Guest Bio
Dolores Gangotena is the co-founder of Quasar Expeditions, one of the first eco-conscious travel companies to offer small-ship cruises in the Galapagos Islands. Her relationship with the Galapagos began in 1969, at a time when the islands were accessible only by sea and tourism was virtually nonexistent. That early experience ignited a lifelong connection to the islands and their unique ecosystems. Since launching Quasar Expeditions in 1986 with her husband, Dolores has worn many hats — from hospitality and human resources to marketing and naturalist operations. Her hands-on leadership has helped shape Quasar’s distinctive approach to luxury adventure travel, blending comfort with conservation and cultural respect.
Show Summary
In this episode of the Big World Made Small Adventure Travel Podcast, host Jason Elkins speaks with Dolores about her deep personal ties to the Galapagos and the founding of Quasar Expeditions. She shares what it was like to visit the islands in the late ’60s, how those early memories fueled the vision behind Quasar, and the challenges of building a tourism company in such a remote and fragile environment.
Dolores also reflects on how tourism in the Galapagos has evolved over the decades, stressing the importance of environmental stewardship, strong local partnerships, and meaningful guest experiences. From addressing misconceptions about safety in Latin America to offering advice for intentional travelers, her passion and wisdom come through in every part of the conversation.
Key Takeaways
- ✓ A life-changing trip to the Galapagos in 1969 inspired Dolores’s path in eco-tourism
- ✓ Quasar Expeditions was one of the first to offer luxury small-ship travel in the region
- ✓ Dolores played a hands-on role in shaping every department of the company
- ✓ Sustainable practices are essential to protecting fragile island ecosystems
- ✓ Hiring local naturalists brings authenticity and depth to the guest experience
- ✓ Tourism growth must be carefully regulated to avoid harming wildlife and habitats
- ✓ The company has expanded beyond the Galapagos into mainland Ecuador
- ✓ Quasar is building more direct relationships with travel agencies and guests
- ✓ Dolores encourages travelers to look beyond safety myths and embrace exploration
- ✓ Group size and dynamics can significantly shape an experience in the Galapagos
What You’ll Find on Quasar Expeditions
- Elegant, small-group safari-style yacht cruises in the Galapagos Islands
- Curated itineraries designed to balance comfort, adventure, and conservation
- Expert local naturalist guides on every expedition
- Private charters and family-friendly travel options
- Personalized guest support from booking to disembarkation
- A strong commitment to sustainability and local community involvement
Learn more about Quasar Expeditions and connect with Dolores at:
https://www.quasarex.com/
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Podcast Transcript
This transcript is auto-generated on recording, and has not been edited by a human. It may contain lots of mistakes, crazy words, and stuff that makes no sense. The host and the guest are not responsible for the accuracy of the transcript.
Jason Elkins (00:00.846)
Welcome back everybody to another episode of the Big World Made Small podcast for the adventure traveler. I’ve got a real treat for everybody today. I spoke with her son quite a while ago. It might’ve been about a year ago and I’m super, super excited to have Dolores Gangotena de Diaz. She’s the founder of Quasar Expeditions. Dolores, so happy to have you here. Nice to see you.
Dolores Gangotena (00:24.73)
Thank you, Jason. Likewise, and I’m so glad that I can actually be part of your program.
Jason Elkins (00:30.964)
So, so am I. When I spoke with your son, he was, you got to talk to my mom. You got to talk to my mom. She’s got quite a story. And, and then, I, just kind of kept missing each other and now we finally have connected. So what a treat. And Dolores you’re, you’re in, in Ecuador, right? We’re going to discuss quite a bit about that. You’re doing some things, in other places in South America as well. But so tell me, you, where do you live?
Dolores Gangotena (00:56.8)
I live in Quito, Jason, travel often to the Galapagos, you know, my parents were born here in Ecuador, so I was born here in Quito and I am an Ecuadorian and with the love of this country at heart.
Jason Elkins (01:12.926)
Love it. I do as well as last time we spoke, actually, I can’t remember if I was still in Quito or I had just left, but I spent most of the last four months in Ecuador and just fell in love with the, the, the Quitoas and, just Ecuador as a whole. Did I say it It’s Quitoas, right? People that live there. Yeah. Yeah. Yep. And it was a beautiful place.
Dolores Gangotena (01:31.012)
Yeah, absolutely.
Yeah. So glad that you spent some time in Quito, Jason, lately, and you know what normally happens throughout the world, know, the bad news always make first pages and, you know, the good things seldom do. And you know, because you’ve been here, how lovely Ecuador is. And on occasion, I feel a bit sorry that people think about exclusively about the Galapagos when they think about Ecuador.
and they just take a couple of days to visit continental Ecuador. When they take a bit of a longer time to visit continental Ecuador, they just love it. You know, they say, you know, this country really offers everything. So I’m so glad that you’re one of those, you know, who enjoy continental Ecuador also.
Jason Elkins (02:21.838)
yeah, it’s, it’s so cool. I, I am one of the few, maybe a gringos. I’m going to use the term gringos that has visited Ecuador and did not go to Galapagos. And I know I, I know I need to, it’s a special place. And, I just, you know, one of the things I love about that part of the world is just the ability to get on a bus and go just about anywhere you want to go. you know, with a combination of a taxi and a bus and you can go anywhere.
And I enjoyed quite a few day trips and weekends and I went down to Cuenca and it is such, such a beautiful, beautiful country. Dolores, I want to give our listeners just kind of a quick, what is Quasar Expeditions? And then we’re going to go kind of figure out how it all came about. So what’s the, the 32nd, 62nd elevator pitch for what is Quasar Expeditions?
Dolores Gangotena (03:16.704)
Yep. Thank you, Jason. Actually, Quasar started as a Galapagos operator. And it all started when I was quite young, really. I was only 17 when I went to the Galapagos with a group of friends. At that time, it was 1969. At that time, Galapagos was very little known inside Ecuador, which was amazing. It was better known
in England because of Charles Darwin. you know, when the biology teacher started talking to us about what the Galapagos were all about, I just lost my head. And the only thing that I wanted is to go visit. And some four friends, myself, convinced the biology teacher to take us to the Galapagos. She was able to convince our parents to allow us to go. At the time, there was no airport.
And we just had to take a boat from Guayaquil to the Galapagos. It took almost three days to get there. And that’s how this affair with the Galapagos started. You know, I lost my head, you know, on my very first trip with the Galapagos. you know, then some years later, you know, got to marry my husband, Eduardo.
And by then I had already visited the Galapagos some five times. And when we went together to the Galapagos, he was more of a boat lover, more than a nature lover. So we had the great combination, you know, he just said, wouldn’t be absolutely beautiful to be able to offer, you know, this experience in a small group to people who really want to enjoy nature.
And that was the beginning of quiz or, know, we just stayed after that trip, which was on board a turn of the century sailboat. At that time, the only boat that was doing some sort of tourism, this was in 1984. It was metropolitan touring with a big boat called the Inahá. And we went on the sailing boat.
Dolores Gangotena (05:38.702)
that the owner was a Galapaguenio living in the islands and had no navigational equipment whatsoever, but the experience was just amazing. The captain would just go down underwater and would come up with these huge lobsters for us to have lunch. It was amazing, Jason. And that’s what really created the interest in us to be able to offer Galapagos
for small groups of people. Because as much as the other boat was for 80 passengers, we just wanted to be small groups. So that’s how it all started. The dream of Quasar started right there.
Jason Elkins (06:09.973)
I can imagine.
Jason Elkins (06:22.498)
That’s very, cool.
Dolores, I’m going to pause this right here because we’re getting the echo. don’t know if you can hear it. Can you hear it? Okay. So edit, edit, edit. What we’re going to do is we’re going to fix that.
Dolores Gangotena (06:31.321)
Yeah.
Dolores Gangotena (06:37.014)
I have here, Jason, an echo cancellation. Should I press that?
Jason Elkins (06:44.022)
I think it’s already selected for you, but what I, what I noticed like now it’s gone. Now it sounds fine, but what I noticed is at some point your computer, some sort of notification popped up on your computer. heard it. And then, and then we started getting the echo a little bit. So do you know what that was? The notification that popped up. Do you remember what it was?
