ABOUT US

BOOKING CONDITIONS

Our rates

You may sometimes find that excursions or hotels as offered in the website are less economical than buying the same arrangement locally; in most instances our rates are offered for the convenience of having arrangements booked and paid for before you leave. In a few cases, local operators or hotels may offer discount rates on the spot in slack periods, but we have no warning of, or access to these special rates.

Dovetailing

Clients should be aware that in constructing an itinerary which combines two or more excursions it is usually necessary to add a hotel night to dovetail the excursions neatly together; this is particularly true where the excursions are short ones, of only two or three nights’ duration.

Health & age limitations

The majority of arrangements offered are tailor-made to the individual, and as such there is literally no age limit. On the few arrangements included here where you join a pre-formed group, we impose only the restrictions that common sense would impose: you have to be fit and able-bodied to go trekking up mountains and glaciers.

Preparing for your trip

Once we have confirmed your booking, you will receive our pre-departure Briefing Dossier and other information to help you prepare for your trip to Latin America: advice on security, insurance, currency, baggage and suggested reading.

Visas

Visa information relates to stays of 30 days or less and in all cases to clients whose personal and professional circumstances do not preclude their entry to a country, or their transit through it. Your full passport must have at least 6 months’ validity remaining after the date of return travel.

Contact your local embassy, or consulate for the most up-to-date visa requirements, or see your travel agent. IT'S YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO HAVE THE CORRECT TRAVEL DOCUMENTATION.

Meals

Meals are not included unless specifically stated. Full-board means breakfast, lunch and dinner. Breakfast may be a substantial buffet, but very occasionally, just one bread roll and a cup of instant coffee or tea.

Tickets and vouchers

After you have paid in full, you will receive (usually a month before departure) your transatlantic airline tickets (in case you booked it with us) and any domestic flight tickets that are to be issued at this end. Some tickets are issued electronically, but traditional paper tickets may be necessary on some routes. Our invoice or itinerary is not a travel document. If you do not have a valid ticket or e-ticket, the airline will ask you to pay again.

In addition you will receive vouchers for the services we have contracted on your behalf in Latin America. These vouchers give name, addresses and telephone numbers of the hotels or service providers, so that you can contact them if you need to. The normal procedure is for our vouchers to be exchanged in Latin America by our local handling agents for their own vouchers or tickets. A 24-hour emergency Peru number, printed in your final itinerary letter, will enable you to contact us quickly if something goes wrong.

It is our policy not to sell in isolation any excursion or tour in this programme whose duration is less than 3 nights.

General information for Classic Tours and Original Adventures bookings

Itineraries

It is very unlikely that the basic itinerary of a trip will be altered unless there is an unavoidable reason for it. However, the itineraries given are a guide to intentions rather than immutable contracts.

Trip dossier

For all Original Adventures, a Trip Dossier is published giving a comprehensive feel for what it’s like to be on a trip, with much additional information. (If there is any contradiction with the brochure the latter is normally more up-to-date, but you should check with our office.) The dossiers may be requested before booking (and are also available on our website) and the appropriate dossier should be sent to all clients after booking.

Meals

Meals are not provided unless specifically stated. Full board means breakfast, lunch and dinner; half board means breakfast and one other meal. Breakfast may be a substantial buffet but very occasionally, just a bread roll and one cup of coffee. On Journeys the group generally eats out together once a day, but there is no insistence on this. The Tierras Vivas tour leader gives information on restaurants and usually accompanies the group, the evening meal being a good social focal point. Full board is usually included on camping sections of our trips. On Specialised treks or expeditions, passengers are usually left to their own devices on arrival in towns.

Transfers

All transfers IN - OUT within South America are not included in the cost of the trip, unless it is specified in your trip information. If you arrive or depart on flights other than the group arrangements, we will charge extra if you wish us to arrange transfers. We also provide information on how to reach the contact hotel safely ‘under your own steam.’

Over 70

Clients aged 70 or over must provide a self assessment form, attesting fitness to travel on your designated trip. We reserve the right to ask for a doctor’s note if we feel it to be necessary.

