Maria Jose Jaramillo

Majo was extremely responsive and provided excellent advice while planning our Mother-in-Law/ Daughters-in-Law trip for 4. She revised the itinerary until we had exactly what we wanted and to fit within our budget. A few highlights to note/share: El Barranco hotel was wonderful, couldn't recommend enough, will stay there when I return. Great location right by the pier near tons of shops and restaurants, wonderful staff, great food and drinks too! North Seymour Island on the Finch Bay yacht was probably my favorite day. The yacht was gorgeous, our guide was great, we saw so much wildlife and it welcomed us with a wow day for sure! The morning bay tour was pretty good, less fancy, but still a wonderful day, and it allowed us to splurge a few other days/times. The walk down to Las Grietas was on lava rocks so comfortable shoes are necessary. Trapiche and Garrapatero Beach with kayak was another awesome day. Our guide for the day, Erickita, was my favorite guide of the trip. She was extremely friendly and knowledgeable. Trapiche was a cool stop and the owner of the farm, Adriano, was kind and funny! Garrapatero Beach was beautiful and we kayaked a bit there. The snorkel experience in Punta Cormorant/ Champions Islet on Floreana was amazing. A sea lion was swimming in circles around and with us. This wasn't as fancy of a yacht but I was told only certain boats/yachts had permits for specific places. It was fine, just not as luxurious. It was a rough 2.5 hour ride there then also back. My party did fine with it but numerous others on the boat did get sea sick so while the destination was definitely worth it for our group, don't add it if someone in your group easily gets sea sick. The best place to sit is the middle of the boat so you can get some fresh air and don't smell the bathrooms or kitchen but also so you're not in the back baking in the sun getting sprayed by water. We spent our final day doing the Santa Cruz Highlands, an artisan woodworking visit, and a cooking class. Our family always adds some kind of art/craft and also some kind of cooking class on our trips so I'm glad they were added but the cooking class did go rather long (numerous hours) and the craft class wasn't really a full class and I don't think they're setup to accommodate that. Majo did deliver on all of our requests and planned a wonderful farewell dinner at Eloise, a cool waterfront restaurant you take a brief water taxi to and see lots of little white tip Galapagos sharks at the dock and along the journey. A few of my favorite restaurants were Bahia Mar, Midori, and Art Coffee. Darwin + Wolf was my favorite shop. We went to the Darwin Research Station on our own and I suggest doing the same because they have their own tour guides anyway. The wildlife was amazing and the animals get so close to you because they're protected so nobody bothers them and they aren't scared of us. It was beyond crazy how much we saw and how common it was. I'll definitely go back when my son is old enough to snorkel because he would love the wildlife. We also visited Siluet Derm Spa on our own and if you like massages, you should definitely fit that into your Santa Cruz visit! Our guides were all wonderful. The communication was immediate. Thoughtful extras were included like assistance in airports, etc. HIGHLY RECOMMEND YOU BOOK THIS!

Majo was so amazing, patient and helpful with our trip. It was an incredible trip !

Hotel Review

El Barranco

Santa Cruz

Incredible hotel and staff. Best location. We almost chose a more expensive hotel, but when we got to the area we realized we made the better choice. 10 out of 10. Walkable to shops, the main pier for water taxis, restaurants. Honestly you could eat and drink at the hotel because the food was incredible. Gorgeous view and pool!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Central to EVERYTHING

Staff

Garamija makes the best drinks and brings the fun

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Delicious Dinner by the Sea

Ecuador

Beyond food and drinks being some of the best I've had...we saw four baby sharks, sting rays, turtles all from our table. A true highlight

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Yacht Cruise to North Seymour Island

Puerto Ayora

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Trapiche & Garrapatero Relax Tour with Kayak

Ecuador

The owner of trapiche and his son made the day! They were so fun, and welcoming. A true highlight

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Santa Cruz Highlands & Artisan Experience with Coocking Class

Puerto Ayora

The chef was wonderful! The food was so good, and more than we could possibly eat. There were turtles all over the area. We got fresh food from the farm before we made our food.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Snorkel Experince in Punta Cormorant / Champions Islet - Floreana Island

Puerto Ayora

Ericka was such a wonderful guide!! She made this whole day even more special!

