Guest Bio
Henry Sisa is the CEO and Founder of Adventure Journeys, a leading adventure travel company based in Quito, Ecuador. With over 15 years of experience in the tourism industry, Henry has built his expertise as a naturalist adventure trip leader and local guide. His passion for adventure travel and deep knowledge of Ecuador’s diverse landscapes have positioned Adventure Journeys as a premier provider of authentic Ecuadorian experiences.
Show Summary
In this episode, Henry Sisa shares his journey from a naturalist guide to founding Adventure Journeys. He discusses the importance of sustainable tourism, the challenges of leading adventure trips, and his commitment to providing authentic experiences that showcase Ecuador’s rich biodiversity and culture. Henry also reflects on his experiences in the adventure travel industry and how they have shaped his approach to tourism.
Key Takeaways
- ✓ Passion for Adventure: A deep love for exploration can lead to a fulfilling career in adventure tourism.
- ✓ Sustainable Tourism: Implementing eco-friendly practices is crucial for preserving natural habitats and supporting local communities.
- ✓ Authentic Experiences: Providing genuine and immersive tours enhances traveler satisfaction and fosters lasting memories.
- ✓ Leadership in Tourism: Guiding a company to adapt and grow in a dynamic industry requires vision and dedication.
- ✓ Continuous Learning: Embracing new challenges and environments contributes to professional and personal development.
What You’ll Find on Adventure Journeys’ Platform
- ✓ Customized Adventure Tours: Tailored itineraries that cater to individual preferences and offer unique outdoor experiences in Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands.
- ✓ Expert Guides: Knowledgeable professionals with extensive experience in Ecuador’s natural landscapes and adventure activities.
- ✓ Luxury Accommodations: Stays in carefully selected lodges and camps that provide comfort and authenticity.
- ✓ Exclusive Experiences: Access to unique activities and locations, providing an intimate connection with Ecuador’s wilderness.
- ✓ Comprehensive Planning: Assistance with all aspects of adventure planning, from logistics to activities, ensuring a seamless experience.
👉 Visit Adventure Journeys’ Official Website to explore their offerings and learn more about Henry Sisa’s contributions to adventure tourism in Ecuador.
Learn more about Adventure Journeys and connect with Henry at:
https://www.adventurejourneys.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 (00:19.946)
Great, Henry, so happy to have you here. Everybody listening, this is Henry Sisa from Adventure Journeys in Ecuador. Super, super excited to have him on the show. Spoke with him a little bit earlier about just the diversity of Ecuador. And we thought, geez, we could probably do three or four episodes just on Ecuador because of the biodiversity and all the different things to do there. So anyway, Henry, welcome to the show. So happy to have you here. Thank you, thank you. We’re so happy to be here. And then of course now,
You know, being a beautiful morning in Quito and a very early start doing some adventure things. So I’m very happy to join you, you know, and all of the listeners also to share my story, you know, in the adventure travel. In Northern Ecuador, I would say South America a little bit. I was doing in multiple countries, you know, guiding. That’s the beginning of all of these
dream called adventure journeys now. Yeah, and you’ve really done something. I believe you had mentioned that you’ve been doing this. How long about 15 years or? Yeah, close. I did start my life as a guide, you know, and I did close to 13 years before I stopped. And of course, you know, I started my own business, which is adventure journeys back in 2012. So.
Yes, I did multiple countries in Latin America. However, Ecuador is my home country. I spend the most time over here. And we’re mostly focusing on Ecuador, all of the adventures that we offer to our clients. And yes, I did everywhere in Ecuador, including the Galapagos Amazon. Actually, my story started as Amazon naturalist guide in few lodges over there.
That’s how it all started. Curious. Yeah, I’m curious. When I do the math, and I’m sitting here looking at you, for those people listening, I’m actually looking at you on the screen here. And you mentioned all these years, and I think you must have started about when you were 12. Is that about right? Or how old were you when you started dating? I’m 20. I’m right now 42-year-old. I started. I was in my early 20s. All right, well, you must be living the good life. All this actually. You actually mentioned.
Jason Elkins (02:45.778)
You touched on it briefly. You said this morning with some adventure activities. And before we jumped on this call, you were mentioning what exactly you’re out doing. So like, and I thought, wow, what a great morning routine. So tell us a little bit more, like, what is, I don’t know what your typical day is like, but what you told me about this morning was pretty cool. So share that. Yeah, well, this morning is very exciting for me. I met some friends on the weekend and those are, they’re both guides. They’re actually working with colleagues, you know.
And we are, we went to hit the trail and trying to kind of like open a new trekking. The name of the trekking is Agua Ibida, which means water in life. And this is very close to a very beautiful resort. We normally lodge our clients there. It’s called Papaya Carta with Crystal Cold Hot Springs. However, it’s behind one of our national parties only an hour drive. And it was around
let’s say 13 keys, which will be around 8.5 miles with the nice, of course we did it a little bit of running, but yes, with guests will be around four and a half hours, beautiful, up in the mountains in the Andes, surrounded by lakes. And of course we saw some deers, we saw some rabbits, we saw some nice hawks. I love bird watching actually myself. So I put my…
my binoculars, we were expecting Spectacled Bear, which is right now quite common in Ecuador. And in that area, it’s quite also common to see it. But yes, the idea was to kind of like open a new trail for our guests, you know, to offer in our adventures. Around these, you know, resort of hot springs, there are multiple things you can do. They’re watching, trekking, biking, and of course relaxing with, you know, with, it’s amazing, very nice.
