Guacamayo Lodge — Hotel in Parroquia Palma Roja

Myself and a friend went to guacamayo lodge for their 4 night 3 day trip. It started out pretty well - the accommodation is basic but clean (except all the dead bugs on the mosquito nets) and the food was good and enough for the average person. Most of the guides seemed very friendly except ours, Camillo, who joined us on our second day and instantly seemed to have an issue with us, making comments under his breath in Spanish (We had a fluent Spanish speaker at the table who translated his mumblings to us). For the next two days though we still managed to enjoy the excursions including the lagoon visits, jungle hikes and village visits.||The issue came on our final night after the night walk when we got into a boat accident which lead to one person having a broken nose, and a boat full of terrified people. The incident happened due to the guide turning off the light when boating in the pitch black and us hitting a tree at speed and subsequently flying through 2 sets of tree branches. We were extremely lucky that we didn’t capsize (since no life jackets were provided) and that the injuries weren’t worse. Immediately following the accident there was no reaction from the guide in terms of helping the individual with the broken nose, or checking everyone was inside the boat- both were carried out by us, the guests. As you can imagine, this was a very traumatising and very avoidable accident - had the guide kept the light on it would not have happened at all, and in the day 1 briefing it was stated we should wear life jackets on all boat journeys but these were never provided to any group (except for on entrance and exit to the Amazon where the military are monitoring). ||To make matters even worse, on returning to the lodge, no staff members spoke to us for over 1h, leaving members of the group to deal with shock with no reassurance or guidance from anyone. Some people were literally crying and throwing up from shock with absolutely no help from anyone at the lodge. When an “apology” was given, they basically said “sometimes these things happen and we hope the service was good anyway”, which is in no way an acceptable response to an accident that could very easily have killed us had we capsized. We gave feedback at the time regarding the light and life jackets but these were not seriously considered and were brushed off by all staff members.||Overall, the response to this accident, or lack thereof, left us all feeling very concerned for future visitors to the lodge, as they clearly had no intention on learning from the experience. I suspect the life jackets is an issue with many lodges in the area and I would urge anyone going on any of these tours to insist on wearing one at all times. With regards to Guacamayo, I would suggest staying in another lodge that ensures guest safety is a priority, as despite their assurances - actions speak louder than words, and their actions prove they don’t...

I booked 1 or 2 days before arrival Guacayamo lodge but never managed to have this service.

They decided to close the lodge because there was not enough people going without telling me (that's what people told me onsite, but by phone they pretended that they had a plumbery problem). They transferred me to Piranha lodge which was not meeting the same quality and service.

They got confused in the bus transfer (because of this change I think) and I ended up waiting 2hours at the pier. They blamed me for not waiting at "casa del abuelo" but at this meeting point where I was waiting, a girl called my name, showed me my name on the paper, Guacamayo lodge right? Come in the bus.

One day, the guide did not woke up to do the birdwatching activity.

We had binoculars the first day because another guide was with us, when we asked the other days they pretended it Was broken. Not mandatory but really less convenient without binoculars.

I won't enumerate all the other problems but i would definitely not recommend this lodge neither...

So much of your experience in the jungle is dependent on the knowledge of your guide. It is unlikely you will see many animals without the expert eyes of someone who has a lot of practice doing so, and we were lucky enough to have Winston as our guide who was incredible at spotting different insects, animals, and birds and describing them and their importance within the jungle. He was kind, animated, and passionate about his work which heightened our experience exponentially.||The food we were served was absolutely delicious, and the lodge itself was cozy and ideal for rest periods (especially with the hammocks provided outside of each room). The service of the rest of the staff was great, and everyone was always incredibly kind and helpful. ||Spending time in the Amazon is a must-do experience, and I would highly recommend booking with...