Guest Bio
Maria Samper is a global humanitarian, artist, and singer who has lived in 14 countries, embracing diverse cultures and experiences along the way. Maria is deeply connected to the Amazon and its indigenous communities, spending her early years immersed in their wisdom and traditions. Today, Maria co-owns Calanoa Amazonas, a family initiative that combines art, spirit, and the beauty of human connection. Through this project, Maria invites visitors to explore their true nature in harmony with the natural world while also facilitating healing workshops inspired by her experiences with shamans. Her work is a fusion of cultural preservation, environmentalism, and personal growth.
Show Summary
In this episode of the Big World Made Small Adventure Travel Podcast, Jason Elkins speaks with Maria Samper, co-owner of Calanoa Amazonas. Maria discusses her diverse upbringing in Colombia, her deep connection to nature, and her work in responsible tourism. She shares how Calanoa Amazonas is not just a lodge but a project of love dedicated to reconnecting people with the natural world. They explore the importance of cultural exchange, the challenges of preserving ancestral traditions, and how sustainable tourism can provide economic benefits to local communities. Maria also discusses the transformative power of travel, highlighting the unique and generous ecosystem of the Amazon rainforest and the role of indigenous perspectives in tourism.
Key Takeaways
- ✓ Calanoa Amazonas is a project of love – More than just a lodge, it’s a family initiative focused on cultural exchange and environmental stewardship.
- ✓ Maria’s Colombian upbringing shaped her love for nature – Her early experiences in Colombia deepened her connection to the environment and indigenous communities.
- ✓ Responsible tourism benefits local communities – Maria explains how tourism can provide both cultural and economic advantages when managed sustainably.
- ✓ Cultural exchange is key to preserving traditions – Traveling to the Amazon provides opportunities for guests to engage with ancestral knowledge and contribute to its preservation.
- ✓ The Amazon is a generous ecosystem – The rainforest offers incredible biodiversity and abundant resources to those who respect it.
- ✓ Travel helps individuals discover themselves – Maria believes that travel to places like the Amazon encourages introspection and personal growth.
- ✓ Community involvement is essential for sustainable tourism – Working with local communities ensures that tourism has a positive and lasting impact.
- ✓ Maria’s family has dedicated 40 years to environmental education – The Calanoa Project has been a life’s work dedicated to teaching environmentalism and sustainability.
- ✓ Listening to local voices in tourism is vital – Maria emphasizes the importance of respecting and amplifying local perspectives when it comes to tourism planning.
What You’ll Find on Calanoa Amazonas
- ✓ A family-run eco-lodge located in the heart of the Amazon rainforest
- ✓ Immersive cultural exchanges with indigenous communities
- ✓ Healing workshops and transformative travel experiences
- ✓ A commitment to sustainability and environmental preservation
- ✓ A unique opportunity to connect with nature on a deeper level
👉 Visit Calanoa Amazonas Official Website to learn more about the Calanoa Project and the transformative experiences awaiting you in the Amazon rainforest.
Learn more about Calanoa Amazonas and connect with Maria at:
https://www.calanoaamazonas.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 (00:01.316)
Welcome back everybody to another episode of the Big World Made Small podcast for the adventure traveler. This is a really cool one for me today because I’m speaking with someone that I’ve both met personally and I’ve actually been to the lodge that she’s involved in. I’m not sure if I should even call it a lodge because it’s so much more than that. But today we’ve got Maria Samper. She is a co-owner at Kala Noa Amazonas. Did I say all that right, Maria?
Maria Samper (00:28.246)
Yeah, perfect. Kala noa masanas. Thank you, Jason. Thank you for having me.
Jason Elkins (00:31.136)
I rat, yeah, super excited. actually was at Kala Noa, I guess it was probably about a month and a half ago and just absolutely fell in love with it. And then I had the opportunity to meet you a few days later in another place and had a great conversation with you and your mother. And it was frankly quite emotional conversation as I recall it ended with, with hug.
Maria Samper (00:47.204)
and
Maria Samper (00:53.504)
Yeah, it ended up in tears.
Jason Elkins (00:55.778)
Yeah, it ended up in tears and hugs and it was just a beautiful moment and I was like, I have to have you on the show. So thank you so much. We are gonna discuss Kala Noa a bit. We’re definitely gonna discuss your family. And before we get too much into what Kala Noa is, I’m sure you have a better way of describing it than I would ever describe it. But before we get to that, I really kind of wanna know more about you. I wanna kind of get a feel for.
How did you end up sitting across from me at a travel trade show, you know, a month or so ago? And so how far do you think we need to go back for our listeners to kind of understand your journey?
Maria Samper (01:25.092)
I’m
Maria Samper (01:34.48)
yeah. Well, yes. Well, I was born in Colombia, that wonderful country, you know, it’s a very powerful, beautiful, intense, so diverse and just full of creativity and amazing people. So I was privileged to have, you know, I was born there and it’s an honor for me. So that’s where everything starts, you know, where we were born.
And that, yeah.
Jason Elkins (02:03.588)
Very cool. Are you are your parents or your parents from Columbia as well or okay. All right.
Maria Samper (02:08.386)
Yes, they both are Colombian. So my parents were always in love with the Amazon and with native communities in Colombia. They worked in Colombia all their lives in rural areas and with different native communities. So growing up, was always with
in the jungle, in the river, hiking all over the country, from the Amazon to the deserts too, from the coffee growing areas to the plains. So from a very young age I was exposed to nature. And of course that marks you, that makes you different because I think when you’re in nature your senses really heighten there, your senses are so open and
Your heart really opens to the experience of being here in this planet. So I had that wonderful and so grateful for that because my parents really took us deep into the jungle and we experienced not only the beauty of nature, but also how the people who take care of it see this world, which is very different to how we see it. They see it in complete connection to its magic.
and it’s wisdom. And we see it differently with this connection in this system that’s shaping our routines, shaping our thoughts and shaping how we act. So I think that was installed in my soul and DNA and every part of me. And that made me an adventure.
