Opinions CASA GREGORIO Amacayacu

Casa Gregorio is the perfect place to discover the Amazon and get to know the local way of living!
The owners and volunteers are so friendly and make sure everything is arranged perfectly. The local guides are very knowledgeable. It's also a very social place, after the activities are finished everyone sits together in the house to eat and chat. 100% recommend!!

Je moet er wat voor over hebben om er te komen, maar dan zit je ook écht in het hart van het tropisch regenwoud de Amazone. Geweldige plek, super fijne "hostel" sfeer en gastvrij ontvangen. Aanrader.

Best Lodge around if you want to connect to the nature and yourself.
Super accommodating, Heike is a beautiful soul which is in balance with herself and creates a very charming atmosphere for her guests.
They try to arrange everything possible and try to get the most out of it for their guests.
The food was amazing. The house itself was very clean and I will definitely visit Casa Gregorio again. See you soon!

Hemos estado allí tres noches, con el plan propuesto: excursión por la selva, ruta por la comunidad, taller de cerámica y visita al lago y Puerto Nariño.
Nos ha encantado la experiencia, vivir en la comunidad, poder hablar con sus habitantes, preguntarles muchísimo ;) y aprender una cultura y una zona que no conocíamos.
Muy recomendable!

We stayed for 5 days at Casa Gregorio. It was an amazing experience and I highly recommend it!
Heike and Jose, the owners, are really nice and will make sure your stay is exceptional.
The meals are shared with the guests and the volunteers in the common area, which is really nice. The rooms are really comfortable and each bed has its own mosquito net.
The activities offered by Casa Gregorio and the local guides are great.

We werden super goed ontvangen op deze geweldige plek. Alles verliep heel soepel en hadden duidelijke instructies gekregen. Indien je een jungle avontuur wil, dan is dit 100% een aanrader. De locatie is super, helemaal in de natuur maar genoeg luxe om na de uitstapjes en tours lekker te relaxen. Iedereen is ontzettend vriendelijk, behulpzaam en betrokken. Je voelt je vanaf moment 1 thuis en er wordt volledig voor je gezorgd. Je kunt gezelligheid opzoeken maar je ook heerlijk terugtrekken in de hangmatten als je daar meer behoefte aan hebt. Tours zijn top geregeld, ik zou het zo weer doen!! Echt een top avontuur. Side note: in het lekkerste (groot) bed geslapen in onze hele colombia reis.

We hebben het geweldig gehad! Wat een omgeving. Helemaal back to basic en al het eten ook lokaal bereid. Super mooie uitstapjes gemaakt en vriendelijke mensen.

Ons avontuur van de reis begon in dit mooie dorpje waar Heike en haar team ons fantastisch heeft onthaald. Zo vriendelijk iedereen en alles tot in de puntjes georganiseerd. Na 3 dagen in San Martin voelde we ons deel van het dorp ☺️ Danku Heike en het volledige team ????

Wat een topervaring was dit, op aanraden van vrienden de Amazone bezocht via Casa Gregorio. Lodge was 100% in orde, er wordt echt voor je gezorgd. Heike en vrijwilligers zorgen er echt voor dat je je thuis voelt. Gidsen vriendelijk en antwoorden op al je vragen (Spaans spreken is plus, vertaal optie is ook wel beschikbaar). Superproper ook. Heerlijke plek!

Estuve en Casa Gregorio un mes, como voluntario. La gente que lo sostiene (tanto dueñxs como trabajadorxs) es muy hermosa, amable y hospitalaria. Se vive realmente como en familia!
Súper recomiendo para quien quiera conocer algo de la vida en una comunidad Tikuna, y maravillarse con el amazonas colombiano.

Truly magical experience to be immersed in the community. Heike is a wonderful host. The activities, meals and lodging are all amazing. A great choice to wander, with comfort, in the breathtaking Amazon.

Fue una gran experiencia visitar San Martín y estar hospedado en Casa Gregorio❤️ Hay muy buena atención, desde antes de reservar me ayudaron resolviendo todas mis dudas y aunque fui por muy pocos días, se ajustaron a mi tiempo y me ofrecieron un gran intinerario✨ Todos son muy amables y es gran espacio para descansar y para conocer la selva junto a otros viajeros. Si me lo preguntan, por supuesto que les recomiendo este hospedaje y sus actividades para conocer el Amazonas

Geweldige ervaring in de prachtige Amazone! Ik ben samen met mijn reis gezelschap 5 nachten gebleven waardoor we na de activiteiten veel tijd hadden en konden ontspannen op de zolder en zwemen in de rivier, het is toch vakantie. De activiteiten waren goed georganiseerd en de locale gids kan je mega veel vertellen over de omgeving, planten en dieren. Zowel de eigenaar en de vrijwilligers maken het verblijven in de casa een feest en sluiten bij de maaltijden aan voor een gezellig praatje of spelletje in de avond. Ik heb echt een super ervaring gehad en wil via deze weg dan ook iedereen bedankten voor de fijne week! Ik hoop tot een volgende keer.

