Dear Rodrigo,

you did a very good job. I am glad you liked the pictures we sent you.

We found out about Say Hueque while we were looking at travel agencies, because we were concerned about language problems and your reviews were very good. We must say that the reviews must have been honest because our experience with you has been Extremely good.

The people who were supposed to meet us at airports were always there to pick us up. It is important to come out of the terminal and find that someone is already there and you are not going to be hanging around wondering if the pick up is going to show up.

All the hotels were very good except for the first hotel upon our arrival in Lima from the states. That was the El Tambo II which was the pits. Other than that Patricio made good hotel Picks with Casa Sur Palermo in Buenos Aires the best of the bunch.

All excursions were good but we liked Machu Picchu ;and Iguazu Falls best. One suggestion: Guides should not assume that because we look old we should cut things short. Ask us if we are tired or willing to go on and tell us what is ahead if we choose to go on. Let us make the decision to continue or cut things short. We found we missed some things because of that.

Other than the suggestion before, we would only add that you reconsider keeping El Tambo II in your line up. It promises more than it delivers as for example the internet. The router lacks the range to reach the top floors. We suspect that it is only good in the reception area where they have some ancient desk top computers on which you can access the internet. The receptionist connected me to the internet in the reception area but it disappeared from my I phone when I got to my room on the top floor. We only spent the night so cannot say anything about the area in which El Tambo II is located.
Hope this helps you in your future endeavors and thank you for a wonderful trip.

Regards,
Zain and Jackie Banatwala

Hola Patty,

Let me answer your mail for Irma.

I just finished a general review of our trip on TripAdvisor, but it may not have published yet.

Some of your questions are already answered in my TripAdvisor review, so I'll leave some of the details out. Anyway, here are the answers:

We found your agency on the web and liked what we saw as to destinations and the fact that it could be tailor-made to our needs. All this, plus the fact that you are a local operator geared towards independent travellers.

The trip was easy to arrange via e-mail/internet and we received prompt responses to our questions. We liked your advise regarding additional excursions and loved the ease of booking and payment. All in all, your agency delivered what you promised and the whole trip went smoothly.

Our favorite hotel was "Lacolet Hotel Boutique" in Punta Arenas. It had ambience and character and the service was great. We appreciated the nice welcome with a beverage of our choice. Nice touch. That and the little chocolate on our pillow. The location was perfect. Rooms were clean and the breakfast buffet excellent. Great choice!!

As to excursions. Sorry, but all were excellent and all had excellent guides. If we had to pick one, we'd pick "Canal Fun". The combination of hikes, canoeing and sites was wonderful and the scenery gorgeous. Their guides were outstanding. Again, all our excursions and guides were great.

As to guides. Sorry, but unfortunately we don't have their names. I guess "Canal Fun" had the best guides (2), but again, all were excellent.

As to improvements. Actually none come to mind as to your agency, but we have 2 comments though.

In El Chalten we had to check out of our hotel at 10am, while our bus left at 7pm. We had expected an afternoon departure to El Calafate, especially since we had an 08:30am departure the next morning for Puerto Natales. The day was not a loss, as we walked to the beautiful waterfall, but it did cut into our sleep that night in El Calafate.

We were a bit disappointed with our hotel in Ushuaia (Del Rodeo Hosteria). We got the impression that it was run by 2 teenagers who did not speak english. Service was minimal and hard to find. Breakfast was very basic and WiFi was not reliable. This, and the fact that there were no restaurants in the area (a $10 taxi ride to town, each way) did not help.
Apparently the hotel has a good reputation on TripAdvisor, but we experienced something different. Don't get us wrong, the hotel was absolutely wonderful, the rooms well sized and clean, and maybe we came at an inconvenient time.

Lastly we would like to thank you, and your company for a fantastic experience. We have nothing but good words and we will definitely recommend your company if somebody feels the urge to travel to Patagonia. What a beautiful place it is.