Not included in the cost

• Side trips or excursions designated in the website as optional. If the website does not carry this note, the excursion is included in the cost. We can, on request, give an up-to-date estimate of the cost of optional excursions on a given trip. The actual cost will vary according to the number of clients on the excursion.
• Travel insurance. Please see paragraph 14 of the Booking Conditions.
• Tips, personal expenses and gratuities.
• Food other than stated.
• Entrance fees to some National Parks, Municipal taxes and immigration fees which must be paid locally in cash. These include the Galápagos Islands fee, currently around USD $100.
• Airport Taxes: On Original Adventures, Classic trips and Extensions; domestic airport taxes are included where required by the rules of issuance of the ticket; where not you will pay them locally.
• On inbound flights from South America some taxes are included on the ticket and others not (and therefore payable locally by the client), depending on country, and current airline or government stipulations. The cost is typically USD$20-40 per person.

Booking conditions

Your contract (other than for Antarctic cruises and Galapagos) is with Tierras Vivas, trading as Tierras Vivas, hereinafter called Tierras Vivas. You, the client, are subject to the following conditions, and are deemed to have read and understood the paragraphs above under the heading General information.

1. Deposits and interim payments

A deposit of $300 per person travelling, or appropriate amount as stated in the Tour Rate grids is required when the booking form is submitted. All moneys paid by you to an appointed travel agent are held by the travel agent on behalf of Tierras Vias. We will issue a confirmation invoice, at which point we have accepted your booking and a contract exists. If you are unsure whether your chosen agent is appointed, please contact Tierras Vivas. Some arrangements are booked through companies with whom we are in association, (particularly cruise operators) and there may be a requirement of an intermediate payment. We will also advise you of any special booking conditions when we invoice you. In the case of Antarctic cruises and Galapagos, Tierras Vivas acts as agent, not as principal, and these (and other) cruise operators require you to complete their booking form, and adhere to their booking conditions. We will normally confirm within 5 working days.

If we are unable to confirm you on a tour, we will refund your deposit, in full. However, it is likely that we may not be able to confirm you on the very precise itinerary that the website or proposal states. We will, of course, search diligently for what we consider to be an acceptable alternative and this may be reflected in a higher or lower overall price. Clients should be aware that, if we feel we are proposing a reasonably close alternative to that requested, we will not refund a deposit. In practice, we are sympathetic to a client’s demands, and if you make it clear from the outset that you have a particular requirement that must be fulfilled, we will refund deposits in full if we cannot meet this demand.

2. Acceptance

Tierras Vivas reserves the right to refuse any booking from prospective clients whom Tierras Vivas consider unsuitable for the type of travel to be undertaken.

3. Final payments

The total cost of any booking shall be paid so as to be received as a cancellation fund by Tierras Vivas not later than 10 days after the date of written confirmation of price and itinerary, except in the case of those bookings confirmed less than 60 days before departure, when full payment is due immediately on receipt of our confirmation invoice. Clients paying within this 10 day period take advantage of our Full Price Guarantee. We don’t like surcharging. It creates ill-feeling, and is a lot of extra work for us. So, we’ll do our best to avoid it, but should payment not be received within 30 days by Tierras Vivas, we may choose to re-cost the itinerary in which case we reserve the right to surcharge. See also paragraph 9 (b) (Recostings and Price Guarantees). In all cases, if clearance of full payment is not received at least 60 days before departure, we may choose to treat the itinerary as cancelled. This also applies to interim payments, where applicable, as stated in 1. (Deposits and interim Payments).

4. Child reductions

Children who have not yet reached their 12th birthday on the date of departure from home are entitled to a reduction on some scheduled flights costs. There are often additional reductions for one child (and sometimes two children) sharing the room of two accompanying adults, but these vary from country to country and resort to resort. These arrangements usually involve placing an extra collapsible bed in a normal double room. Please note that we do not normally recommend that children under 12 go on multi-centre itineraries or expedition-style trips; if you wish to take children on this type of trip, please discuss the practicalities with us before booking.

