The Sun God of ancient Inca civilization, Kontiki stood for strength and wisdom, bringing light and beauty to the world. It was also taken as the name of Thor Heyerdahlís ocean expedition, which originated in Peru in 1947 and proved Polynesia to be within the colonization range of the ancient Incas.
Yampu, the boat that was used in Thor Heyerdahlís famous expedition, is an ancient craft made of “totora” plants. Mysteriously, “totora” is only grown in two places in the world: Lake Titicaca (Peru) and Easter Island (Chile); both very spiritual high points. The Yampu is only built on the shores of Lake Titicaca, and has been used for several centuries by the Incas and its pre-Columbian ancestors. It is still used by the people of the Uros, a culture that lives on floating islands made of “totora”.
Yampu Latin America Tours (formerly known as Kontiki) is now your best choice for specialized travel to Latin America. It was created by a Peruvian man and an American woman who, after exploring this beautiful continent together, decided to share the treasures they discovered with the rest of the world. We do not offer travel packages anywhere else in the world, which means that we have a strong specialization for Latin America. Whether your interests are historical, sightseeing, spiritual or adventure, we can provide you with a personalized trip which you will never forget. Let the Experts guide you, from the ancient Mayan ruins of Mexico, to the impressive Iguazu Falls in Argentina and Brazil, and the sky-blue expanding glaciers of southern Patagonia.
Yampu has been in business for over 10 years, with offices in all Latin American countries in which we offer services. Our head office is located in Soho in downtown Manhattan, with a branch office in Covent Garden in London, England. The nearest underground is either Covent Garden or Holborn. We are bonded with the Civil Aviation Authority, so your trip will be fully protected under the ATOL scheme (ATOL number 9522).
Letter from the Director
There are many travel companies out there eager to plan a trip for you to Latin America. So why pick Yampu? We think you have many reasons to do so. The most important is that Yampu is run by real people with a scrapbook full of past travels. Our travel consultants have been to, and fallen in love with, the places where you will travel.
My name is Jose Irauzqui, the president of Yampu Latin America Tours (formerly Kontiki Tours & Travel), and I was born in Lima, Peru in 1966. I studied at Markham School, a British school, until the military government of General Velasco made my parents wary of me staying in Peru. They sent me to boarding school in Switzerland and Aiglon College became my base for the next five years. After Aiglon, I pursued a law degree at Sussex University and became a barrister in 1994.
I never practiced law. Instead, I flew home to Peru to help my parents in their footwear retail business. These were hard times for Peru. The country was almost at civil war with the Shining Path guerrillas; we had one of the worst droughts in history, had no water or electricity for most of the day and there was an outbreak of cholera. After 10 years of safety and stability in Europe, it was difficult to withstand the turmoil but I stayed with my family in Peru.
I met my future wife, Monica, during a trip to New York in 1998. My parents had never allowed me visit the provinces of Peru, so I had a deep desire to finally see Cuzco and Machu Picchu. It turned out to be a life-changing experience. As soon as I moved to New York, I started designing my own website featuring tours to Peru. At the time, Peru was still lingering near the "do not visit" list for most other countries, but I decided to do it anyway. A year later, we visited the amazing Torres del Paine National Park in Chile and decided to expand to other Latin American countries. The rest is history.
In 2009, we will be celebrating our 11th year of planning exciting and beautiful trips to Latin America. I can't tell you how many clients write to us every week to tell us all about their amazing experiences. We have a long list of return customers who, like us, visit a different destination every year. Our whole process starts with the training of our travel consultants. We make sure that our amazing staff understands and learns everything about the destinations they sell before they start designing itineraries.
But it does not stop there. We have an entire team of operations to make sure that everything goes according to plan. We allow no leeway for mistakes. This is your vacation, and we leave no margin for error. We make sure that your air and land arrangements will go according to plan. Our local offices in charge of your trip are on call 24 hours. In case of any unforeseen circumstances, they will solve your problem. After your trip, we follow up to confirm everything went exactly as planned.
Monica and I travel every few months to different countries in Latin America to inspect hotels, new destinations and services. Actually, many of the photos in this brochure were taken by her or me. We always travel with our two children, Pablo, who is now 9, and Carolina, 8. Last year we visited Belize, Argentina, and Nicaragua. This year we traveled twice to Mexico and spent four weeks in Peru inspecting new hotels and cruises in the Amazon region.
We want you to know that there are real people behind the service that Yampu provides. My wife and I consider ourselves very lucky to have traveled all over such a beautiful land ranging from Mexico’s Riviera Maya down to the Patagonian tip of South America. It's not only our job but our passion to provide you a chance to love it as much as we do.
Sincerely,Jose Irauzqui