Dolores Gangotena (06:46.927)
Yeah, it is.
Dolores Gangotena (07:01.316)
Yeah?
Dolores Gangotena (07:09.898)
Maybe, could you please hold it a second Jason, please give me just a sec.
Dolores Gangotena (07:33.22)
How about there?
Jason Elkins (07:33.706)
I could, well, I could hear it. I could hear him as well, but, but.
Dolores Gangotena (07:37.732)
Yeah, okay, so probably that was it. just, so how is it now, Jason?
Jason Elkins (07:43.084)
Well, there’s no, there’s no echo right now, but I don’t, but for some reason, when I started talking to you again, I was getting the echo now it’s gone. So, so that’s fine. I’m just going to take this part out and then I’m going to figure out. And then I’m, I thought that I was a good spot to stop. So, and then I’m just going to, we’re going to pick up kind of where we left off there. So, all right. I’m going to say the words edit. helps me find it later. Edit, edit, edit.
Dolores Gangotena (07:54.639)
Okay.
Dolores Gangotena (08:02.937)
Okay.
Jason Elkins (08:10.798)
So Dolores, I can completely imagine how exciting that was for you. Just listening to you and I’ve got the ability, I can see your face on the screen as well and it was lit up and that just left me with so many more questions. But before we do that, just real quick. So what if you were to meet someone at a, I don’t know, a travel conference, trade show or something and you were to tell them Quasar Expeditions,
does this, what do you do? What do want them to know? Basically what kinds of trips and offerings you have right now.
Dolores Gangotena (08:48.858)
Okay, actually Quasar, we identified Jason from the very beginning that what we wanted to do, it’s something similar to what you do in a Galapagos Safari. We’ve been seeing, you know, when we created the company, the idea was to replicate what I had experienced on my very first trip to the Galapagos. And not easy to do because logically,
the tourism numbers to the islands increased. There were more restrictions concerning itineraries. The National Park did not allow about 10 years from the time that we started the company, 10 years after the Galapagos National Park started putting in place a lot of restrictions, logically, because there were many people visiting the island. So they had to restrict the itineraries to be more
careful to the numbers of people visiting each one of the visitor sites. So that actually changed a little bit what we wanted to offer. But somehow, Jason, we were able to create and replicate that very first experience that I had in the Galapagos. And if you would ask me, what does Queezer do? I would say we
Jason Elkins (10:10.348)
That’s very cool.
Dolores Gangotena (10:15.504)
offer the very best of the nature of the Galapagos. That’s what we do. There is nothing that would keep us from showing our guests the very best of the nature. If that means twice the work for our staff, which is absolutely fabulous because they won’t stop at anything to show those little extras to our guests. mean, they will, there are longer times.
Jason Elkins (10:41.421)
Okay.
Dolores Gangotena (10:43.728)
during the visits or stay longer during snorkeling, anything that will actually allow our visitors to see the very best of the Galapagos.
Jason Elkins (10:54.296)
Very, cool. So is 100 % of your business Galapagos?
Dolores Gangotena (11:00.652)
It started that way, Jason. And then we, because people also wanted to visit continental Ecuador and no matter what you need to arrive first to continental Ecuador, if you want to travel to the Galapagos, we used a third party to operate those services to our clients. But as time went by, we saw the need to create our own DMC here in Ecuador.
And that’s how we started offering services in continental Ecuador with the very same philosophy to those services that we offer in the Galapagos. As time went on, know, former clients of ours who have enjoyed, who enjoyed what they lived with us in the Galapagos and in continental Ecuador, started asking if we would offer something similar in Peru and also grew to
to offer services in Peru. And that’s how we started. Our DMC started to work, to grow Jason. You know, Fernando, you interviewed him some time ago. He now lives in Chile. And we always from the very beginning wanted Quasar to remain a family company. We’ve seen so many wonderful
Jason Elkins (12:23.842)
Mm-hmm.
Dolores Gangotena (12:27.152)
tourism operators of the Galapagos and from so many other areas of the world that have sold their operations. And then those operations become very impersonal. Whereas with Quasar, we have always wanted to keep it very Ecuadorian. There was an occasion when a company that has a great name in the market wanted us to become
members so that we will follow their menus. And we just said no thank you because we want people to enjoy what Ecuador is all about. We want it to be kept in Ecuadorian hands. And it’s the very same thing that we’ve done in Chile, for example, with the Patagonian safaris that Fernando, my second son, offers. It’s the same, offer Chile at its best.
Jason Elkins (13:03.458)
Yeah.
Dolores Gangotena (13:26.338)
offer Argentina at its best. So in every country that you will visit with Quasar, you will actually enjoy what it’s local. That has been probably the reason for our success, Jason. You know, we’ve tried to keep it as much as possible, you know, Ecuadorian in the Galapagos, Peruvian in Peru, Chilean in Chile. So…
We’ve you know, we’ve had success doing that.
Jason Elkins (13:57.068)
Yeah, that’s very cool. Cause I think, I think travelers value that, or at least some of them do. It’s working with a local tour operator and having that flavor and having been, you know, have being somebody who’s spent time in a car that it’s amazing. I mean, the people are just, it’s really, really cool. And I appreciate what you’re, what you’re sharing with us.
And I’m curious, could you mention DMC? So, you know, destination management company, some of our listeners know what that is. Some of them don’t. So I’m curious when you say that you set up a DMC in continental Ecuador to handle, you know, the folks that were coming in and leaving, presumably that started out primarily. Free, like you said, for your guests that are going to the Galapagos, but maybe they want to do a three, four day extension.
on the mainland. I guess where I’m going with this question is when you mentioned the DMC, were you working with other tour operators, maybe in the US that were sending people to Ecuador as well, either for your Galapagos trips or just mainland trips or just tell us, I’m just trying to get my head around, were you working mostly directly with consumers or were you working with travel agents and outbound tour operators in other places?
Dolores Gangotena (15:15.226)
Correct, Jason. Yeah, actually, you know, the guests that we were receiving were coming from either tour operators in the US or travel agencies. At the time, nowadays, things have changed a little bit. I do see an increase in the number of travel agencies that work directly with us formerly.
Travel agencies used to contact a tour operator in the United States, which was actually a big tourism operator selling several destinations. And travel agencies normally contacted them and that tour operator would organize the trip for their clients. Nowadays, I think it’s because of the internet. Travel agencies have more access to see
Jason Elkins (15:50.766)
Mm-hmm.
Dolores Gangotena (16:07.94)
personally and directly through their computers, what the services of this and that company are, they tend to contact directly us, the two operators in each of the countries that they want to send their passengers to.
Jason Elkins (16:22.222)
Okay, gotcha. do you do direct to consumer if somebody listening to this wants to go to the GlobGhost and they click on the link in our show notes and they go to your website, would they book directly with you or is that a different business model?
Dolores Gangotena (16:38.788)
They can, yeah, if they want, can book directly with us or they can go to their preferred travel agency or tour operator. they, you know, just mentioning, would like to go on board this or that boat or would like to go to Chile or Peru with Quasar, they will, you know, they will send the client to us.
Jason Elkins (16:58.882)
You’re very, very, very smart woman. I really appreciate what you just said because your relationships with your, the tour operators in the U S or the Europe and travel agents is obviously is a very important thing for you. So for you to come on the show and say, yeah, you should book direct. Definitely book direct that, that, that could have a negative impact on your, relationships with them. So I appreciate that you.
that you say, no, if you’ve got a favorite travel agent or a tour operator back home, just tell them that you want to go with Quasar. That’d be really cool.
Dolores Gangotena (17:34.938)
Yeah, absolutely. I tell you, throughout the years, Jason, those travel agencies, tour, prayers, become your friends. They have been part of the business for years and years and years. And I would say they enjoy working with us because also what we’ve done from the very beginning is we decided to target exclusively the English speaking market.
Jason Elkins (17:44.663)
Yeah.
