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.

History of trepanation

Trepanation, or trephination (both derived from the Greek word trypanon, meaning "to bore") is perhaps the oldest form of neurosurgery. The procedure, which is called a craniotomy in medical terminology, involves the removal of a piece of bone from the skull, and it has been performed since prehistoric times. The oldest trepanned skull, found at a neolithic burial site of Ensisheim in France, is more than 7,000 years old, and trepanation was practised by the Ancient Egyptians, Chinese, Indians, Romans, Greeks and the early Mesoamerican civilizations. The procedure is still performed today, for both medical and non-medical reasons.

The trepanned skulls found at prehistoric European sites contained round holes, which varied in size from just a few centimetres in diameter to nearly half of the skull. They are most commonly found in the parietal bone, and also in the occipital and frontal bones, but rarely in the temporal bone. In the earliest European trepanned skulls, the holes were made by scraping the bone away with sharp stones such as flint or obsidian; later, primitive drilling tools were used to drill small holes arranged in circles, after which the piece of bone inside the circle was removed. The late Medieval period saw the introduction of mechanical drilling and sawing instruments, whose sophistication would continue to increase for several hundred years.

There is a great deal of speculation about why ancient civilizations used trepanation, as it was - and still is - carried out in the absence of head trauma. However, it is almost certain that all those who used it did so because they somehow linked the brain with behaviour. Some anthropologists suggest that trepanation was performed as part of tribal or superstitious rituals.

Other researchers believe that the procedure was used as a treatment for conditions such as headaches, epilepsy, hydrocephalus and mental disorders. These were presumably attributed to possession by evil demons, such that a hole in the skull would have provided the spirits a passage for escape. Although the reasons for trepanning and the instruments used for the procedure differ with time and from culture to culture, the result is always the same: a hole in the head, usually made when the individual was fully conscious and, often, unanaesthetized.

Some suggest that trepanation was used specifically to treat depressed skull fractures, and there is historical evidence that it was used for medical reasons. For example, the ancient Greek physicians used various instruments for trepanning, including the terebra (right). The way this instrument was used is easily inferred from its structure: the cross-beam was used to wind the thong tightly around the central beam. When released, the centre beam rotated quickly, so that applying downward pressure on the instrument would cause it to bore through the skull. This instrument may have been used to drill single small holes, but it is more likely to have been used to make multiple holes arranged in a circle, so that the piece of bone within the circle was made easier to remove.

Hippocrates (460-370 B.C.E.) describes the types of injuries for which trepanning was used in this passage from On the Injuries of the Head:

...the contusion, whether the bone be laid bare or not; and the fissure, whether apparent or not. And if, when an indentation by a weapon takes place in a bone it be attended with fracture and contusion, and even if contusion alone, without fracture, be combined with the indentation, it requires trepanning...those [bones] which are most pressed and broken require trepanning the least.

The first specimen of a trepanned skull was found in 1685 by Bernard de Montfauchon at a site in Cocherel, France, but its importance was not recognized. In 1816, a second specimen was found by Alexander Francois Barbie du Bovage at Nogentles-les-Vierges. This time, it was recognized that the skull had belonged to an individual on whom a craniotomy had been performed, apparently years before his death.

However, the second specimen was considered to be exceptional, and little thought was given to why the skull had been perforated. In 1839, Samuel George Morton depicted a trepanned skull in his book Crania Americana, but mistakenly assumed the hole had occurred as the result of a battle wound. Although the second specimen to be found was recognized as a craniotomy, the real significance of the skulls had escaped scientists and physicians.

It was not until the latter half of the nineteenth century that investigators began to appreciate the significance of trepanation. Ephraim George Squier (1821-1888) had acquired a specimen of a trepanned skull, and brought it to the attention of the scientific and medical communities in America and Europe. Squier was a self-taught archaeologist and a respected writer and journalist, who was appointed by Abraham Lincoln to act as the U. S. Commissioner to Peru. He first encountered the now famous specimen during a visit to the home of a wealthy woman, in the Peruvian region of Cuzcoo. As he marvelled at the woman's collection of artifacts - which he later described as the finest collection of pre-Columbian art in Peru - Squier noticed a fragment of a skull containing a square hole measuring 15 x 17 mm (top left). He immediately recognized that the hole was man-made.

In this passage from his book about Peru, Squier describes his first impressions of the skull fragment, and how its owner allowed him to take it with him so that it could be examined:

...the most important relic in Senora Zentino's collection is the frontal bone of a skull, from the Inca cemetery in the valley of Yucay, which exhibits a clear case of trepanning before death. The senora was kind enough to give it to me for investigation, and it has been submitted to the criticism of the best surgeons of the United States and Europe, and regarded by all as the most remarkable evidence of a knowledge of surgery among the aborigines yet discovered on this continent; for trepanning is one of the most difficult surgical processes. The cutting through the bone was not performed with a saw, but evidently with a burin, or tool like that used by engravers on wood and metal. The opening is fifty-eight hundredths of an inch wide and seventy hundreds long.

Squier left Peru, and took the skull fragment to the New York Academy of Medicine, where he asked Dr. August K. Gardner to examine it and present it to the other members of the Academy. At the time, the relationship between brain size, race and intelligence was a hotly debated topic in scientific academies around the world.

The general consensus among academics was that the three factors were intimately linked: non-whites were less intelligent than white because they had smaller skulls and brains. There was, therefore, great interest in the skull that Squier had acquired, as it provided the first evidence for trepanation in an ancient and "primitive" culture.

Most of the physicians at the Academy interpreted Squeir's specimen as "a case of trephining." This interpretation is documented in the minutes of the Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine:

The skull showed that during the patient's life an operation for trephining had been performed, a square-shaped piece of bone having been removed from the frontal bone, by what would appear to have been a gouging instrument. At one portion of the opening there seemed to be evidence of the attempt on the part of nature to form new bone, to repair the injury done by the operation.