And oh, thank you also for the sunshine and the nice temperatures. We had hardly any rain during our 2 weeks.

Best regards,

Henk and Irma

Hola Patty,

Let me answer your mail for Irma.

I just finished a general review of our trip on TripAdvisor, but it may not have published yet. The bottomline is that we gave your agency a 4 star.

Some of your questions are already answered in my TripAdvisor review, so I'll leave some of the details out. Anyway, here are the answers:

1. We found your agency on the web and liked what we saw as to destinations and the fact that it could be tailor-made to our needs. All this, plus the fact that you are a local operator geared towards independent travellers.

2. The trip was easy to arrange via e-mail/internet and we received prompt responses to our questions. We liked your advise regarding additional excursions and loved the ease of booking and payment. All in all, your agency delivered what you promised and the whole trip went smoothly.

3. Our favorite hotel was "Lacolet Hotel Boutique" in Punta Arenas. It had ambience and character and the service was great. We appreciated the nice welcome with a beverage of our choice. Nice touch. That and the little chocolate on our pillow. The location was perfect. Rooms were clean and the breakfast buffet excellent. Great choice!!

4. As to excursions. Sorry, but all were excellent and all had excellent guides. If we had to pick one, we'd pick "Canal Fun". The combination of hikes, canoeing and sites was wonderful and the scenery gorgeous. Their guides were outstanding. Again, all our excursions and guides were great.

5. As to guides. Sorry, but unfortunately we don't have their names. I guess "Canal Fun" had the best guides (2), but again, all were excellent.

6. As to improvements. Actually none come to mind as to your agency, but we have 2 comments though.

a. In El Chalten we had to check out of our hotel at 10am, while our bus left at 7pm. We had expected an afternoon departure to El Calafate, especially since we had an 08:30am departure the next morning for Puerto Natales. The day was not a loss, as we walked to the beautiful waterfall, but it did cut into our sleep that night in El Calafate.

b. We were a bit disappointed with our hotel in Ushuaia (Del Rodeo Hosteria). We got the impression that it was run by 2 teenagers who did not speak english. Service was minimal and hard to find. Breakfast was very basic and WiFi was not reliable. This, and the fact that there were no restaurants in the area (a $10 taxi ride to town, each way) did not help.
Apparently the hotel has a good reputation on TripAdvisor, but we experienced something different. Don't get us wrong, the hotel was absolutely wonderful, the rooms well sized and clean, and maybe we came at an inconvenient time.

Lastly we would like to thank you, and your company for a fantastic experience. We have nothing but good words and we will definitely recommend your company if somebody feels the urge to travel to Patagonia. What a beautiful place it is.

And oh, thank you also for the sunshine and the nice temperatures. We had hardly any rain during our 2 weeks.

Best regards,

Henk and Irma

Hi Vanessa,

Sorry for the long delay in replying. Things got a bit hectic here.

We enjoyed the tip immensely but found the travel delays on certain days very frustrating. If I had to arrange the itinerary again, I would work hard at optimizing flight schedules to eliminate the long waits we had. If unavoidable then one needs to arrange skilful in fills to use up time constructively. e.g. At Puerto Arenas, organize a guide to show you the town and give you an insight into what makes southern Chile tick.

We found some of the hotels OUT of TOWN which meant taxi, taxi, taxi to get anywhere. Possibly suggest a hire car or better still, a driver service for the duration of stay to deal with shopping trips, eating at restaurants, etc. Of course, the hotel in El Calafate was substandard so you need to find a better solution.

The day of self-drive at Puerto Varas was a waste of time and we should have had a guided tour. We wanted to go to Chiloe but were told when we got the car that that was too far. Also, the GPS only spoke Spanish so was pretty useless and nobody had any decent maps so we were severely restricted. If we had had a guide we could have arranged the trip to Chiloe and planned the itinerary to suit.