Dolores Gangotena (18:02.32)
At the beginning of our operation, remember we used to attend ITB, which is a big travel show in Germany. you know, actually went on board small boats. mean, and not the boats as small per se, but the number of passengers. became, you know, that the Germans were on one side, the Americans were on the other side. And they, you know, that relationship that the
you get to have with your, you know, with the other guests was non-existent. So we said we need to make up our minds and that’s when we decided we’ll just target to the English-speaking market. And nowadays all of our cruises are exclusively English, for English-speaking passengers. And it works incredibly well because part of the experience for those staying seven nights on a boat
Jason Elkins (18:35.415)
Mm-hmm.
Dolores Gangotena (19:00.812)
It’s the friends that you make when you’re there. mean, being with someone on a close relationship, having the meals at the same time with your other guests, know, friendships, you know, friendships start. And one of the comments that we constantly get from our guests is, you know, I made these friends and now we travel all over the world with them. We visit their homes. It’s a, you know, a relationship starts, which is
Jason Elkins (19:05.07)
Mm-hmm.
Dolores Gangotena (19:30.154)
one of the great, great things that happen when you go on a cruise with us.
Jason Elkins (19:35.513)
You know, I completely relate to when you say, well, we used to have, you know, half the boat. Maybe you’d be German. The other half’s English speaking. And I can relate to that, but I also realized someone might be listening to this. it sounds kind of snobbish or kind of like, well, we don’t want those Germans because Germans are weird or anything like that. But I don’t think it’s about that. So I want to dig a little deeper into that. If a German person.
Wanted a book, but they understood everything was in English. All of the guides were English speaking. Everything was in English. Does that, does that change things or do you just say, no, you can’t come.
Dolores Gangotena (20:14.468)
No, actually welcome, absolutely welcome. mean, we have passengers from all over. The only thing, Jason, and it doesn’t matter if there are some Italian agencies listening to me right now, you know, the only nationality that we actually force them to get charters is Italians because they’re never in time. So everyone is ready to disembark for the morning.
Jason Elkins (20:27.79)
you
Jason Elkins (20:36.95)
Really?
Dolores Gangotena (20:43.864)
walk and the Italians are just finishing up breakfast and they’re talking. So it’s a mess. So whenever we have Italian clients, if it’s only a couple of them, it works well with the rest of the group. But if it’s a group of Italians, it’s a mess. that’s, you know, we tell the agencies, fabulous, but get, you know, get a charter. mean, get enough passengers to fill up the boat.
and then they can have the time of their lives.
Jason Elkins (21:14.602)
Is does it still present challenges? Like, let’s say you’ve got a charter with a bunch of Italians. My limited understanding of Galapagos is there are certain things that have to happen on schedule, regardless of whether you chartered the boat or not. Is that true or am I wrong? I mean, does it still present challenges?
Dolores Gangotena (21:28.912)
Correct.
No, it is true. Even though, yeah, even though Jason, when you go with a small group of guests, you can actually work a little bit about, you know, around the times. For example, on occasion when it’s extremely hot, for example, the months of January, February, which the Galapagos becomes very hot, what we do is we bring down passengers to the visits at around seven in the morning.
And then by 9.30, 10, they’ve already done the morning visit and then we take them snorkeling. So we work around the times. You cannot do that on a bigger boat because there are too many guests and it’s impossible to be flexible in that respect. But yes, for example, 6.15 in the evening, nobody can remain on the islands, on the visited sites.
by national park restrictions. By then, everybody should be back on board.
Jason Elkins (22:33.33)
Okay, gotcha. I could just keep going with this conversation because I’m fascinated by this, but I really want to make sure we don’t get to the very end of the conversation. And then I say, Dolores, tell me about your childhood. So I feel like I can’t wait any longer. So we’re going to go back because what I remember you said, you were like 17. You took your first trip out there. You got on a boat, right? So like what was happening in your world that
Dolores Gangotena (22:54.704)
Correct.
Jason Elkins (23:00.096)
You mentioned your teachers started talking about it. You became fascinated, but like, were your parents supportive of this? What, I mean, did they encourage you to be the explorer type or what was childhood like?
Dolores Gangotena (23:05.529)
Absolutely.
Dolores Gangotena (23:11.97)
Actually, Jason, well, as you can see, I’m not extremely young. So at those times, you know, especially being a girl, a woman, 17, parents were extremely careful of where you went. And I tell you, if it wouldn’t have been because our, you know, she was really a lovely lady. If it wouldn’t have been because she actually talked to them and came with us to the Galapagos, I’m sure they wouldn’t have allowed me to go there because
Jason, the boat I went on was a Navy boat. Actually, it was a North thing. It was really the most comfortable boat that you can imagine. But it was the only vessel going to the islands. As I mentioned, there was no airport at the time in the Galapagos, so there were no tourism.
Jason Elkins (23:46.862)
I had heard that. remember your son telling me that’s part of why I want to get back to this.
Dolores Gangotena (24:08.706)
Actually, Metropolitan Touring started three years after my very first trip to the Galapagos with the big boat. So it was actually it was remote and you had to go on this boat for the three days, nothing to do on board. Nevertheless, we had fun. That boat was carrying dry goods for the inhabitants of the Galapagos, which at the time must have been 3000 people, no more than that.
living in the islands, but this boat took rice and sugar and dry goods that they needed in the islands.
Jason Elkins (24:46.156)
You mentioned a woman that went with you. wasn’t clear. that you said your mother spoke your teacher. So the teacher took you.
Dolores Gangotena (24:49.956)
She was my teacher. She was the teacher. Yeah. She was the biology teacher who actually, she was also so keen, you know, in going to the Galapagos because she hadn’t been there. She saw an opportunity, you know, to come with us and, you know, to get to the Galapagos, you know, for the first time. It was fabulous, Jason. It was truly fabulous.
Jason Elkins (25:02.712)
She hadn’t been either. So where’s the…
Jason Elkins (25:13.678)
How many students?
Dolores Gangotena (25:16.888)
It was actually five of us and the teacher. And I tell you, at the time there were no guides or anything. Actually, this boat just brought us down on these wooden dinghies to the island. And they would say, OK, we’ll pick you up at four in the afternoon. And, you know, they kept busy bringing dry goods down and we just walked all over.
You know, it was amazing. My first encounter, Jason, with the Galapagos wildlife was the first island that we actually visited was San Cristóbal. We arrived and when we were on board the wooden dinghy to get down to the island, a sea lion literally jumped into the dinghy and we were just terrified.
And you know, the sailor just said, don’t worry, they’re tame. And that was my first encounter. And to tell you the truth, the reason why I fell in love with the islands from the very beginning, was extraordinary, really how fantastic the wildlife of the Galapagos is and was. Nowadays, is not, you know, they’re not as curious of you as you are of them.
At that time, you know, they, they won us will just come onto you. The sailors, which were actually the only ones visiting the Galapagos then, you know, bringing goods, it thought they want us to eat oranges. So they, they want us would just come running towards you so that you will feed them oranges. And it was scary at the beginning, but they wanted, you know, they, meant no harm. They just wanted the oranges.
The birds will just be on top of your shoulders, on your head. Nowadays, it doesn’t happen that much. The wildlife does not move or go away from you, but it’s not as friendly as I would say as it was at those times.
Jason Elkins (27:22.734)
I’m imagining that that’s because the park system, the government, somebody said quit feeding oranges to the iguanas so the iguanas quit running over to you. That’s what I’m imagining. Is that the case? Yeah, okay.
Dolores Gangotena (27:32.278)
Absolutely. Absolutely. probably, you know, sadly, I say probably we killed a few of them because afterwards these poor ones probably didn’t want the fruit of the cactus. They just wanted the oranges, which is something that right now that there is a national park and a Charles Darwin station that really collaborates with the park on this respect.
You know, they actually limit the access that tourists have to the wildlife. I mean, you have to keep away at least three feet from the wildlife because they don’t move. You have to move, Jason, to go around them. So that’s the beauty of the Galapagos and we have to be respectful of their space.
Jason Elkins (28:13.366)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Jason Elkins (28:20.642)
Yeah. Yeah. Yep. So the group of you said it was five students and the teacher for how long, how long was the trip from the time you left the mainland until you got back?