Jason Elkins (03:34.98)
Yeah.
Jason Elkins (04:02.714)
I suspected that our listeners can hear it in your voice. And I have the opportunity to see your face as we’re having this conversation. And I can see it in your soul. I can just see the way that your face is so lit up. This is something that’s in you. You didn’t have to think about that answer. That just came out because it’s in you. And I’m super curious about, you I heard you say, you your parents were working with the indigenous and local peoples.
Maria Samper (04:11.64)
Eh.
Maria Samper (04:19.832)
Bye.
Jason Elkins (04:31.578)
across different parts of Columbia and you were able to be introduced to that and experience that as you were growing up. And I think myself and maybe our listeners are wondering like, well, what, how would you describe like what work were they doing? Like what type was that a career that brought them into this or was this, how did they get into that?
Maria Samper (04:50.0)
Yeah.
Maria Samper (04:54.242)
Well, I think for my father was…
think it really was like a soul journey. He was very young when he arrived in an island in the middle of the river, the river called the Apaportis River. He had just finished high school. He did go to university to study biology and anthropology. But in the middle of the career of his university years, he went for two years to live completely alone in an island in the Amazon.
In a trip of self-discovery, he was completely alone. He fished, he built his house. It was really spectacular and very special. That’s why he’s so connected to the land. Every now and then he would have contact with a community nearby, but every now and then, every few months.
Jason Elkins (05:35.884)
Wow.
Maria Samper (05:57.988)
So it was really very instinctive for him to do his self-discovery, his soul journey to find these. And then his connection, it’s always been from that moment to the land. And then he met my mom, who’s, and she’s always been more into environmental education. And they started many different projects, a lot to do with.
art, photography, my father is a photographer. So they did lots of publications around nature and culture. They have over 33 books published with photography and investigation from different well-known scientists in Colombia. So a lot was through photography and books. But also working with the
with the communities it was more like handcrafts and recovery of ancestral traditions on how to grow food differently or not differently remembering the traditions and bringing that alive again, you know, which is what Kalanoa is today, the dignification of traditional processes of ancestral traditions to protect the land and the culture.
Jason Elkins (07:21.986)
Wow, wow, so, so many questions.
Maria Samper (07:23.66)
So that’s how they started. It’s been a work of 40 years that they were completely devoted. And then Kala Noa was the result of all these years of work.
Jason Elkins (07:36.706)
I don’t know if you know the answer or if this is even a conversation I should be having, but I’m curious. I almost can’t not ask when you say he went and lived on an island in the Amazon River for two years with almost no contact. I can’t imagine how we can continue without me asking what was that about? mean, what happened in his childhood that would cause that? Because that’s not something everybody does. Do you know?
Maria Samper (07:55.94)
No, I know what happened in his childhood. had just an amazing family. My grandparents were just amazing. My grandfather is a very well-known architect in Colombia. work is just spectacular. And the family was always really connected to social causes.
just helping a lot in terms of architecture for the people who wouldn’t have access to beauty somehow. They would provide these beautiful spaces in the city. They’re well known for that. But I think it was more like an uncle or someone in the family who had a farm in the Colombian plains, plain areas, like in the savanna.
And every holiday they would go there and then my father got really into nature that way. It was more like an uncle or someone who had that car and he was just amazed and he was like, I have to follow this.
Jason Elkins (08:52.719)
Mm-hmm.
Jason Elkins (09:01.506)
Wow.
Jason Elkins (09:10.052)
Wow, he sounds, you know, I don’t know much about Henry David Thoreau, but your dad sounds kind of like Henry David Thoreau of Columbia. And that’s very, very cool story that I did not know. I did not hear that when I was at Kalanil. I didn’t hear it from you before. And I’m happy we got back to that point to kind of help understand.
Maria Samper (09:15.108)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, that’s true. Yeah.
Maria Samper (09:28.622)
Yeah.
Maria Samper (09:32.284)
Yeah, and my mom too, with her commitment to environmental education. She’s in a way always educating me. It’s like telling people this is what nature is asking us to do again, connect to nature again. And why is it so important? Because it’s actually the only thing that we actually have is this planet, this beautiful planet, and we can make it small in our hearts.
Jason Elkins (09:53.486)
Yeah.
Jason Elkins (09:58.48)
Yeah, yeah, big world make it feel a little bit smaller. That’s why we’re here today.
Maria Samper (09:59.876)
Yes, I love that. I love that title because it totally makes sense. can totally make it small in our hearts and change the planet. And I think it’s asking us to do that, to connect again.
Jason Elkins (10:16.971)
I think when we connect with different cultures, different people, nature, for me, that’s what travel is about is connection. can’t honestly, I can’t see any reason I would want to travel if I wasn’t connecting with something. It seems like it’d be a total waste of time, but that’s what I enjoy about it is that connection. And I feel in my experience in ways I’ve traveled, the world just feels smaller. The more connections I make, the
Maria Samper (10:32.932)
Yes.
Maria Samper (10:42.09)
Yeah. Bye.
Jason Elkins (10:43.551)
the smaller and less overwhelming things feel and it’s a little bit more, you know, I don’t know. So
Maria Samper (10:49.772)
And the trip is really within also. It’s within. Because once you travel and you get out of your comfort zone, there’s a whole bunch of limiting beliefs. Yeah, you learn a lot about yourself and that’s so beautiful. And when you do it in nature, then you remember that you’re human. And then you came here to just to be, not do a lot. It’s okay to be completely in another time.