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Morning Bay Tour & Afternoon at leisure in Santa Cruz

Puerto Ayora

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Free day to explore

Isla Santa Cruz

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

We wanted to go to South America and initially they wanted to have us work with a rep in each country. Luckily Maria Jose (MaJo) stepped up and coordinated everyghing for us. We changed countries and group size and what we wanted to do several times. MaJo was so patient and had great suggestions for activites and just get updating our custom trip until we were all happy with what we were doing. During the trip, MaJo messaged us everyday to ensure everything was going well and addressing any questions we had. This was my second trip with KimKim and would definitely use them again.

Hotel Reviews

ICON Hotel

Santiago

Beautiful hotel. Fantastic service.

Authenticity & Character

Location

We were on vacation so located in financial district away from where we were touring.

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Ramada by Wyndham Buenos Aires Centro

Buenos Aires

Great Location. Easy to walk to most venues from here.

Authenticity & Character

A little dated.

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

City Falls Iguazú

Puerto Iguazú, Misiones

Authenticity & Character

Location

A little out of the way

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Foz Plaza Hotel

Foz do Iguaçu

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Windsor California Copacabana Hotel

Rio de Janeiro

Great Location. Service was good.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Right on the beach

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Argentinian Side of Iguazu Falls – Private & Shared Adventure

Puerto Iguazú

Our guide was fantastic. I loved the falls. You could not get enough of the views. I would go back again and see them since they are so amazing.

Quality of Experience

Food

Food was not part of the tour. The cafeteria food at the falls is marginal.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Transfer to Foz do Iguaçu & Rafain Show Dinner

Foz do Iguaçu

Traditional buffet and show. It was a little cheezy and the food was fine but not great. Not a ton to do in the city besides visit the falls so a reasonable activity while you are there.

Quality of Experience

Food

I don't eat a lot of meat and I guess that is the highlight of the buffet. If you like eating tons of meat you may like the dinner more than I did.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Arrival in Rio de Janeiro & Pedra Bonita Hike – Private Experience

Rio de Janeiro

Perfect thing to do the day we traveled so we could do something active and get use to the time change. The view at the top of the hike was beautiful. Great way to get to Rio and see the city from a high vantage point.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Our driver so a little lost while trying to find the trail head.

Santiago Food Tour & Picnic – Departure Day

Brazil

We really like Angel the tour guide but the food tour was not what we expected. Stopped at couple places but did not love the food. One place they didn't even have seating. We went to a market and purchased fruits and cheese and breads and then made a picnic from it. Picnic was supposed to be up in the mountains but raining that day so we went to the mall for a picnic. Not a traditional food tour where you went from restraunt to restraunt tasting the food and learning about the local area.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Cajón del Maipo Horseback Riding Adventure – Shared Tour

Santiago

I was nervous about this since had no experience with houses. It was a pretty technical ride up the mountain but our tour guides were amazing and ensured everyone was comfortable and enjoying the ride. The scenery was breathtaking. It was a great experience.

Quality of Experience

Food

Food was not part of the tour but our driver found a very cute restraunt for us to try and the way back to the city.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

It was about 1.5 hours out of Santiago. On the way back our driver found a very cute restraunt for us to stop at for lunch. Was a fun day.

Santiago City & Cultural Highlights Tour with Private Driver

Santiago

We had split this into 2 days to fit better into our travel schedule. It was the right amout of time to see the highlights of Santiago.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Arrival in Santiago & Private Chilean Cooking Class Experience

Brazil

Jenifer who runs the cooking class is absolutely adorable and made the experience so fun. I would definitely recommend this.

