Guest Bio
Macarena Iturralde is the General Manager and Trip Designer at Senderos Naturales, a family-owned travel agency based in Quito, Ecuador. With a background as a naturalist guide in the Galápagos Islands, Peru, and the Amazon, Macarena brings extensive knowledge and passion for nature to her role. Her expertise ensures that travelers experience the most extraordinary destinations in Latin America and beyond.
Show Summary
In this episode, Macarena Iturralde shares her journey from guiding in some of the world’s most biodiverse regions to leading Senderos Naturales. She discusses the importance of sustainable tourism, the challenges of curating authentic travel experiences, and the unique offerings of Ecuador and other Latin American destinations. Macarena also reflects on her experiences in the Galápagos Islands and how they have shaped her approach to trip design and environmental conservation.
Key Takeaways
- ✓ Sustainable Tourism – The role of responsible travel in preserving natural habitats.
- ✓ Authentic Experiences – Crafting journeys that immerse travelers in local cultures and environments.
- ✓ Challenges in Trip Design – Balancing client expectations with ecological considerations.
- ✓ Insights from the Field – Lessons learned from guiding in diverse ecosystems.
- ✓ Future of Eco-Tourism – Trends and opportunities in sustainable travel.
What You’ll Find on Senderos Naturales’ Platform
- ✓ Customized Tours – Tailored itineraries to exotic destinations in Latin America and worldwide.
- ✓ Expert Guides – Knowledgeable professionals leading immersive nature experiences.
- ✓ Family-Owned Touch – Personalized service rooted in a passion for travel and nature.
- ✓ Client Testimonials – Stories and reviews from past travelers.
- ✓ Contact Information – Details on how to plan your next adventure with Senderos Naturales.
👉 Visit Senderos Naturales’ Official Website to explore their offerings and learn more about Macarena Iturralde’s contributions to sustainable tourism.
Learn more about Senderos Naturales Cia. Ltda. and connect with Macarena at:
https://www.senderosnaturales.com/en/home/
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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 (03:44.31)
Welcome everybody to another episode of the Big World Made Small Adventure Travel Podcast. Happy to have each and every one of you back here today. Today we have a wonderful guest coming to us from South America, specifically in Quito, Ecuador. I believe you’re in Quito, right? Okay, Macarena. Macarena is so happy to have you here. And it’s Macarena Iturralde, and you’re the CEO of Sanderos Naturales, si?
Macarena Iturralde (04:02.392)
Yeah. Quito, Ecuador.
Macarena Iturralde (04:14.716)
Correct, yes.
Jason Elkins (04:15.978)
See, I jump in with the Spanish right away with that name. So happy to have you here. It’s a wonderful pleasure to have you join us.
Macarena Iturralde (04:20.18)
Hehehe
Macarena Iturralde (04:24.884)
My pleasure as well. Just for a little introduction, I’ve been the CEO of Senderos Naturales for 24 years. After, I mean, pretty much I was a naturalist guide in the Galapagos Islands, the rainforest, Peru and Patagonia. And I decided to open my agency because I had three children and somebody had to stay at home.
So that’s how the agency began and that’s how it’s been.
Jason Elkins (04:58.922)
It can be a bit of a challenge to have young children and be out spending all your time out in the field with your clients. And I get that, get that completely. And I’m really curious. Yeah. And you gave a little bit of background there. I really appreciate that. And I want to go back a little bit further and figure out, you know, Macarena, how did you get this passion? How did you even get into this adventure travel business? So how far back do you want to go? When’s, when’s your first memory that you think impacted your, your life direction?
Macarena Iturralde (05:29.304)
Actually, my first memories come from when my dad used to wake up at crazy hours of the morning, like four in the morning, and say to my mom, hey, let’s go to the beach. And we were eight of us, eight children. And my mom would call us on the intercom and say, get ready, we’re going to the beach. And so everybody had to run, pack a few little things in our backpack.
Jason Elkins (05:46.155)
Oh.
Macarena Iturralde (05:58.852)
We had the tents, we had the cooking stuff for camping, and we will always have these most incredible adventures because we will travel from the highlands of Ecuador down to the coast, and sometimes we had problems with a car and we had to wait for hours or landslides, and then we will arrive to the beach, and what my mom did, she normally found fisherman to cook for us.
So they will set the tents and then we’ll go to the nearest fisherman and they will cook for us. And so she would avoid having to cook except breakfast.
Jason Elkins (06:39.454)
That sounds pretty clever. Your dad, and I suspect also your mom, but your dad sounds very spontaneous type of personality. Was he spontaneous like that in every area of his life?
Macarena Iturralde (06:52.3)
Well, he was an architect. He loved designing and building. But he was a spontaneous in everything he did. And I think I have a lot of that in me because when we travel, I’m always into the adventure. My children say, Oh, no, one of mom’s trails again or roads again, because I say, Oh, this one is closed. I’m going to take these other one. Are you sure? Yes, I am.
There’s been times when I’ve had to cross a railroad and a bridge because the roads have been closed and I said to the children, nothing’s gonna stop me, we’re getting home. And we’ve done it, and my dad was like that.
Jason Elkins (07:33.529)
Oh jeez.
Jason Elkins (07:37.91)
That’s, uh, that’s pretty cool. And what did your mom think of that? What was, um, cause sometimes that can create stress and relationships when you’ve got one person that’s okay, come on, let’s go. And what did, was she on board with everything?
Macarena Iturralde (07:43.397)
Oh, she was.
Macarena Iturralde (07:52.216)
Oh, she was the biggest fan of my dad and she was always going for it. And you know, they were raising eight children and we are all very close together. And you know, she will put everything together, make us a quick breakfast, everybody in the car and off we went. And so that was an amazing match because all along they took us, they couldn’t take us abroad.
Jason Elkins (08:01.858)
Yeah.
Macarena Iturralde (08:21.532)
They couldn’t take us to the United States or Europe because we were too many, but they took us exploring. We explore the rainforest, we explore the coast of Ecuador and the Andes of Ecuador, which are so fascinating. So I’m so grateful for my childhood. It was full of adventure and that was imprinted in me. And when I became…
Jason Elkins (08:27.231)
Yeah.
