Bolivia to Brazil: Highlands & Coastlines

Traveler Reviews

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  Nathalie5.0•October 2022
  An amazing 4 weeks, seeing incredible places, eating new and exciting food, meeting extremely interesting people, and...
  An amazing 4 weeks, seeing incredible places, eating new and exciting food, meeting extremely interesting people, and experiencing a plethora of cultures. All packed into 4 weeks, with amazing people and an amazing tour leader. A trip I will never forget but always wish to do again.Show more
  Traveled in July 2022

  Review collected by G Adventures
  

  Reply from: G Adventures

  Hi There - Thanks for the positive feedback. So great to hear!

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  Karen5.0•July 2022
  Great adventure from La Paz to Rio. So many Highlights on the tour. I will always remember
  Traveled in July 2022

  Review collected by G Adventures
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  Jamie5.0•June 2022
  An amazing trip that I will never forget. There have been so many highlights that I cannot even sum up the trip in a...
  An amazing trip that I will never forget. There have been so many highlights that I cannot even sum up the trip in a single paragraph. Show more
  Traveled in May 2022

  Review collected by G Adventures
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  sarahsharman1.0•February 2020
  Now I have returned home, I would like to go into the issues from the trip within further detail. Having now...
  Now I have returned home, I would like to go into the issues from the trip within further detail. Having now been on five G adventures trips, I am absolutely appalled with the experience I had on this trip in South America, as my previous four trips were amazing, and I had CEOs that went above and beyond to make the trips incredible and unforgettable. Unfortunately, my South America trip will be unforgettable for all the wrong reasons. Having been on so many prior G trips, I was happy to pay such a large amount of money for the trip, as I had always seen the value that the CEOs added. Having travelled for six years, I am comfortable navigating my way through a country and orchestrating my own travel, however, I chose to travel with G to get a better grasp of the country and to be taken to places I would not be able to come across myself, to get a better understanding of the country from a local guide. This is something that Juan was completely incapable of. Firstly, Juan had no local knowledge of any of the countries we visited, and if he did he didn’t share it with us. In our first meeting, Juan advised us that he had not done the first leg of the trip before, and that we could do the research ourselves with regards to the activities. He also said ‘The Brazil leg of the trip is better’ at the welcome meeting, where the majority of the group were only doing the Bolivia leg. This is not the most reassuring thing to hear from a CEO that is supposed to be passionate about travel. His lack of knowledge not only hindered our activities and cultural experience but also our dining experiences. Juan regularly took us to major food outlets and tourist restaurants where we ate normal, overpriced and terribly executed western food. The outlets that he took us to, anyone could of just walked into from the street with no research whatsoever. Though Karem did a fantastic job at the end of the trip as our CEO, we found it a little frustrating, as she told us all the fantastic restaurants we had missed out on, and how fantastic the food in Bolivia should have been. Juan also advised us on several occasions incorrect amounts of cash we required. While I understand each traveller is different, for example in the salt flats, we spent on average the same amount, and this must be similar for every tour. On previous trips the CEOs were able to advise relatively accurate cash requirements. Juan told us to get out significantly too much for the salt flats and significantly not enough while at Iguazu. Juan did the majority of his communication through WhatsAp. He never briefed us on arriving in a new location, but would send multiple page documents to us through the group chat. This is something I could have done myself, as it looked like a screenshot from Google. This is not what I expect from a CEO. In Montevideo he gave us no briefing what so ever, and when I asked him to send his usual pdf document, he never did. He also continually changed times of activities and departures within the WhatsAp group, and as we were abroad without phone connection, meant that on occasion we were completely unaware of the time changes. I note particularly the walk to see the sunset in Sucre was brought forward half an hour, and as I was napping, I was unaware of this change and missed it. There was also another occasion in Brazil, where Juan brought the departure time forward for the morning at midnight, by this point most of the group was asleep, and I had to proceed to wake them up to make them aware of the new departure time. He also incorrectly told us in Buenos Aires that we were leaving for Uruguay the next day in the WhatsAp group, which caused much panic as we thought we were leaving the day after, and we were. I do not expect a CEO to tell us to leave on the wrong departure day, and also had we not corrected him would he have even realised? Juan also misinformed me about luggage allowances for the internal flights on multiple occasions. This is also something my STA travel agent had contacted G about two times before the trip and did not receive a response about. Juan’s unprofessionalism was not only in relation to his lack of knowledge, but he was also having a relationship with one of the girls in the group. I had no problem with this, until it came to him prioritising her for room upgrades, and in several other instances throughout the trip. He was also more concerned with her than doing his job, for example at the ranch going for long walks with her instead of facilitating activities. He was also inappropriate towards other girls, including heckling things out the window at girls in tight shorts. Juan was completely abusing his position of authority in the group. Juan also has a huge lack of respect for the group. On occasions when