bayoufrogg Posted November 20, 2008 #1 Share Posted November 20, 2008 I saw a post on here a while ago by monicajay about Gus's Tours. The itinerary of the specific tour we want is pasted below. We will be cruising on the Norwegian Spirit and arrive in Guatemala on 12/31/2008. Can we book this tour AT THE PORT or do I have to book before......and what is the name of this specific tour????? I'm sure the price is different now, so does anyone have a clue on that?? 10: 00 ? 10:30 am Departure from Cruise Terminal to Livingston ? 20 minutes this short trip takes you along the shoreline were you will see the San Hill mountain and the villas of the coast. 11:00 am ? arriving at Posada el Delfin in Livingston were you will be taking your lunch order. 11:15 am. Departure to the hanging gardens of the canyon of Rio Dulce this is a lazy river with 300 feet walls full of jungle vegetation. While at the canyon we will visit the water springs and be able to see the ?Cows Cave? and the ?Pioneers Wall? . 12:00 pm. We will enter Rio Tatin Creek and visit the Ak-Tenamit School inside the jungle. We will see the Maya Indians manufacturing art crafts and you will interact with kids from the school that are learning about the tourist industry. A Maya Ketchi guide will take us into the jungle for a 5 minute tour to learn about medicinal plants from the area. ( if you don?t feel like walking into the jungle and visit the school, you will have time to swim in the crystal clear waters of Rio Tatin). Before leaving the Ak-Tenamit, we will visit the store were you can buy souvenirs. 12:45 pm Departure Rio Tatin and visit the Hot Water Springs and the ?Lake of the Lilies? 1:30 pm Lunch at Posada El Delfin we you will be able to taste one of the following: Catch of the Day Sea Bass Chicken or steak ? all with a complimentary soft drink, beer or glass of wine. 2:15 pm ? You will learn to dance ?Punta? the Garifuna dance, and be entertained with Folkloric African Ballet. 2:30 pm - We will take a ?cititour? in the Villa visiting the Fish Market, Main Street and the ?Iguana Sanctuary? 3:30 pm - Back to the Cruise Terminal 4:00 pm - End of the tour. Until next time! Kids under 12 $45.00 Adults $55.00 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bayoufrogg Posted January 13, 2009 Author #2 Share Posted January 13, 2009 Just got back from the humanitarian tour with Gus and I can't say how IMPRESSED we were. This guy has got hospitality down to a tee. We arrived to meet him and his wife at their booth in the port. We had emailed our names, but hadnt sent a deposit or anything. He gave us a sticker with his tour name on it(so other tour guides would leave us alone), a nice hand-made bracelet, and a wood carved animal pin with a guatemala logo. He said "go shopping for half an hour and dont worry....pay me after the trip." Needless to say, we were impressed out the gate. He was extremely nice and talked to us about his family and some things we would be experiencing on the tour. I wont go into a lot of detail about the tour itself since there are so many threads about his tour, but basically, the tour is LIKE 7 tours in 1!!!! We got a boat ride down an AMAZING river, went to see the "Pirates Wall", met some local fisherman, visited the fresh water run-off that the locals get there water from, went into some caves in the rainforest, sat in hot freshwater springs, visited a childrens school and **************, stopped at his friend's house for hand-made corn tortillas(which is NOTHING like store bought), had a guy crack open fresh coconuts for us for $1.00, went on a tour of the town, had local drummers/musicians play for us, met one of the girls that is popular with magazine photos like National Geographic(her name was Ellise Jeanette), visited the manatee santuary and lagoon, and had lunch at Gus's place. The whole experience was incredible; you would be crazy not to visit this place without going on his tour. We even told some locals how great the tour was 1/2 way through, and they payed him a little something to jump aboard for the 2nd half. Lunch at Gus's was fabulous; he even let us try some Chickoplus(im probably way off on the spelling), which is an alcoholic drink similar to a bounce made from yellow cherries. Gus gives 15% of his tour money back to the local communities and children. Before he started this program, only about 35% of the children were going to school and now there is about 75% in attendance. My hats go off to this guy for the good things he is doing and the quality of the tours he is providing. My new wife is a teacher and while she enjoyed the rest of the tour as I did, I think she was very moved to have met the wonderful children of the area. It is an experience you will not forget if you decide to take his tour, I know we won't. Thanks again Gus! - from Margaret and Devon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BonnieVA Posted January 13, 2009 #3 Share Posted January 13, 2009 Do you know if the school you stopped at was in a community called Ak'tenamit? I have looked at Gus' tour & Happy Fish's tour & HP is a lot cheaper, ecpecially since we have 6 in our party. HP stops at Ak'tenamit. Also, is lunch included in Gus' price? And, since he stops at so many places, did you feel you needed to tip everyone ... the friend w/ the tortillas, the musicians, etc? I don't want to go on a tour where I feel like I need to keep handing $ out the whole time. