South American Odyssey with Brazil's Amazon & Peru Reviews

I loved the tour of South America. My only issue was with all the flights and waiting around airports, although there is no way around this as South America is a big country. I loved the hotels and thought they were well placed in each city. Our guides were excellent as well. In Puerto Varas I would have spent the morning of our departure in Puerto ...read more Varas as its a really lovely town and the hotel was beautiful, and we could have had a leisurely start & quick trip to the downtown shops and maybe not Puerto Monte as the markets were not ready for the public at the time we went there and it seemed a wasted morning. In Manaus Brasil we arrived 2 days early to ensure we were there for the start of the tour whereas the Americans arrived the same day the tour started and when their plane was delayed so was our city tour so we had wasted a whole day because we were going to do a city tour and we ended up being delayed 2 hours because of the Americans and we were rushed around the city missing most things and the rest we saw in the dark. To me the guide wasnt flexible enough. When we departed Manaus we came straight from the Eco lodge and had a 4 hour wait at the airport! We could have done the city tour that morning. The tour at the ECO lodge that went out to the local village was a bit of a waste of time. I was thinking we were going to see an Amazon jungle village with pigmies and grass loin cloths. It was nothing remotely like that. A simple walk through the jungle would have been nicer.

Our meals were all excellent but all on South American time...late! A few I could understand but generally we westerners like to eat a tad earlier.. than 8 or 9 pm. Now they are the negatives, the positives far outway those. We had a wonderful day on the Rio Negro and an afternoon spotting wildlife in its tributaries. I was even motion sick but still will remember that wonderful river. Rio was fantastic, sugarloaf Mountain and Christ the Redeemer and the wonderful shopping , food and beaches. ( I was also with 2 others and held up at gunpoint here, but it still didnt take the shine off a wonderful city.) Argentina was equally terrific, we had a great guide (Lucas) who went the extra mile to make sure we saw Buenos Aires at its best and we did. The weather in Uraguay was really dreadful and we had a hiccup/nightmare day which turned into night but Fernando bless him worked his butt off and smoothed it all over. Baraloche was stunning along with the crossing of the Andes by 3 boats and 4 buses. Santiago was also wonderful. Peru was an absolute highlight, Altitude sickness aside, Cusco & Machu Picchu was something I will remember forever. The Hotel in the Sacred Valley was Excellent and by far the best accommodations of my whole trip. That was my holiday in a nutshell, memorable, wonderfully so! Thank you everyone concerned. Particularly Georgie as she was very reliable and quick to respond to anything we needed. I would definitely use Global Journeys and Globus again.

This tour was one of the best travel tours I have ever taken. It was a great adventure. Hotels, the tour director, optional tours were all excellent. The group of tourists - a mixture of Americans, Japanese, Philippinos, Canadians and Australians were a great group to be with - very few complaints among the group. The sights were truly amazing - I did ...read more not realise that South America had so much to offer. The Amazon River, Iguassu Falls, Patagonia, Bariloche, Porta Varas, Rio, Buenos Aires,Cusco all superb highlights. Macchu Picchu - what an emotional experience - I was overwhelmed - the dream of my lifetime. Thank you so much for this adventure.