people were unwell, he would take the front seat and make them sit in the back, there was also an occasion in Salta where one of my friends on the trip had to sit on the floor of the mini van, and Juan did not offer his seat, which again confused me as to who was the paying customer? When members of the group asked about airport transfers, his response was to ‘get an uber’ and he also confirmed an airport pickup in Argentina for one of the girls, that he never booked, and left an 18-year-old girl distressed and alone in the morning. Juan also left several members of the group behind as a result of his complete disregard for the group, our welfare and safety and him constantly being stressed and rushing us. Juan’s rushing also led to him leaving early at dinners as soon as the food had finished, on one occasion in Buenos Aires he left before the bill had arrived and didn’t even leave enough money, leaving the rest of the group to have to chip in extra. Juan would regularly not come for dinner with us, he told us that he had made reservations when he hadn’t, and when he did attend would sit on his phone and not speak to anyone in the group. Other members of the group would assist with Spanish menu translations, while Juan enjoyed messaging his friends. Juan also rushed to get the best seat for the tango show, where he proceeded to sit on his phone while the performance was happening, even after two occasions of being asked politely to put his phone away. Having seen Juan on his phone at dinner on so many occasions, I was surprised with his lack of response to my messages whilst he was at dinner with the group in Salta. After checking into my room, I quickly realised the heating wasn’t working, and I was having difficulty discussing this to the hostel manager. Juan did not reply to me in the WhatsAp group until the next morning, by which we had already spent the night in the freezing hotel. Juan also lied to us on several occasions. On one occasion in San Pedro de Atacama, he told the group that the restaurant did not have a set menu, when infact the Spanish speakers of the group told us that there was a set menu but Juan had received the last one, very gentlemanly! He also lied and said he was the only CEO able to do the favela tour, as this was the favela he lived in (Karem did this with us, so obviously another lie). Juan openly told me that the working for G was good, but it was not his passion and he didn’t want to pursue it. This was reflected in his work, and I have since found out that he resigned in Argentina. I think this speaks volumes as to why he had such a bad attitude towards the trip and zero enthusiasm to make the trip special for us. Juan’s unprofessionalisms continued at the ranch experience in Uruguay where he facilitated the activities with little or no enthusiasm and organisation. He also was deliberately frightening myself and Maria’s horses when we went riding, as he knew we were both nervous. While I understand one of the benefits of being a CEO may be free restaurant meals and activities, Juan was extremely impartial and unprofessional when advising of both. On the way to Salta, he talked people out of the wine tour and said ‘no one is doing it, no one ever does it, you sit in a car for two hours, go to one winery and come back’. This was not the case, a lot of us did want to do it, and a few of us that were not put off by him did go and had a fantastic day after being mistold information again. Maybe the biggest rip off of the whole trip was in Iguzu on the Brazilian side of the falls day. Juan told us this was 40usd to which I am still unsure what I paid for. We received a pickup from the bus station (I assume this was already included in the trip price), then a ticket to the national park (15usd approx), a drop off at the start of the trail and then a pickup transfer to our hotel. On arriving at the Brazilian side of the falls, I was surprised to see a public bus available for 1 usd, which Juan had not given us the option to do. When I queried this with Juan, I did not get a direct answer, and the taxi driver proceeded to scream at me interpreting it as a personal attack. This was not the case and the miscommunication was once again on Juan’s part. I am still failing to see what I paid for that day, and why I was not given the option to do the Brazilian side of the falls myself, as all the driver did was point out fast food restaurants and drive us to the start of the walk, which neither Juan or the driver joined us on. Also the G app advises this is 15usd. This issue continued the following day on the Argentina side where the driver pre purchased us the boat trip tickets, before we had been told of the cost. Juan had also told us the night before that we could pay for this activity on card, so that night we had gone to the cash machine and withdrew enough cash for everything else, not including the boat trip. After completing the boat trip Juan told us that we could no longer pay on card. This was very frustrating, as we had asked him the night before, and in South America we were charged ten dollars each time we had to withdraw cash, this essentially making the boat trip ten dollars more thanks to Juan’s incorrect information. Juan then continued to lie to me. He told me the card machine was broke, and kept ignoring me. When I asked him if I could try and use the card machine he avoided my question again. After persisting with him, he decided to tell me that the driver hadn’t brought the card machine. He had outwardly lied to my face. The driver also became very irate and started screaming at me for the second time, saying he has never accepted cash, and that he would call the federal police on me if I didn’t pay. I politely explained to him that the group’s frustration was with Juan for miscommunicating with us, but he continued to yell at me. At this stage Juan did not mediate the argument and sat quietly. As a paying customer I expect the CEO to resolve these kinds of issues and be working for us, and not against me. I felt in this situation that Juan and the driver were working together to get extra money from us, and that they didn’t want to use the card machine, as they didn’t want a paper trail of the money paid for the boat trip, which we could of just purchased ourselves from the desk. I