Jason Elkins (10:52.664)
Yes, yes, yes.
Jason Elkins (10:59.554)
Learn a lot about yourself, don’t you?
Jason Elkins (11:15.727)
Mm-hmm.
Maria Samper (11:19.012)
in another space and you’re there with you and just enjoying whatever your soul tells you. There’s a lot of freedom and power, think, in traveling.
Jason Elkins (11:19.3)
Yes.
Jason Elkins (11:28.729)
and it.
Jason Elkins (11:32.538)
Right. And it’s so interesting because we all have our own kind of what it means to us. I think we could look at your father’s example, the connection is there pretty much by himself. But over that course of two years, I can imagine maybe the connections with nature, the connections with self, the connections. I mean, he was almost traveling without traveling.
Right? In a sense, he’s creating those connections. And I’m super curious, because I’m imagining all these scenarios. Like you mentioned that he met your mom. Was this after he left the island and wasn’t really communicating much with people? I want to know more about that story because I’m imagining she runs into him out on this island in the Amazon and he’s like living in a little shack or something on the island.
Maria Samper (12:00.1)
Mm-hmm.
Maria Samper (12:18.596)
Yes.
Maria Samper (12:23.201)
I’m
Jason Elkins (12:28.282)
thinking and she’s looking at him thinking, man, he’s a great catch. So tell us, tell us more about how that happened.
Maria Samper (12:32.076)
Yeah, I think, well, my father, you can imagine after that experience, it’s two years of getting to know yourself, all your fears and your strengths and you know, I have to fish to eat and I have to, you know, sometimes he would say, he says that sometimes he couldn’t.
He didn’t know if he was dreaming or awake. You know, that fine line when you’re completely alone. You do get validated by others, but when you’re completely alone, you’re like, am I dreaming? So he lives in a parallel timeline, in a way, my God. That’s very creative, very…
Jason Elkins (13:02.65)
Mmm.
Jason Elkins (13:09.305)
Mm-hmm.
Jason Elkins (13:13.997)
Mm-hmm.
Jason Elkins (13:21.006)
Mm-hmm.
Maria Samper (13:26.232)
very magical and very almost invisible how he shapes things that then come to be. My mom is she’s this very active and like a visionary. She’s this plane, this plane and she moves and she’s an amazing leader.
Jason Elkins (13:45.753)
Mm-hmm.
Maria Samper (13:50.98)
So they complement this really, really well. It’s like more in the ethereal place and she’s in this flame creating and talking to people and all the institutions that work in the Amazon and the government and how she deals with the communities and the shamans and their leaders to create. So I think it’s just a perfect match. But yeah, after those two years in the Amazon.
My mom was actually leading an expedition to Chocó, is like the rainforest in the Pacific, in Colombia. And he was part of the team, my dad. He was part of the team doing all the photography. So, that’s how they met. I guess they, they, yeah, they continued and they continue.
Jason Elkins (14:39.598)
Very cool.
So now fast forward a little bit and they’ve they have you do you have any siblings? Any brothers and sisters? A younger sister, so describe what that you mentioned. You already mentioned that you were out, you know, going to a lot of places, meeting a lot of people, being exposed to lot of things. I’d like to learn a little bit more about that. Specifically, I’m curious if you ever had a traditional what we might call a traditional schooling experience and how did you interact with the other kids?
Maria Samper (14:47.618)
I have a sister, younger sister, yes.
Jason Elkins (15:12.314)
because your parents sound a little different.
Maria Samper (15:14.617)
Yes, there. Yes, and that was interesting because I arrived, I was born in Bogota, my sister as well. When I was four, my sister was only one year old. We went back to the Amazon, to the Caquetá region, border with Brazil, which is a bit northern from Canganoa. And we were there for four years.
So like my early childhood, my sisters as well, we spent there and that gave us a lot of different values.
Jason Elkins (15:51.482)
Do you remember, I was going to ask you if you remember your first memory, but if you remember it, then of course you, if it was your first memory, you remember it. Okay. So tell us your first memory if you’d like. cause I’m a mad, cause a lot of us experience things that we don’t remember until we get to the age around three, four or five or something. And here you are in the Amazon when your memories start to, start to carry them. So do you remember your first memory?
Maria Samper (15:53.412)
Hmm.
Maria Samper (15:57.703)
Yeah, I remember.
Maria Samper (16:17.22)
Yes, I remember everything. not everything. remember because we had a little farm with chickens and rabbits. And of course, I remember all those animals. I had to feed them and that. But I guess the most beautiful memory, and I tell this to my children, I would go to school every day in a canoe in the river. My dad would take me in a canoe to school in a little town called La Pedrera.
Jason Elkins (16:19.778)
Well…
Jason Elkins (16:28.62)
Okay, all right.
Jason Elkins (16:39.788)
Okay.
Maria Samper (16:46.824)
And then, yeah, that was pretty amazing. I didn’t really have to take the boat at like 5.30 in the morning. And just being in that canoe every morning was so special and magical. Of course, when we left, when I was eight, we went back to Bogota. was in shock for a long time. Of course, I never felt I could.
Jason Elkins (17:06.563)
ooo
Jason Elkins (17:10.349)
Yeah.
Maria Samper (17:13.528)
white feet in a very conservative Indian city. So big. But I’ve always been very creative. I like singing too and sculpting and all that. I think that’s how I coped. I always sang in choirs and that was really nice because there was like a different sensitivity there. And of course we traveled a lot, but of course at school.
Jason Elkins (17:39.503)
Mm-hmm.
Maria Samper (17:43.148)
You know, I was like, that was hard for many, many years. But, you know, those hard moments, yeah, help us remember how strong we are. But yes, but yeah.