5. Long haul (usually transatlantic) airline tickets

These may or not be priced separately from the tour cost. We will not issue airline tickets until we have received full payment for them. Many of the airfares we apply to the tours which we arrange are negotiated as special arrangements with the airline concerned, and attract higher than normal cancellation penalties. Certain published airfares are only guaranteed at the time of issue. As a general rule there is no penalty additional to those listed above if an airline ticket is cancelled before it is issued. Once the ticket is issued, each airline imposes its own rules, and the cancellation penalty may be as much as 100%. As implied above in this paragraph the fare that appears on the ticket may be substantially higher than the actual fare paid, and clients should not take this ticketed fare into consideration when attempting to assess potential refunds on unused tickets.

6. Alterations by you before departure

We will try to assist you if you decide to change any part of a confirmed booking up to 60 days before departure, but will charge for additional holiday costs incurred, including cancellation charges that may be incurred for sectors cancelled. We reserve the right to make in addition an administration charge of $50 per person, per sector. If alterations happen within the periods below in paragraph 7 (before departure) we may choose to treat them as a cancellation, and the penalties hereunder will apply.

7. Cancellations by you before departure

Any client who wishes to cancel must do so in writing and the following fees or percentages will be charged based on the date of receipt in writing, by fax or by email by Tierras Vivas of notification of cancellation.

a) Standard conditions

If cancelled:

• 90 days or more before departure: Deposit (and interim payment) forfeit
• Between 89 & 60 days before departure: 30% of tour cost or interim payment forfeit (whichever greater)
• Between 59 - 30 days before departure: 70% of tour cost or interim payment forfeit (whichever greater)
• 29 days or less before departure: 100% tour cost

b) Cruise conditions

If cancelled:

• 120 days or more: Deposit and interim before departure payment forfeit
• Between 119 & 60 days: Interim payment forfeit, before departure or 60% of cruise cost, or 30% of tour cost (whichever greatest)
• Between 59 - 30 days: 100% of cruise cost before departure or 70% of tour cost (whichever greater)
• 29 days or less: 100% tour cost before departure.

c) Alteration or cancellation after commencement of travel

Any alteration that you request after your tour has commenced, Tierras Vivas will do its best to implement, but we cannot guarantee that it will be possible. Indeed it is usually unwise to reorganise arrangements that have already been reconfirmed to our local agents, and in some cases paid for, and to expect things to run smoothly. Patchwork amendments after departure are a recipe for disaster. In the event of such amendments being made you will be liable for any cancellation charges that may be levied for the services originally booked, and for the booking of revised arrangements and the arrangements themselves. As a basic principle, no refund will be paid to clients who do not complete a tour, but please see paragraph 10 below (Refunds). It is compulsory that you take out travel insurance at the time of booking.

8. Cancellations or alterations by Tierras Vivas

a) Alterations

Tierras Vivas reserves the right at anytime to make changes to your holiday arrangements (including flights, accommodation, transport or services). Such changes are often minor, but if not, we will advise you or your travel agent before you depart. Flight timings and carriers in the website/brochure are subject to change as a result of airline procedures, and details given on your Invoice or Itinerary are for guidance only. Even details shown on your tickets may be subject to change locally.

If we make a material change [defined as a change before departure, involving for example a significant change of resort or ground itinerary, a significant - usually more than 24 hours - change of outbound flight time] you may cancel your booking and obtain a prompt and full refund of all money paid by you to Tierras Vivas provided that you have given us written notification of cancellation within 5 days of the date on which we notified you of all alterations. Please note that where an airline schedule change causes a potential material change, Tierras Vivas may choose to switch flight routings at no additional cost to you, to enable us to fulfil our obligations to you. In these circumstances, if you choose to cancel, normal penalties will apply. Insurance premiums cannot be refunded. If we make a material change within 8 weeks of departure, you will also be entitled to compensation per person in accordance with the scale below.

Period before scheduled departure date within which a material change is notified to you

Compensation

55 - 43 days: $15

29 - 42 days: $25

15 - 28 days: $35

0 - 14 days $45

Payment of compensation shown above will not be made for any change or cancellation caused by war or threat of war, insurrection, riots, strikes, civil action, decisions by governments or governing authority, natural disaster, bad weather, technical or maintenance problems with transport, changes of schedules or operational decisions of air carriers, or similar circumstances beyond our control. For the purposes of this contract we define the above as force majeure.

