 times on the way out to Chivay including a 45+ minute stop for snacks and tea at a restaurant. Granted a couple of the stops were decent, such as when we stopped to see Vicunas, but many of them were unnecessary.) Leo seemed much more interested in trying to get us to eat at overpriced (S/25) buffet restaurants for both lunch and dinner and I wouldn't be surprised if he was getting a cut of the profits. We did at least go to the hot springs in the afternoon (which cost another S/10 per person).

Rather than getting our group going at 6am so we could have as much time at the canyon as possible, he moved our start time to 7am. (His rationale was that it was New Year's Eve and some people wanted to stay up till midnight. It was obvious his bias was a later start time and he only seemed willing to listen to the people who agreed with him rather than sticking with the tour schedule that was sold to us.) The later start time made us late arriving at at Cruz del Condor and cut our time there in half. We then returned for another overpriced lunch (S/25) in Chivay.

Of the 4 hours we were most interested in (2 hours trekking and 2 hours at Cruz del Condor), the tour only delivered 1 hour at Colca Canyon itself. We felt ripped off at having to pay a S/35 fee at the entrance to Chivay when 90% of our tour was shelling out money to overpriced restaurants in Chivay itself.

If I were to redo things, I'd head straight for Cabanaconde (dodging the S/35 fee at Chivay) and set up a hiking excursion there. Note that the Colca Canyon at Cruz del Condor is only 1200 meters. Compare that to the 1800 meter depth of the Grand Canyon and you might be a bit disappointed. The deepest part of the Colca Canyon (4160 meters) is near Cabaconde, so I suspect the views from there are more impressive.

Stay away from the crowds with Naturaleza Activa

by Paul Bellinger

Naturaleza is highly rated by lonely planet and footprint. I've taken several trips with Eduardo (Lalo) and Guillermo Rendon and will continue traveling with them any time I am in Arequipa. Our trip to Colca Canyon was three days and two nights. What sets Naturaleza apart from the other guide companies is that they keep you away from the large crowds of other tourists, taking special routes that other guides do not use or do not know about.

Time and time again we would be ahead of the crowds. I never felt like we were just following all the other tourists around the typical loop in the canyon. On the first day we descended into the canyon and saw no other tourists at all, only locals with their mules. We stayed in an amazing "familiar home," (Roy's in San Juan de Chucho) which doesn't mean we slept on the floor of someone's house, but that we stayed with a family who has built several cozy little cottages on their property and who cooked a traditional dinner and breakfast for us.

Roy's had no electricity, but had plenty of hot water to shower up and great food. The next day we beat the crowds again. We stopped at the museum on our way to the Oasis, just like most tours do, but we got there before them, didn't have to wait in line, and were on our way out when the crowds showed up.

One of our guides (Lalo) went ahead to the Oasis and reserved us a spot at the best pool while preparing fresh fruit for a snack. We had lunch there and swam at the pool for a few hours. The views were awesome and the pool was nice and cool after a long morning of hiking. Then we climbed out of the canyon in the afternoon, once the sun had receded a bit so it wasn't too hot.

Everything was planned perfectly and I wouldn't expect any less from the Colca Specialists at Naturaleza. We stayed at a hotel on the second night in Cabonaconde, where again, our guides reserved us a table for dinner while other tourists were waiting in line to get a table.

Naturaleza has a huge advantage when it comes to providing the best service for their customers, not just because they specialize in Colca trips and have lots of experience, but because everywhere they go they are warmly greeted by the locals who go out of their way to help their friends at Naturaleza provide the best experience for their customers.

I couldn't count the number of old ladies that lit up when they saw Guillermo and rushed to give him a kiss. He's more than a tour guide, he's an adopted son of the region and everyone treats him as such. He's an adopted son of the region (officially) because he stands up for the local communities against other big tour companies that trample on the local culture while trying to profit from tourism.

Check the blog "The Colca Specialist" for details on Guillermo's activism in the community. Once you read it, you'll never think twice about going with another tour company. Lalo (Eduardo) the owner of Naturaleza was also amazing, and always at our service. From serving us food to taking away our dirty plates, Lalo was always there to help us and the locals.

While other tour guides just sit there while the restaurant servers take care of their customers, Lalo does it himself. No wonder the locals love him, he doesn't treat them like servants. On the third day we went to the Cruz del Condor, the only time we were immersed in a big crowd of tourists. And it wasn't a problem, there were so many Condors that they attract a big crowd.

After the condors we went to Chivay for the hot springs. Again, it was not crowded at all when we got there, but as we were leaving, the parking lot was a total traffic jam of tour companies and hikers wanting to relax after some tough hiking. We went to a nice buffet for lunch and again, by the time we were leaving there was a huge line for the buffet and we were already stuffed and on our way.

