I travelled independently to Ecuador and booked my 8-day Galapagos cruise with Happy Gringo, an Anglo-Dutch travel company based in Quito who are very knowledgable and provide a good service" (Sheila Camp, UK -Soundbite published in the Guardian newspaper (UK) travel advice section, 28th August 2006)

Dear John & Eva, Just wanted to write again to thank you for organising such a marvellous trip. You understood the needs of our group very well and adapted the perfect trip for us. We loved the country and hope to be back with another group in the future - if we do return then we shall certainly be using your services again! Many thanks for all of your help." (Cheryll & Yvan Berrebi, France)

Outstanding service and attention to detail. Thanks guys!" (Christopher Lord, UK)

The Happy Gringo team are very honest, good organisers, and reliable people. Once again Eva and John thanks for all of your attentions and help." (Sara Ruiz, Mexico)

The service you provided was fantastic, especially considering how late I contacted you and the difficulty of some of my requests. Both hotels were excellent, as was the cruise. Every suggestion you made was perfect. I will cheerfully recommend you to anyone who is planning a trip to Ecuador!" (Alan Frisbie, USA)

Eva was absolutely brilliant - we met another couple on our boat who had also booked with Happy Gringo and they said exactly the same thing. Eva responded to emails within hours and answered hundreds of questions promptly and patiently!!! As we're travelling for 10 months we've booked many tours in different countries and Happy Gringo is by far the best tour operator we've used - a fantastic company!" (Deborah Everingham, UK)

The friendliest agency in Ecuador - and believe me I have visited a lot! Happy Gringo are just awesome - nice staff, unbelievable prices, and the best advice possible. THANKYOU!!!" (Julia Haessler, Germany)

We had a really great holiday and greatly appreciate your help in organising it. I have passed on Happy Gringo details to many of my colleagues at British Airways so hopefully you'll get more business your way soon." (Soledad Guarch, Spain)

Thanks for all of the help in organising my Galapagos trip - I absolutely had the time of my life there!!! I would like to say a big thankyou for all of your help and advice in organising it all - you made it much easier and I would have no hesitation in recommending other travellers to use Happy Gringo as an agent to book their Galapagos cruise. Your travel advice was invaluable and the way that you describe the boats in your booklet is the easiest to understand in all fo Quito." (Richard Bartlett, UK)

Happy Gringo were excellent and exceeded all of our expectations. Thankyou for your excellent service. I contacted 8 or 9 tour agencies about Galapagos tours and you were far and away the most helpful and responsive." (Paul Chamberlain, USA)

Dear John & Eva. Hello from your Canadian friends Derek, Teresa, Danny and Scott. We're just writing to let you know how grateful we are to you for the extraordinary service you provided us while we were in Ecuador. Your efforts to re-schedule our trip after our passport problems were absolutely heroic. You were a great support to us in a strange land trying to cope with what seemed like am overwhelming problem. Because of you we were able to turn a disaster into a good trip that will leave happy memories.

Also your reaction to the mechanical problems on our yacht, even though you had nothing to do with it, again showed a tremendous sense of responsibility to your clients. We've been travelling in Central and South America for many years and have never encountered a tour company with your committment to excellence in customer service. Thanks again for your friendliness, incredible thoroughness, and your passion for goind the extra mile." (Derek Drager, Canada)

Jungle trip was great! Happy Gringo are great! Keep going!!!" (Frauke and Anne-Marie, Germany)

The Happy Gringo tailor-made tour was excellent in its variety and superb in content. What most impressed me though is that I was so well looked after and pampered throughout - Eva and John were so kind in Quito, Milton was the best driver I could have hoped for, and the attention to small details was exceptional." (Paul Harris, Australia)

All the staff at Happy Gringo were professional, friendly, attentive and helpful ... I am so glad I booked through them!" (Sue Fisher, UK)

Happy Gringo provided great advice on both the hotel and Galapagos travel arrangements. They did everything to make our stay was a real treat!" (Sandeep Vithlani, UK)

These gringos are very happy with Happy Gringo. You were excellent during the yacht selection process and made sure we had all of the travel documents that we needed during our tight schedule. Thank you!" (Brian Checkoway, USA)

The Galapagos trip was definately one of the highlights of our year of travel and was only possible thanks to the hard work and great advice of Happy Gringo, so we'd like to thank you for being so helpful! Hope that business continues to go well - we have been telling everyone about you!" (Niamh, Karen & Orla, Ireland)

John, I would recommend your agency to anyone (and indeed I have). You were very professional and delivered exactly what you promised, as well as being lovely people! I wish you continued success in the future with your enterprise!" (Christopher Taylor, UK)