Dolores Gangotena (28:34.256)
21 days. It was 21 days, Jason, and the cost was 1200 sucres. On dollars nowadays, probably $22. 21 days. Well, there were nonexistent services, mind you. You know, we just had one cabin that, you know, originally was one of those crew cabins for the sailors of the boat.
Jason Elkins (28:37.922)
to
Jason Elkins (28:48.496)
my gosh, I mean
Jason Elkins (28:54.38)
Well, yeah.
Dolores Gangotena (29:03.48)
so that it was upper and lowers, you know, and the six of us just remained on that cabin. There was just one bathroom for us, which the crew shared, did not share with us, you know. Normally they would share that bathroom, but they allowed us to use it exclusively. And for meals, there was nothing but lentils and rice. So the value of the trip was the absolute
Jason Elkins (29:06.894)
Mm-hmm.
Dolores Gangotena (29:32.912)
freedom that we had whenever we went down to the islands. It was just you go, you explore, you swim, you do whatever you want. It was fantastic.
Jason Elkins (29:43.449)
you, you know, as I listened to you share this story, I’m thinking that has to be the best field trip. If you want to call it a field trip, are you familiar with the term field trip or is that a U S thing? Like that has to be like the best field trip or
Dolores Gangotena (29:57.484)
Indeed, yes.
Jason Elkins (30:05.294)
high school like outing class outing that like in the history of the earth.
Dolores Gangotena (30:12.824)
Absolutely Jason. I mean, it was so much so that it changed my life.
Jason Elkins (30:20.93)
Yeah, we’re going to the Galapagos for our, for our field trip and nobody knows where it is. And we were going to take a boat for three days to get there. mean, just everything about what you’re describing is just like, so cool.
Dolores Gangotena (30:34.344)
And I tell you, that trip changed my life to the point that my life since then has been linked to the Galapagos.
Jason Elkins (30:39.232)
Yeah!
Jason Elkins (30:44.866)
Do you, are you still in touch with any of the other students that went on or do you have any idea if any of them went into this business as well?
Dolores Gangotena (30:48.398)
Yes, all of the actually somehow because you know how close I am to the Galapagos, you know, I am the one that reminds them often of what’s happened. Actually, some seven years ago, I invited a couple of them, you know, to go and, know, we remembered, you know, how where we, you know, how we walked, what we did at those times. So we had a
fabulous time. Unfortunately, the other three are not that great physically. So Galapagos is sort of a not demanding, but you need to be physically well to really be able to enjoy it because there’s lots of walks, you know, on top lava rock, there’s jagged terrain and there’s lots of snorkeling. So it’s really a physically sort of demanding destination.
Jason Elkins (31:30.254)
Mm-hmm.
Jason Elkins (31:44.398)
Okay. So anybody listening to this? The time is now. Don’t wait. If you’re still, if you’re still able to, able to do it.
Dolores Gangotena (31:49.494)
Absolutely. mean, you know, even though, you know, we’ve had passengers who, you know, whose dream of their lives was to visit the Galapagos, we had this wonderful lady who had muscle atrophy, I’m sorry, the pronunciation. And she knew that she had only, you know, some, you know, short time and she came to the Galapagos and the crew members helped her.
Jason Elkins (32:05.646)
Mm-hmm.
Dolores Gangotena (32:17.294)
all of the time, she couldn’t go to some of the visits, but she did enjoy enormously the snorkeling. Jason, the letter that she sent afterwards, it’s, you know, these are the songs, the sort of reaction from our guests that fill our lives. It makes it all worth it because believe me, it’s been 40 years of operating when there was nobody in the Galapagos, when we had to deal.
Saturday, Sundays with radios because there were no telephones there, any sort of problems, you know, we had to deal with them. Very, you know, very few crew members to choose from because keep in mind on, you know, on islands that population 3000 try and find a good skipper, a good engineer. That was really something difficult, but we made it. And so it makes it so worth
while when we received these comments that people really enjoyed what we’ve done for them.
Jason Elkins (33:20.992)
It’s very cool. One of the things you mentioned, you said it’s hard to find a good skipper or a good engineer. I heard you put the word good in front of both of those. And the reason I want to ask this or what came up for me is I remember I worked in Belize for a while and we worked on an island 30 miles offshore and we’d come in. Nobody really lived on the island, but when we’d come in to town, there’d always be people at the dock and
Dolores Gangotena (33:30.02)
Yeah.
Jason Elkins (33:50.125)
You know, they’d say, I’m looking for work. Do you have any work for me, boss? That’s just the way they talk. Do you have any work for me, boss? And I’m like, what do you do? I can do anything. So like if I need I need a mechanic. I can do that. I need a fishing guide. I can do that. I need a landscaper. I can do that. So that was the question I had for you. Is it the same way they can?
Dolores Gangotena (34:00.258)
Very similar, Jason.
Dolores Gangotena (34:07.044)
Yeah.
It was.
Absolutely. Believe me, the first 10 years since we started the operation, that was it. I mean, we just had, we became schools for the crew members that we had. We needed to teach them, you know, how to do things. Because as you say, you know, and I remember clearly now it was a Sunday and we received a radio call because there were no telephones.
Jason Elkins (34:23.0)
Yeah.
Dolores Gangotena (34:42.746)
Kito, Kito, Puerto Ayora over. Kito, Kito, Puerto Ayora over. One of our boats entered Puerto Ayora on that Sunday. And I remember David, who was in Galapagos says, you know, they cook because the chefs were non-existent then. The cook just disembarked and he says he doesn’t want to go on. And we had passengers on board, Jason. David go.
all over town and find a replacement. You know, three hours later, Kito, Kito, Puerto Ayora, go on David. He says, I found a mechanic, well, a mechanic between quotes that says that he knows how to cook, put him on. And that’s how we ended up the cruise, you know, with this guy cooking for the passengers. But I have to admit, at those times, passengers actually realized
Jason Elkins (35:30.254)
you
Dolores Gangotena (35:39.62)
how difficult and how remote the Galapagos were. So they just enjoyed because as I mentioned with the first trip with Eduardo, getting fresh lobster was no problem, fresh fish at all times. So that really made the experience so much better for the guests. But that’s how we operated at the beginning. As time went on and more operators started to have businesses in the islands.
Then people from continental Ecuador started going so you could hire people who actually knew their jobs a lot better than those living in the Galapagos.
Jason Elkins (36:20.622)
So that’s something you probably, my understanding is even if you’re, live in Ecuador, you can’t just move to the Galapagos. You can’t just move out there and live there. But I’m curious, can you go out and be there temporarily for work? I mean, can you hire, if you met somebody in Quito that was a great chef, could you hire them to work on the boats?
Dolores Gangotena (36:30.554)
Correct.
Dolores Gangotena (36:47.408)
Absolutely. Now you can, Jason, but they need to go with a contract. You need to actually have a legally-bind contract of the company with this person. And when the contract is finished, if that person doesn’t want to keep on working, they have to return to the continent. That is it, so that the population of the islands does not grow.
Jason Elkins (37:08.45)
Okay.
Dolores Gangotena (37:15.056)
to limits that is not feasible because the Galápagos do not have enough fresh water. They are now working on putting water makers for the population of the Galápagos, but nevertheless, even the food has to be transported from the continent to the Galápagos. So it’s difficult when the population grows without planning.
Jason Elkins (37:36.014)
All
Jason Elkins (37:39.567)
So what about this? So like when I lived in Belize and managed to lodge there, if I wanted to hire someone from outside of Belize, I had to go through a long process, work permits. had to show that there was nobody in Belize that could do the job. Weird stuff. So are you supposed to hire local, what do you call somebody who lives in the Galapagos? Galapagian? Galapagaino.
Dolores Gangotena (38:06.382)
Argalapaguenio. Yep.
Jason Elkins (38:09.834)
So are you supposed to hire a Galapagano first? they have priority? Okay, but if you
Dolores Gangotena (38:13.558)
Absolutely. Actually, you need to prove that the knowledge you need from the person you’re going to hire is not available in the Galapagos with the Galapaguenos. So that is when you can hire someone from Continental Equal.
Jason Elkins (38:23.86)
available on the islands.