All of the Academy's members agreed that the hole was man-made, but a few argued that there was no evidence of bone growth, and that it must therefore have been made after the individual's death. Squier then crossed the Atlantic and took the skull to Paul Broca, a leading anthropologist who had founded the Societe d'Anthropologie de Paris in 1859. Broca had been interested in craniometry for some time, particularly in relation to the ongoing debates about the relationship between brain size, race and intelligence.

Upon examination of the specimen, Broca found no sign of fracture, and wondered why the procedure had been performed. He suggested that the had been perforated to relieve built-up intracranial pressure followed a closed head injury, and that the patient had died several days after the trepanation was performed:

There is no fracture or fissure of either external or internal table...and the surgeon who performed the operation could consequently only be governed by functional troubles when diagnosing the existence of an intra-cranial lesion. Was this diagnosis correct? Did the operation succeed in evacuating a fluid poured into the cranium? I am far from affirming this, but am tempted to believe it.

In effect, the internal table around the opening is the seat of a very different alteration from that which existed on the external table around the denudation...These peculiarities and several others, which would take too long to detail, are well explained, if we suppose that there had been for some days before the operation an effusion of blood under the dura mater.

Contrary to the widely-held belief that all ancient, and particularly non-white, civilizations were primitive, Broca - who not only accepted the popular view himself, but was also partly responsible for its formation - concluded that the skull fragment was strong evidence of "advanced surgery" by the ancient Peruvians:

What astonishes me is not the boldness of the operation, as ignorance is often the mother of boldness. To trepan on an apparent fracture at the bottom of a wound is a sufficiently simple conception and does not necessitate the existence of advanced surgical arts. But here the trepanning was performed on a point where there was no fracture, and probably not even a wound, so that the surgical act was preceded by a diagnosis.

Whether this diagnosis was correct, as is probable, or false, we are in either case authorized to conclude that there was in Peru, before the European era, a surgery already very advanced - and this entirely new notion is not without interest for American anthropology.

Broca also experimented with trepanation himself. He found that a hole could very easily be made in the skull of a deceased 2-year-old child; using a simple glass scraper, the procedure took him about 4 minutes. But the same procedure took about 50 minutes when performed on a skull from an adult. (Young childrens crania are easier to perforate than those of adults because the process of calcification is not yet complete.) Broca therefore wrongly assumed that the Incas usually performed trepanation on the young.

By 1867, following the presentation of Squier's specimen in New York, and Broca's publication of his observations of the skull fragment, there was increasing interest in trepanation. Investigators began searching for more specimens and subsequently hundreds of trepanned skulls would be found in every corner of Europe. One French site, for example, contained 120 skulls, 40 of which had been trepanned.

The specimen Squeir had obtained came from the Cuczo region of Peru, where many other trepanned skulls have since been found. At one Paracas Indian necropolis located south of Lima, for example, 10,000 complete and well-preserved bodies were found. They belonged to the Incas and to the pre-Inca Tallan and Mochica cultures; around 6% had been trepanned, and many contained multiple holes. From these subsequent discoveries it is clear that the square opening in Squeir's specimen - which is housed at the American Museum of Natural History in New York and is now dated to 1400-1530 - is not at all unusual.

In both pre-Inca and Inca cultures, trepanation was performed using a cermonial knife called a tumi (above right). The patient's head was held tightly between the surgeon's knees, and the tumi blade, which consisted of a sharp piece of flint or copper, was then rubbed back and forth along the surface of the skull. In this way, four incisions arranged in a criss cross pattern, were made in the skull (these are clearly visible in Ephraim's drawing at the top).

The tumi blade increased in thickness close to the sharp edge, thus it was prevented from suddenly penetrating the skull to far. When the incisions were deep enough, the square-shaped piece of bone in the middle of the criss cross was prized out from the skull. An exact survival rate cannot be determined, but the presence of multiple holes in many of the Peru skulls suggests that the individuals survived more than one procedure; some estimates, based on the rate of bone growth seen around the holes in the skulls, put the survival rate at greater than 60%. The Aztecs used similar trepanning instruments, consisting of a sharp semicircular piece of obsidian attached to a wooden handle. Some copper and bronze instruments have also been found, sometimes with ornate and elaborate handles.

Abu al-Qasim al-Zahrawi (Latinized as Albucasis) provides descriptions of the instruments used by Arab surgeons in the twelfth century. A sharp pointed borer was used to make small holes arranged in a cirlce, and another with a spear-shaped head was then used to remove the round piece of bone in the middle. Ambroise Pare (1517-1590), a barber-surgeon who often operated on the battlefield, employed trepanning instruments that had braces or drill stocks to which saws were attached with binding screws. In his treatises on surgery, Pare also described "trepanes or round saws for cutting out a circular piece of bone with a sharp-pointed nail in the centre projecting beyond the teeth," and another trepan with a transverse handle. The mechanical cogwheel trepan (above left) was invented by Matthia Narvatio in Antwerp in 1575.

The cogwheel was connected to a second wheel which rotated a circular saw that cut through the bone. This instrument was used much in the same way as a modern hand drill - held in one hand and cranked with the other. But it was extremely heavy and cumbersome, and therefore did not become popular among the surgeons of the time.

A further and highly significant advance in trepanning instruments came with the invention of a central screw. In the mid-sixteenth century, a trepan consisting of a head brace and drill stock to which a circular saw or sharp perforator was widely available. In 1632, Joannis Scultetus, who was one of the most accomplished seventeenth century surgeons, described an instrument called a trioploides, which he used for raising depressed skull fractures.