felt very threatened and unsafe with the driver and Juan at this moment. I book with G adventures to take the stress out of travelling, which you quote on your website. This trip had the complete opposite effect on my experience and actually gave me more stress and anxiety than if I did the trip alone. In Bolivia, I broke out into a full body rash. Juan showed little concern or compassion for me and was more concerned about himself as per usual. Quote ‘Don’t sit next to me if you have chicken pocks’. On several occasions I asked Juan to help me book a doctors appointment. In Buenos Aires, he said there were none available, which I obviously queried with him in a city of such size. I later then saw on Juan’s instagram story that he had been exploring the city all day with his friend, and I am doubtful he even attempted to call a doctor. This is absolutely disgusting and as a CEO and as a person I would expect a much higher level of duty of care and compassion. Having since had this diagnosed myself by a doctor, this has been confirmed as a stress related rash. I am disappointed that on my holiday for the year I was put under such a huge amount of stress from our CEO. The most disgusting part on Juan’s behavior was his attempt to leave me in Iguazu falls, five minutes before we were leaving for the airport. After our disagreement over the cash/card payments, Juan gave me a release letter signed by him saying he was kicking me off the trip, and that I would have to make my own arrangements for further travel. This was at 7.10am when we were supposed to be leaving for the airport at 7.15am. Juan said that I had been disrespectful to his country. After travelling for six years to almost fifty countries, I have never been accused of anything so ridiculous, and this is a unfair representation of my character. Juan was completely trying to manipulate and intimidate me, as he pulled me to one side with the driver stood behind him, almost acting as his body guard. I book with G to feel safe and supported in a dangerous country, and I am absolutely appalled and disgusted that Juan was genuinely prepared to leave a young solo female traveler alone in a country that is renowned for violet crime. If it were not for my friends refusing to leave without me, I do not know what would have happened and I am frightened to think about this. This ruined my whole trip, and from this point on I felt extremely unsafe, nervous and anxious about what was going to happen. So much for a stress free holiday! Having been on five G adventures trips, after this horrendous experience, I am unsure if I would feel safe travelling with you again. After ‘allowing’ me to come to the airport in Iguazu, Juan proceeded to manipulate me and play childish games. This was clear in the seat selection of a half empty plane. The four other girls and Juan were sat together at the front of the plane, and he had placed me right at the back on my own. While sometimes the seat allocations can be random, this was more than a coincidence; Juan deliberately tried to isolate me from my friends at a time where I felt vulnerable, emotional, upset and unsafe. This was so distressing to have to deal with on holiday, and I was also left for four hours wondering if I was then going to be left on my own once arriving in Sao Paulo. Juan is lazy, rude, a liar, manipulative and selfish. Not only did he add zero value to the holiday, he impacted it so much that he made it worse, and gave me massive amounts of stress an anxiety, the effects of which are still on my physical body right now. I felt more unsafe and threatened with Juan than if I was travelling alone, and the primary reason I book with G Adventures is to feel safe in a dangerous country. I work hard all year to pay for such expensive trips, and use the little time I have from work productively. I have such huge regrets about booking this trip and it will be continually remembered for all the wrong reasons. As five young girls alone in Brazil, we felt like we were in danger and this is completely unacceptable. I could continue to give many more examples of Juan’s behaviour, but I am sure you have received multiple letters from my trip mates explaining this also. I am therefore requesting a full refund for this trip as well as compensation for the emotional distress caused, along with additional allowances for the activities where we were overcharged. The trip was not only below par, but it was not as advertised and did not meet the criteria of the tour that I was sold and originally purchased on multiple occasions outlined above. I would like my complaint to be escalated, and I would also like to know what action has been taken towards Juan, as I would not want any traveler to go through what I went through again. To quote your website ‘All G Adventures group trips are accompanied by one of our group leaders, a G Adventures representative, or an expedition team. The aim of the group leader is to take the hassle out of your travels and to help you have the best trip possible. They will provide information on the places you are travelling through, offer suggestions for things to do and see, recommend great local eating venues and introduce you to our local friends. While not being guides in the traditional sense you can expect them to have a broad general knowledge of the countries visited on the trip, including historical, cultural, religious and social aspects. We also use local guides where we think more specific knowledge will add to the enjoyment of the places we are visiting- we think it's the best of both worlds’ This description is laughable with regards to my experience with Juan, a CEO that was completely unaccountable for his actions and treated our holiday like his. I hope you will understand the consequences this has had on me as a loyal customer to G adventures. I have also been advised that I have received the same refund as members that only had Juan as their guide for two weeks. This is unacceptable, as we suffered with him as our CEO for twice as long, and he ruined the whole of my once in a lifetime trip. I WILL NEVER TRAVEL AGAIN WITH G ADVENTURES AFTER 5 TRIPS. I had planned on doing Antarctica with them but there is absolutely no chance I will ever travel with them again.Show more
  Traveled in August 2019
  