The highlight of the trip was the Stella Australis which was fantastic. I would recommend that to anybody. Really world class.

Torres del Paine was spectacular and we should have spent an extra day there. The agents at Ushuaia (forgot name) were very poor and I would recommend you look for something better. The excursion we had with them was poor, all in Spanish, and they showed no interest in us so we got a bad deal.

Hope the comments are helpful.

We really enjoyed your company.

Kind Regards,

Johan

Dear Patty,

In fact, it was the answer to those questions that I posted on the Tripadvisor. I am reproducing them here.

We wanted to visit Patagonia and Uyuni, so I googled for a tour agent that could handle both destinations which are flexible to accommodate our specific needs in terms of timing, accommodation, means of transport, etc

While visiting many new places in three different countries, coordination among different sub-agents was one of our biggest concern. SayHueque managed this excellently.

We are satisfied with all the hotels chosen by SayHueque, but in particular, the Alto Andino Hotel in Ushuaia provided a spectacular view of the Ushuaia town and port. It also had a kitchenette where we could cook our own food for early dinner.

The four-day tour to Uyuni Salt Flat was by far the most exciting and memorable excursion.

We also would like to mention Patty in Buenos Aires. Thank you for taking care of us even after we left Buenos Aires. Your prompt replies to my email from Chile was really reassuring.

Keep it up!

Dear Patty,

thanks for your kind email! Following please find my feedback.

I have found Say Hueque in internet and I have choosen it for its variety of tours and because the first person that I have contacted (Mrs. Vera) was very professional, serious and she replied to me very quickly!

I loved to know that at every time, in case of problems, it always was possible talking with someone of your agency!

La Torres Hotel was my favorite hotel because it is completely in the nature. The best excursion was the Perito Moreno excursion. All guides we have found have been fantastic!

Finally some suggestions for improvement:
a) Say Hueque should better inform customers about the dangers of Buenos Aires. On the last day, an hour before we left, we had a terrible experience: we were attacked by a thief, to steal the watch to my husband, he asslaiti us with violence and thrown to the ground. It was noon and we were in the center. Only after talking to the receptionist at the hotel, we came to know that Buenos Aires is one of the most dangerous cities. If we had known this before, we would not have brought a valuable watch. This, in my opinion, should be told customers in advance and in a very clear way
b) Instructions about collecting bus tickets were not very clear …. About this there was some confusion ….
c) One excursion (Emerald Lake in Ushuaia) was not very simple. The walk was quite long and demanding and took place all in a very muddy track (we were told that it is always the case). My friends did not come because for them it would be too difficult, however, when we booked (a few months before we left) Say Hueque told us that it was easy and suitable for everyone … but this is not …

Thanks for everything and kind regards!

Laura Mucci

Hi Patricia,

Thanks to Say Hueque, we had a wonderful vacation in Argentina. From the moment we landed in Buenos Aires and were greeted by one of your agents, everything was smooth sailing. We were really happy with the hotels Say Hueque chose for us in Buenos Aires, Igauzu, and Calafate, in comfort, hospitality and location. Our guides in all locations were personable and well informed. Basically all the hassle of making arrangements for transportation and accommodations were eliminated, so that we could focus on truly experiencing Argentina.

Thanks again, and we look forward to traveling with you in the future.

Hi Vanessa,

We chose Say Hueque on line based on reviews we read. Best-we did not have to worry about connections anywhere.
We stayed in a hotel in Iguazu that was very nice and we enjoyed the stay. There was a hotel at the falls- Belmond Hotel Das Caratas was a perfect location. If we had been offered this hotel, we would have stayed there. Better than any other hotel. The 2 days at the falls were the BEST! The guide in Buenos Aires was very good. The guide in Iguazu Falls was very good. The car we had in Buenos Aires for the day was TOO SMALL!!!

Booking with Say Hueque was very smooth. The connections were all well planned. We would definitely book with you again.

Thank you, Steve Kalt