So early in the morning, five o’clock, I was picked up. It’s still dark in Ecuador every day. It starts at 6 a.m. with lights and it gets dark at 7 p.m. because we are by the equator line. This is very interesting for all of the listeners. We don’t have seasons. You know, different to you have very marked seasons. You know, we only have six rains with a little bit more, you know, six months with a little more rain.
Jason Elkins (05:09.178)
than the other six months. So we only have summer and winter, but it never’s going to snow, but it is, we are on the equator. So six o’clock AM is always daylight. It’s so interesting for someone like myself that grew up in the Northern Hemisphere, quite far into the Northern Hemisphere actually. And so we’ve got very clear, you know, winter, spring, summer, fall, and we’ve spent a lot of time in Latin America. And the closer you get to the equator,
I noticed in my conversations, the harder it is for people to understand this concept of spring. Or, you know, I mentioned that my son is going to visit me on his spring break and they’re like, when is that? Like, no clue. You know, so it’s, it’s pretty cool, but it’s also wonderful to live in that climate. So that’s, I appreciate that. You also mentioned that you did a cold water plunge this morning. That’s right. Yeah. That’s right. We have, it is like a guide ritual. You know.
When you do your license to be a guide in Cotopaxi National Park, which is one of the most visited national parks in Ecuador, mainland, because it’s only around 60 kilometers, which will be around 45 miles from Quito in our drive. Everyone visits that because you have this beautiful, you know, snow-covered volcano, which is actually at the moment is active. It’s close to do the summit.
So there is a lake there and every guide has to go into the lake at 4,000 degrees above sea level is a ritual. You want to become a guide so that you have to swim. So it is like when you are in the up in, you know, in these kind of like cold temperatures and then you want to feel the cold temperature of the water. I may have believed it was close to six degrees Celsius, you know, the temperature. So it was cold and that was very nice refreshing after it. Kind of like two and a half, three hour hike.
I listened to a lot of podcasts and the cold plunge thing is pretty popular right now for getting your dopamine levels up in the morning and they suggest that you start your morning with like a real cold ice shower, a shower, ice bath or something like that. So I can appreciate how you got that feeling right afterwards is just like, okay, I’m ready. It’s amazing. I feel very, very fresh. And it was also a waterfall there. So it was like the combination of a nice waterfall in front of you and then you can jump in. That was just.
Jason Elkins (07:30.47)
It was crazy. We knew we were gonna do it. We just did it. Hey, hey. That sounds so much nicer than just a cold shower. Right. Because that’s what I did this morning. I did a cold shower, but I’m in Arizona. The water doesn’t get that cold here ever. So anyway, I wanna go back to, you know, we touched on it a little bit, kind of your journey. Just kind of walk us through that. Like how did you…
decide to get into this business? Was it accidental? Was it very intentional? What did that look like from them, you know, when you started deciding to do this and tell us a few things about what it took to get you from there to here? Well, first of all, you know, my passion is guiding. So I tried to at least do once a year and…
maybe to the Galapagos or maybe to the Amazon with people that like to do a interest, a kind of like special interest, maybe a pathologist, bird watchers, or anyone who is based on nature, the Amazon especially, because in the Galapagos, wildlife is just there, which is incredible. It’s like, if you’ve never done any degree on biology, you have to go and take a week at the Galapagos and maybe you will understand much clearer what Charles Darwin meant, you know,
book of the theory of the species, which is it changed the world. And in my opinion, it’s incredible. Even, you know, when I bring my kids to the Galapagos, it’s just like they it’s amazing the amount of wildlife that is there. And then you can see how it was shaped by nature, this wildlife. Anyway, so, you know, that’s my passion guiding. And I started as a guide in the Amazon as naturalist.
And then I did Ecuador. Then I had the opportunity to join and do the Galapagos Islands on a cruise. I did later a little bit of the Galapagos and then I had the opportunity. I was working for a Canadian company, which is worldwide. And then they gave me the opportunity to do other areas in Latin America as well. So I did Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Bolivia.
Jason Elkins (09:47.822)
And then, you know, through the years, you get all of these info and all of these experiences, and you get so much in love with the places you go. And so I started in 2008 with my first, I would say, an entrepreneur project. So with three colleagues, I built up a lodge, which actually work still in the Amazon. His name is Ika Manati Ecology.
I’m not longer part, one of my friends is. And then that was our first project. It took a while, but it was exactly because I falling love so much of the Amazon. You asked me, the Amazon is very special and that’s my heart. And then, you know, looking for new trips that it will be actually delivering unique experiences to our clients and taking off the beaten path trail. I went, you know, in Yasuni National Park in the Amazon.