This was a three-legged instrument with a long centrally-placed screw, similar to the "crown" trepan in the image on the right. In his book Armamentarium chirurgicum, which was published in 1655, Scultetus provided beautiful illustrations of various types of cranial surgery, including trepanation, as well as the instruments used to perform them (below). He also described what he called "male" and "female" instruments, the former with, and the latter without, central screws, and explained how together they were used for trepanning:

Before we use the females, we must make a print on the skull with the male so that the female may stand faster upon it. Now for to trepan the skull the Chyrurgian must have at hand at least three trepans exactly equal to each other; one male and two females, so that he may oft-times change them.

Today, trepanning is still used routinely by doctors traumatic brain injuries. The biggest advocate of trepanation for non-medical purposes is a Dutchman named Bart Hughes, who makes pseudoscientific claims that the procedure can be used to reach a higher state of consciousness:

I met [someone who] used to stand on his head...for considerable periods of time. When I asked him why he did it, he said it got him high. [Later, I was given] some mescaline, and it was then that I got my first clear picture of the mechanism, realizing that it was the increase in the volume of brainblood [sic] that gave the expanded consciousness...[which] must have been caused by more blood in the brain which meant there must have been less of something else. Then I realized that it must be the volume of cerebrospinal fluid that was decreased.

...I thought about making a hole at the base of the spine to let the fluid out, and while thinking about holes I realized that pressure was necessary to squeeze the cerebrospinal fluid out of the system. Then, having concluded upon the nil pressure inside the adult skull (in most people the skull seals between the ages of eighteen and twenty-two) I saw that any hole in the bony surrounding of the system would give the pressure back. But after a time I realized a hole in the spine would heal over so it had to be in the skull, where holes stay open.

In 1965, Hughes famously performed a trepanation on himself using an electric drill, a surgical knife and a hypodermic needle to administer a local anaesthetic. He has followers who have also performed self-trepanation, or have asked friends to do it for them.

Government Investigates Fake Trip Advisor Reviews

I received this article and I would like to re-publish it because the same situation is happenning here in Colca Canyon. There are lots of recomendations for small travel agencies done by personel from the same travel agencies with fake emails and fake identities. It is better to check not only in Trip Advisor but also on other travel information sources in order to avoid problems.The Colca Specialist denounced this situation before so we hope the authorities start to investigate the fake trip advisor´s reviews.

The Colca Specialist

Government Investigates Fake Trip Advisor Reviews

Author: Kaleel Sakakeeny Published: September 12, 2011 at 7:51 am

A few weeks back we reported on the stink being raised by the discovery that hotels were bribing their guests with discounts and free room stays if they wrote positive reviews about a property.

We noted the corrupt or compromised reviews seemed most prevalent in UK, and quoted TripAdvisor's UK spokesperson as being rigorously opposed to the practice.

Now we read in the usually reliable industry site, hotel marketing.com that the UK's Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) is officially investigating the review giant because complaints have " reached monumental levels."

The clear implication is that without review safeguards, the reviews are worthless, and worthless reviews spell the end for TripAdvisor or any site whose reason for being are reviews.
If the ASA finds against TripAdvisor it could spell trouble for spin-off Expedia, a huge ad monger.

Argophilia an east European travel site, headlined the story as " TripAdvisor's Fake Review Sickness Goes Critical" and concluded that too many of TripAdvisor's 50 million plus may not be reliable.

In fairness, it can be said that any on line review site can be bought or weighted... and this covers Yelp, books on Amazon, Tweets, product reviews and technology.

Of course credible reviews exist, but how can they be identified?

Google + may have sidestepped the issues by requiring the use of real identities, an approach TripAdvisor may, unwillingly, have to adopt.

As long as social media continues to be such a powerful influence in travel and other fields, there will always be reviews for sale or offers of "hundreds of live visitors to your site for 100 bucks."
In the meantime, the investigations go on.

TripAdvisor is still a valuable resource for travelers, but the cheats and the good guys continue to battle it out.

As always, buyer or reader beware.Read more:

http://technorati.com/lifestyle/travel/article/government-investigates-fake-tripadvisor-reviews/#ixzz1XqpXfRJd

Tips for Bloggers

by the Colca Specialist

I received a nice letter from my fellows asking me about blogging! So I was looking around and I found this nice article called THE ZEN OF BLOGGING ,article written by Hunter Nutall. Since I love Zen I would like to share it with you my friends. Thank you for writing.

The Colca Specialist

THE ZEN OF BLOGGING

What is the Sound of One Hand Clapping?

If you're into Zen and you're into blogging, read and share this ebook.
If you're into Zen but you're not into blogging, share this ebook.
If you're not into Zen but you're into blogging, read this ebook.
If you're not into Zen and you're not into blogging, read it twice.

Up the Mountain

They say that when the student is ready, the master will appear. One day I felt ready, and I began the long climb to the top of Mount Blogmore. Was the legend true? Did the old man really exist? No one knew for sure, but we knew that every aspiring blogger had felt compelled to seek him out when their time had come. We also knew they were never seen again.

And so I climbed Mount Blogmore, with a strange force pulling me to the summit even though my knees quivered with fear. It wasn't my choice, it was my destiny. I had to know if I had it in me. I had to know if my inner blogger was ready to be awakened.

As I got closer, I was greeted with heavy snow and bitter cold winds. I was stopped in my tracks several times, unable to breath the freezing air. I pressed forward but didn't know if my body could take it. The old man, if he was real, sure didn't make it easy to be found. But when I reached the top, everything changed.

The snow melted away in a brilliant flash of sunlight. The clean mountain air was filled with the sounds of chirping birds and a babbling brook. My aching joints and muscles felt the pain slip away. But wait—was this real? While my mind was here, did my body lie motionless on the side of the mountain? Was I in heaven?

No, this was real. I still had my wits about me, and I knew I had not left the earthly plane. But this was a very special place. I felt a strange sense of euphoria spreading through my body. And somehow I was not surprised when I turned around to see the old man standing before me.