b) Cancellations

A number of excursions are based on arrangements involving a given local operating minimum number of passengers. If this minimum number is not reached, we reserve the right to cancel the excursion and offer an alternative date or a refund of all moneys paid by you for the affected excursion. Tierras Vivas accepts no liability for compensation beyond this full refund. We may be obliged to cancel all or part of a tour for reasons beyond our control, as described in a above (force majeure) or 8c below. In such cases, Tierras Vivas shall inform agents and clients who have booked direct without delay, and shall offer an alternative tour of comparable standard, if available, or a prompt refund of all moneys paid. Any such refund shall be sent to agents within 10 clear days and to direct clients within 14 clear days. Tierras Vivas accepts no liability for compensation beyond this full refund. If any of the causes for cancellation or amendments occurs after the tour has commenced, we reserve the right to allow our local supplier to amend the planned itinerary and accommodation on your behalf, and where these amendments are made as a result of force majeure, no compensation will be paid. Delays in departure and failed transport connections will sometimes make it impossible for a client to use services contracted and paid for, and in these circumstances Tierras Vivas shall be under no liability to pay compensation. However, where amendments are within our control, you will be entitled to compensation of $30 per person.

c) FCO Travel Advisories

If the travel advisories offer advice against all or non essential travel to a country or area, Tierras Vivas will follow the recommendations of ABTA and offer an alternative itinerary or if appropriate, a full refund. ABTA offers only general guidance on when this offer should be made bearing in mind the date of issue of Travel Advisory and passengers’ date of travel. Tierras Vivas will be as sympathetic as possible and will use common sense and information from the appropriate Embassy to make this judgement. For example, if we have information that advice against travel is likely to be downgraded shortly, we may delay the offer of an alternative itinerary, or a full refund. You may decide still to travel against the travel advisories and Tierras Vivas’s advice, and you should be aware that this will affect your personal insurance cover. Please note that the above paragraphs do not apply if the travel advisories advice is to consider postponing travel.

9. Prices

a) Exchange rates

The prices in our Price List are based on exchange rates and scheduled airfares applicable at the time of going to press. The price of a tour or any element of it may be varied at any time before we have accepted your booking. After we have confirmed the booking to you, so long as the itinerary does not alter, we will be bound unconditionally by this price for 30 days from date of invoice. If we receive clearance of your full payment on or before the 10th day, we guarantee not to surcharge you.

b) Recostings

If we receive clearance of your full payment more than 30 days after date of invoice, we may choose to re-cost your booking. As stated in paragraph 3, we’ll do our best to avoid surcharging, but in re-costing Tierras Vivas reserves the right to pass on to the customer any additional costs associated with currency fluctuation, government action, overflying charges, fuel surcharges, increase in scheduled airfares, or other transportation costs, taxes or landing fees. In this case we will absorb an amount equivalent to 2% of the affected element of the holiday price, which excludes insurance premiums and any amendment charges. Only amounts in excess of this 2% will be charged, but where a surcharge is payable, there will be an additional amount to cover agent’s commission where applicable. If this means paying more than 10% on the holiday price, you will be entitled to cancel your holiday with full refund of all money paid except for any premium paid to us for amendment charges; you must exercise your right to cancel, if you elect to do so for this reason, within 14 days of the date on the invoice when we recosted your tour. If you ask us to recost a second time, Tierras Vivas may choose to treat your original deposit and interim payment as forfeit. It is not our practice to provide a detailed breakdown of costings where we are constructing a multi-sector itinerary.

10. Refunds and compensation

As a basic principle, no refund will be made for any unused hotel accommodation, service or transport. However, where we ourselves are able to obtain a refund from hotels or principals for services not used, we will endeavour to pass this on to the client, discounting reasonable administration charges. Tierras Vivas’ responsibility will not extend beyond this refund (where possible) and no payments will be made, or compensation given in respect of claims for contingent liability or inconvenience experienced by clients. No refund can be made on lost, mislaid or destroyed tickets or vouchers.

11. Variation of conditions of contract

No employee, agent or associate of Tierras Vivas may vary the above booking conditions without the written consent of the CEO and General Manager of Tierras Vivas.

12. Jurisdiction

All matters concerning the booking shall be subject to Peruvian law.