Jason Elkins (17:57.474)
Yeah, I can imagine because it’s a challenge. A lot of the people that I’ve spoken with on this podcast and just a lot of the people that I’ve interacted with in this business are cut from a different bolt of fabric. We’re just a little different, you know, and we’ve got that wanderluster, that desire to experience and connect that sometimes when you’re in a high school, a school environment.
Maria Samper (18:11.89)
I’m hungry.
Maria Samper (18:22.957)
Yeah.
Jason Elkins (18:25.73)
Not everybody around you has that same curiosity and that same sensitivities or whatever you want to call it. So I can imagine. I had some experience in that.
Maria Samper (18:29.316)
you
Maria Samper (18:36.004)
Yeah, and I think it got to the point when I was 17, my sister 15, where we couldn’t really travel anymore in the rural areas in Colombia because it was a very difficult moment, the HZs in Colombia with all the war, which never got to the Amazon. So the people there are quite different. They didn’t live
Jason Elkins (18:54.136)
Mm-hmm.
Maria Samper (19:04.26)
through war like the rest of many Colombians. So they have…
Jason Elkins (19:08.358)
Help us, if you don’t mind, help us understand that because most of the people listening to this don’t really know much about the history of Columbia. So why was the Amazon region not impacted?
Maria Samper (19:14.135)
Yes.
Yeah, the 80s with all the drug cartels and guerrillas and everything, it just became very difficult to live in Colombia. There were a lot of economic interests and war and corruption, all those. Yeah, it was an awful moment. Thankfully, Colombia’s creativity.
You know, that’s helped a lot to change that. But yes, it didn’t get to the Amazon because there weren’t many economic interests there. Some areas in the Amazon were worked more as labs for processing, but they were, it wasn’t considered like a wealthy region or, you know, economic interests. So it didn’t draw the drug cartels or the
or the guerrilla groups to that area.
Jason Elkins (20:21.454)
Well, and I would imagine also that just logistically, it’s probably not a great transportation hub. It’s still not easy to get to. You know, it’s still not that easy. mean, there’s, Okay.
Maria Samper (20:27.33)
Yeah, you don’t even have access. Yeah, no other access. Yeah. And being on a border to, I think there was more government presence. but yeah, so it got to the point where we were growing up and my parents wanted to be in a place where it would feel more free. And we moved to.
to Canada, the whole family, and their second Canada, British Columbia. Yeah, so that’s also home for us. I think my university is there, my sister got married to Canadian, my parents have a home there, and we love it too. And that moment…
Jason Elkins (21:01.988)
Did you say Canada? Okay. All right. Okay. Wow.
Jason Elkins (21:25.016)
I’m curious where people were, because I’m envisioning maybe the people in Canada, they see you show up a teenager with the experiences that you’ve had and that connection to nature and all this stuff. You were probably more, I don’t want to any words in your mouth, but I could just imagine a different reception there than what you’d get in Bogota. You know, I don’t, wasn’t around Bogota, you know, during that time, but
Maria Samper (21:47.908)
Yeah, think it was for me, I was studying international relations, but for me, went to the University of British Columbia, has an amazing, the Museum of Anthropology is one of my favorite museums in the entire world. And I got a job there a week after I arrived in Canada.
Jason Elkins (22:14.554)
Thanks
Maria Samper (22:15.22)
And that was amazing. I was working with Indigenous communities from BC and Canada all the time. I was like, OK, I’ve been taken care of. It was beautiful. I just loved working there. I felt like I gave this some continuity to my childhood and all those years in Colombia. And yes, that was very nice. And I think for us,
Jason Elkins (22:25.978)
You
Maria Samper (22:43.99)
being in nature, still being in such a beautiful part of Canada and nature was really nice. But my parents still working for Colombia and from there, from Colombia, they just gave us the space of freedom given the situation in Colombia. And as soon as the things got better in Colombia, they went back and built Kala Noa. And me, I’ve lived in
After Canada, I lived in 12 countries after. I worked as a humanitarian, so I moved a lot. I’ve moved a lot.
Jason Elkins (23:17.636)
Wow. Okay.
Jason Elkins (23:26.68)
Were you working for the same organization during most of these moves? Is that-
Maria Samper (23:32.438)
I worked for the United Nations in different agencies and NGOs. My husband too. When my children were born, I just devoted my time to Kala Noa, to the foundation and to because I couldn’t travel as much. now, yes, and now we’re in Panama.
Jason Elkins (23:35.524)
Thought it might’ve been something like that, yeah. Okay.
Jason Elkins (23:52.186)
Mm-hmm.
Jason Elkins (24:00.154)
Well, before we jump into Kalanoa, doing these travels and living in all these different places, doing the humanitarian work, there any, I’m sure there are tons of memories and tons of experiences, but I’m curious, was there anything that you feel really changed the direction of your life enough that you’d like to discuss that now before we continue on discussing Kalanoa?
Maria Samper (24:04.612)
Mm-hmm.
Maria Samper (24:27.566)
The thing that changed the direction of my life?
Jason Elkins (24:32.174)
Yeah, I’m just curious if there’s a place that you lived or an experience that you had that was just a real aha moment that impacted the rest of your life or was it just all every place was impactful? Because I’m sure they were.
Maria Samper (24:41.377)
Yeah.
Maria Samper (24:46.18)
Every place, I don’t know, life was taking me so many places and I was like, why am I here? then after a while I was like, okay, I understand why. And every place, because when you move a lot, you realize that you think there’s continuity and yes, you are loyal to your soul and being creative or being in nature or trying to connect with certain things that you love. that’s…
Jason Elkins (24:53.242)
You
Maria Samper (25:15.16)
continues, but what worked in one country never works in the following country. So if you are doing this beautiful project in one country and you want to somehow recreate it in the following, that’s not going to happen. You’re there for something else. You’re there for something else. So you’re reborn.