Jason Elkins (08:49.01)
Absolutely. I’m curious. What was your, I guess I call it birth order. Were you the oldest youngest somewhere in the middle?
Macarena Iturralde (08:56.72)
Seven, number seven.
Jason Elkins (08:58.974)
You were number seven. Wow. And with eight kids in the family, I can imagine a mix of different personality types. And where did you fit in? What was your, you know, sometimes you’ve got somebody who’s the troublemaker, someone that’s the, the boss, someone that’s the, this, the, that. So if I were to speak with your siblings and say, you know, tell, tell me about Macarena, what was she, what was she like as a kid, um, in the mix, what would you say?
Macarena Iturralde (09:01.761)
Hehehehe
Macarena Iturralde (09:14.768)
hahahaha
Jason Elkins (09:27.492)
What do you think they would tell me?
Macarena Iturralde (09:29.249)
Actually, I was a very responsible, precocious little girl. I organized and did everything on my own. I was very independent. But that’s because life makes you be. You know, if your mom is working and your dad is working, and you can’t expect others to do it for you. So
I was very independent since I was very, very little and not quite a travel maker, but a fighter. I was always a fighter because I had six siblings that would bully me. So I was like…
Jason Elkins (10:13.414)
Okay, I can imagine that. You mentioned your mom working as well. I mean, just raising eight kids would be a tremendous amount of work. Was she also had other projects outside the house that she was working on or what did that look like?
Macarena Iturralde (10:27.096)
Yeah, my mom, after I think when my sister Alegría was born, she’s right before me, my mother realized that they needed to work, both of them, outside the house in order to provide us with good education. And so she worked for a supermarket chain.
She started in the cashiers. Then she moved up to be the manager of the one supermarket. Then they moved her to be the manager of the warehouses. And then she was the CEO of the company. Yeah, she was amazing. Yeah. But you know, there’s one thing that I must say. In Latin America, you can hire help. And so we did have.
Jason Elkins (11:08.607)
Holy cow.
That’s.
Macarena Iturralde (11:21.036)
a lady that looked after us and cooked for us and cleaned the house. In fact, I called her, she was my second mom. So I called her mommy Lita. I baptized her as my second mom as well.
Jason Elkins (11:30.744)
Mm-hmm.
Jason Elkins (11:36.314)
Okay, that’s very cool. It’s So your siblings are any of them? Did any of them go into adventure tourism or guiding or anything or are you the only one?
Macarena Iturralde (11:49.932)
I’m the only biologist in the house and adventure traveler. All the others love to travel. All the others like my eldest brother, he loved going fishing and hunting. And most of my brothers, we’re four brothers and four sisters, and most of my brothers are into either motorcycling, biking, so they’re all into an activity that
implies adventure. You know, if it’s not fishing, it’s biking, it’s, you know, my youngest brother has a company, Comencal, he has the electric bikes, and he organizes trips around Ecuador on the bike. So that’s beautiful. I love that. I love doing that. So it’s interesting because all my nephews and nieces, which are many,
Jason Elkins (12:20.703)
Mm-hmm.
Jason Elkins (12:37.449)
Mm-hmm.
Macarena Iturralde (12:47.536)
They are either mountain climbers, rock climbers, or adventure runners. They are all into the adventure world. Yeah.
Jason Elkins (12:59.062)
I’m curious, you’ve seen the list of some of the folks that I’ve interviewed here on the podcast. Are you related to any of them? Because, because I’ve interviewed a handful of folks from Ecuador that do some, some pretty cool things, including a mountain climber that lives right there in Ecuador. And so, uh, okay. Very, very cool. So, so then you ended up going to school. I’m, I also wanted to ask, did.
Macarena Iturralde (13:06.385)
No.
Jason Elkins (13:27.286)
Did all of your siblings have the opportunity to go on to further education as well? And what, how did you choose the path that you chose compared to what they were doing?
Macarena Iturralde (13:37.456)
You know, it’s interesting. All of them had the opportunity. My father always made clear that we could not study abroad because of the expense. And I became a Galapagos guide when I was 18 years old. I went to the Galapagos as a senior in high school and fell in love with the islands and found my path.
Jason Elkins (13:55.739)
Oh, okay.
Macarena Iturralde (14:04.596)
And so I said to my father, dad, I’m going to the Galapagos. I’m going to, I have applied to the guides course. They have accepted me and I’m going. And he said, no, you’re not. And I said, and why not? He said, I am not going to give you money for it. And I said, but you gave me a car. I’m going to sell the car you gave me. And with that, I’m going to go. And so I became.
Jason Elkins (14:31.374)
I’m sorry.
Macarena Iturralde (14:34.323)
I became a Galapagos guide when I was 18 and I guided.
Jason Elkins (14:38.858)
So was he, was he excited about that? Was his resistance just around the financial part of it? Or did, did he have other reasons that he didn’t want you to go to the Galapagos?
Macarena Iturralde (14:49.38)
No, he was really scared because for him Galapagos was not known. You know, being an architect who never really focused in nature besides the adventure travel, my dad thought, oh my gosh, my girl going to the islands so far away. And what’s going to happen? And how is she going? You know, because my friend and I, who went to Galapagos to take the guide’s course,
In 1979, we lived in a little bamboo hut. There was not much in the Galapagos in those days. And it was beautiful, beautiful. Puerto Ayora, the island of Santa Cruz Academy Bay has one village called Puerto Ayora. It only had one block, the main road, and one block behind. We were 6,000 inhabitants in the whole archipelago.
Jason Elkins (15:41.303)
Oh wow.
Macarena Iturralde (15:47.284)
It was magical. It was the most beautiful experience. So I was just to finish, I was guiding for a year on a big ship, the Buccaneer, and my clients would say, have you thought of further education? And I said, yes, of course, this is just part of my life. And then is how I got invited to go study at the American University.
Jason Elkins (15:52.331)
Wow.
Jason Elkins (16:16.858)
Okay, so tell us more about that. You said how I got invited. So how did you go from guiding on the ship?