13. Insurance

It is compulsory that every traveller is adequately insured against personal accident and medical expenses. Our invoice will include the cost of insurance, and we will send a proposal form for our recommended policy, which covers the sort of eventualities that need to be catered for in South America. You must send us details of the policy you do take. It is your responsibility to ensure you are adequately covered by insurance.

The most expensive element of the travel insurance is cover against cancellation. We recommend that you take out insurance early (our recommended policy covers loss of deposit), so that you get full value for money for cancellation insurance. Once insurance certificates have been issued, premiums cannot be refunded (unless the holiday is cancelled by Tierras Vivas).

14. Your responsibilities

Don’t leave your common sense at home. You must ensure that all your travel documents, full passport, visas, vaccination certificates, currency and travellers’ cheques (we recommend US$ for South America) are in order. Yellow fever, typhoid inoculations and prophylactics against malaria should be considered essential for almost all South American countries. We are able to give general advice, but cannot be held responsible for any information not stated in writing as indicated below. If your hotel has a safe, keep your passport there (but always carry a photocopy of the important pages for identification purposes). Use your common sense to judge whether hotel safe-boxes are indeed ’safe’, since, even if we have booked the hotel for you, Tierras Vivas will accept no responsibility or claims for contingent liability for theft from hotel rooms or safekeeping. Use your common sense to decide whether food is safely edible.

The name on your airline tickets should be the name that appears on your full passport.

The same applies to requests for special diets, or facilities for the disabled. Whilst every effort will be made to meet requests for special diets and disabled facilities, they cannot be guaranteed in South America, nor can we accept claims for compensation associated with their non-provision. It is incumbent upon clients to behave in a responsible, restrained and sober manner when dealing with our local suppliers and representatives, with local authorities and with fellow travellers. If you have a complaint, please bring it to the attention of Tierras Vivas’s local agents as soon as possible to enable them to do their best to rectify the situation. It is sensible to expect a client travelling in South America to be reasonably resourceful if things go wrong; this does not mean spending limitless money and expecting us to pick up the tab, or doing nothing at the time, and writing a letter of complaint on return. If your local agent is a few minutes late in meeting your flight, give him a chance to put things right - this is far the best solution for you, for us and for our agent. If all else fails, call Tierras Vivas on our 24-hour emergency line.

15. Our responsibilities

We accept responsibility for death, injury or illness caused by the negligent acts and/or omissions of our employees or agents together with our suppliers and sub-contractors whilst acting within the scope of, or in the course of their employment, as accepted under Peruvian law. We accept responsibility for ensuring the holiday you book with us is supplied as described. If any part is not provided as promised, other than as a result of force majeure (see 8a) we will pay you appropriate compensation if this has affected your enjoyment of the holiday. Our liability in such cases shall be limited to a maximum of twice the value of the element not supplied excluding flights. If any client suffers death, illness or injury whilst overseas arising out of activity which does not form part of the foreign inclusive holiday arrangement or excursion arranged through us, we shall, at our discretion offer advice, guidance and assistance to help you in resolving any claim you may have against a third party, provided we are advised of the incident within 30 days of the occurrence. Where legal action is contemplated our authority must be obtained prior to commencement of proceedings and be subject to your undertaking to assign any costs recovered or any benefits received under an appropriate insurance policy to ourselves. Our costs in respect of the above on behalf of you and your party shall not exceed $2,000 in total. In respect of carriage by air, sea and rail, and the provision of accommodation our liability will be limited in all cases by the relevant international convention.

16. Carriage by air and sea

This is subject to the terms and conditions of the carrier with whom you travel, and to international agreements and conventions, some of which limit liability. Air travel is also subject to operational decisions of carriers and airports which may result in delays or diversions. Please note that transatlantic and South American carriers sometimes change the departure time of flights at short notice, and in some instances, schedules shown in the computers of transatlantic carriers differ from those actually flown by smaller local carriers. We advise you that it is your responsibility to be meticulous in locally reconfirming directly with the carrier operating the flight. Tierras Vivas accepts no liability for the consequences of flights missed owing to the passenger’s failure to reconfirm both the reservations and timings. Clients flying in economy class to long haul destinations should be aware that flights are often full; you may not be able to get seats together. We also recommend that you check in early for a long flight, and in any case, not less than two hours before scheduled departure time. This brochure is the responsibility of the tour operator, and does not commit the airlines mentioned therein.

