shothyme77

Hi -
We are in the process of booking a trip to Peru and have been working with David. While everything has been wonderful so far, I read some posts that made me nervous that they are posted by people in Peru who are working with him. Literally, we are finalizing our itinerary with him and so far have been thrilled. If you used him, would you mind passing on your email or phone number so we could speak off line? Thank you in advance!

shothyme77

just wanted to repost to the top because we are booking flights today. if I don't hear from anyone on this site, I may just decide to do the trip on our own! I'm a bit nervous about just taking a random name from here Thank you!

Elizabeth_S

We were thrilled with David in January 2006 - email me at eseibertca AT yahoo DOT ca and I'll give you my phone number

yestravel

Also used David in April 2007 and he was great...couldnt have been happier with him as our guide. If you give me a way to reach u I will be very happy to talk offline.

Elizabeth_S

I'm on my way out shortly for the evening - have you looked at our blog? Great itinerary we did with David - he booked all our hotels and train and was our guide (most of the time)

http://lizandrichardsa.typepad.com/l...aca/index.html

JudyN

Just returned from Peru yesterday and used David as our guide for much of the two weeks we were there. He was delightful, reliable, trustworthy, attentive, and informative. Don't worry, and book with him. You won't be sorry.

yestravel

JudyN -- who did you have as a guide at MP? I recall u asking me about our guide for MP that David had arranged.

Elizabeth_S

Welcome home Judy - so glad it sounds like you had a good time - look forward to hearing about it!

lhgreenacres

Hi,

We also used David for our trip to Peru. He is a wonderful man who did everything to make our trip interesting and memorable. You are welcome to email me at [email protected] if you would like more information. Please tell David that Ben, Carol and Lisa from California asked about him and hope that he and his family are doing well.

JudyN

Dear yestravel, David arranged for our day trek with Llama Path. We had a fabulous young guide named Santiago. He had a spiritual quality to him that complemented his knowledge of Incan culture and history. Just when we needed a brief respite from the high altitude hike, we stopped and Santiago offered us a double whiff of a time-tested family "magic potion" of mint, eucalyptus, and coca leaf. I credit his concoction with helping us to forge ahead and prevail, no small feat when you're gasping for breath high in the Andes! Hi, Liz! Will be in touch very soon. This was not an 'easy' trip, what with climate changes, altitude variations, health concerns, and an ambitious agenda. We experienced the heat and humidity of the jungle, cold nights in Cusco, and the dry, chilly air of Puno. We moved from sea level to 13,000 feet and back again. We tried to remember to brush our teeth with bottled water,toss the toilet tissue into baskets, avoid raw vegetables and salad, and decide when, or when not, to take the virtual pharmacy of meds that the travel nurse had prescribed. But all that aside, to actually communicate in my very limited Spanish, arrive at the Sun Gate at dusk, eat a box lunch at a magical Winay Wayna with no one there but us, touch the Sacred Rock at Machu Picchu, delight in the monkeys in the jungle, wander the central market of Cusco and the craft markets of the countryside, hand out bread to the children of Huilloc, observe the lovely checkerboard of farmland on a drive through the Sacred Valley, bask in the sunshine aboard a boat on Titicaca, and dine on fabulous fusion cuisine in Barranco, it was worth the sleep deprivation, every stomach cramp, slight headache, and muscle ache. There's nothing like a trip to Peru. I'm sure we all agree on that.

yestravel

Glad it all worked out for you. Sounds like u had quite the trip.

shothyme77

Thank you Lisa, Elizabeth, and yestravel for your comments. How did each of you end up finding David? There are only 3-4 different folks total recommending him on this site, but at the same time it seems that Peru is not the most commonly visited country. We're finalizing our itinerary right now and while he has been great and we are excited to move forward, I'm just a bit nervous as we've never booked a TA/guide this way. Thanks again!

Elizabeth_S

Hi shothyme77 - I found David here and communicated with another poster who had used him prior to our visit in January 2006.

Perhaps it would be helpful if you said what you're nervous about and the people who've worked with David in the past can specifically comment about those issues?

Liz

yestravel

I too found David on this site and communicated more extensively with those who had used him. I also read other posts by the couple people who recommended him on this site to try and see if in genral it sounded like I had a somewhat similar travel style. I also googled his name and found a few more reviews from people who had used him.