Macarena Iturralde (16:20.94)
I got actually invited. Yeah, I was guiding on the boat. A big group of alumni of American University came to the boat. I guided them. They really liked the way I could interpret nature. And one of the professors said, you need to go into further education. You cannot just be a guide. I would like to have you under my wing.
And I said, but it’s really expensive and I don’t think I can afford it. Also, at that time I had not taken the SAT. And he said, doesn’t matter, doesn’t matter. We’ll find a way, we’ll find a way that you can work in the university and make some money and have some money from back up, like from my family and we will skip the SAT.
until you’re already enrolled and then you’ll take the SAT. So imagine how that was. He opened doors to me, like boom. But that was even more difficult for my dad to accept. That was so difficult for him. And he said, no, you’re not going. It’s so expensive, Washington, D.C. And I said, dad, but.
Jason Elkins (17:28.448)
Wow.
Macarena Iturralde (17:45.688)
You know, they’re inviting me and they’re opening doors for me and I’m going to go. And I didn’t have much money in savings. And so he said, well, this time you’re going to find to find your way. Not yet. And I said, well, with my savings, but I couldn’t, I couldn’t stay more than a semester. I actually, it was too expensive. And then winter came and I’m from Ecuador, you know, Ecuadorial sun. And then.
Jason Elkins (18:07.086)
Mm-hmm.
Macarena Iturralde (18:15.344)
Oh gosh, coats and jackets and it was so, I had to invest so much money just to survive that I called my father, I had applied to University of California Santa Cruz to move to California. And I called my dad and I said, dad, all I need is your bank statements, nothing else. And he said, all you will have is your ticket to come back.
Jason Elkins (18:44.762)
Ooh, yeah.
Macarena Iturralde (18:46.768)
So that was excellent because you know what I did? I decided, okay, I’m gonna go to California. I’m going to become a diver. I will go visit University of California Santa Barbara, University of California Santa Cruz. I will get to know the people and see if eventually I can come back for graduate school. So…
Jason Elkins (19:11.511)
Mm-hmm.
Macarena Iturralde (19:14.024)
I actually took about three months traveling around California, became a diver, returned back to Ecuador, went back to the Galapagos and started diving. Can you imagine not only being a guide on a big ship, but then a diver from sailboats? It was just magical. And then I enrolled into the University of the Catholic University in Quito.
Jason Elkins (19:33.782)
Yeah.
Macarena Iturralde (19:42.48)
to study biology. And I said to my dad, thank you for bringing me back. No better country than Ecuador to study biology. Because Ecuador is a small country in the planet, but it’s in the middle of the world. And it’s influenced by the fact that we have the Humboldt current, cold waters, the Andes.
We have so much biodiversity in this country. We have more biodiversity in a tiny country than the world in general, because we’ve got the Andes in the middle, making a wall and creating speciation from the coastline to the jungle. So imagine, imagine. So I loved it. I made the best of it. I studied.
Jason Elkins (20:19.18)
Yeah.
Macarena Iturralde (20:38.72)
In the Galapagos, I became an assistant in the field. I lived in different islands, studying mockingbirds, studying albatrosses. I was sailing, I was diving, I was leading trips, and I was studying. Yeah.
Jason Elkins (20:51.818)
Hahaha
Jason Elkins (20:55.798)
That is so cool because I can imagine, you know, maybe other biology students back in Washington, DC or California, just trying to imagine what it would be like, you know, just struggling to, how do I get one semester, you know, in Ecuador? How do I get one week on Galapagos, you know, to go see all these things that they’re learning about and you were just completely immersed in it.
Macarena Iturralde (21:21.728)
Exactly. I had everything on a platter. I mean, imagine, and whenever I needed money, I went back to the islands and I was guiding free lands at that time. And so I could, you know, make my own income, study, have fun, go do field work in the rainforest. I mean, the best opportunity ever. So my dad was a wise man.
Jason Elkins (21:44.327)
Yeah.
Jason Elkins (21:49.902)
Even if it was kind of ulterior motives that maybe he had for having you a little bit closer, but it actually is. It reminds me of a few stories where, you know, we grow up in one area and we’ve got everything we need right around us, but we don’t see it.
Macarena Iturralde (22:06.3)
Mm-hmm.
Jason Elkins (22:06.446)
you know, and we sometimes will leave going on a quest for what it is we really want. And then we find ourselves back where we started and realizing like for you, I mean, the Galapagos in my mind is where so much biology, science theories with Darwin and all that, that it’s kind of the Mecca, I would think, for somebody that wants to learn anything about biology. So and there you were. So that’s
It’s very cool. That’s a great story. So then you continued to go to school as well. Did you end up going back for graduate school or what did that look like?
Macarena Iturralde (22:36.368)
Yeah.
Macarena Iturralde (22:47.444)
No, what ended up happening is I decided to do one year in university and one year in the islands. So it took me eight years to get my first degree.
Jason Elkins (22:56.792)
Mm-hmm.
Jason Elkins (23:02.791)
Very cool.
Macarena Iturralde (23:03.136)
But that was fun. That was fun. You know, I was only in my twenties. I was making the best of life. So I was guiding in the Galapagos and studying. And one time an opportunity came up. I was going, every time I was in the islands, I would go to the Darwin station and I, I
Jason Elkins (23:05.495)
Mm-hmm.
Macarena Iturralde (23:26.604)
I would go to the Darwin station and I will see what they had available, if I could be an assistant in the field or if I could go to apply for a scholarship. And then Bermuda, Bermuda Biological Station actually had a scholarship for the summer. So I talked to the director of the Darwin station and said, would you give me a letter of reference? And I got a letter of reference from the university.
and I got a full scholarship. So that same year, talk about adventure. That same year, I went to Bermuda, but one of my clients, a Swiss lady, gave me 3000 francs as a tip so I could visit Europe. But she made a point, she made a point. She said, this money is so you can visit Europe.
Jason Elkins (24:17.355)
Wow.
Macarena Iturralde (24:27.036)
So I said, wow, can I use part of the money to buy my ticket to Bermuda? And she said, of course. So I went. Quito, New York, New York, Bermuda, did a course on marine invertebrates, then went to Holland, and then I traveled around Europe, and then went back home. So it took me about six months to do all of that.
