| When I met Franz from Austria in 1991 while we were both working for the tour operator “Wikinger” in Germany, we immediately knew that we would go some day together to South America. I had been living abroad for many years, first in Sweden and then in Brazil. After finishing my tourism studies in Germany I planned to go back to my favorite country, Brazil. However, now I had met Franz the plans changed: the Brazilian mountains were far too low for him to climb… so we ended up traveling to Chile for 6 months. |
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Kati |
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I studied Chemistry, but as an enthusiastic mountaineer I soon changed my mind about the kind of job I wanted to do. I traveled for over 10 years as a tour guide to more than 40 countries on all continents. I then decided to specialize in one country instead of continuing to travel. This one country could only be Canada, New Zealand or Chile because of their wonderful natural environments!
So in 1993 together with Kati we came to Chile where we have lived happily right up until now..! That same year we founded our tour operator company, Turismo El Caminante. At first we traveled with all our groups, until we deciding to find our own place to settle down. Our new home was to be what is now the Casa Chueca Hotel. |
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Franz |
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We met our tour guide Olaf some years ago in Samaipata, where the Austrian owns his own travel agency. Today Olaf forms part of our family and travels as our main tour guide through several countries such as Brazil, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina and Chile.
We can not imagine our business without him as our main tour guide.
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Olaf |
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Armin Frank Christian Timo Peter Luis
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Our other trilingual tour guides Armin, Frank, Christian, Timo und Peter also take responsibility for our international groups, traveling through most of the South American countries. Luis, Leo und Cristian are our Chilean guides, and join our clients particularly on the trips deep into the mountains.
Thanks to the personal attention of our guides we have had many satisfied guests who have come back time and time again to travel with our company. For example, one of our best clients is a doctor who has came back seven times…
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Leo Sabrina |
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| Michay is our youngest member of staff. After a journey of nine months he decided to settle down right next door to his proud parents. His duties are not only diaper service and customer service; Michay is an all-round talent, so after only a very short adjustment to his new job we trusted him to work in the fields. This implied exploring immense altitudes up to 4850 m. After only being on the job for two months, he successfully passed his first camping tour, however with a slightly frozen nose. We wish our colleague to continue his job with as much delight as ever and to entertain us all with his shrieks. |
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Michay |
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| Pato came to us as a driver when he was 22 years old. Amazingly, by that age he already had 12 years of driving experience…
Over the last eight years he has been able to prove his safe and careful driving abilities on many of our trips from Northern Chile to Patagonia. Nowadays he also takes our groups throughout the continent with our special truck– bus.
Our guests also appreciate his abilities as a guide on our day tours which leave from the Casa Chueca Hotel.
Pato has learned fluent German from our guests. |
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Pato |
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| Our Chilean cook Micky first had to get used to the mainly vegetarian cuisine at our hotel. Thanks to his enthusiasm and talents, many guests prolong their stay for a few more “gourmet days”. |
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Micky |
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| Li- Marie, Julia, Barbara are from Germany and Switzerland, and are irreplaceable at the office of the hotel and tour operator. All three play significant roles in all the paper and computer work that goes into organizing pleasant barbecues under the stars and dreamy days in the gardens of Casa Chueca |
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Li-Marie Julia Barbara |
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| Lucia has been responsible for the cleaning at our home and hotel for several years.
Especially in high season this requires a lot of effort from her and her team.
Soon she will have a new job, helping to look after our newborn baby. |
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Lucia |
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| Cristian, our gardener, has moved into the first house we built in 1997. At that time we (Franz and Kati) were still sleeping in a tent in our garden, and Cristian was already taking care of all our flowers and trees.
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Cristian |
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| At that time we also met Alex. He is our friend, adviser, and Spanish teacher at the Casa Chueca Language School. He is also responsible for all paper work outside of our office.
He plays an important role in our team. |
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Alex |
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| We got to know Sergio as a taxi driver. He is the most punctual person we have met in Chile and provides transport services for our guests between 6 a.m and 2 a.m. He is always in a good mood and very reliable. A real example for our team! |
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Sergio |
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| Jaime is used to living in the mountains and looks after our guests very well when they travel to our lamalodge in the Melado valley.
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Jaime |
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| Rapunzel loves bones and all the guests who come to Casa Chueca. As an abandoned street dog she showed up a few years ago and stayed for ever. Together with Wuschl
(the dog, who steals all the shoes ..) she is a true member of our family and team.
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Rapunzel |
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| Pumuckl is responsible for the house baggage. He is the most stubborn but also most loved member of our lama herd – a kiss from male lama like him is certainly something special, isn’t it?
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Pumuckl
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