Jason Elkins (38:31.468)
Okay. Here’s another, I’m just curious because the other thing that I remember from Belize and other places I’ve been, most people in Belize, it’s part of Central America as you know, but it’s also a Caribbean, more of a Caribbean nation. It’s the most Caribbean nation in all of Latin America. But I don’t know if that’s an accurate statement. But anyway, my point is a lot of the people there do not like the water. Like they have no interest in being on a boat.
Even though it’s coastal, they don’t mind going to the beach, but they aren’t going to get on a boat to go to work. So are there people, Galapaguenos, who don’t want to get on a boat?
Dolores Gangotena (39:11.272)
Absolutely. I mean, we just had once a bartender who got so seasick, Jason, that we need to change the itinerary to just drop him in port because it was so there are indeed. And there are people who just do not enjoy the water, do not enjoy boats. You know, a few of them really have no problems and they actually they enjoy working on board, but some others really that you cannot.
Jason Elkins (39:13.206)
You
Dolores Gangotena (39:40.88)
So all of that makes it feasible for people from continental Ecuador to be able to find jobs in the Galapagos.
Jason Elkins (39:51.403)
Okay. You just have to be willing to get on a boat and then you’ve got half the Galapagos. It’s such a strange thing to, for those of, I didn’t grow up on the ocean. I grew up in the mountains of Wyoming, so I had no concept. But when I went to a coastal country or spent time on an island with people that didn’t like the water, just, how do you do that? That’s like growing up in the mountains of Wyoming and saying, I don’t like driving. I don’t know. It’s just, but anyway.
Dolores Gangotena (39:53.962)
Absolutely. Absolutely.
Dolores Gangotena (40:20.088)
Right. What we’ve done in the past years, you know, being in the Galapagos for so long, what we’ve done, Jason, it’s we started to work already about 15 years ago with the schools in the Galapagos. And then we created, for example, the culinary school in Galapagos for those who just may not want to go on board. They are trained.
well enough so that they can go on board as chefs. But those who just do not want to be on board, they make special sauces that then they freeze and then they sell for the boat so that actually the chefs on board don’t have to be doing the small work, the cutting, the slicing. they do and they make a living out of that. So it’s great, for example, making bread.
and they actually sell it to the boats frozen. So it works very well. those who just, that is to avoid them going into sort of illegal fishing. Sometimes they go into illegal activities that there is no need if they can have some income out of their own work.
Jason Elkins (41:28.632)
Mm-hmm.
Jason Elkins (41:37.067)
a legitimate job. So I get the suspicion, especially after speaking with some Ecuadorians when I was there, that there’s kind of two tourism markets or two tourism worlds in the Galapagos. There’s the one that you and I are discussing that are English speakers, probably from the United States, the UK, other places in the world that
going to say save up their pennies, but I think it’s more expensive than that. So they go on these trips on these really nice boats. and there’s probably a wide range, but then I believe you’ve also got people to live in Ecuador or maybe other parts in Latin America that will just buy a plane ticket to go over to San Cristobal. And I looked at Airbnb’s honestly, I look, I was looking at Airbnb’s air. I was like, wow, it’s there’s Airbnb’s there that aren’t really any more expensive than they were in keto.
which kind of surprised me and someone was saying, yeah, you can just go out there and you can do a day tour or you can walk around and you can still have a nice experience without getting on one of the boats. So I just wanted to bring that up and ask you, tell me more about that.
Dolores Gangotena (42:46.256)
Yeah, yeah, it’s absolutely that’s that. Yeah, that’s it, Jason. You’re totally right. Actually, that is an area that needs to be controlled because what has happened lately, it’s people who live in the Galapagos, they have their houses and they just build a couple of extra rooms and then they put them for, you know, for rent. And that way, not even the National Park.
has the real numbers of how many people end up going to the Galapagos. So it needs to be regulated because you can indeed go to the Galapagos. Let’s say you get seasick, which in a way I think it’s sort of ridiculous because if you go on day trips, you are going to be on a boat no matter what going from one island to the other. So whenever people say I get extremely seasick, so I want to stay on land, I tell them,
Jason Elkins (43:36.694)
Okay, I was curious about
Dolores Gangotena (43:44.484)
Be careful because that also means, you know, you’re going to be on a board, onboard a boat for a few hours going in and out to the islands. It’s smaller boats which on occasion even rock more than the larger boats. So that is something that whoever’s interested in going to the Galapagos has to keep in mind. But again, getting back to authorities and controls, it needs to be controlled, Jason. And right now,
Jason Elkins (43:52.652)
Probably a smaller, a smaller boat, longer amount of time. Yeah.
Dolores Gangotena (44:13.2)
You know, all flashes are now on on these because the Galapagos received in 2024 about almost 330,000 visitors. And I have to admit, Jason, and I have to admit that the Galapagos doesn’t have the infrastructure, and I mean infrastructure concerning portable water, electricity,
Jason Elkins (44:28.494)
330,000.
Dolores Gangotena (44:42.458)
Keep in mind that still the Galapagos electricity is, you know, it’s done via generators that work with diesel. So it’s polluting. So the restrictions are there. Nevertheless, you know, the need to, you know, to grow hotels, services and so on, it’s there because actually the demand, it’s there.
So the National Park and the Minister of the Environment do have to work on this. They have to control it. They have to put a limit. They have to actually check all properties that are listed for Airbnb or hotels or hostels, name it, whatever you name it. But it has to be controlled and the numbers have to be kept in check.
Jason Elkins (45:35.8)
How do you balance?
So if you’re selling high-end experiences in the glopagos.
How do you balance that with other people, Ecuadorians? Well, here’s what I’m thinking. I suspect the government’s in a tough spot. Because if they say to the Ecuadorians, hey, we’re going to charge you a bunch more. We’re going to limit. We’re going to remove the Airbnb options, whatever. We’re going to do whatever it is to lower the numbers of Ecuadorians. But we’re still going to let the rich Americans come in.
Dolores Gangotena (46:15.652)
Right.
Jason Elkins (46:16.044)
That could be a real political issue. I don’t know if you want to share any thoughts on that or if we should move on to the next topic. Because I can imagine that’s a challenge because you’re Ecuadorian.
Dolores Gangotena (46:27.44)
Absolutely, Jason. And you know, as much as you you feel this belongs to Ecuador and Ecuadorians should have access to the Galapagos anytime they want. Let’s face it, similar to what happens in Africa, know, visiting a national park that does have a limit of resources, you know, it costs.
And you know, the only way to sort of limit it, I think it’s raising the cost, you know, raising the price of the entrance to the Galapagos National Park. It sounds like unfair because I know many Ecuadorians will not have the possibility to visit the Galapagos or might be they decide to just save and go and visit the islands.
Jason Elkins (47:10.872)
you
Dolores Gangotena (47:25.764)
Galapagos is fragile without a doubt. You when you go and visit and go into the visitor sites, it’s not big, Jason. You know, as much as it looks big in the map, but the Galapagos are islands that have the, you know, the visitor sites are limited in space. So you need to control it somehow to avoid damage in the wildlife.
Jason Elkins (47:36.461)
Yeah.
Jason Elkins (47:51.747)
I think just from a basic economic standpoint, the way to limit the consumption of something is to raise the price. That’s anything, right? That could be, well, we don’t have very much of this. And if we don’t let the market adjust the price, then we’re just going to run out or we’re going to overuse the resource. a good example of one, so one way is to just raise the rates. It’s probably the fairest way, I guess.
Dolores Gangotena (47:59.728)
Absolutely.
Jason Elkins (48:19.342)
But some people wouldn’t think that, but then there’s also like, grew up in Wyoming where we have hunting and we might say, well, there’s limited number of elk. There’s more people that want to go elk hunting than we can sustain. So instead of raising the prices to go elk hunting, they set up a lottery system or every year you could put in for a permit. And they would, you know, if 3000 people put in and they
only had 500, they would just pick 500 people. And then each year you would just put in a permit. Is that something like somebody that lived in Ecuador that really wanted to go to Galapagos? Is that something they even discuss as some sort of like lottery type system or does that come up?