Ecuador, one of the most diverse national parks on earth, and the one that continues to discover new species and maybe new species in flora and fauna are reported to the world on a yearly basis. And it was one of our treasures. So I started to offer some kayaking trips down the
Jason Elkins (11:13.018)
And with this trip, I fall in very much in love. And I said, we have to put it on to people’s, you know? And it’s very interesting now that I can say we are quite a few years in business, more than 10 years, you know, in business as adventure journeys. It’s the trip that it gets sold the most little. So we are full of Galapagos trips. We’re full of Ecuador trips and you know what? And it’s hard. It’s very interesting because…
This trip that it was the idea of building the adventure journeys, they are not that much sold in yearly basis. I think we have maybe six to seven departures a year while we maybe have more than 40 departures to the Galapagos. I’ve actually been more because we’re in the Galapagos active on weekly basis. So it would be like more than 50 departures to the Galapagos.
I’m curious why you think that is. I mean, I have some ideas rolling around in my head. I’ve been working in this industry for quite a while, but I’m curious, why do you think it is that the trip you’re, you sound like you’re very excited. I don’t know if I want to say you’re most excited about, I don’t want to put words in your mouth, but the trip that you’re most excited about is not as popular. So what do you think that is? I think it’s because of the remoteness and there’s no such a infrastructure. So we will continue to have to.
sleep on communities of the Waorani group of people in Ecuador. And if you kind of like dig in into the Waorani, there is few books being kind of like, you know, written about them, many documentaries done on them, because the Waorani is one of the last contacted.
part of the branch of the Waorani called Taromenane are still living as nomadic people. They are still uncontacted in Ecuador, in Yasuni National Park. So because of that and because Ecuador also protects all of this, these areas are very remote. So there’s no infrastructure as hotels. To reach there, we have two ways.
Jason Elkins (13:27.126)
by boat maybe for a few hours or by flight, but the flight needs to be chartered. So it’s also not a place which is very economic, in terms like other areas that you can discover the Amazon such as ecologists. And that’s why we have had like only for people that know what is the Yasuni National Park and the Waorani territory.
And right now I’m doing an incredible speech about that. So maybe the listeners. No, you’re excited. We’ll hear my excitement. And it’s a place where I just went at the beginning of this year with three guys again, just to take a look where we’re gonna go. And we were only for one night. And we saw maybe, I don’t know if you use meters.
but if you use feet, I would say maybe a 21 feet anaconda. If you’re only getting their back, you know. Maybe that’s why it’s not so popular. When you see anacondas in the Amazon, it’s because the forest or actually it’s very healthy. You know, when you see all these, I’m mentioning it because it is one of the, one of the
the number one requirements for the wildlife, you know, lovers, anacondas, hearty eagle, jaguars, and capylarch, gaimans, and all of these flocks of colorful, you know, parrots and macaws, toucans, everything is possible there. It’s like, it’s, you know, it’s incredible. Yeah. Well, I can, I can sense your excitement about it. Makes me want to go. And, and I was curious about it because
Typically myself, and I think probably a lot of people listening to this are already kind of familiar. They have a picture in their head of what the Galapagos is like. They might have a picture in their head of, you know, what the Andes might be, the cloud forests around, you know, in Ecuador. But what you’re describing is something that very few people, I believe, have really experienced. So I heard you say that you stay with, was it the Wanani?
Jason Elkins (15:40.066)
They were contacted only in the 1960s by the missionaries. And then we prefer to leave them live on their own. They have contact with the Western society and Western world. So we have brought a few schools to a small communities. There is around 3000 of them living in Sao Rios in the National Park. But they are, of course, to see the people. These people is very special
They don’t have the time table that we have. I’m 42 year old and that I can prove it. You ask them, they don’t know. They measure maybe the time because of the cotton season and the caprock tree, which is among the largest in the Amazon. And of course there is nesting Harpy Eagle, one of the most powerful eagles on the earth.
And that is a very precious, like sacred for them. And of course it provides cotton that they use for hunting. So of course they measure, oh, it’s another cotton season. So I have maybe 45 cotton seasons or something like this. That’s what I mean. Yeah, yeah. It’s incredible. So when your clients travel out there with you, what does that look like? Because I heard, you know, not a lot of infrastructure and a lot I heard you say you were staying with.
the local area. So what is that? Because that just sounds fascinating to me. Fascinating. Yes. We stay the communities when we’re talking about the communities, maybe it’s only 40 people or maybe sometimes it’s even 15 people is one family only, you know, and it’s there’s only maybe one house. Their houses are these typical, you know, a palm leaf done, you know, from top to bottom on a roof. And there’s one bar open, you know, and the other part is there’s a door. They sleep on hammocks.
And of course they continue to go hunting in that area only for their own kind of like sources of meat. And then you get to live with them. And of course we have built up kind of like platforms where we put some tents, mattress, and of course we get beautiful service over there. We make, you know, showers, of course our showers, disposable showers. We do dry toilets that we can use there. And then of course we do camping and then we stay in a very ecologic, which has been built.
Jason Elkins (18:03.19)
by another community for two nights. And the other two nights we stay with local people. And of course, being with these local people, the guys that, you know, they prefer to go in the jungle without clothing because that’s the easiest way. And they actually, because now they use clothing when they see us, but when they wanna go in the jungle, they don’t use clothing. They don’t like it. Not even rubber boots, you know, they prefer to go perfect. And it’s incredible. And that’s unique.
