tours aqc

We aren't the fittest hikers and while we hike often we like to go at our own pace. The trip Robert arranges is ideal for people like us - he will let you go at the pace you are most comfortable and insist on it. He knows the ins and outs of the valley extremely well, very organized and detailed. We were headed to Santa Marta after Salento and we told him we would be hiking in the Tayrona National Park - he told us about a bug repellant and later in the night dropped by our hotel and left one for us. That is genuine care - thank you Robert, not a bug got near us in Tayrona. We really appreciate it.Cocora Valley was a great day trip for us - we saw some beautiful birds, breathtaking views of the valley and a great lunch/dinner in Salento.

We went on a family trip with 4 people. My husband and I are a bit past middle aged, and we were with our 27 year old son and his girl friend. We don't speak Spanish and were so glad that we used Tours AQC to show us around the area. We got a wonderful tour of the city, sites and restaurants of Armenia. Including favorite coffee houses and restaurants. Roberto was our wonderful guide. I don't speak Spanish so having a guide AND a translator was key, and it's clear that Roberto loves people and loves his country. He was able to tell us so many interesting things about Armenia. The tour of Valle de Cocora was a fabulous day. From the Willy jeep ride to the hiking and to the shopping in Salento at the end of the day. We liked the hike , which was not too difficult in spite of the fact that we are not regular hikers. The valley, the palms, the feeling of being in the clouds , it is a magical place. After hiking we stopped to eat in Salento at a wonderful restaurant that Roberto knows. Wonderful food, very reasonable prices, and great coffee. And then we strolled along the main street for shopping . The street is full of very nice shops, all a bit different, and having different offerings of local and handmade items. If I'd had more suit cases I would have brought lots more home! This tour is a must when you travel to Armenia. We'll be going back this year and will try another tour that is offered by Tours AQC.

What a great experience my husband and I had in Valle de Cocora, and it was all thank to Roberto Van Uden! The minute we booked the trip, we were provided with a very detailed flyer as to what to bring to the hike as well as some helpful tips. Roberto even came all the way to the hotel the night before to find out if we had backpacks, rubber boots, etc.The trip started with a breakfast at a traditional Colombian place – tasty food, great coffee. Then there was the hike. We usually like to plan everything ourselves, but that time we were glad we had a guide because Roberto knew and showed us a couple of different trails, not just the one that everybody takes. As it turned out, my husband and I overestimated our fitness level, but Roberto was very understanding and kept saying that we are free to do whatever we want and that we don’t have to go all the way to the top. However, we made it!There were some other hikers at the highest point, and our guide started conversations with some of them. Did I mention that he speaks five languages fluently and switches from one to another without missing a bit? Anyway, after the hike, Roberto treated us to lunch, and it was another nice surprise – international cuisine (Thai, Indian, Middle Eastern) somewhere in a village in the middle of Colombia! Even though it was the first time we met, we really enjoyed our conversations because Roberto is also worldly, intelligent, with a great sense of humor.At the end of the day, he gave us tons of recommendations about good restaurants, coffee shops, parks in the city of Armenia, and once again we were amazed at his knowledge and passion for Colombia and Quindio Department.And his prices are very reasonable, too!

Fantastic tour - would thoroughly recommend to anyone considering visiting Armenia. This was certainly a highlight of our visit to Columbia. Roberto was incredibly helpful and went above and beyond what you would normally expect from a guide - he gave us lots of information of what else to do and visit when we were in Armenia and further beyond. The tour itself is fantastic value for money and you certainly get to see a lot. In addition to the hike we visited two fabulous little towns and got to see great scenery along the way. The jeeps were great fun to travel in, the bakery and traditional food was a great start to the day ! The hike itself is beautiful taking in some great scenery along the way and the restaurant in Salento at the end of the hike was awesome. Very enjoyable.

From the first time we contacted Roberto about a proposed itinerary, I knew this was going to be a great choice. He responded to our email inquiry very quickly, with a proposed four day itinerary. With a little tweaking, we settled on a plan that our group of four was happy with. This was to be a return trip to Colombia, for us. 26 years earlier my wife and I travelled to Armenia to adopt our infant son. It was now time to explore the area of his birth for the first time as an adult, along with his girlfriend.Our itinerary included four days of sightseeing, to get to know the area and the city of our son's birth. When we met up with Roberto the first night, to enjoy a coffee together, we started to tell him our son's back story. We weren't intending to spend our four days in Armenia trying to find his birth mother, but we wanted Roberto to know the background of why we had chosen Armenia as a destination.After hearing our story, Roberto suggested that it might very well be possible for us to find our son's birth mother during our short four day stay in Armenia.So.......the adventure began! Roberto's perfect command of the English language, along with his knowledge of the city, the region and the people of Colombia, all combined to be exactly what was needed for us to conduct a search for our son's roots. We travelled to the hospital that we believed our son was born in. Toured the maternity ward and left gifts for the babies and staff. We had meetings with the government agency responsible for adoptions in Colombia and Roberto interpreted several hours of discussions that we had with the woman in charge. We connected with a social worker, who did not speak English. Roberto was happy to simultaneously interpret all of our discussions with her. Roberto and the social worker led us to the day care facility where our son was cared for as an infant and helped us in our discussions with workers there, who remembered our son as an infant. Roberto even took our son, along with the social worker, into the poorest of the poor neighborhoods in Armenia, and went door to door for 45 minutes, searching for clues as to the whereabouts of our son's birth mother.In between all of this searching for our son's birth mother, Roberto introduced us to the city of Armenia and took us to the beautiful Valle de Cocora, near Salento. All we can say about our four days in Armenia is we could not have done what we did without the expert guidance of Roberto from Tours AQC!!! An excellent rating is not enough for what he did for us!In the end, we left Armenia with several clues about our son's birth mother, but we did not find her. Roberto agreed to continue following up on these clues along with the help of the social worker we had connected with. Ten days later, Roberto called us to happily inform us that they believed they had located our son's birth mother, some eight hours south of Armenia!Very long story made short, they did it! They found our son's birth mother! We have since Skyped with her and two of our son's EIGHT Colombian siblings. Again, this would not have been possible without the help of Roberto from Tours AQC.We are planning a return trip to Armenia in April and have already contacted Roberto to begin our plans for a reunion with our son's birth family. Roberto will be with us at the reunion, as he is now a part of our larger Colombian Family!

We want on this hike which is limited to 6 people with our guide Roberto and his porter.We want on the difficult hike which took us up to a little cafe with breath taking views along the way and then climbed down through the forest along the water(falls) back to where the car waited.We are fit, so we managed this hike in 4hrs, whereas others might need 5-6hrs for the "difficult"hike.I recommend not to miss Valle de Cocora when visiting Colombia.Breakfast, pick up and water included.