Jason Elkins (24:36.726)
Hehehehehehe
Macarena Iturralde (24:58.473)
It was magical, magical.
Jason Elkins (25:01.722)
What a dream. Just, you know, some of these experiences that you’ve had, so many people would just love to have those. And, and I’m, you know, then that’s why it’s always so fascinating to interview folks like yourself. So that’s, um, that’s, that’s really, really cool. Thank you for sharing all that.
Macarena Iturralde (25:19.964)
myself a very, very lucky person. All the opportunities that come up, you know. And so I finished my career, but when I finished my first degree, I was already pregnant. I had done a dissertation in marine invertebrates in the Galapagos Islands. The father of my
Jason Elkins (25:49.459)
Mm-hmm.
Macarena Iturralde (25:49.948)
We actually were diving, diving morning, afternoon, morning, afternoon on the western side of Isabella Island, collecting information on the distribution of marine invertebrates. What a fascinating project. And so when I defended my thesis, I was already five months pregnant expecting my first daughter. And that stopped me from going to graduate school.
Jason Elkins (26:18.134)
Sure. Yeah. All right. So, so then, so was that right around the time you started, you know, working more as a tour operator, as an as the agency and quit guiding or did you continue guiding for a while or
Macarena Iturralde (26:20.108)
It doesn’t matter though.
Macarena Iturralde (26:33.764)
No, then us, because he was also a travel guide, he would either be home or I would be home. And he will be guiding, let’s say in Patagonia or Peru or the rainforest, and I will be with the children. And then he’ll come back and then I will go either to Galapagos, to Peru or the rainforest. And so we actually had in a 10 year,
time, two little girls, both of us traveling, and we didn’t even think of opening a travel agency at that time. So I was in fact decided to stop guiding for a while and started working for a foundation that was doing research in Ecuador. And then I became an environmental interpreter.
and started working in the rainforest of Ecuador. I worked in three national parks, developing all their interpretation plan for tourism. And in the coast of Ecuador in one national park and in the Andes of Ecuador in one national park. I had five national parks under my wing, my responsibility. It was beautiful, but I didn’t earn much money.
Jason Elkins (27:43.051)
Mm-hmm.
Jason Elkins (27:54.195)
Wow.
Macarena Iturralde (28:00.196)
But what I earned is, whoa, the best experience. And I got to know my country. I mean, to tell you, you know, to actually go and explore new trails in Sangai National Park, leaving from the jungle and going up to the highlands. In fact, Sangai volcano right now is erupting.
Imagine all that, you know, to hear the rumbling of a volcano, to walk through forests that had never been opened before. I just, you know, when I’m telling you this, I think I should write a book. I honestly do.
Jason Elkins (28:46.33)
I was literally, I’m not kidding, I was literally just sitting here thinking, wow, what a storyteller. Just the way you share it. And for those of our listeners that can’t see your face, you’ve been smiling this entire time that we’ve been on the call and it’s infectious. I’m just sitting here smiling back at you and just listening to all this. I agree. So when will you release the book?
Macarena Iturralde (29:00.427)
laughs
Macarena Iturralde (29:15.169)
It will take me time, it will take me time. But you know life is still going and strong. And so, just to finish my decade when I had the two little girls growing up.
Jason Elkins (29:15.324)
Hahaha
Jason Elkins (29:20.406)
Yeah.
Jason Elkins (29:34.102)
Mm-hmm.
Macarena Iturralde (29:35.924)
Um, I realized that one of them was starting to become kind of insecure and becoming a very, you know, like a cry baby. And I thought there’s something going on. I need to pay attention. I decided to be a mother and I need to pay attention. So I noticed that if she was injured or sad, she wouldn’t come to me. She would go to the maid.
to the lady that helped me raise my children. Beautiful woman, beautiful. But then I thought, this is wrong. It’s just not right. So that’s when I said to Jonathan, you probably have interviewed my ex-husband, Jonathan Green. He’s an adventure traveler all over the world.
Jason Elkins (30:05.568)
Hmm?
Mm-hmm.
Jason Elkins (30:26.394)
Well, it sounds like somebody I need to chat with. Yeah.
Macarena Iturralde (30:28.836)
Yeah, yeah, you definitely do. His stories are amazing. Anyway, so I said to Jonathan, we need to stop these constant going and coming and going and coming. And so he said he still needed to keep traveling around the world and he started guiding in Antarctica. And then is when I said, no, I’m opening a travel agency that will sell.
adventure travel. Because you know, I may not travel as much anymore, but every time I design a trip for my clients, I’m traveling. I’m traveling. I’m seeing every place. I mean, you know, making research on the different places. And I develop beautiful experiences for people. And that’s why after 24 years, we’re still going strong.
Jason Elkins (31:00.545)
Mm-hmm.
Jason Elkins (31:09.239)
Yes. Yeah.
Jason Elkins (31:26.41)
Very, very, very cool. And I see all the connections and it wasn’t maybe a direct path, but it all makes sense just as I listened to your story, you know, every step along the way, kind of, kind of makes sense. And. You know, we listened to all this amazing stuff in your story, and I’m sure there were some very difficult times I, you know, I can read in between the lines on some of the stuff that must’ve been very difficult.
Macarena Iturralde (31:35.17)
Mm-hmm.
Jason Elkins (31:54.882)
What was the most difficult part for you along the way to get to kind of where you started to where you are?
Jason Elkins (32:05.282)
that you’re comfortable sharing with the millions of people listening to this.
Macarena Iturralde (32:09.184)
Yeah
So everybody that goes through a process of a divorce, that’s a difficult situation. But it was a clean divorce because I must say, and I’m happy to share this with whoever is listening, because when you make a commitment to be together with somebody and that somebody does not stay next to you, doesn’t follow your path.
Jason Elkins (32:16.809)
Yeah.
Macarena Iturralde (32:41.928)
and starts a new path is better to say have your freedom. Have your freedom because otherwise it just you we became strangers under the same roof because see he was traveling I was traveling he was traveling I was traveling I was doing my things he was doing his things we were trying to reconnect we had
Jason Elkins (32:48.023)
Yeah.
