We have been in business since 1993 and have evolved into specializing in the areas that we love - classic tours and active adventures in South and Central America.
We have been featured in International Travel News, National Geographic Adventures, Brandt Guides, Fodors, USA Today and Frommers, among others. Recommended by Simonseeks - travel guides and holiday reviews.
Have we done every trip that we list on our site? Unfortunately not - but we are trying. We have done many of them and have testimonials from people who have done others, if you are interested in corresponding with them. Though we offer the typical, well-known tours in each area, we also try to offer you exciting options that you just won't find from your local travel agent - exciting, "different" tours that you will truly remember for the rest of your life. We are always trying to introduce new options to exciting off-the-beaten path places that haven't become mainstream destinations yet and we're trying to offer more chances to meet with the locals and experience their culture firsthand, instead of through the window of a tour bus.
We realize that we are not known worldwide and so some of you might be afraid to deal with an unknown company over the internet. That is why we joined the Better Business Bureau 15 years ago - so people can investigate us and see that we are reputable and provide good service, as is evident by our A+ rating by them. As was mentioned, we can also let you correspond with others from all over the world who have done business with us.
Though we do work with some American tour operators, we often try to work directly with local tour operators in each country so that we can offer you the best prices and more frequent services. We try to attend the annual conferences in each region to meet with the local operators to see what is new and exciting. When you contact most agencies, you talk to someone who is new or has only worked their for a few years - there is a big turnover in the business. But when you contact us, you deal with someone who has specialized in these countries for over 15 years.
Speaking of prices.........people often ask us why some of our prices are so much less than those of other tours that they see. There are several reasons for this. One is that we don't believe in gouging people, so we don't mark up our prices extravagantly. Another is that our local operators have to price their products according to the world market and not just for the "rich" Americans, who are used to paying a lot.
Jim has completed the following Specialist courses:
We're Listed On The Austin Texas Business List