I was lucky to find Nicolas' company on trip adviser. We love hiking and mountains and Nicolas put together the most perfect custom tour for my wife, myself and the couple we were travelling with. In spite of my internet searching I had trouble figuring out where to best hike nearby to Santiago, but Nicolas made suggestions, gave options and put it all together - great for us given we live thousands of miles away and don't speak Spanish.
Nicolas picked the 4 of us up from our Santiago hotel and drove us to what I'd consider one of the best hikes I've ever been on (beaten only by Torres del Paine and El Cheltan). We had bright sun and a perfect day for our 16 km hike up to El Morino Hanging glacier (800 m elevation gain). We had the trail and mountain to ourselves, making it even more perfect. Not wanting to waste time driving back to the city, Nicolas found a quaint moutain lodge for us to stay (he even made the reservations for us). Next day, we set off to hike to San Fransisco glacier - another out of this world hike.
I should note that finding the trail heads would have not been possible for us, requiring challenging driving up steep dirt roads in Nicolas' trusty 4x4. These 2 perfect days were topped off by a dip in the natural hot springs and a bottle of wine looking over the valley!!!
We are vegan's, and although I mentioned this to him, I had little expectation. Again, he went above and beyond. Nicolas supplied lunch and snacks and all the ice cold water we could drink (and made sure that all the restaurants/hotels we went to were vegan friendly)
In addition to hiking we wanted to see Valparaiso. Nicolas found a trusted tour guide there and drove us back and forth from Santiago for a great day trip. He arranged lunch at a fabulous restaurant overlooking the harbour. It was an amazing day. Initially, I had been told by others to give Valparaiso a pass - not true - make the time to go see it.
I had forgotten to bring some items on our trip, so on the way back to our hotel, Nicolas took us on a side trip to his favourite sporting goods store (it was fabulous and had all we needed).
So, we spent some 12 hours a day with Nicolas, for 3 days straight. We felt so comfortable and safe with Nicolas. He was so kind and thoughtful and went out of his way to make our experience perfect.
I have been to a lot of countries and been on a lot of tours. I'd put Nicolas planning and organization and personality right at the top!!! I give Nicolas my very highest rating.