Baila Conmigo-Puerto Rican Historical Dance Tour & Food

The guide Sarah was amazing! They were communicative, prompt, and professional. Sarah was incredibly knowledgeable about Puerto Rico, but even beyond the Caribbean. We truly enjoyed 2/3 of the experience. The cooking part was especially fun and the area of Louiza was so lively and full of culture. Overall, I still have to rate this poorly. For the price, this was not worth it and I knew that going into it but the dance experience was what made me say go for it. I am a student studying to be an anthropologist and dance origin is something that is special to me. We didn’t even get the chance to do it. It started off with them calling to reschedule for later because there was an issue with the instructor. The caller was nice and we accommodated their request to start later. We went to the cave first and it was confusing initially because we were sort of wandering around a playground area for about twenty minutes then Sarah took us to the cave. Told us a few facts then that was that. We then went to the cooking part but I started to feel like we were being stalled and told Sarah to not feel like they were rushing us if we needed to move to the next place (dancing- what I’d been dying for). They said no, we were fine. When we left, suddenly we were pulling back up to our hotel. At that point I was told we had to end the tour because something came up with the instructor (again), but not to worry— they’d be back tomorrow to take us to finish. I explained that we had another day long excursions to following day and that wouldn’t work. Sarah provided a number to call to which no one answered. I texted the original number back with no answer. The next day, in the middle of our excursion, I get a text trying to convince us to take the tour after I explained we couldn’t. I also advised we would be leaving the next day and that there was no way my young daughter would have the energy late at night, after hiking in the rainforest. I received to response, no credit, no apology. Nothing. I debated contacting my bank and getting all of my money back but I decided to let them keep the money. It is what it is.

I never leave a bad review unless I think people need to be forewarned. I have traveled the world and taken many tours, and this was literally the worst. Real PR did not deliver the services advertised and described in the Viator site. I relied on the descriptions under Overview and What to Expect sections on that site. This is a list of the services not delivered: 1) The tour was four hours, not “approximately 6”, 2) I very quickly concluded that our driver, while a very nice fellow, was no tour guide. He told us his last job was an Uber driver. As we drove along, he provided only the names of the areas that the highway went through. He did not provide any information on Afro-Puerto Rican culture or history. At the cave we first drove to, he pointed out two beehives and mentioned that archaeological artifacts had been found there 4,000 years ago without giving further information. He said nothing about Bomba, except we had to wait for the teacher because she had another lesson. I hoped the rest of the so-called tour would be better. It was not. 3) We stood around at the cave for some time doing nothing until we could leave for our “cooking lesson,” 4). The “cooking lesson” simply did not occur; 5). There was no family visit with El Batey de los Hermanos Ayala or instruments of Plena or handcrafted art as described on Viator; 6) Finally, we arrived at the public park for our Bomba lesson with Yuma, which was fun and informative. BUT this was essentially just a poorly planned trip, a long drive, hanging around the mouth of a cave, a one-Alchapurria snack and Bomba lesson. There are a couple of other one star reviews on this site. I expect that the owner of Real PR will respond with excuses as usual. If you read the chain of reviews, it looks like this started as a pretty good tour with a guide named Catherine, but then deteriorated and then she was gone. I am trying to get a refund, and even offered to pay for the Bomba lesson, but no go.

Great tour for family with children. Our favorite part was the Bomba dance lesson and impromptu drum lesson for my daughter who was able to learn 5 rhythms from our incredible teacher Yumma _rootsandculture on Instagram. Josh was a very knowledgeable and personable host. The next best part was the cooking lesson and tasting authentic dishes in Luisa. Great afternoon of active learning about African and Puerto Rican history!