You said it was easier. I’m wondering if there’s a something that I wouldn’t think of that would be the benefit. I mean, other than maybe if they’re barefoot, maybe they’re a little quieter. I mean, what are the, are you able to ascertain what are the benefits behind that? Or is it just, it’s just more comfortable or? No, it’s more comfortable for them because that’s how they were raised.
And barefoot is even better because they’re adapted to it, even though there is ants and everything that will be scared. That’s why we provide rubber boots and of course, muddy trails and stuff like that. But when you’re doing, let’s say, what are their daily activities, which would mean that they have to go and get food for them. And that would mean to make some traps or maybe to hunt. So of course, we are very noisy with the rubber boots and with all of our goto takes and going through with all of that, right? So…
Animals are smart, they’re not gonna be your noisy. So of course they prefer to be. So disappear in the forest, it’s incredible. So if these guys, I don’t wanna make any assumptions, but will they take you and the guests out on experience? Yeah, we go walking with them. We go walking with them. And do they just kind of roll their eyes the whole time because you guys are so noisy? No, no, because actually there is a, they are now, I’m saying that, you know,
They are now very, they are welcoming tourism and they are super kind of like I would say excited and they want more tourists to come. And there are areas where we have some trades. We go to clay leaks. A clay leak is no more than an area which it has exposed some minerals and there’s high concentration of animals coming at same time. Normally parrots, you see some documents about hyacinth, you know, macaw, this blue kind of like show in Brazil, in Peru as well.
Jason Elkins (20:19.81)
So we do have similar of that, but it’s not only for parrots, there’s all types of animals coming, monkeys, wild pigs, everything is coming. So of course, predators also come. So we know those areas. And of course, in that area, you always find wildlife, such as monkeys, wild pigs and stuff like this. So it’s normally to talk about how the Amazon it is, what is it, it’s kind of like, it’s normal life in the Amazon. And of course, about the medicine they use from the plants.
what type of plants they use for making their hammocks. So you have both learning. And of course you meet animals on the way. So it’s like discovering wildlife plus understanding how the Amazon work and how is their daily life. It’s fantastic to work with them. Yeah, that sounds amazing. How long does that trip typically run? I recommend regularly in between four nights is at least there because there’s one day, same to the Galapagos.
There’s one day in back, which is kind of like traveling day. So we do four nights, three nights still good, but four nights very good recommendation to have a nice, you know, you will see a lot of wildlife and you will see the real deep Amazon, you know. Great. We talked a little bit about seasons, kind of that winter and summer thing. Is there a particular time of year that trip is best? Depending, depending.
Depending, and that’s a great question, the Amazon rainforest, it’s shared by nine countries in Latin America or in South America, I would say. Equatorial only holds around 2% of the Amazon. But because our close distance from the Andes, we have different ecological floors. So for example, in the Amazon of Ecuador, it’s always thick and high concentration of diversity.
Amazon in Brazil, there is kind of like a savanna, you can go on a jeep, like a safari, you can go on a jeep on roads and find the animals. Over here, no, it’s very thick, you have to move through water. So July, August, in between July and November is a great time. I would say September, October, November is a great time because somehow it’s a dry season in some of the areas. And of course, with rivers going drier,
Jason Elkins (22:38.942)
what the animals have to do. Move in, move into the water. Most animals, no hiking, it’s from the water. That’s why we do hiking. We kind of the same concept in Africa or other places, you know, where it’s, you want to be there when the animals are concentrated to make it easier to find them. So it sounds like if somebody wants to do this trip, they better be good with sitting in a canoe of some sort. That’s why I’m mentioning it. Because camping.
the Amazon have very micro climates. For example, rainy season in one part of the Amazon might be a dry season in another part of the Amazon. So there’s more than 100 micro climates within the Amazon rainforest itself. The closer you are to the mountains is gonna be cloud forest all the time, still consider Amazon. You know, like the upper Amazon we call it. And where’s where we do white water rafting and the stuff like this, still the Amazon, but it’s the upper Amazon. That’s a different area. If you go by July, that area is all rainy. While in the area I’m telling you is dry. So.
What I’m saying is that it depends. So in the Amazon, we don’t organize by season. It’s all year long. It’s not like in the rainy seasons, you’re gonna have pouring rain for two days. No, the rain is regular in between one, one and a half hours, sometimes 30 minutes heavy and then sunny again. So it’s actually very beautiful. It’s warm all year long. Rain is actually warm. Yeah, well down there.
Jason Elkins (24:08.082)
Well, actually be in Columbia next week. It’s one of my favorite places on earth. So I’ll have to have to jump down and see you. It’s interesting. What I hear basically is you guys have stuff to do year round, which is great as a tour operator, right? Because I’m also speaking with tour operators in Canada or, you know, Southern Patagonia, and they’ve got that very, very short season.
which makes it a challenge for people that are planning trips. Cause you know, if they’ve got, if people have a regular job, they’ve got their vacation whenever they’ve got their vacation. And it oftentimes it’s like, well, when is a good time to go? I’ve got vacation in March, for example, but you know, I want to go to Lagonia. Well, is that a good time to go? And that could present challenges, but it sounds like if somebody pretty much regardless of when their vacation is could reach out to you guys and probably put together a pretty cool trip.