Dolores Gangotena (49:04.41)
Yeah, actually Jason, there’s been several discussions of how to be able to sustain the Galapagos as they are. And lately, raising the price of getting into the National Park was discussed. They didn’t go far because in Galapagos, people who live in islands have…
don’t take it wrong, have sort of a limited mentality. For them, the country is the islands. And they actually say, you cannot raise this price because then we will stay without any tourists. Because there are several people in the Galapagos who actually live out the tourism generated from continental Ecuador. And I totally agree with that. But there has to be a limitation.
Jason Elkins (49:35.64)
Mm-hmm.
Jason Elkins (49:56.067)
Mm-hmm.
Dolores Gangotena (50:00.312)
And the very first thing is to limit the number of hotel rooms that are offered in the Galapagos, being these hotels, hostels, Airbnb, whatever, it has to be limited. That way, you know that if you want to go to the Galapagos, if the limit of visitors is 300,000,
Jason Elkins (50:17.058)
Mm-hmm.
Dolores Gangotena (50:27.086)
Well, those people will have to pay a little bit more if they want to go and visit.
Jason Elkins (50:31.47)
Just because the room, maybe the price of entrance isn’t as high, but if there’s fewer rooms, then the room rates will be higher. So that limits the number of people coming in, but also increases the expense and that’s going to upset some people. it’s a tough thing. I’m happy. don’t have to make any decisions like that.
Dolores Gangotena (50:32.964)
The only way to control it.
Dolores Gangotena (50:41.976)
Absolutely.
Dolores Gangotena (50:52.238)
Yeah, is truly, you know, it is so tough that it even sounds a bit unfair, you know. Why is it that the people with money are able to visit this paradise and why those who don’t have it cannot visit? unfortunately, the world is not very fair in that respect, Jason.
Jason Elkins (51:13.294)
Yeah, we live in a world of scarce resources and, um, yeah, that’s, that’s a bit of a challenge. So, um, I did want to ask, I know we’re keep going back. Your story is so fascinating. This field trip just blows my mind. I just can’t imagine, you know, you know that, you, you know, it’s cool. I wonder, I mean, you grow, you know, you’re from Ecuador, but you’re also very worldly and you’ve been doing this a long time, but just the average person.
Dolores Gangotena (51:26.704)
Well, no, that was really, and I tell you, it was spectacular. Yeah.
Jason Elkins (51:43.225)
Well, I don’t know me growing up in the U S like the idea of getting on a boat for three days and going to the Galapagos at 17. When there’s it just, it’s really, really cool. So, but I did want to ask you before I forget, do you have siblings? Were there other siblings in your family at the time, brothers and sisters that either went with you or were pissed off that they didn’t get to go or weren’t interested or how did that all shake out?
Dolores Gangotena (52:10.57)
Indeed. we, you know, all of them really wanted to get to see the Galapagos after I, you know, after I told them about my experience. But for one or another reason, they just didn’t get to go until we had a trimaran at the time. And this must have been a quasar. Actually, we started quasar around 1984 when we started looking at the permits and how to operate.
And the first boat arrived to the Galapagos in 1986, Jason. And as time went on, Eduardo met these British couple who lived in British Virgin Islands. And they had two trimarans that offered diving in British Virgin Islands. And we knew Galapagos was going to be the dive destination for the next years. So they said,
They came to the Galapagos and they said, wow, this is really the place. So why don’t we go into a partnership and we bring one of those catamarans, which was the Lamerlo and we operate dive cruises in the Galapagos. So we bought the dive permit for the Galapagos and they brought in the Lamerlo and it was a lovely boat. And it was then also that the driver myself
learn to dive because we said how can we sell diving without knowing it was the most amazing thing Jason because
Jason Elkins (53:45.772)
That sounds like a pretty good excuse to learn how to dive. You’re like, we need to learn how to dive.
Dolores Gangotena (53:48.804)
Indeed, indeed it was, you know. And they actually brought the boat on board. There was a dive instructor who was just fabulous, you know. His instructions were so easy to follow, a great teacher. So I would say Quasar also started the real dive excursions in the Galapagos through these partners of ours who…
knew so much about diving and safety and equipment and all of that. And on that boat, when it was 1992, is that Eduardo and myself said, why don’t we invite the family? And all of my brothers and sisters came on board. They had the time of their lives, you know.
Jason Elkins (54:35.47)
But it was the first time for your siblings to go? Wow, you were just doing your own thing, weren’t you?
Dolores Gangotena (54:38.85)
Indeed, Jason, as I was telling you, Galapagos was almost not known here in continental Ecuador. I mean, for Ecuadorians, the Galapagos was, yes, it’s there, something about Charles Darwin. But even in schools, Galapagos was not given the importance that it has. I mean, I think to me, it was the biology teacher
Jason Elkins (54:48.096)
I mean,
Dolores Gangotena (55:06.362)
who actually also had a passion for what she had read about the Galápagos that actually drove us to go to the islands because nobody else visited. As years went by, then it became more popular and Ecuadorians started going to the islands. But at the beginning, it was just foreigners.
Jason Elkins (55:30.88)
It’s, it’s interesting. Like you, your teacher, you know, I’m imagining your teachers, like, want to go, I need to figure out a way to go. She was, she’s smart. Kind of like a tour operator. Like I really want to go. So I need to find some people to go with me that would make it make sense. Maybe the school would help out, make it happen. Or she could at least instead of just her showing up and saying, Hey, can I get on the boat and go? She could say, Hey, I’ve got some students here. They all pitched in.
$22 or whatever it was, so we can go. So she kind of was doing the fam trip like a lot of tour operators do, right? Someone says, hey, if you get five or six people, you can come and stay for free.
Dolores Gangotena (56:09.924)
Yeah. It was fantastic. Yeah. And mind you, she was also quite, you know, she loved adventure because we had no idea what we were going on. Actually, we arrived to Guayaquil and when we saw the boat, we said, ee, is this on board, you know, it’s on board this thing that we’re going. We were a bit scared at the beginning, but as time.
You know, as the days went on, we were comfortable on board that boat. was a truly, it was on the verge of collapsing that boat to the point, Jason, that two years after we took a trip, it sank. So you can have an idea of the shape of the boat. And it was the only way to get there. And I don’t regret it a bit. It was the most incredible experience of my life.
Jason Elkins (57:06.882)
You mentioned that you ate a lot of lentils and was it lentils and rice?
Dolores Gangotena (57:10.774)
lentils and rice, mind you, but when we arrived to Puerto Baquerizo, we passed by, you know, there was truly two chairs and a table. And we said, do you serve food here? And they said, yes, we can prepare something for you. Jason, they prepared the lobster ceviche, the most delicious thing that I’ve had in my life. And it was actually a big plate and it costed us
80 cents of a sucre, of a sucre. You know what, five cents of a dollar? Yeah, was, those were the days really. It was amazing. But Galapagos keeps on being as wonderful as it used to be. There is more people being in the islands. Things have to be controlled. I would say that the towns are just sort of growing too much.
Jason Elkins (57:42.862)
Yeah.
Dolores Gangotena (58:08.61)
it needs restrictions, now going to the negative part of the growth that the Galapagos has had. For example, there was no regulation for taxes. So taxes will just remain day long going around and around looking for clients. And I told the mayor, why don’t you put in the corners a little telephone.
so that actually you could call if you need a taxi and you avoid these, you know, fuel consumption, pollution, everything that a taxi causes going on and on. And those are things, unfortunately, that need to be placed as restrictions that you cannot break, Jason. Because yes, it’s easy for them to go around and around, but it’s a national park and we really need to…
take care of it. There is also the need to emphasize on what authorities tell people who go and live in the Galapagos. For example, let’s say that Jason Elkins is living in the Galapagos. If you have a daughter, you have the right to take her from the continent to the Galapagos. Well, that daughter should go through a class, name it whatever, in which they would tell you,
Why is it that the Galapagos are important? Why is it that you cannot do this and that? Why is it so that people really learn what the Galapagos are all about? Because you find many, many people living in the islands who are not very aware of the importance of the Galapagos.
Jason Elkins (59:44.526)
to be a good citizen.
Jason Elkins (59:54.222)
So all this being said.
