SACHAWASSI TOURS

Where to begin... I took a 5 day tour here along with two other people, for what was supposed to be an adventure packed experience. The price we paid (100$ a day) was supposed to be “everything included”. We ended up paying 450$ in cash so that they wouldn’t have to emit a receipt (so a win win, supposedly). Here is a list of everything that went wrong: 1 - There was NO TOILET PAPER brought to the trip by the company. 2 - After a very long trip to Cocaya, where we were supposed to swim with pink dolphins, we were told that we had to pay 10$ to do so. Their excuse was that we had to pay because we got the discount - so it wasn’t a discount after all... We paid anyway because we still wanted to have the experience. We got to feed the dolphins and be a bit inside the water - it was by no means actual swimming with the dolphins. This was the only activity of the day. 3 - In Rocafuerte, where we slept 2 nights, we camped in the back porch of a family that lived there. We slept over the wooden floor with NO MATRESSES - something that persisted for the rest of the trip. To add to the discomfort, there were chickens everywhere, that kept us awake for most of the night. 4 - The canoe engine broke down when we were returning from Yasuni. This took us a good 2 hours of the day until one of the guides finally got it working again. 5 - We returned from Rocafuerte to Pompeya on a collective boat instead of the much faster company boat (so that the company could make extra cash transporting other people on their boat, we found out). The engine of this boat also broke down, and we ended up spending 8 HOURS on the boat! So another day wasted. 6 - On the fifth day, we basically didn’t do any activity. They had originally planned to take us back to Coca in the morning, but we insisted to go back later and do something with our day, otherwise it would have been another wasted day. The only thing we did that day was go again to Pompeya to see an “animal market” - we got there and there was only a really small market with no animals at all. Very disappointing. Adding to this, we had to wait there until quite late to catch a collective bus back to Coca, as they hadn’t prepared any other transportation. 7 - When we got back to the agency in Coca, the scene there was a complete joke: a bunch of wasted women sleeping on the couches; bottles of tequila and limes over the desks; filthy floor. We argued for a very long with the manager, who kept trying to divert the blame to other people. We asked for at least the money of two days back (200$), but he just kept talking about the costs he was incurring. The argument got very heated, and we ended up just receiving 100$ back. In short, a logistical and managerial nightmare for which we were unfairly compensated for.

I am very unhappy with the service offered by Sachawassi because they charge more money than they can offer in terms of comfort and professionalism. Me and more 2 friends bought us a tour of 5 days (4 nights and 5 days) for the price of $ 500 each. This tour included camping, transportation and food, but they have failed in the most basic things. - We lack toilet paper and mattresses to sleep so we sleep on the floor. - The transports that they have organized took much longer than they had told us, so we have practically lost 4 days of transportation between the places of interest to visit. What resulted in walks and activities from 1 to 3 hours max per day - 2 in the night we slept in a very unhygienic area at the level of the baths and there was a lot of noise because of the chickens that were in the area - On the last day of the tour we did not do any activities because they did not plan anything to do but wait for a bus that took all day to get there - Finally, we arrived at the agency where we had a party inside. The floor was full of drink and the functionaries were drunk. The rest of our things that we left with the agency were lying on the floor ... In the total, this is an agency that is enpezando and that they lack a lot to be able to charge what they charge and still need to gain much professionalism.