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Episode #26: Paul Peralvo

Co-Founder

Amazing Ecuador DMC

Paul Peralvo
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Guest Bio

Paul Peralvo is the CEO and co-founder of Amazing Ecuador, a destination management company specializing in customized luxury travel experiences across Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands. With a degree in ecotourism from a university in Quito, Paul has over 15 years of experience in the travel industry. His passion for nature and exploration was deepened during a year spent in the Galapagos Islands, and he has dedicated his career to showcasing Ecuador’s rich biodiversity and cultural heritage.

Show Summary

In this episode, Paul Peralvo shares his journey from childhood explorations at the foothills of the Carihuairazo volcano to leading a successful travel company. He discusses the importance of sustainable tourism, the challenges of curating luxury experiences that honor local traditions, and his commitment to environmental conservation. Paul also reflects on his participation in international travel events, such as Adventure Elevate Latin America, and the role of networking in promoting Ecuador as a premier travel destination.

Key Takeaways

  • ✓ Passion for Nature: Early experiences in natural settings can inspire a lifelong commitment to environmental stewardship.
  • ✓ Sustainable Tourism: Integrating eco-friendly practices into travel experiences ensures the preservation of destinations.
  • ✓ Customized Luxury Travel: Tailoring itineraries to individual preferences enhances traveler satisfaction and cultural appreciation.
  • ✓ Networking and Collaboration: Engaging with industry events and peers fosters growth and innovation in tourism.
  • ✓ Family Involvement: Building a family-oriented business can strengthen personal and professional fulfillment.

What You’ll Find on Amazing Ecuador’s Platform

  • ✓ Customized Experiences: Personalized travel itineraries that highlight Ecuador’s diverse landscapes and cultures.
  • ✓ Luxury Accommodations: Exclusive stays in boutique hotels, eco-lodges, and private villas.
  • ✓ Galapagos Tours: Sustainable cruises and island-hopping adventures in the Galapagos Islands.
  • ✓ Cultural Immersion: Opportunities to engage with local communities and traditions.
  • ✓ Adventure Activities: Guided excursions such as hiking, birdwatching, and culinary tours.

👉 Visit Amazing Ecuador’s Official Website to explore their offerings and learn more about Paul Peralvo’s contributions to sustainable tourism in Ecuador.

Learn more about Amazing Ecuador DMC and connect with Paul at:

http://www.amazingecuador.com.ec/

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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 (00:04.658)
Okay, welcome to the show. Today we’re here with Paul Peralvo of Amazing Ecuador. Paul, just so, so happy to have you here. We had a conversation in the past and your story was really inspiring and I thought, wow, we need to get this out and share this with some of our listeners. So Paul, welcome to the show. Thank you very much, Jason. Thank you very much, much for the intro. I’m super happy to be here with you sharing my experience. Thank you very much for inviting me.

Oh, no, it’s our pleasure. You said just before I pushed the record button here, you’d mentioned that you were back in Quito and you’d been out on the Galapagos here about a week ago. So tell us, just real quickly, what was going on out there? What were you working on? Well, yeah, I just got back to Quito the past week. It has been a busy season down here in Ecuador.

And I was visiting the Galapagos Islands, visiting some new projects, new properties, engaging with local people. So we are, as a company, we are cooking up new stuff for our clients. Yeah. Very, very cool. And we’re gonna get into that. I love that you mentioned cooking up because one of the things that I had on my notes I wanted to talk to you about was Ecuadorian cuisine. So you’re already… So I’m curious what the connection is there, but we’ll get back to that. It was really, I wanna jump in and…

you know, something that’s always fascinating about people that work in this business is, you know, their stories. They all have interesting stories that come from a wide variety of things. They all have a few things in common, that thirst for adventure, that curiosity, that open-mindedness. But I’m curious about your story. How did you get from where you were, you know, let’s start young child, teenager, whatever, how did you get to where you are now? And what were the things along the way that influenced you the most?

Jason Elkins (02:02.246)
Yeah, I am Ecuadorian. I was born and raised in Quito, the capital of the country. And actually my journey began at a very young age, amidst the rural charm of Ecuador, a place with a rich cultural tapestry and beauty of nature. My grandparents had a farm in Chunguragua province, south of Quito.

So we used to live in Quito with my family and every weekend and holidays, we used to visit my grandparents in this town located in two hours of Quito called Ambato. I come from a family of traditional professions legacy. So I was confused at what to study after high school. So my grandparents were farmers for both sides. One of my grandfathers was politician.

My father was a lawyer and also he has been involved in the politician of this country. And my mother spent most of her time having her own business related to food. And finally, I followed my passion and started my ecotourism career. Okay. So I’ve always been interested in studying something related to nature and travel industry and tourism to showcase the unique treasures that Ecuador has.

