claire_david

Does anyone have experience with Percy or Munditur Salas in the Cusco/Sacred Valley area? I read about him here but can only find one reference to him, and wanted to see who else has experience with his services. I'm relieved to find he's not pushing for prepayment of all Cusco, S. Valley, and Machu Picchu hotels and excursions now, unlike Inkaterra, but want to make sure he is indeed on the up and up. Would hate to find our reservations nonexistent when we arrive! Claire

vmcb

It is likely my earlier posting where you got Percy's name, so not sure I can assure you any more. I do believe Percy to be very ethical, almost too trusting. He works independently, and I believe also w/ a tour agency, but don't know which one. I found his name/e-mail in a travel book, and worked independently with him. From my own research I selected hotels we wanted and he made the arrangements. Was same price as if I had made them, but he made a small commission by doing so. We did pay him cash for some of the reserv., so that he could make the commission. In addition to the tour he gave us thru the S. Valley, he arranged a top-notch guide, Darwin, for us at MP who was excellent (he has written a book on MP). We did not tour Cusco w/ Percy (he lives there), but kinda' wish we had. Instead he arranged a group tour for us w/ a tour company in Cusco. Everything Percy said he would do he followed up on. The staff at the hotels seemed to know him, as did several people in passing as we toured the sites. He impressed my husband and I as a hard-working guy, and thought enough of him to recommend him on this site in response to some request.
Good luck with all your plans. Be happy to answer any specific questions.

jaspertl

We are looking for a guide in MP/Cusco/Sacared Valley area for Oct.
Would you mind sharing your contact information for your guide?
Thanks

Elizabeth_S

Jaspertl

We had a terrific guide in Cusco and the SV - I found his name here at Fodors and together we developed a terrific itinerary. His name is David Choque - here's a link to his web site

http://www.cuscotoptravelperu.com/

And his email address is

[email protected]

Here's a link to our blog - there's a few pix of us with David

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

We are independent travelers and David made our visit to Machu Picchu and the SV a delight. I highly recommend his services.

vmcb

Percy's contact information:
Percy Salas at [email protected]

jaspertl

I noticed that David's website offers tours of 3+ days.
We are looking for someone for day tours in MP, Cuzco etc.

Can he arrange for that also?

Elizabeth_S

David does day trips as well - we did a series of day trips with him from Ollantataytambo...

jaspertl

Does david choque speak good english? We don't speak much spanish.
Also, can you give me some idea as to what he charged for a day of touring?
There are 4 of us if that matters.

Thanks so much for all the help

Elizabeth_S

David speaks excellent English - quite idiomatic - he teaches it at the university in Cusco.

He charged us between $65 - $85 per person for our day trips - they were about 5-6 hours in length. He has a very nice van that would be perfect for 4 people (it seats 6) - I don't know how he charges when there's 4 instead of two. We would usually stop for lunch each day and we invited him to join us (as our guest) as we really enjoyed our conversations with him about Peru, the Incans, etc, although it didn't seem to be expected. We stayed in Ollantaytambo for 4 nights and he picked us up each day - we did the following day trips:

1) Moray and the Salt Mines - fascinating
2) Pisac ruins and market
3) Ollantaytambo ruins and Chinchero

He also accompanied us for one day to Machu Picchu but in hindsight that was unnecessary as there were guides there....although we enjoyed it!

He arranged our hotels (we worked together on the selection) and in each case I felt the rate he got was lower than what I could have booked it at.

He also picked us up at the Cusco airport and transported us to Ollantaytambo - I think that was $45 each.

Happy to answer any questions....it's a wonderful place to visit.

jaspertl

Thanks for the information...I've contacted David and he is putting together an intinerary for us. I'm hoping to hear back from him soon.

I enjoyed your photos/travel guide of the areas and your other holidays. Beautiful!!!

Elizabeth_S

Hi - hope it all works out with David - we certainly were very happy.

Here's a link to another review.......I post it here as we're helping David update his website a bit (full disclosure!)

http://www.igougo.com/planning/journ...?EntryID=24933

jaspertl

Hi again,
I've spoken with David several times by email and I'm sure he'll be great. Very prompt in his responses which I appreciate. He also seems very professional and organized.
Thanks so much again for your suggestion.