He pulled down the hood of his robe to reveal himself. He was easily a hundred years old,yet seemed to have astounding physical strength and mental clarity. He had a long white beard, and a solemn look on his face.

I tried my best to stammer out an introduction.

"I...I..."

"Yes, I know who you are, fool," said the old man. "You came here because you want to be a great blogger. I can help you. I can reveal all the secrets of blogging. I can teach you to write posts that pierce the souls of the toughest warriors, or make angels drown in tears.
Yours can be the blog that launched a thousand ships, all full of people dying to subscribe."

The old man paced back and forth, touching his bearded chin.

"And yet," he said, "I sense great doubt within you. You're not sure if you can really do it.
You're not even sure if you really want to. This will not do. Doubt leads to conflict. Conflict leads to indecision. Indecision leads to bad blogging."

He reached to his belt and drew a sword that gleamed with a faint yellow glow. Walking up to a pile of boulders, he paused for a second. Then with a quick, smooth stroke, he sliced clean through solid rock! He then turned to me.

I slowly backed away, but tripped over my own feet and fell to the ground. He continued moving towards me, and slowly raised his sword above his head.

"I'll make this very simple for you," he said. "If you start a blog, I will cut off your head, and if you do not start a blog, I will also cut off your head. So, will you start a blog?"

I sat there completely silent and motionless for what seemed like an eternity.
He then lowered his sword to tap me gently on the shoulder.
"The student is ready," he said.

Day 1: Getting Started

"What time is it?" the old man asked.
"It is now."
"Where are you?"
"I am here."
"Why are you here?"
"To understand."
"Who are you?"
"I am a student of blogging."
"Who am I?"
"You are the master."

"Good," the old man said. "Now you begin your journey. There is no need to reinvent the wheel. We will study those who have walked the path before you."

The old man then booted up a laptop that was running Windows Vista. He opened Internet Explorer 7, and then opened many blogs in different tabs without it crashing. What a magical place this was!

I took a closer look, and saw that we were looking at some of the greatest blogs in history.
There were blogs about gadgets, fashion, politics, sports, productivity, finance, travel, the Internet...just about anything you could think of.

"There are only two places you will find answers," the old man said. "One is within yourself.

The other is in these blogs. For now, you have no answers within yourself, so we must start by observing these blogs. For the rest of the day, you will read them, but not think about them. Keep your mind perfectly clear. Begin now."

I read those blogs until I fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.

Day 2: Choosing a Niche

"Today you will learn about choosing a niche," the old man said. "Look at these blogs, and
tell me what you see."

"Well, this one is about a topic that so many other people are writing about. There must be a lot of competition for this topic. Is this a bad niche?"

"No, it's a wonderful niche," the old man said. "It may be crowded, but a voice that's worth hearing will always be heard over ones that aren't."

"I see. And what about this one? This blogger is not concentrating on a narrowly-focused topic, but writes about many different things. Is this a bad niche?"

"No, it's a wonderful niche," the old man said. "While the content may be diverse, it's all related when you see the big picture. This blogger is focused on a particular audience, and serves their needs well."

"I see. And what about this one? This blogger is writing about their personal life, which I thought was a big no-no, an exercise in vanity. Is this a bad niche?"

"Ponder that question," the old man said, "and tell me the answer on the last day."

Day 3: Domain Names

"Today you will learn about domain names," the old man said. "Look at these blogs, and tell me what you see."

"Well, this one is very long. Is this a bad domain name?"

"No, it's a wonderful domain name," the old man said. "While it may be a lot of characters, it's only two words. It's simple and memorable."

"I see. And what about this one? This one is made up of nonsense words. Is this a bad domain name?"

"No, it's a wonderful domain name," the old man said. "While the words don't make sense,they have a nice ring to them. They roll off the tongue and flow with the blog."

"I see. And what about this one? This one is long, has five words, and they're even
misspelled. Is this a bad domain name?"

"Ponder that question," the old man said, "and tell me the answer on the last day."

Day 4: Blogging Platforms

"Today you will learn about blogging platforms," the old man said. "Look at these blogs, and tell me what you see."

"Well, it seems that almost everyone uses WordPress.org because it's free, easy to install, and offers a lot of features and plugins. But this one uses WordPress.com. Is this a bad platform?"

"No, it's a wonderful platform," the old man said. "WordPress.com provides the hosting, so it's extremely quick, easy, and cheap to set up. It's faster to get a blog going with a hosted platform, and that was the most important thing for the blogger at the time, although they might move to self-hosting later in order to have their own domain name and more control over their blog."

"I see. And what about this one? I can't even figure out what platform this one uses. Is this a bad platform?"

"No, it's a wonderful platform," the old man said. "The blogger is a programmer, and he actually created his own blogging platform to have the highest degree of flexibility. Most people can't do that, but it's an option for those with the inclination."

"I see. And what about this one? It uses Squarespace. That's not even free. Is this a bad platform?"

"Ponder that question," the old man said, "and tell me the answer on the last day."

Day 5: Themes

"Today you will learn about themes," the old man said. "Look at these blogs, and tell me what you see."

"Well, this one uses a free theme. You probably get what you pay for, and there are
probably many other blogs that look just like it. Is this a bad theme?"

"No, it's a wonderful theme," the old man said. "Today there are many free themes out there that are very high-quality. And as the number of themes grows, it becomes less likely that another blogger is using the same theme. This one has also had some simple customizations made."

"I see. And what about this one? This is a paid theme. What you just said makes it sound like paid themes aren't needed. Is this a bad theme?"

"No, it's a wonderful theme," the old man said. "This person found someone who made them a completely customized theme for a low price. It's truly unique, because it was made just for them. And it's designed to perfectly accommodate the advertising they have."

"I see. And what about this one? This one looks awfully complex. It has so many different sections that I get a little bit lost. Is this a bad theme?"

"Ponder that question," the old man said, "and tell me the answer on the last day."