Macarena Iturralde (33:08.764)
three beautiful children because then Sebastian came when I had already opened the travel agency. And Jonathan was gone most of the time. And so nothing better for me and my children than to actually say to Jonathan, go fly and fly, do whatever you want with your life and let’s be friends. You know, that is the main point.
Jason Elkins (33:28.87)
Mm-hmm.
Jason Elkins (33:34.51)
Right. Well, and in a very real sense, when the two of you met and a large portion of your time together was that lifestyle of traveling and going and going. So
when your direction changed, because I would suggest maybe your direction changed more than his direction. He just continued to do what he’d always been doing. So really it was your direction that changed, which created a situation where he maybe needed to kind of let you go your direction as well. So it’s very much, yeah, it’s interesting. I can relate to some of that and some of my own life stories and divorce that I went through as well. So thank you for sharing that.
Macarena Iturralde (34:10.848)
Uh huh. Uh huh.
Macarena Iturralde (34:16.787)
Hmm
Macarena Iturralde (34:23.688)
But you know, it’s so interesting that you actually say that, because my direction definitely changed. You know, I needed to settle down. I needed to drop an anchor. I needed to give stability to my children. It would have been fun if both of us had done that, but he couldn’t stop. He has that, you know, he’s still traveling and he’s still going to the Arctic and Antarctica and…
Jason Elkins (34:36.141)
Mm-hmm.
Macarena Iturralde (34:52.744)
Indonesia and you name it. So good for him. I’m happy for him. But it’s time. Nothing is better than to actually see things with a clear mind. Do not become obsessed and say have your freedom. Enjoy life. And you know, we relate really well. We have three beautiful children together. He has a new partner and I’m really happy for that.
But we’re happy. What does one need in life? Freedom, happiness, peace. And that’s what we both have. But I have an anecdote that I would like to share, because when I had my third child, I had two partners in my company,
Jason Elkins (35:31.831)
Mm-hmm.
Macarena Iturralde (35:51.992)
We were two couples and my baby was born and Jonathan had a trip and my partners decided to go to Namibia and I said, but I have a baby and they said, oh but Maka, the opportunity to go to Namibia doesn’t come very, very often and I said, it’s true.
So my baby, my third child, would go to the office with me since he was a baby, I mean a little, little baby. And I would breastfeed him and I would work and he would sleep and so, you know, he was already working in an office since he was born. But I tell you, I had some collapses because I overworked, you know.
Jason Elkins (36:45.675)
Yeah.
Macarena Iturralde (36:46.464)
In those days, we didn’t have what we have now, the digital life, working from home, working remote. That would have been perfect. I would have worked remote, but we didn’t have Zoom or all these incredible, how you call them, network, whatever, the internet.
Jason Elkins (37:03.051)
Mm-hmm.
Jason Elkins (37:08.854)
Just the, yeah, the tools and the things, I mean, the things that are making this conversation possible right now is as you know, you sit in Ecuador, I’m in Columbia and we’re, we’re having this conversation and it’s beautiful. So yeah, I get it.
Macarena Iturralde (37:15.964)
Thanks.
Macarena Iturralde (37:21.632)
Yeah, so I tell you that was probably one of the hardest things that I had to go through when I was a mom and a CEO of a travel agency that was just beginning. And so, you know, there’s always ups and downs. Life is not easy. In 24 years,
Macarena Iturralde (37:52.196)
the pandemic and the quarantine and all the money that our clients had paid to do cruises and visit Peru and Colombia. But I was very careful. So all the money that had been advanced, it was kept in the bank, untouched. And boom, the quarantine came and I kept that. And so I was able to refund most of my clients.
Jason Elkins (38:13.203)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Macarena Iturralde (38:21.92)
And some clients said, no, I would rather postpone it for the future. In fact, we’re having four Australians coming this year that postponed since 2020. And that would be the last account. And we closed the accounts from 2020. Can you believe it? Just now, yeah.
Jason Elkins (38:27.555)
Mm-hmm.
Jason Elkins (38:45.502)
Well, that was quite a disruption for, you know, pretty much everybody I’ve been chatting with and of course it was life changing for myself as well and I can look back and say, well, some really great things came out of it for me personally, but there were also some huge challenges along the way and it was a very, very difficult time for all of us. So did you…
Macarena Iturralde (39:04.357)
Yep.
Yep.
Jason Elkins (39:09.506)
So when the pandemic came with all of the things that came along with that, obviously we’re spending some time, you know, dealing with refunds and trying to work on postponing. But other than that, what was your I’m just curious, what was your daily life like in the middle of the pandemic in Quito?
Macarena Iturralde (39:25.076)
Oh, magical. No, I… Well, I tell you this. In 2017, I decided I needed something new in my life. And I went to India, and I went to Rishikesh, and became a yoga instructor. So, I started teaching yoga at the same time that I was a CEO, because my children were growing up and life was easier.
Jason Elkins (39:44.727)
Oh.
Jason Elkins (39:53.087)
Mm-hmm.
Macarena Iturralde (39:55.52)
2020 came and we were all quarantined. One of my children came from Italy, another one came from France, the other one broke her knee skiing in Europe and had to be home. I was looking after her after the operation and all of a sudden I had my chicks. They came back to me. And I tell you, I live in a beautiful place.
Jason Elkins (40:18.696)
Oh wow.
Macarena Iturralde (40:24.232)
I don’t live in the city of Quito. I live in a valley 45 minutes away from Quito in a gated community, nature, waterfalls, rivers, swimming pools. Imagine, we were trapped in paradise. And so I started recording my yoga and I started uploading some of it in YouTube.
And then I started teaching online. And so for me, life didn’t stop. For me, it was like, okay, I would dedicate three times of my day to sort out problems with my clients. And the rest of the day was freedom. Freedom, yoga, fun times with my children. And so that.
Jason Elkins (41:09.303)
Mm-hmm.
