Our guide, Renato, was incredible. From the moment we got on the clean, air-conditioned bus, we felt comfortable and excited. Renato was informative, friendly, and clearly passionate about the places we visited. He kept us engaged with interesting facts and stories along the way. The windows were kept up, which was actually a relief since we didn’t have to deal with any fuel smells outside. It was an all-around fantastic day — the kind of tour that makes you fall in love with a destination. We truly thought we'd have the same guide the next day, which made the experience even more disappointing by contrast.
Day 2: Unprofessional and Disorganized
We were ready at 8:58 AM for a 9:00 AM pickup — only to realize, after waiting, that our guide had already left…with the wrong couple. Somehow, there was a mix-up, and instead of confirming the names and room numbers, the guide took another pair and left us behind. We were eventually picked up and shuffled to her where we switched with the other couple who were accidentally taken by her. We lost about 45 minutes of the experience due to the careless mistake.
The guide, Gloria, never introduced herself or offered any apology for her careless mix-up. She only allowed us 7 minutes to explore where the other van dropped us off while everybody else had 20. To make things worse, she publicly called us out on the bus, saying (loudly and bitterly), “I usually give an hour at Pico do Arieiro, but because of these girls, you’re only getting 30 minutes.” It was incredibly unprofessional and embarrassing. We even felt compelled to apologize to the other passengers for something that wasn’t our fault.
Gloria’s attitude was petty and unnecessarily confrontational. Instead of taking responsibility for the error, she seemed to punish us and the entire group for the mistake. It really soured the experience and left us wishing we’d only done the first day with Renato. Day one was 5 stars — thank you, Renato, for a wonderful and memorable tour! Day two, unfortunately, felt chaotic and disappointing, and I cannot recommend Gloria as a guide based on our experience. It’s unfortunate that guests don’t get to keep the same guide for the entire tour. If we had continued with Renato, this review would’ve been glowing. As it stands, our overall experience was a hit or miss — literally.