Jason Elkins (25:20.034)
Uh-huh.
Jason Elkins (25:31.619)
you
That’s actually a really useful insight. Yeah, yeah, because I’ve lived in a few different places, not as many as you have, but I’ve been traveling full-time for the last three years and had worked in Central America. yeah, people are very the same.
Jason Elkins (00:01.431)
I think what you just what you’re mentioning there is really insightful because you know, I’ve lived in other places. I’ve traveled and like you said, what works in one place doesn’t necessarily work in another place. And if you can step into the perspective of the locals that live there and all of a sudden someone shows up that looks different, that has some uniform or some organization behind them or whatever, and they show up and say, no, we should do it this way because this is how it works. This is the way it’s supposed to be done. And
And they’re just, you know, the people live there half the time, probably just rolling their eyes and thinking, geez, here’s another person from outside coming in to try and tell us how to do things. And we’ve already tried 50 different ways. And so that’s that’s an interesting thing that I’m sure. That experience must have come in very, very handy, you know, as you started to work more with Kalanoa, because you’ve got a similar situation, even though you’re Colombian.
You know, I’m sure that that’s a challenge. Would you say or what do you think?
Maria Samper (01:01.951)
Yes.
Maria Samper (01:06.392)
Well, first, in my experience working with communities with the United Nations and NGOs, they would always send me to the field. was Maria Gohs. And of course, I was like very happy because that’s what I liked. But it was mainly because and I asked the boss once, why do you always send me? You know, there’s other people who could go.
And he said, because you’re not intimidating. And I was like, should I take that? How can I take that? And then he said, yes, people want to talk to you. They’re OK. You know, if I send it other type of person, it’s like the people are going to say what that person want to, what they think that person wants to hear, or they won’t even say, or they would maybe talk in terms of.
Jason Elkins (01:41.375)
you
Maria Samper (02:03.665)
But not open up. Not open up to how they really feel. In some communities, I remember in Philippines, a man comes and he approaches and he said, do you think that the help that you’re giving us is solving the situation? Is that…
Of course not, we are entitled. When you give us a little bit of something just to get us, you know, just to help us a little, but it won’t make a difference. We are the ones who make the difference. I’m like, yes, thank you for letting me know. And maybe they wouldn’t have said that to another person, to a donor, you know.
Jason Elkins (02:34.441)
Uh-huh.
Jason Elkins (02:40.095)
yeah.
Maria Samper (02:42.308)
And I love that I have, course, because I think that gave me those first years in the Amazon. It’s that openness of a spirit where people feel okay to say, you know, this is how I feel. And your presence here, it won’t make a huge difference. Thank you. But we’re in touch. And I love that.
Jason Elkins (03:08.247)
I see that about you and it reminds me of when I, you know, when we started the show, we mentioned something about, know, when I met you and your mom and there were tears flowing and emotions and, the two of you are just so easy to connect with. I mean, we had 15 minutes sitting at a table in a, you know, in a, in a convention center type of place. Not, I shouldn’t say that because it was smaller than that, but you’re both very easy to connect with. And I can, I can see that.
And I can compare that to, you know, maybe when I was managing a place in Central America, you know, quite often I’d go find the staff and it’s okay. Well, we need to do this and this is how we’re going to do it. and they’re all like, yep. Okay. Yep. Okay. Sure. Sure. Whatever. Uh-huh. Then as soon as I walk around the corner, they’re right back to doing it the way they were. And that’s fine. I get that, but they would not just say, Jason, that’s not going to work. And this is why.
Maria Samper (03:53.508)
you
Jason Elkins (04:04.789)
They would just sit there and shake their head. Like I would say, go get the tractor. We need to go get the tractor and do this and this and that. Like, okay, great. Yep. We’re going to do that right now, right now, which and Latin culture and a lot of places I’ve been right now means tomorrow, especially in Belize. And later on, like the tractor was still sitting in the shed and they hadn’t done anything. I was like, what’s going on? All the tractors broken. Well, when did it get broken? Three days ago.
Maria Samper (04:20.405)
Thank you.
Jason Elkins (04:34.273)
Well, this afternoon, we were talking about using the tractor to do this project. Why did anybody say anything? You know, they knew it was broken. They knew that they weren’t going to use the tractor, but they weren’t going to say, Jason, we’re not going to use the tractor. The track is broken. So anyway, that’s a often a tangent. So so you’ve got that skill set and that openness. And now let’s jump into how that’s been useful at Kalanoa, because.
Maria Samper (04:40.984)
Thank
Maria Samper (04:53.39)
I think you.
Maria Samper (05:02.435)
Yes.
Jason Elkins (05:02.505)
your staff or most you know you’ve got a lot of indigenous staff or people from the area.
Maria Samper (05:07.705)
I think I’ll give the biggest credit to my parents. They’ve just, been there for 40 years and it’s been, they’ve been slowly weaving all those connections. They’ve been slowly letting people know that it’s, that their presence is okay and you know, that they’re not trying to…
impose or anything on the contrary. There’s always this dialogue and this reverence to their way of living and the reverence to nature and how they introduce us. As human beings, you’ve been, it’s not so powerful that we are just there trying to adapt and in a constant dialogue, we…
what they consider is sacred. So with that respect to their tradition, their culture and their wisdom and nature,
Jason Elkins (06:07.274)
Right.
