Butterfly River Expedition i Lauren and Todd Feedback

8/7/2019 Butterfly River Expedition i Lauren and Todd Feedback

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BUTTERFLY RIVER

EXPEDITION I

feedbackfrom Globetroopers

Lauren & Todd

(key names of locations has been

edited to avoid confidential info

leeks and pictures added to

enhance the presentation online)

Nov 18th 2010

Hello Lauren & Todd

This is the Feedback Form I would like you

please to fill it up.

Please feel free to put and say as much as

possible, all what you think is pertinent and

relevant, the good things, the bad things, the

ones you liked the most, theones you disliked,

the ones you find should be improved, the ones

you thinkshould be included, the ones that you

enjoyed the most, etc, etc.

1. The trip planning.

It was great to be included in the trip planning, when we were enjoying pizza

thenight before and looking through all the maps of where we could go. With most

tours, you don¶t have any say in this, so I think this would be great to keep in

thetrip.

2. The trip length.

Perhaps a bit too long. But the time in the Butterfly village was too short. It tookso

long to trek there, it would¶ve been nice to be able to meet some of thechildren at

school (so perhaps plan for a weekday), or help the villagers in someway with their

daily chores.



3. The organization.

I thought the organization of the whole trip was pretty good considering weplanned

most of it the day before we left.

4. The crew.

Everyone was nice and easy to talk to. We both liked the addition of different

locals along the way.

5. The guide.

Ider is a superb guide. The only

thing we weren¶t too impressed

with was walkingin the jungle on

our own, two guides (one at the

front, one at the back) should

bewith a trekking group at all

times.

6. The group.

I think we had a good combination of different people in the group. I¶d say

aminimum of 3 people and max of 10 for your future trips.

7. The atmosphere and interaction on the trip.

Some more help with interacting with the local villagers and children would

havebeen nice, as our Spanish was limited. Perhaps mention to future clients thathaving basic Spanish would really improve the cultural experience.

8. The food and supplies.



Good food and coordination of supplies. It was great to eat in local restaurants

aswell instead of cooking all of our own food... but not sure how many

westernstomachs can handle it and not become sick.

9. The accommodation.

Accommodation was very basic but clean and comfortable, but this should

beforewarned to clients to not expect the Hilton.

10.The vehicle.

Vehicle was good for our small group. Not sure how comfortable it would be with10

clients though... perhaps a bigger

bus would be better. With a bigger

bus youcould also help more locals

which we enjoyed to try and talk

with.

11.The bikes.

The bikes need a bit of an overhaul.

The brakes and gears need somework.

Overall they were good, but got frustrating after riding for a few hours.

12.The equipment.

Apart from the bikes, all other equipment seemed to be in good condition.

Noproblems here.

13.The bike rides.



The same needs to be said with the bike rides as the jungle trek. A guide needs

tobe in sight the majority of the time. Otherwise, they were really good trails

andtracks -perhaps give clients a small map of the route at the beginning?

14.The rafting.

Rafting was so much fun. It was tough, but it was made to be a fun game and

oneof the best experiences we had in all of Peru. Must keep this in!

15.The hike to Santa Teresa

Also one of the highlights was the hike to Santa Theresa because of all the

thingsto do along the way; playing

with the monkey, face painting,

hammock lunch, hang crossing

the river and finishing at the hot

springs. It was great breaking up

thehike with all of these activities.

16.The forest.

Especially liked the zip-linethrough the forest but can see

some clients may not wish to do

this, so perhaps keep it as optional.

17.The hike to Butterfly village.

We would have enjoyed the hike more if we knew how long it took

beforehand(should warn future clients) but as it was the first expedition, no one

was to know. The trekwas quite hard and I think many people would have aproblem walking all the wayback the next day. I would also suggest organizing a

spare mule in case a client needs to use it from exhaustion or injury.

18.The contact at the first school.



It was great to have them expecting us (but especially unknown to us). To

arrivewith gifts (books and pens) and expecting nothing in return, but for them to

put on a show (girls singing & dancing) and be given gifts that they had made for

us,that was one of the kindest and nicest things to receive.

19.The contact at the second school.

I liked learning about the school and kids by touring all the rooms. Maybe youcould

even set up a penpal to the school or individually with the kids and some ofthe

clients to write to each other?

20.The contact with locals and

natives.

As said previously, we would have

enjoyed it much more if we could

speak Spanish or had someone to

help us a bit more with translation.

21.The³ 3 ½ hours experience´.

HA! 3 1/2 hours! Well, the 8 hoursthat it turned out to be was hard

and a littlescary at the time, but a

once-in-a-lifetime experience. So many emotions at thesame time. I think Todd¶s

article really goes into detail about this: http://globetrooper.com/notes/adventure-

turns-to-expedition-peru/

22.How did you feel on the trip?

Exhausted but excited for the next day. And sick (for Lauren). I think it would beagood idea to take some Cipro for the group in case someone starts feeling ill

asthat really stops you from doing a lot of the activities.



2 3.Do you find you were well attended, serviced, protected, guided?

Yes to all, with the exception of some time on the jungle trek where I felt scaredof

falling but had to keep up the pace and when we had no one with us.

24.Satisfied? Were your expectations fulfilled?

We had an awesome experience overall, one that we will never forget. We

pushedour limits and came out of it feeling stronger and like we had achieved

somethingextraordinary at the end.

25.Am I missing something that you would like to add?

I think the amount of bike riding wasbit too much. The first few days

were great,riding through small

towns, to the salt mines, from the

top of a high mountainto Santa

Maria and riding back down from

Santa Theresa. These few days

were brokenup with other activities

as well, hiking, rafting, zip-lining etc.

I¶m not sure about the logistics, but

it would have been good to do

something else on one of thelater

bike riding days when we were on our way to the schools. There was one dayin

particular that Todd mentioned was very hilly -not sure if you could raft downthe

river instead perhaps?

26.Your recommendations, suggestions, etc.

If you have a substantial number of clients, maybe it¶s worth having two or threeguides? To help with local interaction more and to have an extra guide

whentrekking to account for different walking speeds of clients.



Lauren and Todd thanks a lot for your cooperation. I really enjoyed the trip, it was

one of thebest experiences in my entire life, will keep it forever in my memories.

Kind regarsds.Aníbal (perucycling.com).

This trip was one of the best experiences of our lives too, and we¶re happy to

haveshared it with you. We hope to meet up with you again when you decide it¶s

timeto cycle around the world! Lauren &Todd ([email protected])

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Butterfly River Expedition i Lauren and Todd Feedback