How was your Explore Tour Leader?

Unfortunately the guide was the one disappointment of the tour, displaying a seeming lack of enthusiasm/interest in the tour group.  Fortunately, we had an additional local guide at each stopover who were generally informative and helpful-one in particular( Francesca) was outstanding.

What tips would you give to someone else booking this tour?

If you go on the short treks, make sure you know your abilities as we had a number of people struggling to complete the walks and the guides did not assist the strugglers.Food and drink costs are higher than reflected in most guide books .

Do you have anything else to add?

"We had 18 people in the group which should be a maximum. Also we had a number of breakdowns of bus transport leading to loss of time. Finally the internal flights could have been better scheduled. Despite these comments, this was a memorable tour."

How was your Explore Tour Leader?

"Ricardo was great. He had a real mixed bag of a tour group but he kept us together and most attended his ""group meals""
He was approachable and full of knowledge but let the local guides give us that extra information. His English was easy to understand and he always helped us if we were having issues with the Spanish language."

What tips would you give to someone else booking this tour?

Be prepared to pay for all the extra side trips as we felt they were really worth while. We felt we would have missed out on so much if we hadn't participated in them.

Do you have anything else to add?

Some issues with the land only joining instructions - ended up at the 3rd venue of the hotel properties but this could have been the hotel's issue not Explore though we have had issues in with past Explore trips we have done. Also we never get the personal information form to complete prior to the start of the trip unlike most others with in the tour. This was our 5th Explore trip and it rates amongst one of the most memorable ones.

How was your Explore Tour Leader?

The tour leader was not clear on what we were doing day to day. We had requested a daily list of of when we were meeting and what we were doing the following day, but we only got a daily list once. When we arrived at the hotel ,as listed on itinerary,we were sent to an other hotel. Day 1we were to have a meeting at 12:00 which got delayed to 8:00 so day 1 was a write off. Not sure if this was bad planning by Explore or our tour leader.

What tips would you give to someone else booking this tour?

there was a 5 AM flight to Calama day 3 which meant we were up at 3:30 AM to go to the airport. When we arrived at our hotel in San Pedro we could not check into our rooms until 3 in the afternoon. Bad planning. Not sure why so early as there are hourly flights to Calama???? We took a hike Day 4 which took us 5 - 6 hours due to the lack of cleared trails???

Do you have anything else to add?

"I am only rating this tour as Average due to the tour leader/explore and the lack of planning in advance.
The places that we visited and most of the hotels were excellent. Why do you charge so much for your optional tours as compared to what is available locally????  I would appreciate a reply to my questions"