Day 6: Plugins

"Today you will learn about plugins," the old man said. "Look at these blogs, and tell me what you see."

"Well, this one only uses Akismet to filter out comment spam, and no other plugins at all.That doesn't seem very sophisticated. Is this a bad use of plugins?"

"No, it's a wonderful use of plugins," the old man said. "The blogger doesn't need any fancy features, and wanted to keep it as simple as possible. It makes it very easy to maintain the blog, because the plugins never have to be upgraded and there are no compatibility issues."

"I see. And what about this one? This blog has a number of plugins. Maybe that's too complicated. Is this a bad use of plugins?"

"No, it's a wonderful use of plugins," the old man said. "There aren't too many plugins here, so it's not too much maintenance overhead. But they have some useful plugins to do things such as improving their SEO, making database backups, and letting people subscribe to comments. This is an easy way to provide some additional features on their blog."

"I see. And what about this one? This blog has every single plugin under the sun. Is this a bad use of plugins?"

"Ponder that question," the old man said, "and tell me the answer on the last day."

Day 7: Blogging Voices

"Today you will learn about blogging voices," the old man said. "Look at these blogs, and tell me what you see."

"Well, this one is written very formally. It almost seems like I'm reading a textbook. Is this a bad blogging voice?"

"No, it's a wonderful blogging voice," the old man said. "Because of the nature of the blog, the readers are expecting a more formal tone. The blogger understands the target audience and writes the way that best speaks to them."

"I see. And what about this one? This blog is written in a very friendly tone. It seems a bit casual. Is this a bad blogging voice?"

"No, it's a wonderful blogging voice," the old man said. "Because this blog attracts readers who are interested in hearing about personal experiences, the blog is written in such a way as to make them feel at home."

"I see. And what about this one? This blog sounds very sarcastic and even condescending.Is this a bad blogging voice?"

"Ponder that question," the old man said, "and tell me the answer on the last day."

Day 8: Posting Frequency

"Today you will learn about posting frequency," the old man said. "Look at these blogs, and tell me what you see."

"Well, this one posts only once or twice a week. That doesn't seem like enough. Is this a bad posting frequency?"

"No, it's a wonderful posting frequency," the old man said. "Because there aren't enough posts to overwhelm anyone, someone who subscribes is likely to remain subscribed. Also,when a post stays on top for a longer period of time, it gets more comments. And of course,it takes less effort to post less often."

"I see. And what about this one? This blogger posts multiple times per day. That seems like way too much. Is this a bad posting frequency?"

"No, it's a wonderful posting frequency," the old man said. "Because this blogger is one who breaks the news in his industry, he has to make a post to announce every relevant event.His readers trust him to provide all the available news on this topic."

"I see. And what about this one? This blog is very unpredictable. Sometimes there will be a few posts in one day, and then there won't be any more for a couple of weeks. It's hard to know what to expect. Is this a bad posting frequency?"

"Ponder that question," the old man said, "and tell me the answer on the last day."

Day 9: Post Length

"Today you will learn about post length," the old man said. "Look at these blogs, and tell me what you see."

"Well, this one has very short posts, about 250 words each. That doesn't seem long enough to be useful. Is this a bad post length?"

"No, it's a wonderful post length," the old man said. "This blogger is mainly reporting the news in her industry. She's gotten good at quickly saying what needs to be said, and pointing her readers to where they can get more information."

"I see. And what about this one? This blog has longer posts, about a thousand words each.
That seems a bit much for busy people to read. Is this a bad post length?"

"No, it's a wonderful post length," the old man said. "This blogger has a reputation for adding original thoughts to the topic. The posts are a little longer because they're deeper.While fewer people will read them, those who do will get more out of them."

"I see. And what about this one? This blog has very long posts, several thousand words each. That seems to be a lot more than people want to read. Is this a bad post length?"

"Ponder that question," the old man said, "and tell me the answer on the last day."

Day 10: Images

"Today you will learn about images," the old man said. "Look at these blogs, and tell me what you see."

"Well, this one doesn't have any images at all. It's just text, without a single picture in sight. Is this a bad use of images?"

"No, it's a wonderful use of images," the old man said. "This blogger writes about a topic for which it's hard to find relevant images. The time it would take to try to find good images can be better spent on writing new posts."

"I see. And what about this one? This blog has an image for every single post. That must be a waste of time. Is this a bad use of images?"

"No, it's a wonderful use of images," the old man said. "Great images on this topic are easily found, and putting one in each post is a great way to bring the posts to life."

"I see. And what about this one? This blog has several images on each post, and they don't appear to be relevant to the topic of the blog. Is this a bad use of images?"

"Ponder that question," the old man said, "and tell me the answer on the last day."

Day 11: Monetization

"Today you will learn about monetization," the old man said. "Look at these blogs, and tell me what you see."

"Well, this one has no monetization at all. The blogger is basically working for free. Is this bad monetization?"

"No, it's wonderful monetization," the old man said. "By having no monetization on this blog, the blogger gains more readers and builds a reputation. He then turns around and sells services by leveraging that reputation."

"I see. And what about this one? This blog has some AdSense ads, text link ads, affiliate links, and private advertising. People might think this makes the blogger look greedy. Is this bad monetization?"

"No, it's wonderful monetization," the old man said. "Maintaining a blog is a lot of work, and the blogger has the right to earn some income. The ads aren't too distracting, and they actually complement the blog by providing offers relevant to the blog topic."

"I see. And what about this one? This blog is completely plastered with ads. I can't even find where the content is on this page. Oh, here it is. Is this bad monetization?"

"Ponder that question," the old man said, "and tell me the answer on the last day."

Day 12: Comment Management

"Today you will learn about comment management," the old man said. "Look at these blogs,and tell me what you see."

"Well, this blogger responds to every comment with a thoughtful reply. It seems like that would take too long. Is this bad comment management?"