Absolutely. Look for Ecuador, as I said at the beginning, like, you know, Quito, the capital, where actually is my in my background, located at 2800 meters above sea level, which will be close to 9000 feet, considered second highest capital. You know, we are in the middle of the Andes, but we are on the equator. So take away the Andes and it should be all like Africa.
all jungles like the Amazon and everything will be very hot because we are on the equator, which provide us, it should be just always warm. But because we have these beautiful shaped, you know, ranges of called Andes, the Andean chain, we have snow covered volcanoes permanent. Actually, we have Chimborazo volcano considered the farthest point, you know,
of air from the middle of the world. I’m not talking about Everest, which is the real peak that it’s measured above sea level, which is normal and everyone knows. But what I’m trying to say that we had that fact in 2019 as Chimborazo being the farthest place or the farthest point from the earth because being on the equator and being kind of like
Jason Elkins (26:24.486)
shrink on both poles, actually Kilimanjaro and Chimborazo is the ones, the two peaks that stands, you know, the most out if you would be having a picture of the glove, you know, from the universe. So what I’m trying to say is that we have these very unique things. Actually, we have another snow-covered volcano called Cayambe where I was walk hiking this morning, which is the only place on earth which the equator line goes through snow.
You can go all over the 30, I think it’s around 36, 38 countries around through the air on the Equator line. Everywhere is flat and of course tropical. The only place, the Andes of Ecuador and the only place on there we have actually a sign is on snow all year long in Cayambe Volcano, which is incredible as well. And for the climber, that’s fantastic as well being on the middle of, you know, on the equator and still climbing snow covered volcanoes. So because of that, yes.
Is it, can you mention that one? That one is active right now, right? So that’s not something you’re not climbing on. That is Cotopaxi. Okay. Cotopaxi is active. It went active around a year ago, and it’s been, you know, it’s a volcano. In Ecuador, we have 21 volcanoes active. So activity of volcanoes for us is normal, right? So it’s like, it’s not a problem.
It’s like the weather, it’s the weather up north, the changes up here. Yeah. Exactly. So you guys offer. So do you work with climbers to volcanoes? Yeah. All type of all type of adventure tours, either technical and non-technical or even families that they want to do adventures. Right now the world adventure right now. It’s kind of like such a big and it’s reaching all types of kind of like
in needs in markets because we also do with seniors adventure, but we’re not hiking for 10 hours or four hours. We’re hiking for one hour and making a picnic in the middle of nowhere by Coral Paxi volcano looking at it. That’s also an adventure or maybe doing a visiting of a local community and practicing how they do the hot souls or a little bit of cooking lesson. They’re still in the outdoor in the middle of nowhere. That’s still an adventure and we do that with seniors.
Jason Elkins (28:43.298)
from hiking, kayaking, whitewater rafting, and all type of like active adventures that we call it. But we have camping for families that they are with teenagers or with kids. We call it family adventures or family holidays, it’s still an adventure, you know, all types. So we do cruising in the Galapagos Island, hopping. We do all types, very technical, including, you know, climbing to the summits of the volcanoes in Ecuador, to…
non-technical role in doing, you know, just a city break. I love that you brought that up, especially for this particular podcast, because we’re the adventure, you know, podcast for the adventure traveler. And as I discuss it with people, they often like, well, I’m not sure we do adventure. So I’m like, well, are your clients just sitting on the beach drinking cocktails? They’re like, no, we do other stuff. So I’m actually interviewing a gentleman here at some point that does dinosaur tours.
You know, they go out and do paleontology tours. So my definition of adventure, you know, cause I’m a balloon pilot. I’ve done the paragliding, paramotoring, some mountaineering stuff, but I also get just as excited sometimes by walking down a back alley and finding a food stall and going in there and eating some, I don’t even know what it is and I can’t communicate with the person, but they’re eating it, I’m gonna eat it. And that’s for me can be just as adventurous.
as anything. So as really the adventure traveler to me is somebody that’s willing to get out of their comfort zone and is approaching things through curiosity. If you’re willing to get out of your comfort zone and you’re curious, as far as I’m concerned you’re an adventure traveler. Correct. And that is the new definition of adventure. It has been discussed for many, many years this and we are part of adventure travel association with.
brings together a big community of adventure tour operators or adventure travel in general. And they every year say, yeah, thanks God now we’re not like thinking adventure, you have to be home, you don’t have to climb Kilimanjaro. You know, risking your life actually is the opposite because we have the most prepared people, the most, you know, rights in order to do either climbing or either, you know, wild water rafting. We have to have a special permits and very well experienced people.