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pipedreams62 Posted January 13, 2009 #4 Share Posted January 13, 2009 Just got back from the humanitarian tour with Gus and I can't say how IMPRESSED we were. This guy has got hospitality down to a tee. We arrived to meet him and his wife at their booth in the port. We had emailed our names, but hadnt sent a deposit or anything. He gave us a sticker with his tour name on it(so other tour guides would leave us alone), a nice hand-made bracelet, and a wood carved animal pin with a guatemala logo. He said "go shopping for half an hour and dont worry....pay me after the trip." Needless to say, we were impressed out the gate. He was extremely nice and talked to us about his family and some things we would be experiencing on the tour. I wont go into a lot of detail about the tour itself since there are so many threads about his tour, but basically, the tour is LIKE 7 tours in 1!!!! We got a boat ride down an AMAZING river, went to see the "Pirates Wall", met some local fisherman, visited the fresh water run-off that the locals get there water from, went into some caves in the rainforest, sat in hot freshwater springs, visited a childrens school and ***************, stopped at his friend's house for hand-made corn tortillas(which is NOTHING like store bought), had a guy crack open fresh coconuts for us for $1.00, went on a tour of the town, had local drummers/musicians play for us, met one of the girls that is popular with magazine photos like National Geographic(her name was Ellise Jeanette), visited the manatee santuary and lagoon, and had lunch at Gus's place. The whole experience was incredible; you would be crazy not to visit this place without going on his tour. We even told some locals how great the tour was 1/2 way through, and they payed him a little something to jump aboard for the 2nd half. Lunch at Gus's was fabulous; he even let us try some Chickoplus(im probably way off on the spelling), which is an alcoholic drink similar to a bounce made from yellow cherries. Gus gives 15% of his tour money back to the local communities and children. Before he started this program, only about 35% of the children were going to school and now there is about 75% in attendance. My hats go off to this guy for the good things he is doing and the quality of the tours he is providing. My new wife is a teacher and while she enjoyed the rest of the tour as I did, I think she was very moved to have met the wonderful children of the area. It is an experience you will not forget if you decide to take his tour, I know we won't. Thanks again Gus! - from Margaret and Devon It was 3 weeks ago today I was sitting in Gus's restaurant eating. The absolute hands down best tour I've ever been on in 9 cruises. Glad you enjoyed it as much as we did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doodlesinkentucky Posted January 13, 2009 #5 Share Posted January 13, 2009 It was 3 weeks ago today I was sitting in Gus's restaurant eating. The absolute hands down best tour I've ever been on in 9 cruises.Glad you enjoyed it as much as we did. The tour is great. Expensive but worth it. He is a class act man! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bayoufrogg Posted January 13, 2009 Author #6 Share Posted January 13, 2009 Gus said he has multiple school he stops at, just depends on the day and the need I guess. You give someone a dollar over there and they are happy. I think we spent an extra 5 dollars total in tips: a couple for the cave tour guide and a couple for musicians. Gus said it was up to us, but you didnt feel obligated. Gus was actually more thankful for the people who purchased local items, which you and the local guy both benefit from the transaction. We talked with some Happyfish tour people and they said they just didnt have the experience we did. One guy even wanted us to tell him about our tour with Gus so he could Blog about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BonnieVA Posted January 13, 2009 #7 Share Posted January 13, 2009 Gus said he has multiple school he stops at, just depends on the day and the need I guess. You give someone a dollar over there and they are happy. I think we spent an extra 5 dollars total in tips: a couple for the cave tour guide and a couple for musicians. Gus said it was up to us, but you didnt feel obligated. Gus was actually more thankful for the people who purchased local items, which you and the local guy both benefit from the transaction. We talked with some Happyfish tour people and they said they just didnt have the experience we did. One guy even wanted us to tell him about our tour with Gus so he could Blog about it. It sounds like a great experience. We're spending a ton of $ in Belize so I was trying to keep costs down in the other ports. We have 4 kids & wherever we go we bring a herd so excursions & tipping per person quickly adds up. I am interested in Ak'tenamit because I want to meet indigenous/local people of Guatemala & because they hand make crafts there & I want to be able to buy some directly from the artisans. So it sounds like, even if Gus doesn't take you to Ak'tenamit, you still have the opportunity to buy local crafts. I'll have to keep thinking about this one. Thanks. Oops ... I just read the original post where you said you went to Ak'tenamit!! Guess I should have read that before reading the 2nd post. :o The other question I had was whether the price of the lunch is included in the tour fee or if it is extra at the restaurant? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BonnieVA Posted January 14, 2009 #8 Share Posted January 14, 2009 Another question: In your first post you said the cost was $55 for adults but his web site says $85. Did you pay $55?? That would definitely make it more interesting to me! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bayoufrogg Posted January 14, 2009 Author #9 Share Posted January 14, 2009 The first post I just copied from another member. I was trying to find out what that tour was called. If you read it you will see that was before my cruise when I was trying to figure out where we wanted to go. That price was from an old post. The price on his website includes lunch. Take your kids on this tour and spend less in Belize. Belize is alright if you go on the cave tubing adventure, but other than that, it was our LEAST favorite port. Food, drinks, and service was HORRIBLE at the "Wet Lizard" right off the dock. I say go cave tubing with Major Tom for $45.00 a person and then wait to get lunch if you are on a ship. Only other thing to do is try the local cashew wine, which can be tasted at one of the shops selling alcohol. Anyways, my advice again is to ditch Belize adventures and do the Gus thing....you wont be sorry. I wish every tour could be half as exciting/informative as his. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BonnieVA Posted January 14, 2009 #10 Share Posted January 14, 2009 The first post I just copied from another member. I was trying to find out what that tour was called. If you read it you will see that was before my cruise when I was trying to figure out where we wanted to go. That price was from an old post. The price on his website includes lunch. Take your kids on this tour and spend less in Belize. Belize is alright if you go on the cave tubing adventure, but other than that, it was our LEAST favorite port. Food, drinks, and service was HORRIBLE at the "Wet Lizard" right off the dock. I say go cave tubing with Major Tom for $45.00 a person and then wait to get lunch if you are on a ship. Only other thing to do is try the local cashew wine, which can be tasted at one of the shops selling alcohol. Anyways, my advice again is to ditch Belize adventures and do the Gus thing....you wont be sorry. I wish every tour could be half as exciting/informative as his. No, can't ditch Belize ... we want to go to Lamanai. It's a pretty penny to get there but I've heard it's well worth it. We have no interest in cave tubing, plus my youngest is too young for it (but who cares since we don't want to do it). I did notice that your 1st post was pre-cruise but I was wondering how much you did wind up paying. Was that price accurate because, like I said, the web site is A LOT more money? I'm assuming you paid the higher amount of $85. And, as for eating, I'm a vegetarian so I'm worried that I might go hungry until we get back to the ship. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bayoufrogg Posted January 15, 2009 Author #11 Share Posted January 15, 2009 Well then I'd say you may go hungry, or get really happy off corn tortillas and Chikoplus! Again, that price of $55.00 was copied from another persons post a long time ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BonnieVA Posted January 15, 2009 #12 Share Posted January 15, 2009 Chikoplus! Hmmmm ... what's that?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waiting2retire Posted January 15, 2009 #13 Share Posted January 15, 2009 We did the Go with Gus Humanitarian tour in Guatemala last week, and it is truly an excellent tour. I had emailed Gus at the last minute to request availability for up to seven people, since none of my group would commit to it, and he confirmed that he was available. Since I did not confirm a reservation, I was surprised that he had my name on his list. The price on his website is quoted as $85.00, although he didn't specify a price when he confirmed availability. I had read on another post here that other people had paid less by booking at the dock instead of making a reservation, so I told him I had not made a reservation (which I had not). He quoted a price of $59.00 pp and we took it. I think he may have gone lower if we had made a move to check out other trips. The cost did include lunch at Gus's restaurant (Le Delphin I think it was called), and I don't think you will starve. We were given appetizers on little toasts; some were shrimp, but the others were guacamole, black bean and minced onion (separately). They also brought a basket of flour tortillas and a bowl of guacamole. The main course was a chicken soup, to which we could add our own rice. If you don't want the soup, you could just have the rice. There was also a hot sauce for extra flavour. Beer was extra, but water, soft drinks and rice milk were included. There were seven of us took the tour, from 21 to 56 years of age. Everyone loved it, but I was a little disappointed with a couple of things. One is that there were too many people on the tour to fit into Gus's boat, so we were in another, smaller boat, with an older woman with poor command on English. I felt that we missed out on a lot by not hearing Gus's narration, which is supposed to be what makes his tour exceptional. If you take his tour, make sure you tell him when you book that you want to be in his boat! Also, we did not go to the Ak'tenamit school. We did go to another school, which the young adults with us really loved, but I would have preferred to go to Ak'tenamit. Again, you might want to wait and book at the dock to make sure he is going to Ak'tenamit that day. All in all, it is an awesome adventure, and was extremely educational and eye-opening for our kids who have not had much opportunity to travel. Have a great time! Bonnie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BonnieVA Posted January 15, 2009 #14 Share Posted January 15, 2009 We did the Go with Gus Humanitarian tour in Guatemala last week, and it is truly an excellent tour. I had emailed Gus at the last minute to request availability for up to seven people, since none of my group would commit to it, and he confirmed that he was available. Since I did not confirm a reservation, I was surprised that he had my name on his list. The price on his website is quoted as $85.00, although he didn't specify a price when he confirmed availability. I had read on another post here that other people had paid less by booking at the dock instead of making a reservation, so I told him I had not made a reservation (which I had not). He quoted a price of $59.00 pp and we took it. I think he may have gone lower if we had made a move to check out other trips. The cost did include lunch at Gus's restaurant (Le Delphin I think it was called), and I don't think you will starve. We were given appetizers on little toasts; some were shrimp, but the others were guacamole, black bean and minced onion (separately). They also brought a basket of flour tortillas and a bowl of guacamole. The main course was a chicken soup, to which we could add our own rice. If you don't want the soup, you could just have the rice. There was also a hot sauce for extra flavour. Beer was extra, but water, soft drinks and rice milk were included. There were seven of us took the tour, from 21 to 56 years of age. Everyone loved it, but I was a little disappointed with a couple of things. One is that there were too many people on the tour to fit into Gus's boat, so we were in another, smaller boat, with an older woman with poor command on English. I felt that we missed out on a lot by not hearing Gus's narration, which is supposed to be what makes his tour exceptional. If you take his tour, make sure you tell him when you book that you want to be in his boat! Also, we did not go to the Ak'tenamit school. We did go to another school, which the young adults with us really loved, but I would have preferred to go to Ak'tenamit. Again, you might want to wait and book at the dock to make sure he is going to Ak'tenamit that day. All in all, it is an awesome adventure, and was extremely educational and eye-opening for our kids who have not had much opportunity to travel. Have a great time! Bonnie This was a great post. Thanks for posting all this info. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doodlesinkentucky Posted January 16, 2009 #15 Share Posted January 16, 2009 Well then I'd say you may go hungry, or get really happy off corn tortillas and Chikoplus! Again, that price of $55.00 was copied from another persons post a long time ago. It was 85.00 but included lunch and it was well worth it. I have taken shore excursions through the ship that were cheaper but not the high quality that this tour was. Plus, you can tell right away Gus is truly a kind man that cares so much about his community. I am so thankful we went. My family was too. We went with my son and his wife (27 and 25). Truly different then what we usually do but left a great memory! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dana Deem Posted January 17, 2009 #16 Share Posted January 17, 2009 Can anyone tell me how to contact Gus for a Tour? I read but didn't see a # or site. Going on April 2 Coral Princess! thanks for any info on what not to miss!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyt Posted January 18, 2009 #17 Share Posted January 18, 2009 Can anyone tell me how to contact Gus for a Tour? I read but didn't see a # or site. Going on April 2 Coral Princess! thanks for any info on what not to miss!! http://www.gowithgustours.com tonyt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pipedreams62 Posted January 18, 2009 #18 Share Posted January 18, 2009 Can anyone tell me how to contact Gus for a Tour? I read but didn't see a # or site. Going on April 2 Coral Princess! thanks for any info on what not to miss!! Sometimes the internet isn't working in Guatemala. You can also see him as soon as you get off the ship in the terminal, he wears a white cowboy hat. This trip is phenomenal don't miss it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
packard89 Posted January 19, 2009 #19 Share Posted January 19, 2009 Does anyone know if there is a stop at the Las Escobas waterfalls? I've read all the posts and didn't notice anyone talking about it. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pipedreams62 Posted January 19, 2009 #20 Share Posted January 19, 2009 Does anyone know if there is a stop at the Las Escobas waterfalls? I've read all the posts and didn't notice anyone talking about it. Thanks. We didn't stop there,we only had 45 minutes to spare when getting back to the ship. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
World Gallery Posted January 21, 2009 #21 Share Posted January 21, 2009 I don't think you have time to do both. We went last Feb. with Gus on the Humanitarian tour. I had asked him if we could do both and I think I remember him telling me it was impossible. For the Humanitarian tour, you are going in a completely different direction and you are going by boat. We are going back this year and this time we are going the Las Escobas waterfalls! The Humanitarian Tour was a great tour! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GORDONCHICK Posted January 21, 2009 #22 Share Posted January 21, 2009 We did the humanitarian tour last week with Gus and it was an all day thing. We got back to the pier about an hour before passengers had to be aboard - plenty of time to look at the booths and shop for a few souvenirs. We loved this tour!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Putterdude Posted January 25, 2009 #23 Share Posted January 25, 2009 We passed on Gus only because he was having some internet problems earlier this winter and communication was a problem but he was definitley at Puerto Quetzal when we arrived. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maryn680 Posted January 25, 2009 #24 Share Posted January 25, 2009 Hey remember Gus is in Guatamala, a third world country....they don't always have electricity and internet connections....they are spotty at best....don't rely on getting a response from him..he will if he can....but like the post above me....he will be in the port village...and you can make your arrangements there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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