Not what I was expecting.

Completely agree with Er E's review: you are welcomed with really loud music (reggeton) coming from the town, which is less than ideal, and in our case went on until 10pm. And with earplugs from the lodge! Nowhere in the description of the lodge described this.

Small lodge equals sharing meals with up to 25 people - actually the place with the largest amount of guests I have stayed (again, no mention of this in the description of the lodge, there was at least 14 of us) Therefore not peaceful at all, especially having guests chatting until late (12am) which you hear very close by as again, no windows.

The night walk is nice but it is through secondary jungle so partially through fields.
The day walk starts too late in the morning (leaving around 8am), by the time you get there (9am) loads of birds are already hidden due to the heat (our own guide mentioned this, not too sure why we were not offered to leave earlier)

We crossed several drunken people during our walk through the community, which was also not a pleasant experience.

The activities are nice and the room was comfortable but the food was nothing especial and the whole experience is expensive in comparison with other places.

I communicated my concerns to the manager (noise) and was replied that "music can go on until 3-5am sometimes" and that the people of the village likes to "drink and party".

Why I am giving two stars?

1 - One star for prime Location. The surroundings are beautiful and you can safely swim in the peaceful waters of the amazon

2 - Top Guides. Really nice and knowledgeable

San Martín es mágico, aquí habitan personas llenas de sonrisas y mitos, el río Amacayacu es tranquilo y tiene el poder de llevarse tus penas, la comida es muy rica llena de amor y los guías turísticos son personas sabias y muy amables. Muchas gracias

Ideal para quien quiera conocer la Amazonía, para quien quiera aventura y a la vez tranquilidad, para quien prefiera estar con la comunidad local. Es un sitio cómodo, seguro y lleno de color y alegría

A big and lovely thank you to Casa Gregorio ???? The team, the guides, the cookers, everyone were wonderfull, all was wonderfull ! The handcrafts let us an opportunity to listen the ancestral strories about the community. The selva and the Rio Amacayacu are magic. We loved spent time there. So thank you again.

Review casa gregorio

If you are looking for an experience in the midst of the jungle - this is not it. Although small and without traffic, San Martin is a town with quite some noise. Expect sound of parties from locals and sometimes dogs at night, noisy neighbours (and chicken) from 5am to 7am, the sound of a chainsaw during the day.

The accommodation
+ chill vibe, nice personell.
+ everything is arranged
+ building is of good quality (but no fan in the room, limited electricity and no wifi)
+ coffee, juice, and bananas are served regularly for free
+ close to the jungle, fairly close to puerto nariño

-volunteer run as the owner was 5 weeks on holiday.
-Poor communication. Another guest they forgot to pick up by boat, there was no announcement of plans/schedule, you just have to remember everything they send via whatsapp.
-intransparant pricing, they just whatsapp you an offer.
-sub par food. Some meals were nice, but sometimes it was just rice, beans, salad, without salt or spices. Or white bread with scrambled egg for breakfast. For this price i expect every meal to be good.
—you are not surrounded by old jungle, but by (former) small scale farm land. Also nice to see, but i thought we would be in the jungle proper.
-personell was not aware that the parties in town would last until 4am one night. For a “community stay” i think this says a lot about how connected they truly are with the community. There are ca. 10 locals working as cook or guide, and also 10-20 people coming in daily for food or wifi, but apparently nobody bothered to share the news of the party.

The activities
+ nice variety of activities
+ all guide were locals (indigenous)
+ guides really kept there eyes and ears open for (traces of) wildlife
+ boots are provided (i recommend to also wear them when it’s not raining)
+ saw quite some wildlife in the river tour
— jungle tour, for which we came, was only 1 hour of walking. Of course, we did not see any wildlife because it’s way too short (and because of dry season)
-night tour was in (former) agricultural area. Saw a lot of tarantulas, but no mammals or birds. Could’ve been due to dry season.
— You pay the price of full day program, but you were home at lunch, and in the afternoon there were only small activities , such as ceramics workshop. You can do these anywhere in the world.
-guides just tell you the facts they always tell, and are not at all bothered to get to know you, or chat or anything. They were generally uninterested and just doing their work. Same with all the locals preparing food at hostel etc.

The town
We were also disenchanted by the amount of daytime drinking done by locals, although that may have been because it was not the season to harvest. The water levels in the Rio Amacayacu were very low during our stay, but no one bothered to remove the uncovered (very small amounts of) trash. It was nice to swim in the river (only possible in dry season), and the riverside is beautiful.