Maria Samper (06:17.046)
slowly but it’s been a work of years and years and years and slowly they said okay we will buy this land to protect it are you okay with that yes okay great do you welcome us yes okay great can we work together can we learn from you and then and then and then they see how they benefit and and how they can i think the beauty of this project and of responsible tourism
in general is that it provides income for the communities as source, as an economic source of income that they didn’t have before and that aligns with what they want for their community. You know, they want to protect, they want to provide for their families.
and they want to keep their land and their traditions and responsible tourism says okay there’s that, there’s that you know and
Jason Elkins (07:23.285)
I want to go more into that because that was something that came up when I was down there on my trip that I would love to hear your thoughts on. And before we go there, for anybody that’s listening, I know that you’ve had this challenge. What I’m going to ask you, I know you’ve had this challenge before, is how do you describe Kalanoa when you don’t have the ability to show a photo?
You meet someone somewhere and you tell them I’m involved in this and they what is Kala Noah is the question. So how do you describe that if it’s all you have are the words that you can use?
Maria Samper (07:57.86)
It’s a project of love in the middle of the Amazon.
Jason Elkins (07:59.265)
Cause I don’t know how I would, be honest with you.
Jason Elkins (08:06.503)
Okay.
Maria Samper (08:10.984)
in the middle of the Amazon, in the heart of, I would say is the heart of the planet. And when I say it’s the heart of the planet, it’s because the Amazon is so infinitely generous. Just like the heart in our bodies, every pump of our heart, the heart is empty. Every time it pumps, it’s empty, it gives. Just like the Amazon. The Amazon just, it has hold all this water that benefits all these ecosystems in the Americas and in the world.
So it’s infinitely generous. I totally see it as a heart. And a heart is love. So there’s a lot of love there. But it’s in the middle of the Amazon. You can point it in the map. It’s in the middle of the Amazon. As you say, you have to fly for a while to get there and then take the river.
Jason Elkins (09:05.921)
think a lot of people don’t realize, you if you’re not that familiar with Columbia, you don’t realize that the Amazon is a big part of this country. You know, you think Amazon, it’s immediately Brazil. And if you’re a little bit more knowledgeable, you might think, I think part of it maybe is in Ecuador, Peru or whatever. But I think you really kind of have to know something about Columbia before you realize, yeah, this is a big part of it. So tell us like what, how
Maria Samper (09:13.86)
Maria Samper (09:25.272)
Good night.
Jason Elkins (09:34.875)
listeners understand what I don’t know if it’s percentage of land in Colombia. don’t know how you would describe how much of the Amazon is in Colombia.
Maria Samper (09:44.056)
Well, we do have the Amazon River in the border with Peru and Brazil. So the Amazon goes by. I’m not sure the percentage.
Jason Elkins (09:53.377)
But you’ve got the part, we might say the Amazon meaning kind of the river, but then the Amazonas region of Columbia, looks like.
Maria Samper (10:02.241)
I would say at least 50 % of the country with that. It benefits from this ecosystem and all the rainforest region that goes pretty much half of the country.
Jason Elkins (10:06.027)
Yeah, I was, I, but.
Jason Elkins (10:16.917)
Seems yeah, it seems like, you know, it’s it’s a much bigger portion of the country than maybe people think of. So I just wanted to put that into perspective a little bit. This is not, you know, Columbia’s portion of the Amazon is not a insignificant part of the Amazon basin because, you know, maybe the Amazon River only flows by, you know, I don’t know if. I don’t know how many miles of I don’t know how long the the river flows along the country.
Maria Samper (10:33.802)
It’s actually.
Maria Samper (10:41.241)
Yeah.
Jason Elkins (10:43.923)
But it’s obvious, I guess the point is this is the Amazon. So asking me, me asking you to describe a Kalanoa is hard to do because it’s hard to describe Kalanoa without describing the Amazon and, everything you just said. And it’s like, how do you describe the Amazon to somebody that hasn’t experienced it? How do you, and it’s almost the same thing with Kalanoa.
Maria Samper (10:56.1)
Yeah.
Maria Samper (11:02.976)
Yeah, so Kala Noa, well, it’s a lodge and it’s a project of, it’s a foundation as well. We work with five indigenous communities nearby in the recovery of ancestral traditions.
or in the dignification of cultural ways to protect the land, in the preservation of the forest.
of the river and there’s several projects around that we work with from the schools, with the local authorities, with shamans, with weavers, with potters, lots of art.
There’s this beautiful project I really like with a community that wanted to pass on the tikuna language to the children. was only the elders would speak. And so we helped them to create us a place so they could to teach the language. And they do it through song. They have a choir.
And it’s just really, really special just to see the choir and how the children sing and it’s just beautiful.
Jason Elkins (12:38.675)
It is. It’s yeah, I saw some of that stuff when I was there. I think you’d have to stay a very long time to see all of it. I want to touch on the responsible tourism, because one thing that came up when we were there and I was there with a group of tour operators and representatives from tour agencies and the conversation came up about responsible tourism. And part of that was, you know, is it responsible to come into a community and say, look, we’re going to bring in
Maria Samper (12:43.822)
And then…
And yeah.
Jason Elkins (13:08.533)
business, we’re going to bring in tourists so you can stop growing your stuff and just make, you know, do basket weaving classes for our clients or do, you know, these, these classes and things for our clients. You don’t need to work so hard in the fields anymore. You don’t need to work so hard fishing. And then when something happens to the tourism, like happened a few years ago,
that can really make a big impact on the community. I’m just curious if you’ve experienced that there, or what do you think?
Maria Samper (13:41.176)
Yeah, think we talk about there are so many things. First, when we talk about responsible tourism, we take care of water, garbage disposal, all that, know, so zero plastic in Kala Noa. So that’s that’s one thing, you know, and the amount of people there’s only 12. know that 12 people go into the forest.
a day. Otherwise, between all the chemicals we use in our bodies and mosquito repellents and everything we do affect our presence affects the environment. So we have to be mindful of all those little details. What materials we use when we build, what’s renewable, how are things located in the land so that we don’t impact at all.