Jason Elkins (31:02.614)
you know, taking care of it. So it gets much more serious. And that’s very interesting because when I go to my travel shows and they say, oh, we don’t do adventures. And like, yeah, we do adventure. We’d also do the other thing, but the other thing is very easy because, you know, we need much more certifications than other regular tour operators than just for doing like a multi-day trip, which, you know, we’re only discovering. And…
we call them like highlights of Ecuador. But Ecuador itself is an adventure since you arrived to Ecuador, right? Yeah, absolutely. It’s amazing because out of Quito, only in Quito we have all of this Sheraton and all of these kind of like chains hotels. And then sometimes people say, no, I’m not used to, I don’t really like to be in the chain hotels. Yeah, no problem, we’ll put you in a boutique hotel. But guess what? They do a 10 day trip. Every other place. Our towns are…
The biggest one is maybe 200,000 people, but then we’re not going to those towns. We’re going to very remote areas where it’s maybe not even 5,000 people. And the ecology of the hotel has such a personality. The owner is coming to talk to you, telling you your story. So I said, you don’t imagine what you’re gonna see and meet. So you’re gonna be very away from the cheap hotels for sure. No worries. At least.
You know, get your bonus that somebody speaks English when you get into any of the changed hotels in Quito. And then I want to have Quito, Guayaquil, which are the two larger cities in Cuenca, where we have any of these infrastructure of large hotels. Every other place are ecologists, are haciendas, or, you know, kind of like farms that have become lodges that we use in the hot springs places, home-cum-stays we use as well.
and we use small hotels, local owned, trying to support our people, that’s a part of our philosophy. And that’s actually what the trend and scene adventure going, which I think is the travel for good in my opinion. No, I agree with you completely. We actually connected through ATTA. I’ve attended ATTA Summit in the past and yeah, it’s great organization and a great opportunity. So I guess I’m gonna plug for them as well, dating other tour operators who might be listening to this. But…
Jason Elkins (33:22.634)
You know, I also, I just, what you were just telling me brought up a question. A lot of the listeners do kind of the do it yourself adventure, as you can imagine. And for them that might just be go to stay in Ecuador. They may not do an eco lodge. They may not fly out and spend time with the indigenous peoples. They may not go to Galapagos. And I just want to take just a second and just ask you this question. If someone was coming to Ecuador for the first time,
didn’t really speak a lot of English. I just wanted to spend a week in a town that they could get to relatively easy and just hang out and explore. Which, what would be your choice? Quito is excellent. Around Quito, you can go for a day out exploring and then you can reach snow, you know, cover volcanoes relatively easy. Places that I just went this morning, very nice and easy. And then have a…
in beautiful hot springs area. You go another, it’s everything is in within 60 to one hand to 90 kilometers away from Quito, which will be in between 40 to 70 miles out of Quito involves two hour driving. And then you can have snow, you know, cover volcano. You can have hot springs in cloud forest, upper mountain. You can have
Close contact with local people, finding actually we have our own projects of sustainability. We have a group of women near Otabalo. Otabalo is considered second largest handicraft market in South America, surrounded by local people in the valley, close to kind of like lakes. Also, there is a place called Kotakachi Leather Town. And then nearby this Leather Town is a lake where you can go there, go on a boat.
go in the middle and see how bubbles are coming up because it’s an active lake. It’s an active volcano. It’s like, are you serious really? Yes, we are doing that as a tour. And then you return to Kito, then you go if you are more into the jungle type of like waterfalls, cloud forest, actually Mindo area. We try to tell people go to stay one night in the cloud forest, but if not, we still go in the morning, come back in the afternoon as a day adventure.
Jason Elkins (35:39.23)
And over there is all of this jungle type, warm weather, waterfalls, cable cars, biking, horsing, huts. I mean, there’s more areas for, that area is actually one of the number one bird songs on earth. It’s always one, the most number of birds seen in a day. And we have all hummingbird feeders there, everywhere you do. You stop for a coffee, hundred hummingbirds around you.
Then you step in another maybe lunch, then there’s toucans and theaters again, or hammers, and then there’s orchids, and then there is like concerts of frogs if you stay for a night. And it’s everything there is like, it’s also, you know, one hour from Quito, one and a half hour more or less. So Quito is perfect to discover that in one week. Other parts I would say Cuenca, Cuenca involves take a flight or maybe a six hours drive down south. It has a much more, it’s a smaller than Quito,
but this colonial town is beautiful, the same. You know, one hour away you have lakes and national parks, then you have also some sort of warm area, discovering small villages, you know, maybe doing weaving lessons. So either of these two cities, it will be my big recommendation to spend maybe four or five nights there, and then you have a lot to explore in Witton City and just around. And what I heard was, you know,
keto, quenca as definite options with a lot of different things around. Correct. And my understanding is you can help if someone’s spending, let’s say they’re spending a week in keto and then they’re going to go to quenca for four days or something like that and they’re kind of doing the do it yourself thing but they want to get out and do an excursion. It sounds like you’re doing day trips as well. Can you help them with that? Absolutely. Yes, we do.
We do all types of services that involve kind of like, you know, making any type of travel easier. So we pick you up in the airport, that can be a service. And then we can tailor made of taking different day trips in Quito, same in Cuenca. We can also help you trying to go from here to Cuenca, either by car or by flight is only around 25 minutes flight. Everything is closed in Ecuador, right? That’s why in Ecuador there is a say, you know, that…
Jason Elkins (38:02.618)
You can wake up in the morning maybe by the coast. You can have breakfast in the coast. You can come driving three and a half, four hours and maybe close to a snow covered volcano have your lunch. And then you can drive down to the Amazon and have dinner. So in within one day, driving time maybe will be around seven hours. However, you can experience going from sea level, coming up to 4,000 meters and going again to maybe four.