"No, it's wonderful comment management," the old man said. "Although it takes some time to reply to every comment, it makes the commenters feel appreciated. They become more likely to subscribe, leave more comments in the future, and link to the blog."

"I see. And what about this one? This blogger barely responds to any comments. The commenters must feel neglected. Is this bad comment management?"

"No, it's wonderful comment management," the old man said. "Although some readers may wish that their comments received a response, the reality is that there are too many comments for the blogger to keep up with. Her time is better spent by responding to only a handful of comments, and concentrating on writing new posts."

"I see. And what about this one? This blog doesn't even allow comments. What's the point of a blog that doesn't allow comments? Is this bad comment management?"

"Ponder that question," the old man said, "and tell me the answer on the last day."

Day 13: Guest Posting

"Today you will learn about guest posting," the old man said. "Look at these blogs, and tell me what you see."

"Well, this blogger doesn't have any guest posts on their blog, and they don't seem to write guest posts for others. That seems awfully isolated. Is this a bad use of guest posting?"

"No, it's a wonderful use of guest posting," the old man said. "This blogger has such a unique voice that it would be extremely difficult for someone else to write a complementary post. Any guest post would be distracting. And it would be hard to find another blogger who would want posts like this on their blog."

"I see. And what about this one? This blogger frequently has guest posts on their blog, and often writes guest posts for others. Wouldn't it be better to focus more on their own blog? Is this a bad use of guest posting?"

"No, it's a wonderful use of guest posting," the old man said. "This blogger is developing a reputation by writing guest posts on key blogs in his niche. It's a good way for him to grab the attention of people who are interested in the niche but don't necessarily know him. And as his reputation grows, he's able to attract guest posts from bigger bloggers, which lightens his load and builds relationships with those bloggers."

"I see. And what about this one? It seems that practically every post on this blog is a guest post. I'm not even sure who actually owns the blog. Is this a bad use of guest posting?"

"Ponder that question," the old man said, "and tell me the answer on the last day."

Day 14: Social Media

"Today you will learn about social media," the old man said. "Look at these blogs, and tell me what you see."

"Well, this one just has links to Digg and StumbleUpon at the bottom of each post. But there are many more social media options than those. Is this a bad use of social media?"

"No, it's a wonderful use of social media," the old man said. "The blogger is making it simple for readers. The more options you overwhelm someone with, the less likely they are to use any one of them. By restricting the readers' choices to just the two that are most important to the blogger, he increases his chances of doing well with them."

"I see. And what about this one? This blog has buttons for every social media site on the face of the earth. I didn't even know there were so many. It seems a bit much. Is this a bad use of social media?"

"No it's a wonderful use of social media," the old man said. "This blogger is known as a social media expert and has derived much of her traffic from various social media channels.
Because she teaches her readers how to effectively use all of them, it only makes sense that she provides buttons for all of them."

"I see. And what about this one? This blog doesn't have any social media links or buttons at all. How can a blogger completely remove himself from that world? Is this a bad use of social media?"

"Ponder that question," the old man said, "and tell me the answer on the last day."

"But master," I said, "the last day is tomorrow."

"Yes," the old man said, "so you'd best get a good night's sleep."

The Last Day

"What time is it?" the old man asked.
"It is now."

"Where are you?"
"I am here."

"Why are you here?"
"To understand."

"Who are you?"
"I am a student of blogging."

"Who am I?"
"You are the master."

"Good," the old man said. "Now you will face your destiny. Every day, you have asked a question that I did not answer. I told you to ponder the question, and tell me the answer on the last day. The time is now. Are you going to tell me the answers, or am I going to cut off your head?"

While I had searched long and hard for the answers, they had not come to me. My efforts had been in vain. I sat there in silence, for I could think of nothing to say. I stared deep into the old man's eyes as I awaited certain death.

And then I found that the events of the previous days were flashing before my eyes, as in a dream. A vivid, intense dream full of sights and sounds. It felt like a mighty river raging through my mind, clearing out my thoughts and replacing them with a peaceful void. And then I smiled.

"I am not afraid, master. I have the answer."

"Only one answer? But there were many questions!" He scowled and put his hand on the hilt of his sword. "Do not try my patience, fool, for I will not have you make a mockery of blogging!" And then, the corners of his mouth betrayed him, as for the first time they curled into a faint smile. For you see, he knew that I had solved my own riddle.

"All this time I had cluttered my mind by filling it with so many questions, until just now, when I see that they were all the same question. And that question is: why do great bloggers sometimes break the rules? It's because every great blogger is unique. I wouldn't ask why that leopard has so few spots, or why that bird has so many feathers. So why should I ask why a great blogger isn't like everyone else? They break the rules because they're good enough to understand the reasoning behind them, and they know what makes sense for them."

"Very good!" the old man said. "And what else?"

"Well, I've been so busy trying to figure out how to make a great blog, but that's
impossible. Instead, I only need to realize the truth."

"What truth?" asked the old man, now smiling more than before.

"There is no blog! A blog has no inherent value; it's just a medium for conveying value from one person to others. There are no great blogs, only great bloggers. For a person who has nothing worth saying, trying to create a great blog is an exercise in futility, like trying to teach a duck to sing like Pavarotti. I need to start by looking within myself to find my inner blogger. The rest is just details."

"Excellent!" the old man exclaimed. "You've figured out all the secrets, and I have nothing more to teach you."

Finally, my journey was complete. I now knew what I had to do, and the path was clear. I breathed a sigh of utter contentment, and the old man and I started walking together.
Then he smiled again and said, "Actually, there's one more thing. Have you figured out the last secret yet?"

"What secret?"

And then I woke up.

Down the Mountain

I awoke lying face down on the side of the mountain, shivering in the snow. I slowly stood up, freezing and disoriented. I had no idea how much time had passed. I looked around and didn't see anything...no old man, no chirping birds and babbling brook, nothing.