17. Arbitration

If you have a problem during your holiday, it is a condition of this contract that you communicate this to the supplier of the services (eg hotel) and to our representative locally in South America, and put your complaint in writing. If you fail to follow this simple procedure, we cannot accept responsibility as we have been deprived of the opportunity to investigate and rectify the problem. If the problem remains unresolved please write to us within 28 days of your return to your country; we will acknowledge and investigate, and reply in full as soon as possible. However, please allow for the fact that we have to deal in South America, and delays of several weeks are not uncommon. Any dispute between you and Tierras Vivas which we have not managed to settle amicably may be referred to arbitration under a special scheme.

18. Rooming - singles and triples

It will be evident that many of the arrangements we offer may be undertaken by one person travelling alone. The tariffs shown for one person take into account the considerable extra cost of transfers, transport and excursions that would be met by a client travelling alone. This single-traveller rate is considerably higher than a single-supplement - that is, the extra tariff for, say, each of three people travelling together to have a room to him or herself. These three friends would be sharing the cost of transport, and would only pay a supplement for the single rooms. Please note that it is often the case that the standard and location of single rooms or cabins is not always as good as that of a twin room. A triple room usually means the addition of a third foldaway bed.

19. Rooming - superior ocean view?

Some hotels and cruise ships use descriptive terms which don’t give the whole picture. Superior might be the lowest category of room, and you might ask "Superior to what - sleeping in the corridor?" Similarly, ocean view might mean the waves lapping at your doorstep, or a distant glimpse of the sea through a canopy of foliage. When we make reservations, we have to use the naming convention that the hotel adopts (however misleading), and cannot therefore take responsibility for the veracity of hotels’ nomenclature of rooms. We make no guarantees as to what you might see from the ‘Booby Deck’ of a Galápagos cruise ship.

20. Baggage allowances

On scheduled transatlantic flights we can only give general guidance on baggage allowances. Airlines frequently change their baggage allowances to passengers, and there are often inconsistencies in the way airlines handle or charge for excess weight or unusual baggage. Unusual baggage might include, but is not limited to: bicycles, surfboards, scuba equipment, golf clubs, or any bulky or unusually shaped items. Tierras Vivas accepts no claims for refunds, compensation or contingent liability associated with any part of airlines’ performance, delivery of service or baggage handling, or for excess baggage charges that may be applied. There are both weight and dimensional restrictions as well as the number of pieces you may carry. Within South America, certain excursions and tours have baggage limits as low as 7kg per person. Arrangements can usually be made to leave the rest of your baggage in safe storage. Low baggage limits are indicated in the text. Tierras Vivas can accept no claims for contingent liability associated with lost or delayed baggage.

21. Not included in the Tour Tariffs

·        Visa fees, international and domestic airport taxes, porterage (unless stated)

·        Entrance fees to National Parks or Municipal taxes which cannot practically be collected at the end, and which must usually be paid locally in cash. The most significant of these is the Galápagos Islands fee, currently approximately US$100. Many of the parks in Peru, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil and Chile also charge for entry.

·        Laundry, telephone calls, items of a personal nature, gratuities.

·        In some locations the services of a representative are not included, and, particularly if you have so requested, you may have only a driver who speaks little English. In these cases we will always provide a telephone number for the nearest Tierras Vivas agent.

Price guarantees - a summary

• Price guarantee

When we confirm to you an itinerary and price in writing, this price is guaranteed, and will not be subject to any surcharge, provided you pay in full within 10 days of the date on the confirmation invoice, or immediately if your departure is within 60 days. Rest comfortably in the knowledge that unless you change the itinerary, there will be no extra costs, irrespective of what happens to the $, or an associate supplier imposing a surcharge. This guarantee means Tierras Vivas cannot reduce prices if the dollar strengthens.

• Qualified price guarantee

If you do not pay within 10 days, your holiday may be subject to surcharges on a number of items which are detailed in Paragraph 9b of the booking conditions. Even in this case, we are obliged to absorb the first 2% of the affected element, and if a surcharge means you would be paying more than 10% on the holiday price, you are entitled to cancel and obtain a full refund.