Baffled by Bags

Last night I had a surprising and stressful exchange with Chris, our contact at Uncover Peru, the higher end agency that we selected for tomorrow’s Salkantay trek.  Via email I asked if duffle bags would be provided for loading our gear onto the horses, knowing that this is how all the outfitters operate.  Chris responded that we would have to rent the duffels from them at a high price, just like their sleeping bags, or we could find cheap duffels in town to buy.  I made clear that I found this disappointing since every other outfitter we had spoken with provided duffels at no cost.  Well, this seemingly negligible email comment of mine really pushed this guy’s buttons.

Chris immediately phoned me at our hotel and, in a professional tone, very strongly suggested that we find another outfitter, that we were not the kind of clients he enjoys working with.  He went on for quite a while about how his company has an excellent reputation, provides an excellent service for a fair price, etc.  I waited for him to blow off steam and refrained from revealing my true thoughts about how he was handling the situation.  Instead I apologized and assured him that duffels are not worth spoiling the trip over, that we prefer to stick with our plans, and that we were not going to cause him more trouble.  He seemed to barely be listening to me.

This morning Chris called me again.  Instead of apologizing for flying off the handle last night, he again urged us to reconsider doing the trek with another agency, saying he could transfer our deposit to whichever other agency we would like.  I could hardly believe this was happening.  What an unprofessional jerk.  Too bad we don’t know of another agency that could take us on the trek tomorrow, or I would have gladly agreed.

So today we bought some cheap plastic bags with zippers and rented our sleeping bags from an inexpensive shop nearby.  Tonight our assigned guide for the trek, Guido, met us at our hotel to review the trek itinerary and answer any questions we had.  Guess what he brought with him?  Complimentary duffel bags and sleeping bags!  We got a good laugh out of this.  After all the fuss we had gotten into with Chris, it turns out he didn’t even know the situation with their on the ground operators!

- John