The listener that’s listening to this, perhaps, how do we convey to them that they don’t need to feel guilty about going to the Galapagos? Cause they could be interpreting what we’re hearing as, there’s too many people or there’s, there needs to be more control or they may be hearing this. I’m not saying that’s what you’re saying, but if they’re hearing that, what do you want to say to the?
Dolores Gangotena (01:00:18.896)
Mm-hmm.
Jason Elkins (01:00:22.53)
the person in Des Moines, Iowa, that’s listening to this, that’s thinking about booking a Galapagos trip next year. Should they be concerned? Should they feel guilty? Are they contributing to problems or what would you want to say to them?
Dolores Gangotena (01:00:36.41)
Yeah, not at all, Jason. think, you know, whoever plans to visit with Quasar the Galapagos or with similar sort of operators should not feel guilty because we do pay a lot of taxes to keep the Galapagos pristine. Not only that, we have a group of Galapagos operators who are working in the social areas of the islands.
As I mentioned, we have the schools, we help even children, we help them taking them on board so that they can actually find an activity that when they grow up, they will be able to work on. The entrance to the Galapagos National Park, 45 % of that money goes immediately to the national park.
and the Charles Darwin station. you know, the expensive way of traveling the Galapagos does help enormously to keep the Galapagos pristine. You’re talking about hiring biologists, you know, who do studies of the water. The Charles Darwin Foundation, with all of the staff that they have, are constantly working on how to improve and, you know, and avoid damages to the islands.
So I would say the tourism that pays well, it’s really welcome to the Galápagos because through their, through whatever they pay, they’re really sending that money to all of the branches that Galápagos need to be kept resting.
Jason Elkins (01:02:21.986)
so they can feel good about it. That’s good. This is.
Dolores Gangotena (01:02:23.99)
Indeed, indeed. And they can actually, and when they are on board, if they want to go visit any of the initiatives that we have for education, for work, for, you know, they’re glad. Normally we tell the naturalists, tell the guests if they want to go and visit, we gladly take them and visit. they, on occasion, they say, I would like to go.
Jason Elkins (01:02:50.786)
Kind of see where their, see where their dollars are going.
Dolores Gangotena (01:02:53.484)
in the future, yes. And you know, people feel good about it.
Jason Elkins (01:02:57.518)
Yeah, yeah, This is sometimes a touchy thing that maybe you don’t want to share, but you’ve been in this business long enough and the Galapagos is an interesting place that is quite different than most places people travel. And what I’ve noticed is when people go into new environments that they’re not familiar with, they sometimes ask questions that seem very silly.
to the person that’s hosting them. I guess the question is, is there one or two or three typical questions that people ask about the Galapagos that is a good question because they don’t know the answer, but to you or your team are like, my gosh, why do people keep asking this? Why are people so dumb? This is the dumb question question.
Do you, what, what dumb questions? I hate the word dumb because there’s no such thing as a dumb question, but what’s the question that people often ask so that when someone’s listening to this, they can make sure that when they go to the Galapagos, they don’t ask that same dumb question.
Dolores Gangotena (01:04:13.38)
Yeah, it’s actually most of the questions which are not at all done, Jason, but that are repeated constantly are things that the naturalists do explain about. For example, why do I need to wash the sole of my shoes when I finish up a visit to certain island? It’s because you don’t want to carry seeds of plants from that island to the other island.
Jason Elkins (01:04:19.847)
I agree.
Dolores Gangotena (01:04:42.544)
which as I can tell you, it’s not at all silly. It’s they want to know the answer. So our naturalists, and that is why Jason, we never actually have the same naturalist for longer than 15 days on the cruises. It’s because it’s true, know, they rest 15 days and then 15 days on board because you need to be open. you…
Jason Elkins (01:04:46.84)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Jason Elkins (01:05:02.286)
you
Dolores Gangotena (01:05:10.612)
working as a naturalist guide for 15 years, yes, you might say, my God, once again, the question, but if you’re rested, you realize it’s a logical question. You know, these people is like, I’m going to New York and I say, listen, how do I go to the, you know, to the whatever building, the time square, for example, my God, it’s a, you know, it is not a dumb question. I don’t know it. So I would say,
Jason Elkins (01:05:31.15)
Time square, dime square, that’s probably the one people.
Dolores Gangotena (01:05:40.004)
That it’s mainly to avoid, you know, that passengers get that feeling. That’s what we do with the naturalists. And I tell you it works well because the naturalists, yeah, they are a wealth of knowledge. The constant comments we get from our guests is, wow, the naturalists, you know, I learned everything that I wanted to learn and more from them. They never get tired of explaining, of repeating. It’s like being in a classroom, Jason.
Jason Elkins (01:05:47.374)
I think that’s very smart.
Dolores Gangotena (01:06:09.88)
We all repeat, you know, you might be looking at a bird and then the naturalist was explaining about the Iwana and you didn’t hear. Can you please repeat? The naturalist repeats it with no problem. You know, it’s just we’re all human, period.
Jason Elkins (01:06:24.664)
But you’re right.
We’re all human. so maybe that question about why do I need to wash off my shoes? Maybe on day 13 or day 14 of the naturalists cycle, he’s like, oh, well, so we don’t spread seeds or this or that. want to keep the islands pristine. And if they’ve been doing it for 30 days in a row, it might just be because I told you to. Why do I need to wash my shoes? Because I said so.
Or because, cause you don’t want to kill all these animals out here. you? So people, people need a break.
Dolores Gangotena (01:06:57.808)
Be on.
Dolores Gangotena (01:07:01.268)
Exactly. You could actually tell them that way. it’s, you know, those are things that, you know, and they explain it in a good way. really, it’s a great relationship. The one that after the cruise, you know, the naturalists, you know, they received letters from the guests, you know, they really thank them for sharing all of their knowledge with them. It’s a lovely experience, one in the Galapagos, because it’s a…
Jason Elkins (01:07:06.071)
You
Yeah, yeah, yeah,
Jason Elkins (01:07:21.336)
Mm-hmm.
Dolores Gangotena (01:07:30.978)
You know, it’s friendly, it’s lots of wildlife, it’s sharing, it’s really, I cannot explain it. The food is great, fresh fish, beautiful ocean. You should come, Jason. You really should come.
Jason Elkins (01:07:48.387)
Well, I was just, I was just sitting here. I was sitting here thinking, I wonder when you’re doing your next fam trip for a podcast host. Sign, sign me up.
Dolores Gangotena (01:07:56.1)
Yeah, actually count with it. Yeah, count with it, Jason. And actually something that the, you know, people who are listening to this might be interested in, Queizer is bringing in March, 2026, the very first hybrid boat that it’s going to operate in the Galapagos. We are extremely proud about that, Jason. Yes. So, you know, we just, know that we are,
Jason Elkins (01:08:17.686)
Yeah, you mentioned that the last time we spoke. That’s, yeah.
Dolores Gangotena (01:08:26.16)
You know, we’re going to be the first ones having a boat like this. We know the complications that on occasion, on a remote place that we can have with all of the technical parts of operating a hybrid boat. Nevertheless, we do hope it’s going to be an example for other operators and operators and hopefully in the future, every operator will be running boats that are hybrid.
Jason Elkins (01:08:52.748)
You know, it’s kind of like, guess an analogy is maybe you live in a small town somewhere and you go buy a hybrid car or an electric car before they have any chargers in town. You know, cause you’re like, okay, this is the way I believe this is aligned with my beliefs that I believe that we need to be doing this. So I am going to buy the electric car.
Dolores Gangotena (01:09:06.522)
Yeah.
Jason Elkins (01:09:19.968)
and have them bring it to me in my town where they don’t have any electric chargers because I believe that other people will follow my lead, do the same, and then eventually someone will come in and put in a charging station. That’s kind of what you’re doing, isn’t it? Yeah. That’s up. You’re leading.
Dolores Gangotena (01:09:33.748)
Absolutely, Jason. Yeah, that is our plan. That is our plan because at this moment, exactly, it’s going to run. It’s going to self-generate the energy. Actually, the generators are going to fill up the batteries. But in future, that’s the idea. You know that the national park will be able to put chargers in the port so that the most operators actually change and move to
to these sort of integer driven boats. That would be the ideal end to a national park like the Galapagos.