Quality of Experience

Food

The venue was very cute. We drank pisco sours while we cooked. The served white wine with the ceviche and red wine with the beef empanadas. It was all very cute and fun.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Private Guided Hiking Adventure in Costanera Sur

Buenos Aires

This tour was basically a city tour with a walk in the eco area of the river. Very flat walk. Our tour guide was great and customized everything for us on the fly so we could see some new things since we had already been on a city tour.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Not part of the original tour but our tour guide changed it up so we could see new things. Stopped at a market and had empanadas that wer awesome.

Tigre Delta Canal & River Navigation Tour

Buenos Aires

Very interesting community. Worth going out to Tigre and seeing the delta.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Buenos Aires City Tour: Culture & Landmarks

Buenos Aires

Pretty basic city tour. Gave you the lay of the land so you could walk around later. Big bus so many people on the tour. Repeated everything in 3 languages which got a little annoying.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Welcome to Buenos Aires – Hotel Transfer & La Ventana Tango Dinner

Buenos Aires

You have to see a Tango in Buenos Aires. I was skeptical but MaJo talked us into it and it turned out to be very fun. There are numerous Tango venues. This one was excellent. Small venue, beautiful atmoshpere, they picked us up and dropped us off after the show, excellent dinner (one of the best we had on the trip, not a buffet you ordered from a menu and they served some great wines) and the show was very fun.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Kayak on the Iguazu & Paraná Rivers – Shared Experience

Puerto Iguazú

River was beautiful. Great way to see it in a kayak. It was a small group which was very nice.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Brazilian Side of Iguazu Falls – Small Group Shared Tour

Foz do Iguaçu

Our tour gude was excellent. The falls were breathtaking.

Quality of Experience

Food

We just ate ate the cafeteria. The food was marginal. Food not part of the tour.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Full-Day Rio Adventure: Morning Bike Tour & Guanabara Bay Cruise

Rio de Janeiro

We didn't get to do the bike ride because it was cancelled 2 days before due to weather but the weather improved and we could have done it. The Bay Cruise was nice but nothing exceptional.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Palaces & Mountains: Discover the Imperial Charm of Petrópolis

Rio de Janeiro

Interesting but not a ton to do. We also ended up going on a very raining day which impacted the experience.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Explore Rio de Janeiro – City Tour – Shared Experience

Rio de Janeiro

This tour was perfect. We saw everyghing you would want to see in Rio. We had an amazing day.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

As an experienced and very demanding travelers we had high expectations of hotels and activities on this trip.
Our travel specialist Maria Jose Jaramillo set the trip up as we asked and then helped us to tweak on the fly to make our experience even better.
She was friendly and constantly available for any of our concerns and I would highly recommend her to anyone.
Ray

We had an amazing time in Quito and the Galapagos this summer. All the arrangements for pick up, drop off tours were planned and executed by the guides and drivers to perfection. We feasted on local seafood fusion delights, went swimming with sea lions and sea turtles and met kind Ecuadorian people at every turn.

Our guides, especially Viviana in Santa Cruz and Ian in San Cristobal were wonderful and gracious. They had all the local knowledge and presented it with enthusiasm!!

Special thanks to Nichole for welcoming, planning and rearranging accommodations when needed.

Hotel Reviews

Casa de Nelly

Puerto Baquerizo Moreno

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

We were initially placed in a very small room which was not to our satisfaction, but the hostess very graciously moved us to a room with an ocean view which made all the difference.