  Reply from: G Adventures

  Thanks for the review Sarah, and we wish this was a better experience. Our apologies. Clearly what you experienced was not up to par. You have been in contact with our Customer Solutions team (case no. 00478551) and see they have offered you a refund. We are truly sorry for the dissappointments and frustrations here.

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  Therese5.0•September 2018
  Felt easy and stress free through the trip and the people were great !
  Traveled in August 2018
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  Emma5.0•August 2018
  Our CEO David was so helpful and knowledgeable and made us feel safe and relaxed throughout the trip.
  Traveled in July 2018
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  Harriet5.0•August 2018
  well organised, wide range of itineraries
  Traveled in July 2018
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  Abigail5.0•August 2018
  Exceptional tour. Well organised, covered everything I wanted to do in safety and comfort. Fantastic tour guide....
  Exceptional tour. Well organised, covered everything I wanted to do in safety and comfort. Fantastic tour guide. Always felt safe and supportedShow more
  Traveled in July 2018
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  Erica5.0•September 2018
  Ease of travel and safety in a group setting
  Traveled in August 2018
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  Lily-Mae5.0•September 2018
  I have done 8 G tours now and am always very happy with the service. I do think there should be more included in the...
  I have done 8 G tours now and am always very happy with the service. I do think there should be more included in the tours and I always tell friends and family this - my Costa Rica this year was particularly disappointing with respect to included activities. And also the leg from Buenos Aires to Rio was also very disappointing and lots more should have been included... especially seeing as I paid over £3000 for this tour from la Paz to Rio!! Overall though, a fantastic summer and I would do a G tour again.Show more
  Traveled in August 2018