Macarena Iturralde (41:17.276)
2020 for me was a magical year. It was for me, it’s sad to say that other people died and people went through horrible depressions and that, and we must be compassionate for what others went through. But in my life, everything was flourishing.
Jason Elkins (41:35.958)
Mm-hmm.
Jason Elkins (41:43.413)
Mm-hmm.
Macarena Iturralde (41:44.324)
And I did not close the company, even though we went down to minus, let’s say, $30,000. I decided to put it, how could I say the right way? I put it to sleep with the IRS, not the IRS in Ecuador, but SRI in Ecuador. So it went to sleep. I didn’t need to be declaring monthly.
Jason Elkins (42:03.578)
Mm-hmm. OK.
Jason Elkins (42:09.464)
Okay.
Macarena Iturralde (42:13.952)
And then Jonathan, my ex-husband, has a travel agency with his new wife that they do scuba diving in the Galapagos. He was the very first company to actually bring people to the islands in the middle of the 2020, in August of 2020. And he called me and said, Macarena, would you like to…
Jason Elkins (42:14.121)
Mm-hmm.
Macarena Iturralde (42:43.108)
do the land services for my clients. And I said, yes, please, we need some income. So that’s how we started waking up again. And so it started in August 2020, by end of 2020, we already had accounts for the Galapagos Islands and Peru. By 2021, we already had Peru and Patagonia. So it’s amazing how it’s almost like it woke up.
Jason Elkins (42:53.218)
Hmm.
Macarena Iturralde (43:13.264)
but with a lot more effort because now it’s going to the office, doing digital, you know, online work. It’s like we’re working full time. It’s like never ending.
Jason Elkins (43:28.056)
Would you say it got busier than it was before the pandemic?
Macarena Iturralde (43:33.548)
2023 has been the best year ever for my company.
Jason Elkins (43:40.878)
Okay, and I’ve asked this of a few other people and there’s some talk about this in the industry, but what do you think it is that Guts…
Macarena Iturralde (43:48.976)
Well, in our particular case, it’s because a good friend of mine had to close his company. And he was specialized in tracking in Ecuador. And when George closed his company, he passed on his accounts to senderos. But not only that, he passed on one of his best workers.
Jason Elkins (44:11.262)
Mm-hmm. Okay.
Macarena Iturralde (44:19.9)
who now is one of my partners in the business.
Jason Elkins (44:24.103)
Okay. All right.
Macarena Iturralde (44:25.176)
Yeah, because he was really concerned and he said, I don’t want to leave her with nothing. Would you hire her? And I said, of course, because she knows the accounts. She knows the people that are behind the agencies in Europe, in the States. And then funny enough, her husband was my classmate since I was six years old. And it’s amazing.
Jason Elkins (44:42.114)
Mm-hmm.
Macarena Iturralde (44:54.324)
And her husband said, Maka, I would like to invest. I don’t want you to hire my wife. I want my wife to be.
part of the company. And because we were low in cash, I said, of course, the money that you invest will be reinvested in the company. And with that, we also had cash flow to continue. So it, yeah. And this year, I must tell you, Paulina, my partner brought
Jason Elkins (45:06.74)
Mm-hmm.
Jason Elkins (45:17.649)
Mm-hmm.
Jason Elkins (45:22.542)
Great. Sounds like a win-win solution.
Macarena Iturralde (45:33.224)
120 Canadians to do trekking in the Andes of Ecuador. The most incredible trip. I mean, you don’t know camping and and, you know, we don’t have infrastructure. We don’t have the campsites already there. So it was like putting together everything that we. We decided to part them in four.
Jason Elkins (45:55.394)
Was this one group? Macarena, this was one group?
Macarena Iturralde (46:02.704)
groups of 30, 30. They overlapped two days. So the first group came in, they did their trekking to Paso Choa, and then the second group arrived. And we kind of went like that, till everybody finished, like again, overlapped two days, and then they went to the Galapagos. So it was for us and for…
Jason Elkins (46:02.81)
Okay, yeah.
Jason Elkins (46:08.822)
Mm-hmm.
Jason Elkins (46:26.828)
Okay.
Macarena Iturralde (46:30.864)
for all of us was a lot of work. I mean, work that we didn’t expect, but for me, I tell you, the best thing was that nobody was injured. Nobody had to be evacuated. One lady had to come, you know, she couldn’t stay in the altitude, she couldn’t handle altitude, but I brought her to my house. So then she could do, she could enjoy my beautiful place.
Jason Elkins (46:33.515)
Yeah.
Jason Elkins (47:00.518)
Very cool. Very cool. I think that’s super interesting kind of the way you’ve grown the business, especially through what happened with COVID. And we’re recording this in January 2024. And I think that we need to discuss a little bit about Ecuador, a little bit about politics, a little bit about what’s going on in the world.
Macarena Iturralde (47:00.896)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Jason Elkins (47:27.522)
Um, for anybody that’s listening to this, that’s like, yeah, well, I, I’ve been wanting to go to Ecuador, I’m just not sure what things are going on. You’re there, you know, what’s going on better than I ever could. So what, what do our listeners need to know about Ecuador safety, security, um, and what’s going on in the country now?
Macarena Iturralde (47:39.654)
Ahem.
Macarena Iturralde (47:47.54)
Okay, this is a very important question because Ecuador is still functioning with total normality. The procedure or the decision that the president had to take was super necessary because these drug cartels were working along the coast of Ecuador doing whatever they wanted.
flying here, flying there. Imagine this little plane arrives in Puerto Villamil in Isabela Island in Galapagos. It arrives in the night. Who knows to do what? It’s confiscated, they punched the tires, and the police was keeping control of this plane because obviously it was suspicious. And guess what? Two weeks later, it flew out.
So, there’s so many people involved, corrupt policemen, corrupt militars, corrupt judges. If our president, a young president, did not make these incredible decisions of declaring war and calling them terrorists, there would not be a solution. However, having said that, which is important to clarify, Ecuador is still…
as normal. We’re still receiving people. We’re still taking them to Otavalo. We’re still hiking up to Cotopaxi. We are. I would never take people in this time to Esmeralda’s province along the coast, the northern coast, not to Manabi. As much as I love Machalilla National Park and the whale watching, it’s not time to go to Manabi. And it’s not time to go.
down to Guayaquil and the south. Otherwise, the whole country, the whole country, it’s normal. We are in fact, I tell you this, we can be more relaxed now because we know that we’re being protected. All the militars are out, the police is doing controls all the time along the Pan-American Highway where the drugs.