And it’s been 14 years where there’s no impact in terms of our presence there. So that’s one part of our responsibility when we bring tourists. Yes, you can visit, but in this way that’s respectful of the environment. So how we manage rubbish, how we plant, so that we cook, that makes sense. That’s one part.
Now, there is the economic component where we do provide funds to the communities. We do rotate our purchases. So we do not always buy things like fruits and vegetables, fish, all the things we buy, and even employment. We don’t always benefit one of the communities over the others or one provider over the other. We rotate.
that everyone benefits.
Maria Samper (15:44.766)
we do not impose an activity like you have to teach this or that. If we say we would like to in the reserve we would like to teach weaving would anyone would be interested in teaching or pottery and then they come and they share with us but we do not go into the communities hoping that they would just welcome us and maybe change their routines or how they live but they come.
and teach and then of course they get paid for that and signifies and so what what happens is what happens behind us is that they want to remember more techniques of weaving they want to remember more techniques of healing so things like the mud bath
There’s a healing bath, the Amazonian spa as we call it. The shamans had lost many of these practices, but now they’re curious to recover through research, to travel deeper in the Amazon to remember.
Why? Because the tourists are interested in not only that, but they’ve healed people again. So they’re proud to bring that back to the community. Of course, it brings another source of income. And it’s beautiful and dignifies what they thought that they couldn’t use anymore.
And then also in the protection of the forests, because now, for example, in the Peruvian border, there’s Altamira. It was a place that was completely abandoned. They had all kinds of problems with rubbish management. They were just throwing everything to the river. And then Kalanau comes. Well, if you clean these, we’ll bring people so that they can see this beautiful ecosystem. And they cleaned it up and the people visit. And not only that, but they discovered this little type of monkey
Maria Samper (17:37.834)
that it only exists in this part of the world and it’s beautiful and they’re preserving it and they’re so proud of IBA, they can show it.
And the whole ecosystem has changed as a result. that is like giving this little incentive that creates this huge impact in terms of the recovery of their traditions. But it’s not like we impose or give many ideas. say, look, there’s a little bit of interest.
Jason Elkins (18:14.038)
Mm-hmm.
Maria Samper (18:14.809)
And then people who were hunting or who were selling resources like monkeys for laboratories or all kinds of things that were happening before, they don’t do it anymore. They’d rather protect. And so that’s the beauty of that.
Jason Elkins (18:30.44)
Very, cool.
When? So how long is Kala Noah? I think fair to say it’s a tourism business now. Did it start immediately? Was your dad’s plan? This is going to be an eco lodge and we’re going to bring tourists or was there a different direction in the beginning? I’m just curious. Where, where did it go into? This is obviously a tourism business.
Maria Samper (18:57.506)
My dad calls Kala Noa as a place of encounters. From the tourism aspect, where people come and connect to land, they have their Amazon experience, but there’s a lot of other things happening in Kala Noa in terms of encounters. From biologists who come…
from musicians who just had this beautiful, wild symphony. It’s a concert that my father leads with musicians from all over the world. Asia, Europe, Africa, the Americas, who get together in Kala Nua in that beautiful temple in the middle of the jungle, which I find is spectacular. It’s really like a spaceship.
And they get together and they create music together with the jungle. And that’s why it’s special. And there’s also university students from universities in Canada who use Kala Noa as a campus where they come and learn about architecture and design and nature and biology and indigenous communities. So I think it’s not just a place where people pass. I did my Amazon experience, but where people are learning, where people are
learn about things and they change.
Jason Elkins (20:18.923)
curious. Does your dad have any? Do you think he has any emotions around the word tourism? Because almost when I asked that question, I sense like he would be offended if if someone said you’ve got a tourist lodge in the Amazon, I feel like he’d be like, that’s not what it is. But so I just curious, does he have negative? Are there some words out there that might commonly be used that he’s like, gets all upset about?
Maria Samper (20:37.716)
Thank
Maria Samper (20:45.748)
No, didn’t get upset. He was in the jungle alone for two years. He’s at a point where nothing upsets him. He knows himself, knows. You understand all the triggers. And of course it is also for tourism, but I think it’s more than just that. Yes, but although I think the concept of tourism has changed and you’re the expert.
Jason Elkins (20:47.724)
No?
Jason Elkins (20:52.043)
Nothing upsets him. His zen is…
Jason Elkins (21:06.113)
So much more, yeah.
Maria Samper (21:14.656)
people I think now not only travel because they want to you know put a list of countries of places they visited I think they want to travel with a purpose and given that the Enkala Noa’s purpose feeds this new way of traveling.
Jason Elkins (21:33.611)
Yeah, it’s such an interesting thing. And I’ve had this conversation with quite a few people around. I think maybe some of the younger generations are more, you know, they want meaning in what they’re doing, but at the same time, there’s so many people that are using Instagram, you know, that when you say visit places to get it on their list of places they’ve been, I think there are, you know, with social media, there are.
Maria Samper (21:59.928)
Thank you.
Jason Elkins (22:00.277)
I believe there are people that are like, I want, got to do my Amazon trip. I got to have a picture of me with a monkey, you know, whatever. Right. And they’re maybe going to fly into Leticia or Manaus and go do a day trip or whatever. and then they’re on to Italy because they want the picture of the leaning tower and their Instagram and this and that. So I think that social media has done that in some ways. but then also the technologies, you know, it’s.
Maria Samper (22:05.262)
then bye.
Maria Samper (22:22.884)
I’m here.