Like I said, Naturaleza keeps you ahead of the crowd at every turn. They keep your stomach full of awesome food, your head full of information about the local cultures, and your legs tired from great hiking. By the end of the trip I felt like I was actually ripping them off when I thought about all of the food, hotels, hot springs, pools, and overall amazing service that I got for my money.

I truly couldn't believe how amazing everything went and that there were no miscellaneous charges for all of the cool stuff we did. I highly recommend Naturaleza Activa for any trip in the Arequipa area, but especially Colca Canyon, as they are truly the Colca Specialists.

You'll be traveling with the owner of the company himself who takes every effort to provide the best service possible. And if you get the privilege of going with Guillermo, you'll be with the adopted son of the region, the secretary general of the tourist association of the province, and a man who stands side by side with the local people as they struggle to cope with the reality of tourism in their communities. Don't think twice, go with Naturaleza!

The worst one day tour to Colca Canyon

by Lisa Cooper

Finland

COLONIAL TOURS AREQUIPA

The other day I had the opportunity of taking a one-day tour with Colonial Tours wich is much recommended by Trip Advisor . We were picked up at 03:00 am in the morning for a one day tour to the Colca Canyon. The van was OK and the driver too. But the tour guide is the reason of this article.

The tour guide we had was a complete disaster and the English he spoke was really bad and we didn´t understand anything of the things he said.

How can be Colonial Tours be recommended by Trip Advisor? Colonial Tours service is terrible. The guide was not a professional guide because a professional guide introduces himself at the beginning of the tour. After that he should give a briefing of the tour and that never happened.
Hopefully we didn´t took the two day tour to the Colca Canyon. Two days with the same guide would have been terrible.

When we arrive to Chivay we were taken to a restaurant to have breakfast and then we continued with the tour.

He started to talk about the terraces in Colca Valley and he said that terraces “were carved” on the walls of the Colca Valley! Carved? Oh my God! Where did he study to be a tour guide? Then he continue talking about the wonderful terraces in Cusco area and how they were built. I don´t know if he realized that we were in Colca Valley and we wanted to know more about the place. His way of speaking English made me thought in some moments that he was drunk!

Then he stopped explaining and he started saying that he was a shaman and that he was not married. Those were the most dumb comments we ever heard during the tour.Another tour guide playing the inca game to call attention of the gringos.

We met other tour guides who were explaining their groups about the people, about their culture and traditions,etc and the one we had just spoke about the terraces of Cusco area and lots of nonsense about the condors. Does a condor live 80 years?

I don´t plan to recommend Colonial Tours in Arequipa because the service given was very low quality. I came to Peru because my main interest was to know more about the inca and preinca Peruvian cultures. Colca Valley and Colca Canyon are very interesting, but because of that terrible tour guide I feel that my holidays in Colca Canyon were just a waste of time.

I would like to thank the Colca Specialist for the wonderful free information published about Colca Valley and Colca Canyon and the next time if I come back to Colca Canyon I am planning to print the information in order to have a good cultural background of Colca Canyon.

Lisa Cooper
Finland.

Accident in Colca Canyon sends three tourists to the hospital

by the Colca Specialist

Colca Canyon is literally the main attraction in Arequipa. Many visitors from all around the world come to visit the condors realm,but not everything is perfect.

Yesterday the travel agency Peru Andes, a trekking operator travel agency from Arequipa who operates Colca Canyon circuit had a terrible accident, when one of his buses was coming back to Arequipa from a tour in Colca Canyon. The result was a tour guide severely injured and three tourists whose holidays will be inside the hospital.

The fog and the heavy rains in this season make this circuit dangerous in this season. There are many landslides in places like Cabanaconde for example because of the heavy rains.

Long time ago, because of several accidents on the road, the local authorities recommended the visitors not to take the one day tour to Colca Canyon because it is not safe for the visitors. But as it seems travel agencies don´t care a bit about safety and now we see the results.

The tours depart everyday at 03:30 am from Arequipa and then they go straight to the condor cross to see the condors and then back to Chivay at Midday for lunch and hotsprings.After this they go back to Arequipa to arrive to the white city at 05:30 pm aproximatedly.

If we calculate the driver has to drive 13 to 14 hours aproximatedly.That is too much. And it is against the laws ,but don´t forget that in Southamerica the law is just a word that is not put into practice. There is just one driver during all the tour and that is dangerous. There is no a substitute driver.

After the hot springs and lunch the poor driver is sleeping on the steering wheel and that provokes accidents.

On the way back to Arequipa, 90 percent of the drivers chew Coca leaves to avoid falling asleep. But, let me tell you something, Coca leaves don´t do miracles. If that driver is falling asleep, it is because he was doing several tours the same week ,and be sure that that tour van is a candidate to win the last ride prize. If you see your driver chewing Coca leaves on the way back to Arequipa, it means that that driver is about to fall asleep.

On the way back to Arequipa everybody goes sleeping and as everybody knows sleeping is contagious.