300 meters above sea level in the Amazon. And then you will have, you know, Ecuador in all kind of like different climate changes and everything I would say of its diversity. So yes, we do answer your question. We do kind of like plan any type of a day tour or even a morning tour just in city, you know, from any of these towns. Yes, we can do. I’m curious.
wasn’t planning to ask you this question, but I’m curious. Do you, you had a lot of tourists that travel there looking for kind of ceremonial, maybe they call it medicinal, spiritual type of experiences. I guess I should say, it’s out, I don’t know a lot about it. It’s outside of my area of expertise for sure, but I’ve got an opportunity to ask you that. And how has that impacted tourism to Ecuador? Do you have any thoughts on that?
It’s coming more and more. We haven’t had the opportunity of doing it, I will say. However, we know where to do it. And it all depends, I will say, because when you go, I personally have friends of mine, which are the places that we visit, the families that we visit in the Amazon, especially offering this Hiawaska that is maybe the most known worldwide.
which they do rituals and of course, maybe a lot of people come, comes trying to find answers to a lot of stuff, right? However, from the point of view of the local people is not trying to find answers. It’s part of their culture and is a very, very religious thing. And so, and it can be not well managed. It can be a little, I would say…
Jason Elkins (40:25.218)
For the person that tries at once, or they wanna do it for all types of purposes, or even that’s just recreational, it can be a crash because it is a very strong medicine, because for our local people it’s medicine. However, it has a hallucinogenic effect, it’s very high. So my recommendation is trying to do with people that…
do it with all of the, I would say, the best way, because there is no certifications for that. It’s just finding the place, but the plant itself is there. We have lots of plants that are highly hypo-synogenic. However, they are there in our backyards. It’s like, you can just go and make it and do it yourself. The idea is who brings you into that. So Shaman- Yeah, that’s what I was gonna ask, is are there-
We have a place that I think we have done it once or twice by this shaman, it’s a little bit, they wanna do it a real spiritual thing. They don’t wanna do a show. So we might not have offering for this yet. However, I know there is few areas in Ecuador that they are doing it that. In Peru is more common, I would say. Actually, there are tours that are taking you to do have.
this type of ceremonies. Yeah. Are there legal implications for a tourist traveling to Ecuador to do ayahuasca or anything like that they should know? No, no, there is no law still because all of these are considered medicine for our local people and they are rituals for our local people because it’s part of their kind of like, their life, right? It’s the only way they find answers because of all of our traditional medicine. That’s the way it is.
Actually, I have had the opportunity myself and I can share this to talk to many of them. Some of them don’t even speak Spanish and not only here in Ecuador, in other parts of South America. And they all use something and everything is very, very religious and spiritual for them. So sometimes they don’t wanna really share. So it comes to the point that they wanna share and then it becomes some sort of like…
Jason Elkins (42:50.822)
you know, a little bit more commercial. And of course they’re open to share that. It’s not that easy to understand how they really go through that process before they become known shamans because there’s no certifications. There’s just known shamans in the area and the more they help people because they are considered the doctors of their community, the better, right? So…
It’s a little bit the information behind the scenes over there. It’s kind of like they want to keep it, you know, very cultural, especially the people I have met. And that’s my respect as well for it. No, I yeah, I certainly appreciate that. And if it was something I was inclined to do, I wouldn’t want to just have that commercialized experience. I’m more interested in the culture and the reasoning and the ceremony part of it. Honestly, I probably would not. I probably would want to be.
mentally aware of the whole thing so I could watch maybe just and take it all in. I don’t want to be tripped out. I don’t know why we went this direction on this call. Maybe we’ll edit this out later. I don’t know. But anyway, I appreciate you sharing that with me because it’s just something that I know some people are interested in when they’re traveling to that part of the world. If there was I want to touch on Glopco’s real quick, if there’s one thing that you think the tourists
visitors should know about the Galapagos that would surprise them. Um, what would that or I’m not sure how to ask that question, but you know, what’s the one thing you think people should know about the Galapagos that they might not be aware of until they show up? Wow. This is a hard question. Um, I would say, um, how can I put that?
Jason Elkins (44:45.022)
I would say.
Jason Elkins (44:49.186)
that we can see how evolution and adaptation gets shaped within a human life because it’s happening with some of the, you know, in some of the finches it is happening. And it is happening also with one iguana.
We have marine iguanas, which is actually the only iguana that dives underwater. And it has come in a hybrid that eventually will become a species on. And it’s called the pink iguana, the fourth subspecies they call it. It may be in human life. That’s incredible for all of the biologists. And you know, because that’s just the Galapagos. So…
And how can I put it like, if you have seen Jurassic Park movie, it’s like going into a real, but of course not these dinosaurs, but all of this wildlife close by and this gigantic lizards or iguanas that looks like dragons very close by with weird shapes. And yeah. I’m sorry. I asked that question and thank you for sharing the great response.