Lava House Galapagos

Puerto Ayora

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Mercure Alameda Quito

Quito

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Review

Galapagos Cooking Class by the Sea

Galapagos Islands

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

About a year ago, I began planning a trip to Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands for my family (my wife and myself, my son and daughter-in-law, and our two grandchildren, ages 10 and 13). After looking at options with a number of different tour companies, I discovered KimKim. I had never heard of them before, but all of the reviews I found online were excellent. I soon got in touch with Maria Jose, and after explaining what we were interested in doing, she put together an amazing 10-day itinerary at a remarkably affordable price. The six of us just got back from the trip none of us will ever forget. We spent two days sightseeing in and around Quito and stayed at the beautiful JW Marriott hotel. We then flew off to the islands where we spent four nights aboard the Legend cruise ship. We visited four islands and enjoyed spectacular hikes and snorkeling every day. The accommodations were lovely and the food was great. The ship can have up to 100 passengers but for our trip there were only 58. We then spent two nights at the lovely Hotel Ikala in Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz Island. From there we enjoyed a wonderful day trip to Bartolome Island where we took the accompanying photo and snorkeled with the sharks and sea lions. The Galapagos Islands are a truly magical place and Ecuador has done a remarkable job protecting them for now and the future. The iguanas, sea lions, tortoises, and birds have all been protected for over a hundred years and as a result are totally unafraid of humans. All of the KimKim team members and all of the local guides we met were fantastic. If you are interested in an extraordinary custom made trip anywhere in the world I would strongly recommend checking out KimKim

Overall our trip to the Galapagos was wonderful and we enjoyed ourselves very much.

Nature and highlights:
Amazing wildlife and we really appreciated the local knowledge and enthusiasm of the guides we had across the 4 islands we visited. This knowledge helped us see so much more than if we were on our own.

Hotels:
We enjoyed all of the hotels we stayed in and the responsiveness of the hosts. The Albemarle (Isabella island) was lovely but the very loud music next door until very late on a Friday night was unhelpful. I noticed this has been remarked upon in other reviews. Overall we enjoyed the hotels very much.

Guides:
We had superb guides in Alex, Ronnie, Daniella, and others whose names I have forgotten. All of the guides were absolutely excellent and were a major positive impact on our trip, except one - Gabriel on Isabella. Gabriel was a very nice guy and was trying to be helpful, however we had a communication problem in that neither of us could understand him very well. I appreciate that he has learned English but it wasn't good enough to be very useful. This was made worse by the fact that he was speaking very quickly and I suspect was a little stressed at the situation which became confusing.

As a result of our mis-communication we missed out part of our schedule and he changed it to a snorkel event at our extra cost without us knowing what was happening. We realised afterwards that we had missed the opportunity to see giant tortoises in the wild, which was very important to us (one of our highlights), so we separately hired bikes and completed the part that had been missed. The snorkel event that he took us on turned out to be very good, but we felt very confused as to what was happening. I reiterate that he was a very nice guy and was trying hard, but it was a language problem.

The snorkelling guide we had on our trip to Kicker Rock was really excellent.

Itinerary:
Overall, it was a really good and interesting itinerary. The one suggestion I would make would be to offer an alternative to the Sierra Negra volcano hike. For many tourists the heat, humidity and distance would be too much. We realised that we were not acclimatised enough for it and had to cancel it. We also heard of other tourists who turned back as it was too much.

There was some good variety in the itinerary and we felt like we had achieved a lot in our time there.

KimKim:
Maria Jose and the team at KimKim were very responsive and we were impressed with their support. It made a big difference to the trip to have everything so well organised. We were able to focus on the adventure rather than the administration, which was very much appreciated. We would happily recommend KimKim to other travellers.

Our trip to Ecuador was truly the experience of a lifetime, and so much of that is thanks to the incredible care, planning, and support from Maria and Kim.

From the very beginning, Maria went above and beyond to help create an itinerary that somehow captured everything Ecuador has to offer. The trip was seamless, thoughtful, adventurous, and incredibly well organized across multiple regions, flights, boats, lodges, and experiences. Every detail felt intentional.

And Kim was simply exceptional. Knowledgeable, patient, kind, adaptable, and deeply passionate about Ecuador, its culture, wildlife, and people. She made every experience richer and more meaningful, whether we were exploring Quito, hiking near Cotopaxi, traveling the Napo River in the Amazon, or snorkeling in the Galápagos Islands. We always felt cared for, informed, safe, and genuinely welcomed.