One day tours are not recommended in Colca Canyon because of these situations. The other problem is that there are very cheap tours in Arequipa and those are the ones who are provoking the accidents. We have free market. The laws don´t regulate prices and there are tours that are expensive and others that are very cheap. Travel agencies don´t have a quality certification eventhough some owners of travel agencies say they do.

The driver comes back to Arequipa after a tour and the next day the same driver is travelling again and that is dangerous for the tourists.

One day tours are not recommended. Many accidents happen in Arequipa specifically in Colca Canyon circuit, accidents that are hidden from the eyesight of the press. Scandals are not good in tourism, because it means no sales, so that is why we have to be very careful before buying a tour. Visitors should check the weather news and it is irresponsible not to be well informed about the areas where we are planning to spend our holidays.

Speed excess is another problem, tour vans have a reputation of being the fastest, but come on guys we don’t need speed but safety.

The roads in this season are very foggy and rainy so it is better to be very careful and to avoid travelling to places in the highlands that in this season cannot be really appreciated because of the heavy rains and the fog.

There are many trails in Peru that get closed during the rainy season because of safety reasons.
The Colca specialist will keep you informed about all the aspects that deal with the condors realm Colca Canyon. Thank you for your attention and good luck.

The Colca Specialist.

Trip Advisor: Is it reliable?

by the Colca Specialist

Trip Advisor is a web site whose main goal is to offer information to travelers from all around the world.On the net, there are many travellers blogs who share their traveling experiences on them,but most of the travellers before making a decision they check the information of a web site like Trip Advisor.

Many visitors don´t trust much the travellers blogs because many comments and suggestions are relative. In the case of those web sites specialized in traveling, the comments and the suggestions are going to be done according to a specific criteria,mainly based on an analysis of the services provided by those travel agencies, tour guides, or hotels.

Of course, travellers blogs are gaining terrain specially in the last years because many of them are written by people who have experience in this field of tourism.

The other problem with travel agencies web sites is that “all of them are very good” on the net. Most of them exaggerate about the quality of their services and when the traveller comes to Arequipa and books for a tour to Colca Canyon realises of the real situation: many travel agencies are not good even though that they are recommended in Trip Advisor.

As a specialist in organized trips in Arequipa and Colca Canyon, I checked many different forums about trips in Colca Canyon and Arequipa. I checked Trip Advisor forum too and I discovered that many travel agencies are becoming members of Trip Advisor with a specific interest: to write wonderful comments about their services provided.

Comments of backpackers are not reliable too. Most of them are looking for discounts and discounts are offered if they write “good comments” about the services provided by the travel agency they are traveling with.

If you check the comments about trekking tours in Colca Canyon it is incredible to see the quantity of exaggerated comments about tour guides, travel agencies whose services don´t really deserve those comments!

Because of Informality in Arequipa, a law was published recently. It says that all tour guides have to be professional or specialists in their areas. Travel agencies have to be formal.

All guides that do the conventional tour to Colca Canyon are registered and professional, but in the case of trekking in Colca Canyon 90% of the guides are ilegal and informal. They don´t speak english fluently ,just a few do it and their knowledge about the area is very poor.

The authorities are taking measures now to solve this problem.

Going back to the point, we cannot trust on comments that say that the services provided were really great. If I pay for a tour guide it is because I want to be given information about the area I am visiting.But if the guide doesn´t speak english fluently what kind of tour I am going to have?

Most of the trekking tour guides in Colca Canyon are charismatic. If you ask questions about the origin of the Colca Canyon for example, they are going to smile because they are not going to be able to answer your question.

Many tourists are not happy with the tour they took, but because it was so cheap and the guide was so friendly they feel compromised and don´t complain, because they payed 100 soles or 30 US for a 2 day trekking tour in the Colca Canyon that includes hotel, transportation, tour guide, all meals included. What kind of service I am going to have for that price? The worst.

If you check travel agencies in Arequipa, they have very nice offices, but when you take the tour you can easily realize that the “tour guide” who is not professional is not making it good. Unemployment rate in Arequipa is 46% so you can imagine.Easy to realize.

That is why the tour guides and the bus drivers are so eager to take you to eat to specific restaurants in order to get “comissions” . Restaurants give them from 5 to 7 soles per person and that is not really honest. Travel agencies make it good. The most affected are the tourists who are cheated all time. This topic is very delicate in Colca Canyon and if you ask the locals about what they think about tour guides you will realize that they are very unpopular in Colca Canyon and Colca Valley because of their abusive commisions.

If you want to check if a travel agency is good, just check different travel guidebooks.
For example, just a few ones were awarded by the Ministery of tourism o Arequipa. If one is awarded by the major of Arequipa or by the major of Colca Canyon you have an ace in your hands! Those are the ones that don´t really need exaggerated comments in trip advisor forums because they are very well known in Arequipa.

In my case I love travellers blogs because they are more personal .I like Trip Advisor too but we have to be very careful with those exaggerated comments...Thank you for your kind attention and good luck...