Jason Elkins (01:10:13.356)
Right. It’s a lot of, a lot of moving parts because I remember you discussing, you know, the electricity out there currently is being made by generators. And then there’s a whole conversation about renewable energy and this and that it’s a sunny place. Galapagos is pretty sunny, but I don’t know if they want to put a bunch of solar panels out there.
Dolores Gangotena (01:10:21.698)
Indeed, indeed.
Dolores Gangotena (01:10:32.6)
Yeah, no, what Galapagos needs also, Jason, it’s in, you know, actually investment in ways to create energy without using fossil fuels. And you can use the energy of the sea, you can use the energy of the wind. And that is something that we need to concentrate more on so that, you know, most of the energy that Galapagos needs to keep the people living there and
Jason Elkins (01:10:47.438)
Mm-hmm.
Dolores Gangotena (01:11:02.576)
everything else that is needed, it’s actually generated by non-contaminated sources. That would be ideal, really.
Jason Elkins (01:11:12.416)
Mm-hmm. Yeah, because there’s pretty strong sea currents out around there. My understanding of part of why the diving is so amazing is because of these currents.
Dolores Gangotena (01:11:17.558)
Indeed, indeed. And also very strong wind. Yeah. In the northern part of of of Baltra where the airport is located, the wind is very strong. So actually you could have there, you know, a eolic energy being created and then brought to the to town. At this moment, there are I think only about three of them. The thing is a little bit lack of funds, but I also think
You know, if a big company would like to get involved into, you know, into entering these sources of energy, that would be absolutely incredible.
Jason Elkins (01:11:57.935)
Well, that’s the thing, right? Right now, if the energy they’re trying to create is just for the local people that live there and the boats aren’t really relying on it anyway, all the people paying all this money to come spend these vacations in the La Gapa goes on these boats. You know, you can’t follow the money, the money.
Like maybe Charles Darwin research station’s getting funded. Maybe all these different projects are getting funded, but maybe not projects to create a bunch of electricity where if the boats start to operate with hybrid boats or electric boats, then all of a sudden that shifts things around where there could, money could be freed up to, to support that stuff. I don’t know. I have no idea what I’m talking about, but it’s been fun chatting with you.
Dolores Gangotena (01:12:44.346)
Yeah.
Jason Elkins (01:12:50.21)
Dolores, we’ve discussed a bunch of things and I want to be respectful of your time as well. What else? What else? What did I forget to ask you? What do you want to make sure that our listeners know about you? Quasar Galapagos, Latin America, life in general or anything like that before we wrap up?
Dolores Gangotena (01:13:09.37)
Yeah, actually, would tell to those who are actually looking and listening to this interview that Latin America is really a place that, number one, it’s very close to the United States. Number two, it has so many wonderful areas that are yet to be opened. That if you get tired of the hordes of people visiting Europe,
Latin America is still quite attractive in that respect. There are thousands of people visiting beautiful natural areas. you know, it might in a way, you know, people find themselves being detracted from the interest of traveling to Latin America because of news that it’s violent. But mind you, the whole world is violent at this moment. And if you travel with a good operator, name it,
quasar, name it, whichever other, they are going to be careful enough to take, you know, those visitors to the right areas for them to really get to know the countries, the destinations, whatever they’re looking forward to, to get to see, you know, in safety. Because I tell you, Latin America, it’s to me, and I have traveled widely throughout Latin America.
I’ve never encountered any sort of unsafe situation, never. And that is probably because you need to go wherever nothing happens. And if you go with a good operator, you’ll be able to do so without any sort of problem and you will really enjoy your holiday in the best way, in the best possible way.
Jason Elkins (01:14:42.251)
And I.
Jason Elkins (01:15:02.478)
Speaking as someone that grew up in the United States and most of my family and friends are from the US. When I first went to, I’ve been traveling full time for the last four years. And when I first sold all my stuff and bought a one way ticket to Colombia, my family and friends were like, what are you crazy? What are you doing in Colombia? my gosh, that’s dangerous. And my dad even sent me a
The state department has, you know, write ups for every country, the U S state department. So he copied and pasted the state department warning into a text message and sent it to me, which basically said, you should reconsider. And about a week or two after I arrived, I thought, man, people in the U S are crazy for not coming to visit these places, you know, and I’ve been full time for four years. Most of that in Latin America and.
same as you have never had an issue, never seen anything. I mean, I’m aware that there are dangerous places in the world, but I’ll tell you what, Latin America is so different than the way we perceive it when we grew up in the US. We grew up in the US and we’ve got news stories, politicians, a lot of different reasons that people might get on TV and tell us bad things about Latin America. And of course there’ve been issues.
Um, but sometimes those issues have been gone for 20 or 30 years, you know, you know, and, and, but we live with these stories in our heads from what we saw in the news when we were growing up. And then we avoid going to places that are life changing. You know, they, they happened for me. There’s so many times I sat on the, you know, at a cafe or a TN to out in front of a TN and metagene or, um,
Dolores Gangotena (01:16:33.123)
Yeah.
Jason Elkins (01:16:55.256)
Cartagena or something or Quito. Yeah, Quito, you know, there’s a Mr. Bagel in Quito. Do you know the Mr. Bagel in Quito? That’s my favorite. It’s not very Latino, but it’s like just a cool place. I don’t know.
Dolores Gangotena (01:17:03.716)
Yes.
Dolores Gangotena (01:17:13.956)
Yes. And you know, Jason, there are places in Latin America that have actually been discovered by Americans. For example, Cuenca here in Ecuador. There is about 15,000 Americans who have decided to make Cuenca their home after they’re retired because they love how peaceful it is, how lovely the town is. it’s like, you know, I go to the U.S. and I love it. Maybe if I get into the wrong neighborhood in New York.
Jason Elkins (01:17:24.259)
Mm-hmm.
Dolores Gangotena (01:17:43.802)
Probably I won’t like it, but if you go, you know, the whole of the US is just great, it’s safe, it’s beautiful. And it’s the very same thing with Latin America. It’s, you know, such beautiful areas. And again, it’s so seldom visited, which makes it so attractive. You know, if you don’t enjoy crowds and you want, you know, more space for yourself, well, that’s what Latin America is all about.
Jason Elkins (01:18:09.058)
You know, there’s it’s maybe this would be interesting for people in the US that haven’t spent time in Latin America. But there’ve been many times that I was having a conversation with someone in Colombia about the US and you know, whether they would go there or not. And they’re like, I don’t know. It seems kind of dangerous. You know, so these people in Colombia or Ecuador or Mexico, they’re like, I don’t know if I want to go to the US. I’m kind of scared about it because I hear all these news stories about.
You know, school shootings or mall shootings or these things that are horrible things. Of course they are. But anybody that’s spent time in the U S knows.
Dolores Gangotena (01:18:45.85)
But it’s what the press publishes, which is always the bad things.
Jason Elkins (01:18:52.898)
Yeah, yeah. So, and we miss out on a lot of great things when we focus on the bad things. So anyway, thank you for sharing that. We’re going to have a link right in the show notes to the website. So whether it’s a travel agent, tour operator, traveler, somebody listening, somebody that’s just interested in what you guys are doing, not just in, in Ecuador, but you mentioned also kind of Patagonia, Peru. So
Dolores Gangotena (01:18:58.262)
Absolutely.
Jason Elkins (01:19:18.402)
look forward to maybe we’ll come back and have more of a conversation about those places at some point soon. But Dolores, thank you so much for being on the show. Appreciate you. It was fun.
Dolores Gangotena (01:19:25.712)
Thank you so much for those who listened to this interview. You’re welcome in Latin America whenever you want. It’s a lovely destination for you to visit.
Jason Elkins (01:19:39.694)
Well, I’ll be back soon. I’m in Arizona visiting family now, but I’m heading back to Latin America myself. So perhaps we’ll connect over a coffee or something when I get there. Thanks Dolores. All right. Ciao.
Dolores Gangotena (01:19:47.706)
Keep in touch Jason. Absolutely.
Ciao Jason, thank you so much. Thank you everyone.
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