All in all my family and I were very satisfied with Happy Gringo and the services they provided. I found John and Eva to be very personable, knowledgable, professional, and above all helpful. Thankyou for all of your help and patience and for giving me a lifetime of memories." (Randy Schuster, USA)

Fantastic, honest, easy service, good organisation from the first point of contact. We found your advice to be the most reliable and knowledgable in Quito, and your excellent breakdown of available Galapagos cruises was just what we needed to make the right choice." (Mark & Kelly Logan, Australia)

What a wonderfully welcoming office that you guys have - friendly faces and great coffee in a city that was new to me when I was still finding my feet. Thank you so much for the 100% honest advice and excellent cruise price that you gave me too!" (Adam Pearse, Canada)

Happy Gringo were excellent and really went above and beyond to help me. I was very impressed and would recommend you to anyone. Thanks so much!" (Emily Fett, Australia)

We were very happy grinos indeed with your service and keep recommending your agency. Happy Gringo stood out clearly from the crowd withe incredibly fast email replies and helpful advice that addressed all of our questions and worries." (Arne Engel & Danila Wegener, Holland & Germany)

After various troubles with other unamed agencies we found Happy Gringo to be a breath of fresh air. A quick, easy and uncomplicted service from very genuine and warm people." (Hamish & Fiona, New Zealand)

We are writing this email as a big thankyou for firstly the hard work leading up to our visit to Ecuador, and then the re-organisation of the total package due to the unfortunate mechanical problems on our Galapagos boat. Your professionalism and assistance were and still are much appreciated. The cruise on the Sulidae was a highlight - you did well in finding a good replacement at such short notice. Rest assured that we will and have sung your praises, and will send recommendations to various publications too. Our best wishes for a busy and prosperous future." (Bruce & Merilyn Casselden, Australia)

Eva's email communication was excellent - she answered all of my detailed questions immediately and always did all that she could to help. In Quito Paul was an absolute sweetheart too. Excellent service and I would thoroughly recomend them to other travellers." (Carol Biscup, Canada)

Dear John, We have just returned from our 6 weeks touring South America and I just wanted to pass on our sincere thanks for all of the help from the Happy Gringo team in organising our trips to Galapagos, Cotopaxi and Otavalo. In addition thanks for being so honest about the $100 bill that we lost in your office - it was a lovely bonus on our return. Please pass on our warmest regards to everyone at Happy Gringo and we will certainly be recommending you to all of our friends." (Strachan Taylor & Gillian Fong)

We found out about Happy Gringo through the Guardian newspaper article (see above) and I must say that the contents of the article turned out to be an understatement! Eva answered our original email enquiry the very same day, as was true of all subsequent emails relating to Galapagos / Jungle / Flights etc. We felt confident enough from these email communications to have Happy Gringo handle all of our travel arrangements for us. John was equally helpful with superb travel advice in their Quito office. As we look back on our time in Ecuador we are convinced that our enjoyment was maximised thanks to Eva, John, Paul and all of the other fine folks at Happy Gringo. We recommend them without hesitation!" (Richard Loerky & Caroline Simpson, USA & UK)

Now that we are safely back home and I am wading through the many photos that I took I wanted to take a moment to thank you for the part you played in making for a most memorable holiday. We loved Galapagos, thought that the hacienda stay was fabulous, and found the Quilotoa loop mini-tour to be both spectacular and un-touristy. I never did get the chance to thank Milton personally for the CD of pipe music but I sit by my computer and play it constantly as I edit my photos. I really appreciated the attention you paid to our needs when planning the trip - extremely responsive and with good suggestions for us. I have recommended Happy Gringo to many people as we travelled and will contniue to do so!" (Pam and Dennis Gillespie, Canada)

Thankyou very much for all of your help. Dealing with your company was an absolute pleasure, and I really appreciate all of the hand-holding and constant reconfirmations that I requested of Eva while booking this trip. We also greatly appreciated the kindness with which we ewere treated when we visited you in Quito to pick up our Galapagos tickets." (Camden Davis & Brook Kelly, USA)

Extremely knowledgable and helpful. It makes a definite difference to have people that know "western" standards and local knowledge about places and tours. We have already recomended Happy Gringo to other travellers." (John Whyte, Australia)

The service provided by Happy Gringo was excellent - Eva did a great job and we appreciated her prompt responses and comprehensive correspondance to us regarding booking and organising our Galapagos tour. We will definately be recommending Happy Gringo to other travellers looking for an economic trip to the Galapagos." (Orlaith Lenihan, Ireland)