I had never used a private guide and had only been recommended by this site to a TA in Argentina, so I had a certain amount of hesitancy booking David. After emails with David and talking to him on the phone I felt somewhat more comfortable. We did not pay him any money up front (not sure if that is still the case) so I did figure if there was a problem, we didn't lose any money. But didnt want to have a vacation messed up because of a guide money or no money.
I think Liz makes a good suggestion about telling us what your specific concerns are and perhaps we can address them based on our experiences.

shothyme77

Thanks. I think I am just nervous because normally we use conde naste rated guides or larger companies so we know they are "real." Also, I know at the beginning of these David Choque forums, there were some issues with him posting. Made we wonder if his organization was trustworthy and he was experienced for real. For example, I like knowing that if something were to go wrong - ie altitude sickness - we'd be in good hands. Given that he's been good so far and hasn't asked for any money yet, I guess he is out to simply build his company. If that is the case, then I guess we are just lucky to find him early on. It's just when I went to Africa last year, all the companies I looked at had been mentioned numerous times on the site rather than just be 2-3 people.
Thanks again for your reassurance.

yestravel

David and his small caompany are defintiey real. I recall when I started researching getting a guide I was concerned by the accusations about a new poster on this board. She had written to compliment David and some seemed to feel that the post was suspect. I looked into it at the time and came away satisfied that it wasnt a scam.
There was a poster who had very negative comments about him. I did email David at the time to alert him what was being said. I don't know if he responded online or not, but I felt he should have an opportunity to tell his side of the story.
Fortunately we didn't experience any emrgencies or illness while we were with David. But my sense is you'd be in good hands with him if that should occur. As has been mentioned he is extremely caring and competent. While he did not book our hotels for us, he always went to the hotel with us and ensured that our room was fine and everything was being taken care of. Our battery on our camera failed and he went out of his way to try and find a place that could replace or charge it. While that is a minor occurence, he really didn't have to offer to do this for us.
I think you will be pleased with your experience with David.
When is your trip? And hope its great!

Elizabeth_S

shothyme77 - you say there were issues with David posting - that isn't what happened and it does him a disservice when that is perpetuated here as these posts stay around forever. If you go back and read that entire post you will see that the original poster was indeed a client of David's who was very happy with his services.

To your other questions - when we were with David in January 2006 he was also attending to a client who had been hospitalized with altitude sickness - at the time I was really impressed by his solicitousness to his client and her mother. Also - here is a link to a trip report from another person who was sick and raves about David's response

http://www.igougo.com/travelcontent/...viewID=1223279

Regarding money - I think you should expect he will ask for some money upfront - others can comment about how that is done now.

JudyN

Dear shothyme77,

Our two weeks in Peru took us from Lima to Cusco, Lake Sandoval in the jungle, the Sacred Valley, Machu Picchu, and Puno. Except for our lodgings in Lima which I arranged, David secured all bookings, including hotels and all domestic LAN flights, the stay in the jungle, the Inca Trail day hike and visit to Machu Picchu with Llama Path, our stay in Puno and Lake Titicaca, and all transfers. We sent a deposit to him through MoneyGram and it worked perfectly. He confirmed receipt of the deposit and I kept a copy of the transaction. He spent more money up front than we had sent, since he had to make deposits and purchase all the plane tickets. He got a great price on all of the above. Once in Peru, we withdrew dollars directly from ATMs and paid him the balance due over the course of the trip. He never pressured us for the money and we set the timetable ourselves. Despite the fact that the dollar has lost value since we made the original booking, he never asked for additional funds, although I'm sure that his profit margin inevitably suffered. He was very flexible whenever we wanted to modify our itinerary (and we did), approaching everything with enthusiasm and good humor. He insisted on driving us to restaurants in Cusco, sensing we were tired or slightly under the weather; even though our program for the day had already ended, he made a special trip back to our hotel to pick us up. One evening, we had a lovely dinner in a Cusco restaurant, inviting David and his wife Isabelle to join us. He was always prompt (you could set your watch by him), the van was very comfortable, his support staff of drivers and a day guide for the drive from Cusco to Ollantaytambo, were all wonderful, reliable, and courteous. Honestly, I can't think of a thing that would cause me to hesitate to hire David again. I have even offered to help him update his website because it doesn't begin to reflect how good he is and how professional his services are. I think you can tell from the feedback you have received from his past clients that he has earned our respect, trust, and affection. Judy.

shothyme77

Thank you all so very much for continuing to take the time to reassure me we are in good hands. I am confident that when we return from our trip, I will be posting a rave review of him and our trip as well. We leave on June 18th and come back on the 30th. We're excited!

lhgreenacres

We also picked David from recommendations from this message board. Once I talked to him on the phone I felt completely confident that everything would go well. Please let him know that all of us on this board hope he is doing well and that we think so fondly of him.