The hike was 10/10 - but Naturanda as a guide was not.
The itinerary was very unclear. It said 9:50-19:00 on the booking, but really it ended in Caminito del Rey at 19:15, meaning we were back after 21:30. Our guide was really bad at being a guide, she spoke very low, did not show any leadership, and kept telling us very uninteresting facts. She also switched and talked Italian with the 2 only people on the buss and gave them the details first - even though they said that English was fine. And this was kept up through all her talks. But that wasn’t the worse, we had a stop in a city (this was not clear), where instead of letting us explore she took us on the most uninteresting and odd path through the city, including walking through a construction site. Also, shortly after exiting the buss she asked everyone if someone needed the bathroom, then waited 2 seconds and said ”ah, no one ok, let’s go”. One does not ask the entire group if someone wants the bathroom, you give everyone FREE TIME, this is simple guide stuff!! She then let us go in to a random restaurant to use the bathroom, the restaurant was nasty and the bathrooms could not be locked. After this odd stop we stopped again at the ”lunch and swimming place”. Here we were given some free time, however it was absolute chaos. Instead of giving us the instructions inside the buss, she decided that everyone would go outside, being crowded with 2 other groups, and then giving us the silent instructions that vaguely said ”grab something to eat if you didn’t bring anything, meet back in 45 min, you HAVE to be on time the buss will not wait”. The restaurant was full, the queue was long, and the staff inside were rude. Before the trip she had instructed us to bring swim suit and towels - I expected that we were going to take a swim after the hike. But no, this lunch stop had a super sloped swimming place without a beach that was overcrowded with people. Not a good place, not to mention no time! When the buss came around she said that we could leave our stuff inside the buss, which was confusing since it sounded like we were to board the buss. Some of the people started boarding the buss and took a seat, just to be yelled at that they were not suppose to be there. Not to mention that some OTHER PEOPLE boarded the buss, which she also had to ask to leave. Now that is not a buss I would feel comfortable to leave anything in. We then started hiking to the entrance, but our group quickly mixed with other random people and it was hard to see our guide. Once we got closer our group was mixed with another one, this was apparently intentional but we had no instructions about this. So it felt odd as if we were out of place. But the other guide let us know that we were in the right place. While our much better guide Jesus gave us some instructions and pumped us up, it started being hard to hear what he was saying because someone in the background was talking really loud. I turn over, just to see that our guide was the one talking super loud with another guide!! So now she is even disturbing everyone that tried to listen to Jesus??
Now the good stuff started - we were separated from our Naturanda guide and was put in to groups, our group went with Jesus. We then did the hike and this was a 10/10 - absolutely amazing and Jesus did an amazing job. However, my review here isn’t for the hike with a local guide, it is with Naturanda.
After the hike we were promised ”a cold beer” and some other refreshment. But once arrived, our guide from Naturanda told us we had 15 minutes before the buss. We had to stand in line for 10 minutes before we could get our beer, and then quickly gulp it down - so no ”oh we made it” relaxation time, thanks for that. After 15 minutes I ask the guide if we are on time, and she is sipping on a beer herself and says ”oh wait, let me just go to the bathroom first”. This is the guide we are talking about. Once we go to the buss, a family of 4 starts to board the buss, not part of our group. They almost made it on and our guide had to go in to the buss and ask them to leave. If this is so common, why isn’t she guarding the buss entrance?
The buss ride back was calm, the buss itself has AC and is comfortable. And the driver drives extremely well through the narrow streets. 15 minutes in when people start to fall asleep and relax, our guide decides to grab the microphone and tell everyone loudly about some uninteresting fact about some of the landscape. Like… why? And this was the only remark she did.
Our guide was kind, but lacked leadership and clear instructions. She felt more like a group member.