Macarena Iturralde (50:14.672)
comes from the north of Ecuador or Colombia. They’re patrolling, any suspicious car, any suspicious movement in homes, it’s being alienated and checked. So I would say, don’t be scared to come to Ecuador because we are still working normally. I, for instance, go to Ecuador.
to Quito, to Cumbayat, I go shopping, I go to the theater, I go to the movies, I go dancing, I have weddings, life goes on. And…
Jason Elkins (50:51.631)
I think I heard you say really what I heard in your words was in certain parts of the country there are some issues probably not a good time to go but overall I actually heard you say that you felt a little safer right now than you did maybe six months ago because right so that’s your perspective I realize there may be other people there in
Macarena Iturralde (51:06.426)
Yeah.
Jason Elkins (51:18.302)
I don’t agree. And I understand that. And, um, but yeah, it sounds like you’re saying it’s, it’s actually a really good time to come and, but, but probably work with someone knowledgeable like yourself. To, to make sure they’re not wandering off into some of the other areas where there are a little, little bit more conflict. Is that right?
Macarena Iturralde (51:36.352)
Of course, I mean, I would never promote in this time. And even though it’s sad not to promote Manavi province, which is beautiful and has Machalilla National Park, it’s not the time. It’s simply not the time. I am not going to expose my clients to anything that may mean danger. But we feel safer. We definitely do because, you know, we know that we’re being protected from all sides.
Jason Elkins (51:50.187)
Okay.
Jason Elkins (51:57.27)
Okay. But
Macarena Iturralde (52:06.036)
and that they are finally finding so many of these gangs. And they’re finding, I mean, they’re finding things that you would never believe below ground. Under pig, how you call chancheras, where you have the pigs, pig stalls or pig pens. Yeah, where, yeah, underneath, there’s a bunker.
Jason Elkins (52:28.306)
Yeah, the pit where they, yeah, yeah.
Macarena Iturralde (52:35.772)
full of weapons, 20,000 tons of cocaine, absurd. I mean, amounts that you wouldn’t even think. It’s all stored there ready to then be taken by a small plane and being dropped into the ocean, because we know that this is Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, it’s not just Ecuador. See, Ecuador right now.
Jason Elkins (53:02.006)
Yeah, it’s just it sounds like just that Ecuador is doing something about it right now.
Macarena Iturralde (53:06.46)
Correct. At this moment, you know, you live in Colombia, Colombia had to do it as well. Colombia was going through difficult times before. But anyway, what I want everybody to hear, if they wish to come to South America, if they want to travel in Peru, in Patagonia, in Chile, they should feel completely free and relaxed to do so.
Remember the time when Peru had the shining path?
Jason Elkins (53:40.268)
Mm-hmm.
Macarena Iturralde (53:41.932)
When at that time I was a trip leader for wilderness travel, a company in the United States. And in those days I was leading trips to Peru. In fact, I was in Lima the day that the Japanese embassy was taken hostage by the Shining Pack and the Tupac Amaru group. You know, but I was there and I had clients.
And we went to the airport and nothing happened because the actual problem was happening near the Japanese embassy. So this is something that we need to inform the world. It’s true. The media has to inform about the news. The news is that the Ecuadorian president declared war to the criminals and the
drug traffickers and so forth. However, we as individuals are fine. Our homes are fine. The trucks from the coast to bringing fruit and vegetables, they’re coming. It’s not like we’ve stopped. We’re still going strong.
Jason Elkins (55:00.618)
So if I wanted to, cause I kind of live the nomadic lifestyle, I, I’m in Columbia right now, I wouldn’t say I live here, but I like to spend a lot of time. But if I wanted to hop on a plane and fly down to Quito this weekend and, and stay in Quito for a few weeks, or maybe even go down to Cuenca or something like that, um, it sounds like you’d say just come on down. That’s what I’m hearing. Yeah. All right. Very cool.
Macarena Iturralde (55:24.324)
Yeah, definitely. And in fact, I have one, two, three, four different accounts coming up, none of them canceled. We keep them informed. Every week we send them the letter from our minister of tourism. We keep them informed of what’s happening. And I tell my clients, this is something I’ve always been extremely, extremely honest. If I see any danger, I will say stop.
Jason Elkins (55:36.831)
Mm-hmm.
Jason Elkins (55:54.546)
Mm-hmm.
Macarena Iturralde (55:54.644)
Let’s postpone, let’s cancel, let’s find ways. I would never put anybody in danger. And well, I do have one lucky thing. Senderos Naturales doesn’t only sell Ecuador. We sell all of South America. We organize.
Jason Elkins (56:14.142)
Right. And I’m happy we brought that up. Thank you for that was on my list of things. I wanted to make sure we, we made clear. So let’s do a quick recap. I think you’re just getting ready to have kind of your, your specialty areas and other options that you have available.
Macarena Iturralde (56:30.908)
So when I was saying that we sell all of South America is because I was a trip leader all around South America and I got to know this beautiful continent full of contrasts. So we take people to Chile, to the Atacama Desert, to the Bolivian Altiplano and to Uyuni
From there, we venture into Peru. Peru is so magical with its people. It’s just one of the most beautiful places to visit. And see, what we’re doing and people really like is that we put together two or three countries. So Australians arrive to Chile, they like to visit Chile and then they like to go to Argentina from Argentina to Brazil, from Brazil to Ecuador or to Colombia.
or to Peru. So, and we organize all of that. That’s why I told you that. Yeah.
Jason Elkins (57:31.298)
That’d be a pretty cool trip. That would be a pretty cool trip. Yeah. That’s um, and you, and you’ve got, cause we’re going to have your website address in the show notes. If somebody goes to your website, they can get a pretty good feel for what you do there. Is that right? Or where is that the best place to send them?
