15

vincentc"
"ZD you just happen to come from the only country represented here that has NOT been exploiting sa for hundreds of years!!!!have fun....otra vez "

um.. that was not doing it on the cheap back in 2004. it was the average price of doing the Inca Trail;. I used one of the long established agencies. Andean Life. for the trek,. They were only slightly cheaper than SAS and about the same as United Mice. Andean Life was not in the business if cheating their porters, It was the 1st year that hikers were required to use an agency. Prior to that, hikers were setting out the on their own and trashing the trail. 2004 prices were not the same as 2012 prices

As for the country I came for, it was settled by Europeans looking to exploit every natural resources in the Americas. I suggest you take you prejudice and channel it elsewhere

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rainbowcarnage - I can recommend Alpaca Expeditions. I did the the Salkantay trek last July with them and they provided an excellent service.

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rainbow carnage: Your profile doesn´t say anything about when you joined TT and your post count of 11 suggests you are not such a regular user (yes I am aware many peoples post count is inaccurate after BBC took down the site).

Anyhow, there are posters with 100s or 1000s of posts who occassionaly make posts with personal interests in mind. Not saying this is you, just that the OP should take care when using recommendations on this site. I would suggest the OP to read the reviews on websites like hostelworld, as they can only be posted by people who have paid to stay in the hostel. If a particular hostel has consistant bad reviews and a low score than look elsewhere.

Hostel chains like Loki aren´t designed for shoestring backpackers. Generally the clientelle are younger travellers with generous budgets. They are paying significantly more for higher standard (by backpacking standards) accomodation with a party atmosphere. It´s hardly staying in squalor. I would define squalor as the10 soles hospedajes you find around.

I realise this is hopelessly offtopic as the post is about tours, but just thought I should clarify. For what it´s worth I´m personally not a big fan of the large gringocentric party hostels ie Loki.

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Loki was a hostal in La Paz. If it's the same owner, they it wouldl be one big gringo party.

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Hazzdawg - When you click on a poster's name, you can see how long they've been a member. You have been posting since 30/05/2011. Inglorious has been posting since 08/11/2004. I have been posting since 11/02/2005. My post count was reset, but not the membership date.

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Ahh so it does, I was looking at your full profile (right click open in new window) which doesn´t give this info. I think it used to before BBC took down the site hence the confusion.

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Hi there, I've been told that the price difference is because some of the less expensive tours don't include a porter to carry your personal belongings (ie so you only need a little daypack) and that averages to about $150USD for the 4 days. It's still doesn't quite add up to the $1000+ charge for some companies, but might explain a bit.

Edited by: zita3

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Hey Zita, good point but loki travel offer a full porter (14kg) for usd100 and the trek for usd390. That seems to cheap to me but STA seem too expensive

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Hardly any agencies include a porter as standard on the Inca Trail. STA Travel won't be operating the trek themselves so a lot of the cost disappears in to their pockets which explains the big difference.

$390 for the Inca Trail is obsenely cheap. To operate at that kind of level means corners are being cut somewhere.

You can do a search for companies, their availability and their prices here . The agencies on the site are reputable and make sure they care for their staff and tourists.