This was not just a vacation. It was a beautifully curated experience full of adventure, perspective, learning, and unforgettable moments.

We are leaving Ecuador with full hearts and immense gratitude. Thank you, Maria and Kim, for helping create memories we will carry for the rest of our lives.

Maria José with Kim Kim deserves an 11 out of 10. Logistics for our trip where we went to four islands in four days were extensive and it went off without a hitch. Any question we had she was on what’s app replying immediately. Our flights, boats, tours and transfers were always great and always on time.

Also in the planning part of the trip we told her what we wanted and in two emails had the perfect trip where she really helped us cover all of the activities, all of the islands and all of the animals we wanted to see — and because of her we were able to fit it into four nights without sleeping on a cruise ship.

We’d never used Kim Kim before and didn’t know what to expect, but as extensive world travelers MaJo’s work was so impressive and it was at a very reasonable price. Don’t risk your once in a lifetime Galapagos trip - use MaJo!!!!

Hotel Reviews

Albemarle

Puerto Villamil

The hotel we stayed at on Isabela Island was awesome, mainly due to its location right on the water. Although it's a bit weathered from being so exposed to the elements, it offers an amazing view which we really appreciated.

Plaza Luna Suites

Puerto Ayora

Clean, great service, and so well kept…best of the three hotels we stayed in during our trip.

Authenticity & Character

Owner lived on the grounds her entire life and treats it like she cares about the property and guests!

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Spotless and up to date!

Activity Reviews

Welcome to Santa Cruz – Highlands & Bay Tour Experience

Galapagos Islands

The Santa Cruz Highlands & Bay Tour Experience was not our favorite. It was a bilingual group, and we were the only English speakers, so we didn't get as much engagement. It paled compared to the other tours, especially being our fourth day there.

Welcome to Isabela Island – Wildlife Encounter at Los Túneles (Cabo Rosa)

Galapagos Islands

Awesome. Got a selfie with a penguin, saw multiple rays, swam within a foot of 10 different giant turtles, and up close and personal with blue footed boobies! Great ceviche too!

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Welcome to San Cristóbal – Kayak at the Port & Darwin Bay Snorkeling

Isla San Cristóbal

Amazing. Greatest sea lion experience ever! They are so fun and playful. Snorkeling was great too. The private guide with the kayaking and snorkeling was the best way to start the trip so we could get the focus and attention we needed given we were doing group snorkels the next three days. The pictures say it all

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Kicker Rock: A Snorkeling Adventure

Isla San Cristóbal

Amazing snorkeling and great lunch on the boat. The guide was great. Hammerheads, turtles, blue footed boobies, Red Frigate birds (inflated!), rays and seals that came and played with us!

Quality of Experience

Food

Food was fine but that wasn’t what I was focused on

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

We enjoyed our trip a lot. Our guide Alejandro was great. The only negative parts of the trip were the flights from Quito to the Galapagos were not a direct flight. It would have been better to use a different airline if needed to not have the 5 hour layover on the way. The other thing would have been to not have the long ride to go and see crater lake on the last day. That would have been an interesting day trip all by itself, but should never be added onto a another stop.
Otherwise thank you for a great trip.

Hotel Reviews

La Isla Hotel

Puerto Ayora

This was our favorite hotel on our trip. We could see the sunsets from the hotel. Everything was clean and well run. It was very close to the the waterfront and we could walk to the piers for trips and easily walk to the shops and restaurants.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Margarit Boutique Hotel

Mindo

This was a great comfortable hotel in Mindo. The food was wonderful. The view from the dining area allowed for watching birds and even bats at night. There was easy access into town to shop and eat. It was a delight to stay there.

Activity Review

Adventure at Tambo Cóndor: Birdwatching, Hiking & Nature Exploration

Ecuador

This was the best day for birdwatching to see the Condors. the Carunculated Caracaras, Andean gulls, and a variety of the other birds. The variety of higher altitude hummingbirds was impressive. Also enjoyed seeing the fox and deer.