GreenGo Travel — Local services in Iñaquito

GreenGo and Ricky helped us book the trip of a lifetime! We gave him an idea of what we were looking for and what dates, and he pulled a list of all of our different options. He helped us understand what the differences were between each and ultimately we ended up with the perfect cruise ship for us! He also was hand-in-hand with us when we thought our trip may be cancelled due to some civil unrest in Ecuador a week before our departure. He even had a back up lined up for us in case our primary choice cancelled! He is extremely responsive, often answering our questions/emails/calls immediately or within a few hours. We sailed on the Eden, which is a middle-class, small ship for 16 passengers. Because of the unrest I mentioned, we had a pretty small group on board but it was a good and fun group! We had an amazing time. The food was delicious at every single meal, and the chef was very kind to help us and the other passengers work around our dietary restrictions and preferences. The accommodations were of course small but very nice, no complaints there at all. The crew was welcoming, kind and eager to make sure we had a great time! Our guide was Omar from G Adventures who was absolutely spectacular. He was incredibly knowledgeable and fun to learn from! A couple of cautionary things - there is a corkage fee for any personal alcohol brought on board. Apparently this wasn't clear to some passengers who wished they had not brought it. Booze is inexpensive really compared to bar prices. My husband and I are pretty reliable recreational drinkers and spent just over $600 for the week which we found to be very reasonable. I would say that our crowd was a little older, don't expect for there to be many activities going for long after dinner. We would normally be up for late-night activities but honestly with the daytime activities (snorkeling, hiking, etc.) you're plenty tired and ready to hit the sheets around 9 or 10. For those worried about the motion of the ocean - I won't lie, there were some rough nights. However, they really try to do the sailing while you're asleep. I proactively slept in the wristbands and took the Dramamine and never really had a problem other than some very slight discomfort. Don't wait to take the meds until you already feel sick - it's really to late then. Please keep in mind tips when you're thinking about how much cash to bring on board! Some people didn't plan ahead for that and were surprised that they would need cash for the bar tab and for all tips. For our ship/cruise, $10 per person per day was recommended for the guide and $15 per person per day was recommend for the crew. We felt like they did such a great job they deserved even more. You won't need many small bills, I thought it would be bar tips per drink but you just pay for all of the drinks at the end. Also, do not plan to have any internet connection! I don't know if that was completely clear to us but I was very glad I downloaded all the books I needed ahead of time. Between the travel and the ship, I read four books! It was wonderful. We wished we'd brought a deck of cards for our downtime, so consider that or other items for your downtime. I also wished I'd let our family and friends know that we would be TOTALLY off the grid other than a few hours mid-way through the trip so be sure to do that if it's important to you. Overall, this trip was everything we wanted and more - and we are so glad we worked with Ricky to make it all happen. ALSO - bring binoculars (cannot overstate how much I used them). Thank...

Galapagos recently opened for tourism and I used GreenGo travel services to book a 7 day cruise to the Galapagos (Sept 1-11). Angel from GreenGo was extremely helpful and responsive during this process. I had many questions about the logistics for travel during this pandemic and Angel had all the answers, which made for a extremely enjoyable vacation! Angel provided all the steps and documents needed for Galapagos as the entry requirements have changed due to the pandemic.

NOTE: If you plan to visit Galapagos in the near future you will have to account for spending about 3 days in Ecuador as you need another RT-PCR covid test taken with 48 hours of your departure to Galapagos (GreenGo set up the test with a local testing company to be done at the hotel/place of your stay in Ecuador, test results will be emailed)

Here is a high level overview of the vacation coming from the United States: NOTE: Print and bring all documents needed

August 26 Took RT-PCR (not the rapid test) Covid test, results the next day This needs to be done in the US within 7 days of your arrival to Ecuador (bring printed copy of negative results)

Sept 1, 10PM arrival at Quito airport, I had my temperature taken and negative test results verified transfer from Quito to my hotel (GreenGo arranged a shuttle for us, there is also taxi and Uber available)

Sept 2 The RT-PCR test to allow entry to Galapagos was done at my hotel in the morning, took less than 5 minutes for the swab Explore Quito!

Sept 3 I received my test results in the afternoon (about a 24 hour turnaround time) Explored more of Quito, awesome city!

Sept 4 Departure for and arrival in Galapagos Bring printed copy of the RT-PCR test done in Ecuador (hotel printed it for me) to the airport as it will be checked before you enter the airport Get transit control card for the Galapagos (GreenGo had all my information entered so all I needed was to show my Passport at the transit control card station) GreenGo also provided Safe Passage Document which is needed for the Galapagos entry Arrived at the airport in the Galapagos, when through arrival customs where they checked your documents Someone with the cruise ship was there waiting for us for transfer to the ship

Sept 4-10 On the cruise, visiting the islands of the Galapagos :D

Sept 10 Departure from Galapagos back to Quito Airport Had about a 6 hour layover before flight back the the US (No additional documents or Covid tests to transfer from the Galapagos to the International terminal for the flight back the the US

NOTES on Covid precautions in Ecuador and Galapagos: hand sanitizer everywhere luggage was sprayed with disinfectant at our hotel and entry to Galapagos and our cruise disinfectant mats for cleaning your shoes everywhere masks everywhere I felt as safe as you can be out in public during the pandemic (much more than the US)

Definitely highly recommend GreenGo for your Galapagos trip! Angel was extremely helpful and responsive during the planning of this trip. I had many questions as there were a ton of new requirements for entry to the Galapagos...and Angel had all the answers along the way. It's a once in a...

Angel Nunez was our travel agent. I travelled with two of my college aged sons on this trip. One needed access to wifi during the trip as he is taking a Summer class but did not need to do course work every single day. Angel made sure that the hotels on each of the 3 Islands we stayed on had good wifi to accomplish this.

We stayed two nights on each of the following Islands: San Cristobal, Santa Cruz, and Isabella. All of the connections to get to each Island ran smoothly and was accurate to time and we always had someone to greet us upon arrival which was wonderful.

Each hotel had wonderful staff and all accommodations were clean and the wifi was very reliable. Our favorite hotel was Acacia on Santa Cruz. We had boxed breakfasts as all of our excursions were early in the morning but it appeared they would have had a great breakfast. The staff was awesome.

Our greatest hope was to see the Galapagos Penguins and we swam with four of them at Bartholomew as well as swam with 5 juvenile sea lions that came right up to our masks, they were very playful. This was the perfect day. The hike up to the view point there was tremendous and not overly too difficult. A truly beautiful spot.

We also saw the penguins and many more playful sealions on our trip to Tintoreras on Isabella Island. We did a boat ride out and a hike and snorkeling. Saw many marine iguanas and again sway with many sea lions and sea turtles. We also saw a good sized sting ray and several black tipped sharks.

La Loboria Beach on San Cristobel was our first snorkeling in which we swam with sea turtles and sea lions. Highly recommend that.

We visited the highlands Ranch known for the giant tortoises and that was a great experience. They also provided the best lunch of the trip, fresh fish and fresh salad. This was on Santa Cruz.

We also went horseback riding and hiked the Sierra Negra volcano. It rained a bit when we first started the ride but it eased up. Your ride horses up about half way up to the crater and then you hike further to a great vista. Along the way you see all the geological stages of land being developed. The hike was not overly difficult. I would highly recommend this also.

We had a great time and everything went very...