The Massons had a fantastic time with Tucan Travel in South America in Summer 2013. We were celebrating our 50th Birthdays and traveled with our two boys (14 and 11) in 3 countries - Ecuador, Peru and Brazil as well as the Galapagos Islands and had plenty of unforgettable experiences...the highlights were: Ecuador - Quito, a beautiful city, plenty of hills and zig-zag bends to get in and out of the city, Tucan organised a great hotel for us and daily & overnight excursions. The highlights were visiting the Equator line which was really fascinating for our boys, they loved all the little experiments during the tour. We also had an overnight stay at a Hacienda, and a visit to a Rose factory where we were able to see beautiful Roses picked and packed and made ready for shipping all over the world! Hammering down the Pan American Highway in our minivan was great, you just need to avoid the occasional animal which strays onto bits of the road....... Galapagos Islands - what can you say? you wont be disappointed, David Attenborough is one thing, seeing the wildlife for real is another! We stayed in the Finch Bay hotel, on Santa Cruz Island which was lovely, the staff there were very friendly and organised two excursions for us on their boats. We had a guide each day who was able to point out all the fantastic sea and bird life and one of the highlights was our 11 year old popping his head out of the water and shouting that he had just swum with a shark! The Giant Tortoises were great too, Tucan had organised a visit for us to a private reserve where we were able to walk amongst them, this was much better than the Darwin Station which was more like a small zoo. We saw plenty of Blue Footed boobies (our 14 year old thought this was very funny), Frigate birds, Marine and Land Iguanas, and so on.......a great destination, if you are in Ecuador then you can't miss the Galapagos (Tucan's advice, and they were right). On to Peru, Tucan had organised our flights and transfers, all went very smoothly. We were tired in Lima, so only saw the beach area and one evening there, but we liked this city which despite its immense size had a old world feel about it. And about a zillion cars as well, allow plenty of time to and from the airport. We then flew down to Puerto Maldonado, the heart of the Amazon - what a place, you really feel isolated............ then we went 35 kilometres up river! (passing deep jungle and wildlife along the way) ending up at the Eco Amazonia Lodge. They were all ready for us and we had a meal right away before heading out on our first Jungle walk. This was hilarious as we went to Monkey Island and were greeted by lots of welcoming Monkeys who were fun to watch.....then after dinner we went on a small boat out onto the river and floated in silence along the Amazon at night in the moonlight, a moment we will all remember, it was beautiful. More jungle hiking the next day, we went in the dry season so the going was easy and far fewer Mozzies were about (but do wear long trousers and sleeves). The Guide was excellent and pointed out all manner of things - which included eating live small bugs from inside of some sort of nut, which our smaller boy loved! The lodge was well organised, the food fine, bar open in the evening with table tennis and pool, staff very welcoming and the accommodation absolutely fine (you are in the jungle after all). On then from the Jungle to Machu Picchu (MP) we were accompanied by Tucan and Cusco's one and only Alex, the most informed Guide we've ever met. Alex took us everywhere, and made sure we were always just ahead of the crowd, beating queues, he got tickets, stamps, seats, restaurants, you name it, he sorted it for us, he was brilliant! We arrived in Aguas Calientes at the bottom of MP at night and awoke to the roar of the river - what a sight and noise, then scooted up the mountain in a bus at 6am, and Alex did his stuff for us over the next 3 hours. Its a beautiful sight and not to be missed. We had arrived there via the Sacred Valley where we visited some lovely markets and a great animal rescue centre where we saw a Condor up close. Back in Cusco, the team at Tucan ( Rolf and crew) had found us another great hotel and we were well briefed on what to do and see there, Cusco is a beautiful city with great markets and and fantastic restaurants, try the Fallen Angel for something different.......we were all fine with the altitude, though got a bit short of breath on hills. Tucan had then organsied transfers for us onto Brazil where we traveled on our own but having taken advice on where to go...... It was a great holiday, well organised from start to finish and we're very happy to have traveled with the Tucan Team. The Masson Family Summer 2013