Cash for Galapagos Trip

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Still Kicking

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I am leaving for Galapagos in a couple of weeks for a liveaboard trip. I understand it is not easy to get cash on the islands and i should probably bring cash for incidentals like tips, nitrox tab, bar tab etc.

If so, what's a good discrete way to carry it. Traveling with a wad of cash makes me nervous.
 
Just bring your ATM card. They use USD as currency.
 
You won't need that huge a wad of US dollars. But the discussion reminds me of the 2-inch thick wad of rupiah I brought on an Indonesia liveaboard. @Dan
 
You won't need that huge a wad of US dollars. But the discussion reminds me of the 2-inch thick wad of rupiah I brought on an Indonesia liveaboard. @Dan
LOL. If you still have them, since I’ll be visiting Indonesia 3x in 2022 (Raja Ampat in February, Sangalaki in August and Forgotten Islands in October), I can buy your Rupiah from you at whatever the current exchange rate.

BTW, pretty soon they are going to drop the 3 zeros out of the Rupiah, just like Colombia did when I was in Malpelo, Colombia 2 months ago.
 
BTW, pretty soon they are going to drop the 3 zeros out of the Rupiah,

I've lost out before with Philippine Pesos when was there several years back to discover that the notes were out of date. Fortunately the lady that ran Johans in Subic Bay accepted them as she could change them at the bank.

Now I must check what I have in IDR.
 
You have ATMs on the three more inhabitated islands, so no need to bring vast amounts of cash. Withdrawal was limited to 200$ per transaction with a 4$ fee, but you could do several transactions at one ATM one after another.
Still I was surprised that the liveaboard (master) accepted only cash for onboard payments.
 
I've always carried cash. I waited tables for a decade and typically deposited my tips only about once a week, meaning I might be walking into the bank with close to a grand during the busy season. Now I usually take out $300 from the ATM at a time. I keep $60 stashed away in a separate part of my wallet to safeguard against running low, and I try to hit the ATM again while I still have at least a twenty and some small bills in the main compartment. I don't wave it around, but you can see my wallet is pretty fat when I open it, and I've never had anyone try to rob me. I feel safer knowing I have it in case I need it, than I would feel having it secured in the bank. I'm more worried about my passport getting stolen. If you want to be more circumspect with your cash, you could fold a piece of paper over most of it in your wallet, so when you pull it out it looks like you only have a little cash and some notes or receipts in there.
 
We were just having this conversation because my spouse and I are also heading to Galapagos in January for a liveaboard. In the past, I've carried tip money (for two) and other cash in three places. I wear light weight hiking pants on travel day and use the zippered pocket for the $100s. The pockets are long enough for the money to lay flat. Use a different pocket for the $20 and split the rest between my wallet and my spouses' wallet. Weird, yes, but I know where it is and the zipper is a great deterrent to pickpockets. In hotels prior to boarding the boat, we use the in-room safe or, if no safe and feeling a bit at risk, the hotel safe. The only time we've been robbed was at a dive resort with a broken safe. Our whole group of 14 got hit by the "cleaning gang". They took between 20 to 40% of the cash we each had in our rooms. I guess they hoped we wouldn't notice.
Anyway, for transit, try pants with long, zippered pockets.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/perdix-ai/

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