I ask that question because sometimes there’s places out there that get a lot of press and people have this preconceived idea of what that is, what that’s going to look like. And then they get there and they realize it’s either way more than they expected and they just overwhelmed. It’s like, wow, this is so much better than I expected. Or there’s, oh, wow, it’s much smaller than I expected. There’s some famous landmarks in different places in the world and people go there and they usually either like, wow, it’s bigger than I thought or it’s smaller than I thought.
So I wondered about with Galapagos, when people go there, are they generally, is it like more than they thought or what’s the most common response? Yeah, I would say the expectation is always above of what people think because there is no such a place that allows you wildlife, like in a zoo, like it’s just around you, around you really. And they come see lions when you’re doing snorkeling,
Jason Elkins (47:16.13)
play with you. And I mean, it is just incredible. And it’s a small, it’s a very small islands. I mean, the largest town is only around 20,000 people. And the smallest is 200 people. And we do adventure cruising there because it’s only 16 people cruises and sailing around the islands. The most you see is wildlife. You don’t get that much contact with, you know, Western, Western world.
or cities or towns. So it’s a wildlife experience, I would say, plus a little bit of local people over there, which actually is an extra add on. Adventure Journeys does most of their trips land-based because wildlife is guaranteed. And then you also get to kind of like get in contact with the local people, which they also have a lot to say. Very, very cool.
Probably my last question is about food. What’s the one dish that everybody should try when they visit Ecuador? It happens that is also my favorite dish. And then the way I’m gonna say it is like.
The one dish that stands out for all Ecuadorians, no matter where they come from, because remember I told you, we are very diverse with different climates and weathers, and of course different products will grow. So if you ask somebody in the coast, they might ask you something related with sea. If you ask somebody in the Amazon, they might ask you something related with Manioc or Yucca.
If you ask someone in the mountains like myself, then I ask you something related with potatoes corn. But there’s one dish that goes all around Ecuador, which is called encebollado, which is normally known by everyone as a morning soup. It’s a soup, you know, with albacora, with albacore, with kind of tuna fish. And it is normally served with yuca, which is this type of kind of like poteri or mani, if they call it.
Jason Elkins (49:31.95)
and normally served with either popcorn, corn, or some rice. Every Ecuadorian loves it. However, it’s not the most known by tourists. Tourists maybe have the number one that we recommend is guinea pig. Yeah, I think every- In the highlands and it’s the potato soup. Everyone wants that recipe. Every tourist, I have guided in my own life.
close to 10,000 clients, you know, in my life as a guy. And everybody wants giripe? A lot of the recipe of the potato soup that is served all around the mountains, which is based on potato, cheese, and avocado. Okay. And that soup is called? Potato soup, it’s called locro. Locro de papas. Locro is a soup of potatoes. Okay, all right.
Well, I’m going to have that when I come. I’m not sure the guinea pig is called Cui, right? Is that Cui? Yeah, the correct guinea pig is called Cui. Yeah. Hey, they are not pets here. Just so you know, when I was younger, it was funny because I used to do, OK, we’re going to eat fluffy now. And I’m just that’s just for you. Everyone names it, you know, their guinea pig is fluffy or caroly now or something like this. And I was like, yeah, I had guinea pigs when I was a kid. I think a lot of a lot of.
lot of people dead. So it’s um, for our native people that is, that’s maybe once or twice a meal in the, in the year is a very, either for a, you know, in this space, a special party, which is normally summer solstice, no, no necessarily, um, Christmas or stuff and maybe a wedding, a baptizing or something. Okay. Kind of a special thing.
Well, very cool. You shared so much. I know I could come back and probably record three or four more interviews with you. And we chatted for quite a while. So I thank you so much for sharing all that wonderful information about, you know, you. You’re obviously very, very passionate. I can for those listening, they don’t get to see your face, but I know that they can hear it in your voice and just really appreciate you having you come on. You did mention we’re going to put a link.
Jason Elkins (51:49.446)
in the show notes to make sure that people are able to connect with you and your team. And you know, you guys had assured me that if anybody clicked through on that link and came in to you guys, you’d make sure you took good care of them and give them the big world made small experience and help make their world just a little bit smaller. So thank you so much for that. And is there anything else you’d like to share before we log off?
Well, for all of the listeners, we can’t wait to have you here in Ecuador. It is really this place that everyone falls in love. And if you’re not having longer time for visiting Ecuador is being split in regions, right? The Galapagos itself is a week. So if you are not having a lot of time for vacations, I will say come twice.
Explore the Galapagos once, very well, nicely done. And then come second time and explore maybe the jungles and the mountains. Or just stay a few weeks, right? And get customers and they love it. Yes, for sure. That’s I can say. And yes, we’re ready to show you our beautiful home. You know, this is our home. Well, I’ve gotten to know your team and they just do a great job. And I know that anybody that comes to visit you is going to have a great time. And…
Look forward to meeting you in person myself when I make my first trip to Ecuador. So I will see you there. Henry, thank you so much. Real appreciate you joining us today. Thank you too, thank you too. Thanks. Thanks for the invitation.
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