For now, I had to get out of there before I froze to death. I started stumbling my way down Mount Blogmore, and before too long I reached the bottom, where it was much warmer.
What had happened? Was the whole thing a dream? Impossible. For two weeks I had studied under the old man. It was real, I know it was! Wasn't it?

I was disenchanted to think that perhaps I had somehow imagined it all. But in a way, it didn't matter. Regardless of how it happened, I had found my answers.

I didn't want to stay in town anymore. I felt like I needed to go someplace else, where I could be alone with my thoughts. I knew I awaited many great adventures in blogging, and I wanted to be where nothing would distract me from that purpose, where nothing would remind me of reality.

I started walking in no particular direction, thinking of what Havelock Ellis had said:

"Dreams are real while they last. Can we say more of life?"

The alternative to failure

by the Colca Specialist

Reading a book about blogging I had the oportunity to read an article about the famous blogger Seth Godin. It was fantastic! So enjoy this article which is very interesting.
your friend
The Colca Specialist

The alternative to failure

“What would you have me do instead?”To the critic who decries a project as a worthless folly, something that didn’t work out, something that challenged the status quo and failed, the artist might ask,“Is it better to do nothing?”

To the critic who hasn’t shipped, who hasn’t created his art, anything less than better-than-what-I -have-now appears to be a waste. To this critic, progress should only occur in leaps, in which a fully functioning, perfected new device/book/project/process/system appears and instantly and perfectly replaces the current model.

We don’t need your sharp wit or enmity, please. Our culture needs your support instead.Each step by any (and every) one who ships moves us. It might show us what won’t work, it might advance the state of the art or it might merely encourage others to give it a try as well.To those who feel that they have no choice but to create, thank you.

The Foundation for Global Humanity was declared NOT WELCOME IN PERU

by ASGUIP TUCAY ASSOCIATION.

The secretary of the local tour guides from Colca Canyon ASGUIP TUCAY declared The Foundation for Global Humanity as not welcome in Perú . The Foundation for Global Humanity is lying to all American citizens with the inca show they are presenting in different places of United States.

Global Humanity Foundation is presenting a band of musicians from Puno whose dances, music and ceremonials are not the real stuff, lying in such a terrible way to all the American citizens who are attending to these “spiritual” exhibitions and shows. The goal of these shows is to obtain money donations.

The videos and articles published by this band on the internet are being investigated by the Peruvian authorities which is some days more they will inform the media about this situation.
The results of the investigation are going to be send to the American Embassy in Peru.The association will ask the American ambassador to investigate this situation and if possible to start a lawsuit against Global Humanity Association for cheating american citizens with the fake inca show they are presenting in several states of USA.

The Tourist is dead

by the Colca Specialist

I found an article from Doyle Buehler in Technorati which I considered very interesting. Enjoy it!

The Tourist is Dead

Author: Doyle Buehler

Experience is what people are needing in the new world of travel. Not the knowledge of experience to travel, but rather the experience of travel. An escape of course is what we are looking for. The intellectual and emotional experience that our travels and actions can explore. Experience of an escape is the new mode of travel. What does it mean to really escape? What does it mean to get lost along the way, to find out who you are, by experiencing yourself and your surroundings as you journey next door or around the world?

For a lot of people, travel is simply about being at Point A or Point B - and not about the experience along the way. Book a flight to Mexico or Bali and go to the beach or go to the ancient runes, take a picture and then return to show-off the photo. For the rest of us, and for those who truly understand the significance of travel as an experience, it is not about the destination, but the journey along the way.

Travel should be about how you experience life; or for the aspirational, how you want to experience life. While we have a good idea of where we are going, the real excitement of life comes from everything that we do along the way. The memories that we collect, the people that we learn from and meet, the understanding of the world, the cultural disparities that we comprehend, and the connected-ness of the emotional memories that we create from it all. This is the experience of travel. The senses are awakened. The mind is alerted. The emotions connected. The journey is intertwined.

Experience is about understanding the world, and allowing it to shape our journey and our emotions. As the summer winds down in the northern hemisphere, the summer then begins to take shape in the other half of the world. What greater pleasure could be had than being able to live through this, like changes of the season, all with a simple flight or a simple expedition. A change of the seasons is a change of the reasons. The world is round for a reason: it allows us to experience everything that we possibly can, and always, somehow, find our way back home, wherever that may be.


The new manifesto of the adventurer is the journey of the traveler that we all want to become. The traveller evolves to create and build an experience; an emotional experience along the path that they chose; their needs and wants evolve, and can make us all think differently as we embrace the culture of it all. As Bruce Kirkby outlines in his romantic piece on travel, "Such soul-opening moments are ephemeral and unpredictable, often alighting on us like a butterfly when we are otherwise engrossed".

Travel can now be taken to the next level of emotional contentment and satisfaction. No longer is travel a simple destination, but rather an entire experience focused around the needs and desires of the individual and their intrinsic need for self actualization in their travel choices. It is about the specific niche needs of the customer, and how they realize their travel desires through the experience of it all. Experiential travels are truly about tapping into the psyche of each individual, yet en masse based on our conjoining and intersecting desires.

We no longer need to be confined to being just a tourist, but rather a traveler. No, not in the sense of being a gypsy of old, but one who is creating an emotional experience along the way. The new traveler, the one who desires more, is one who comprehends and articulates what is important in the journey, what they want to experience, what they want to achieve on the road, and what emotional desires they will build on. We need to be open to understanding the cultural impacts and the cultural amplifications that we can experience like nothing before on our new journey. Immersing oneself into the experience, the emotions, the culture is what makes travel unique and special. This is the new journey for all of us to take, as we experience life.