Macarena Iturralde (57:46.416)
Yeah.
Yeah, because see, people can see that we sell Patagonia, we sell the Iberá marshals in Argentina, Iguazú Falls, Brazil, we sell Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia. And our webpage is going to start being reconstructed in April, but right now it’s still there as it is, and they can see all the magical places that we sell.
Because we do personalized tailor-made trips, not all itineraries are upfront. Because see, if people see the upfront itinerary and the price, they say, I’ll sign up to this. No, what we do is we cater based on budget, interest, time of the year, and.
either individuals or family groups or friends. You know, we have had times when the border of Chile and Argentina has been closed. And we’ve been in Torres del Paine, but our clients need to go to Calafate and Perito Moreno. And if the border is closed, we charter planes. I mean, there’s no limit. We organize what the client is able to afford.
Jason Elkins (58:49.242)
Mm-hmm. Right.
Macarena Iturralde (59:16.204)
and wants to do it, you know? So.
Jason Elkins (59:19.314)
Okay. So they can, so they can get a feel for some stuff on the website, but they really should need to have a conversation with you or your partner or somebody on the team to really kind of customize something and I mean, just listening to you speak.
clearly you’re very familiar with, you know, and I’ve worked in the past sending a lot of clients to that part of the world. So listening to you, it’s very, very clear that you know what you’re talking about. I love that you’re so willing to share, you know, stories about your divorce and stories about, you know, your views and perspectives on what’s going on in Ecuador. And…
Macarena Iturralde (59:34.048)
Hehehehehehehehehehe
Jason Elkins (59:57.318)
Just the honesty that comes through in your voice and of course I’m able to sit here and look at your face as we’re having this conversation and that’s beautiful as well What now I’m gonna give you a really easy question Okay, send arrows naturales. What is that? What’s the translation and what does it mean? And why did you choose that name?
Macarena Iturralde (01:00:18.524)
because senderos naturales means nature trails.
Jason Elkins (01:00:25.718)
Nature trails. Okay, that makes sense. And has that been the name of the agency since the very beginning?
Macarena Iturralde (01:00:27.488)
a has. So when
Macarena Iturralde (01:00:33.336)
Yeah, yeah. And that is because when I had to leave my freedom, my free life of traveling and exploring and doing research, because I did a lot of research as well, when I had to stop doing that, all I could think of, I need to be connected to nature. And the best way to be connected to nature
Jason Elkins (01:00:35.054)
Okay.
Macarena Iturralde (01:01:03.644)
is by following nature paths, natural trails. And it is true. We do sell Rio de Janeiro. We do sell culinary Lima. You know, we sell colonial Quito, the beauty of, you know, UNESCO World Cultural Site. We do sell cities, but.
Jason Elkins (01:01:08.322)
Mm-hmm.
Macarena Iturralde (01:01:31.58)
Every time there’s a touch of nature, every time. Doesn’t matter if you go to Guayaquil port, we take our people to Cerro Blanco. So they explore the dry forests. So they see the iguanas on the trees. So they see the parrots. You know, this is so beautiful. Because when you have so many ecosystems in one little place, you can see so much.
Jason Elkins (01:01:31.789)
Mm-hmm.
Jason Elkins (01:02:00.15)
I, one thing that I’ve found very interesting with South America and specifically I’m spending a lot of time in Medellin and it’s a city. And sometimes I work, uh, you know, out of a shared workspace up on the top of one of the tall buildings and, and I can look out the window and I might see a couple of Scarlet McCaws flying by.
you know, or the green parrots or looking down at the stand of bamboo shoots or the trees or walking home, you know, mangoes will fall down on the sidewalk next to me as I’m walking. And, you know, and this is the city, there’s so much nature. I remember one of the, I was so excited the first time I found that I saw leaf cutter ants. I was in one of the, you know, kind of more built up areas of the city and there were leaf cutter ants walking down the
Macarena Iturralde (01:02:50.298)
Yeah.
Jason Elkins (01:02:52.234)
And for me, that’s something I would have seen in international geographic or, um, you know, in a documentary or so I was so excited that here I am in this big city and, and I’m seeing all this stuff. So I, I appreciate the connection, uh, to what you’re saying. It’s hard to get away from nature and in most of the places that I visited in Latin America, so I get it.
Macarena Iturralde (01:03:05.804)
Oh yeah.
Macarena Iturralde (01:03:14.13)
Yeah, yeah.
Jason Elkins (01:03:14.942)
Very cool. Macarena, I think we could probably, I still had a list of things that we were going to go over. We’re going to need to come back and, and have more conversations about this. And I’m curious, is there anything I forgot to ask her? I should have asked that we really need to, to bring up before we wrap it up. Anything that our listeners just need to hear that we haven’t touched on.
Macarena Iturralde (01:03:37.452)
Actually, I think we’ve gone through most of it. It is important that our clients or people that are interested in coming to South America, Ecuador, know that we’re here to develop the itinerary together with them, to design the itinerary together with them, that I love to chat with them first.
And then from there we go on. So the communication is very, very important. And
I hope that we’re here, we’re ready to keep creating beautiful life experiences for people.
Jason Elkins (01:04:25.19)
That’s a great way to end it. So Macarena, thank you so much. Appreciate you coming on the show, sharing your stories, insights, and it was a fascinating conversation. So thank you so much for taking time out of your day. And I will have to come down and visit you very, very soon. I look forward to meeting you in person.
Macarena Iturralde (01:04:43.568)
Oh come, you’re more than welcome. You should see the beauty today. The sky is completely blue. The eastern side of the Andes are in front of me. In the back you have Pululawa Crater, Cotacachi Peak. I mean it’s just the avenue of the volcanoes in Ecuador. So come and visit me. You’re more than welcome.
Jason Elkins (01:05:06.578)
Okay, I have an idea. I mentioned that we should do some more episodes and I think that next time we get to do that in person so I will start working on getting myself down there and look forward to meeting you. Thanks, Mara Karina. Appreciate it. Alright, bye bye.
Macarena Iturralde (01:05:18.984)
Of course, me too. Me too. Thank you so much. Bye.
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