Jason Elkins (22:29.569)
think it opens up opportunities for you to connect with people that never would have found Kala Noah if it wasn’t for social media and marketing. mean, you know, I did digital marketing for adventure tour operators. get it. so it’s, it’s pretty interesting, but I will. And, and I will say that, you know, I just had an amazing time there. I just, I thought it was definitely you’re in the jungle.
Maria Samper (22:38.276)
You’re awesome.
Maria Samper (22:45.696)
I like some wood.
Jason Elkins (22:58.635)
You know, you’re in the Amazon and the staff and everything that I saw was I’ve been to a lot of places. I’ve visited a lot of I guess I want I don’t even want to use the word lodge. But I know we use the word lodge to kind of help describe what it’s kind of like. But I’ve been to many lodges and very few that just seemed to blend in so well with with the environment and just even just the energy level of the people working there. And it was.
Maria Samper (23:13.924)
No.
Jason Elkins (23:27.413)
It’s a really special place. So it’s been fun for me to have this conversation with you. And I’m curious because we’ve discussed quite a few things. Is there anything I forgot to ask you should have asked you or you want to make sure that our listeners can understand about you or Kala Noah or the Amazon or life in general before we wrap up?
Maria Samper (23:47.812)
Well, there’s a website, you know, which tells you how to get there and calanouamazonas.com.
Jason Elkins (23:55.915)
Yep, and we’ll have that in the show notes. So anybody that’s listening, you don’t need to write it down. It’ll will have a link directly to your website there in the show notes.
Maria Samper (24:04.982)
And yes, just I think what you were saying about social media just now, of course, we want to visit places and people want to put in social media. That’s valid and that’s beautiful. think that’s OK. But I think in nature, in nature in general and the Amazon in particular, because of what we talked about, we travel changes in such deep.
ways and it reminds us how beautiful being human is and how we are part of this planet and how with our presence you impact the places you visit as well. Your visit to the Amazon definitely helps.
everyone who goes to Kala Noa visits the Amazon, not only takes an experience within, but a lot of that goes to the communities and to the land and protection. So it’s a beautiful exchange. Yeah, and yeah, yeah.
Jason Elkins (25:17.419)
Very, very well said. That’s, I agree with everything you said. Not that I wouldn’t agree. And, just a great message to leave. And I would definitely encourage anybody that’s, that’s got the Amazon on their list of places they want to go experience. Kalanoa would be a great way to do it. I realized not everybody can get that far and make it happen, but it’s not that hard. You fly away, you fly into Leticia. We don’t normally talk travel logistics, but.
Maria Samper (25:37.197)
Yeah.
Jason Elkins (25:46.507)
You know, you can fly into Latisha. It’s not that hard to get there. Get over to a boat and take the boat up the river as it. Yeah, up the river. And that’s and that’s part of the experience as well. I remember just when I first got on the boat heading up up the river and it was like, holy cow, I’m on the Amazon River. And it’s you know what surprised me was it’s still so big. It’s it’s like I’ve been to Manaus. I’ve been on the Amazon and Manaus and I was shocked that it was still so big.
Maria Samper (25:54.884)
Really?
Maria Samper (26:05.13)
Yes, and why not?
Jason Elkins (26:15.005)
so far away from Manaus, it’s a big river.
Maria Samper (26:15.158)
Thank
It’s a big one, you’re kilometres with… Yeah, the thing is with travelling, we enjoy every… From the moment you leave from one airport and you arrive to your destination…
The trip over there, flying over the Amazon is spectacular. see all the Amazon, see from Bogota, see when you leave the Andes and get into the Amazon, that’s really beautiful, over flying. And then the one and a half hour boat trip to Kalanoa in the Amazon River, it’s just, yeah, it’s really beautiful.
Jason Elkins (26:36.715)
That’s pretty cool too, yeah.
Jason Elkins (26:53.739)
You might see the the pink or the great river dolphins or just the people, just the other the other boats and.
Maria Samper (26:57.882)
Other people live alone, you know, on the river.
Jason Elkins (27:04.2)
It’s super cool. You know, I interviewed somebody the other day, I’m not going to mention any names, but I’d asked him, you know, do you like is for you? Is it all about the destination or, you know, the journey? And he surprised me. He’s like, no, it’s the destination. I don’t like traveling. I just want to be there and I want to get there. And I’m like, OK, I respect that. And he’s traveled a lot. You know, he’s, you know, anybody that’s listening to these episodes can probably figure it out.
Maria Samper (27:22.04)
Tell the transfer to him.
Jason Elkins (27:31.615)
He was a travel blogger. He worked in this business for a long time. And yeah, I was surprised because he’s just like, no, I just if I want to go to. I’m just going to Angkor Wat in Cambodia. I just want to get there like if I could, you know, zoom myself there and one of those Star Trek things. And I’m like, it was just interesting because I’m like, wow, I’m so different at this point. That might change. But at this point, I like got to experience everything along the way. You know.
Maria Samper (27:46.816)
people.
Jason Elkins (28:00.053)
Maybe not every part of flying. Maybe I’d rather take a train or a motorcycle or a bus just because I can experience more as I go. And I suspect you’re kind of similar maybe to me in that sense. For me, it’s all about the journey.
Maria Samper (28:14.284)
Yeah, you have to enjoy every moment and just be in the present moment, right? That’s the invitation.
Jason Elkins (28:20.087)
Absolutely. Well, Maria, thank you so much. Wonderful conversation. I suspect we’ll be collaborating on some projects. We’re already collaborating on some projects and I look forward to doing more of that. And thank you so much for joining the show and sharing your time with our listeners and your story. was very, very cool. Thanks, Maria.
Maria Samper (28:29.036)
Here’s how we connect.
Maria Samper (28:38.02)
Well, thank you. Thank you for having me. Thank you.
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