Guillermo Carlos Rendón Cuadros:the most famous tour guide in Arequipa speaks out

GUILLERMO CARLOS RENDON CUADROS

The most famous tour guide speaks out

by César Ballón

Guillermo Carlos Rendón Cuadros is his full name and he is the most successful and recognized tour guide from Arequipa. His fame comes not from his sports career as a downhill mountainbiker and martial artist but as a tour guide involved in the promotion of Colca Canyon as one of the natural marvels of the world.

Guillermo Carlos Rendón Cuadros is the actual secretary of the local tour guides association from Colca Canyon ASGUIP TUCAY and named spokesperson of the native people from Caylloma province where one of the deepest canyons in the world is located.

Guillermo Rendón has declared a frontal war against ABUSIVE TOUR GUIDES COMMISSIONS and against AUTHORITIES CORRUPTION which is a cancer that is affecting tourism in Colca Canyon. Tourism doesn´t benefit all the people in Colca Canyon just a group of businessmen who manipulate authorities.

The fight started when a corrupted director of tourism of Arequipa wanted to cancel local tour guides from Colca Canyon. Tour guides association from Arequipa backed up the idea. The voice of the leader was heard and a revolt started.

Sustainable Tourism is an unknown word in the lexicon of the travel agencies from Arequipa.
For the locals Guillermo Rendón Cuadros is the Mallku Jaqe or the Kondor Man, which is the name of a mountainbiking raid that took place in Colca Canyon area. In that time , Guillermo Rendón took part in this mountainbiking champions raid which started from the top of a mountain at 5;100 meters and after a three day adventure the cyclists arrived to the Pacific Ocean. The distance covered was more than 500 kilometers.

But at the same time Mallku Jaqe has other meaning. In the Inca religion, a Mallku or a Condor is a person who has inherited the inca ancient knowledge and traditions. Rendón is considered also as a Chaka Runa or Man Bridge a person who has the knowledge of the Mother Culture (Inca) and The Father Culture (Spanish).

Guillermo Rendón Cuadros is not only a tour guide or a well-known sportsman. He was a teacher and he taught Philosophy, History and his specialty :Comparative and Inca Religion. Others considered him as the Tupac Amaru or Shining Snake who fought against the abusive conquistadors. Guillermo Rendón doesn´t offer his clients just “empty explanations” but a real experience with the inca culture.

The reaction of the tour guides from Arequipa was expected. Slanderous blogs against his person were done with the purpose of taking away from tourism through attacking his good imagen.
Involved in the creation of this campaign against him are travel agencies from Arequipa whose interests in keeping this unbearable situation are notorious. A student from Chivay who defended the right of the natives through his web page was killed in Chivay. His body was thrown to Colca River.

Rendón is still there like a mountain. His power according to him comes from the Truth. The Truth for him is the evidence collected during more than 15 years that shows all the corruption of tourism in Arequipa. Most of the tour guides and travel agencies from Arequipa are considered by the locals as PARASITES who lived from commissions obtained from the locals and from the tourists.

Guillermo Carlos Rendón Cuadros was declared by the major of Chivay as ADOPTIVE SON OF CAYLLOMA PROVINCE because of his labour in the DEFENSE OF THE RIGHTS OF THE NATIVE PEOPLE FROM COLCA VALLEY AND COLCA CANYON.

He is the only tour guide in all Arequipa Region that has received such condecoration and such honour.

Guillermo Rendón Cuadros is until the moment the most awarded tour guide from Arequipa and nothing can be done to stop the Condor Man who has announced publicly the FALL OF THE CORRUPTED ONES AND THE BEGINNING OF THE REAL SUSTAINABLE TOURISM IS COLCA CANYON.

The Colca Specialist would like to thank association of local tour guides ASGUIP TUCAY for having us provided the pictures of this significant ceremonial where Guillermo Carlos Rendón Cuadros WAS DECLARED ADOPTIVE SON OF CAYLLOMA PROVICE.

The ceremonial was performed in Chivay´s main square. It was a small but significative ceremonial.

The patriotic ceremonial is about to start and an association of nurses and the representative of mothers´s association were present in the ceremonial.

Guillermo Carlos Rendón Cuadros singing the national anthem with the hand on the chest.Symbol that the country´s noble ideals are in our hearts.



Guillermo Carlos Rendón Cuadros, the adoptive son of Caylloma province was invited to raise the flag of Caylloma province,a honour never given to anybody but to authorities.

The protocol is important too. A policeman is telling the Governor of Caylloma province that the ceremonial is over.






Inside th Townhall of Chivay, the representative of the major will proceed with the awards ceremonial.

The Governor giving a message to the people of Chivay about the importance of fullfilling our roles in society.

Guillermo Rendón speaking about the importance of sustainable tourism and the importance of preserving the cultural identity of our peoples.

We cannot be indiferent with the suffering of our people! There is still a lot to be done and each one of us has to become a promoter of our cultural values.! -said the adoptive son during the ceremonial that was filmed and watch by millions of peruvians in national TV.

The Major of Caylloma province giving a condecoration to Guillermo Carlos Rendón Cuadros declaring him AS ADOPTIVE SON OF CAYLLOMA PROVINCE FOR DEFENDING THE RIGHT OF THE NATIVE COMMUNAS AND FOR ITS OUTSTANDING WORK IN THE PROMOTION OF COLCA CANYON AND IN THE PRESERVATION OF THE NATIVES CULTURAL IDENTITY.

The secretary of local tour guides association ASGUIP TUCAY from Caylloma province giving an award to the USAM which is a Mountain Rescue Unit in Chivay. They are the ones who are risking their lives for tourists that sometimes don´t recognize the labour of these brave policemen.

The Colca Specialist Crew would like to thank our readers for their time and the same time for backing us up in the diffussion of the culture and traditions from Colca Canyon and Perú.

More videos about GUILLERMO CARLOS RENDON CUADROS:

Guillermo Rendón was awarded as Cultural Ambassador of Caylloma province-Arequipa

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!