When I found this career in a Catholic university where I studied, the little word HECO, HECO tourism, HECO, gave a plus to my interests. And finally, I decided to take this career. So then after graduating from university, I… Paul? Yeah. Paul, I’m curious. I want to stop you there for just a second because I heard you say,

business people, lawyers, politicians, how receptive were they to you going into tourism? Because I know sometimes some people I speak with and myself included, maybe have family members that say, oh, that’s not a career, that’s not a job. What are you, especially if there’s some element of like, I got into the fly fishing travel industry. So it’s like, oh, you’re gonna go fishing. How are you gonna make money doing that? How are you gonna make a living? So I’m curious, how was your family receptive to you going into tourism or what came up?

Jason Elkins (04:28.234)
Yeah, actually, well, my father wanted me to study, to be a lawyer, but when I decided to study the culture, he supported me. He supported me because he always wanted that we do what we love to do. Okay, so, and he saw this passion in me since when I was very, since I was very young. So both of them supported me, yeah.

That’s pretty cool. All right. So what happened? You graduated, then what happened? After that, I got my degree from university, and then I set foot on Galapagos Islands for a year. It was in the year 2001, 2002. And yeah, Galapagos, it is a heaven of biodiversity. It left an indelible mark on my soul, actually. I spent a year working basically in…

in a hotel and its restaurant. But the most important thing that I learned when I was there is when I traveled inter-islands and learned about the evolution and the species and nature. Now then for 15 years, I have been blessed to be part of this beautiful industry. I feel like every day I have a new expedition.

And every interaction that I have is a chance to unveil the magic of this beautiful country. Okay, so what I sense is you really enjoy sharing it. Many of these destinations, many of the things you see, presumably are things that you’ve seen a few times. You know, if you’re leading a tour, in a sense it might be a tour similar, you know, similar location, similar destination, but what’s different is the people that you’re with. And I can sense that you enjoy sharing that.

with the people. Do you, maybe I shouldn’t, I don’t wanna assume anything. What do you like most about it? It’s like I said, every day is a new tradition. Every chance that you have to connect with these people, with the local people, you learn anything. So I support a lot of local people. I work very close with local communities in Ecuador. I believe that travel industry has

Jason Elkins (06:52.35)
a beautiful power and the power to create beautiful connections, amazing connections between people. It doesn’t matter about the language, you know, so it’s the connection you can create at that moment. I love that. Now it’s actually, you know, as you know, the name of the podcast, the big world made small podcast, which was really, that was what it was for me, because for me, adventure travel is getting outside your comfort zone, but connecting more than anything. It’s about connecting.

And when you connect with people, the world feels a bit smaller. If you’re in your home country, you’ve never left your home country. You have all these ideas that you’ve heard about these other places, but it seems so far away. And then when you get on a plane and you go there and you’re there and you connect with the people there, it’s like, wow, this felt a million miles away and now I’m here, now I’m in it and I’m connecting with and making friends and connections with people that live halfway around the world. And it just…

I’m super inspired by that. So I get that completely and I hear that in your voice as well. I’m sure you have some stories. Fifteen years of doing this, I’m sure that you’ve got some stories. Is there anything pop into mind that you think is just stands out either as a, oh my gosh, I can’t believe that happened, or it’s just really, really special that you never forget?

Oh, well, I have many stories, but let me share with you one which is recently happened. OK, so I was guiding a tour, a city tour in Quito with a family of four parents and two little kids. I think they were 11 and seven. And in the middle of the tour, we were visiting the churches, the museums, because Quito is a beautiful city.

with a beautiful historical town. So we were visiting the churches, the museums. We invited the kids some ice creams in the old town. And at midday, we had a reservation for a very special lunch for this family in one of the best restaurants of the city. So, and then in the middle of the tour, I asked this family and I said, hey guys, we do have a reservation in this place with the…

Jason Elkins (09:19.086)
three main courses lunch. So what do you prefer? Do you want to share lunch with me in the best restaurant of Quito? Or do you want to come with me? We can go to the supermarket, we can get some shrimps and we can go to my home. I have two daughters, nine and seven and prepare some ceviche. You can help me to prepare some traditional ceviche. And yeah, the rest of the afternoon was just fun at my home, my two daughters playing with their kids. And we were talking about stories and everything, yeah.

That is so cool. I’m curious, where was that family from? United States. Most of the people I do guide and I receive are from United States and Canada, North America. What a great opportunity. I’m just imagining both your children and their children having that opportunity to connect. I mean, how cool is that? That is what I tried to do to leave the…

the lines to get out of the collisional lines and to be creative, to offer different things. I think the base for new experiences is creativity. So, and we have to open our minds and be creative in this beautiful industry. Now, that’s fascinating. I can imagine a scenario, you know, fast forward 10, 15,

20 years from now, those children remembering the trip to Ecuador with their family, they’re going to remember they went to Ecuador with their family. Would they remember this lunch at the nicest restaurant in Quito? Or are they going to remember going over to some guy’s house? They might remember you as some guy, they don’t even remember all the details, but I bet they remember hanging out with your daughters, right? And in that moment, they’re going to remember, we went to Quito, we hung out with this family.

I don’t remember exactly how we were connected to them, but they’re going to remember that. And when they meet somebody down the road that maybe is from Ecuador or from South America, there’s going to be that connection. And they’re going to share that story about going to Ecuador. So that’s cool. That’s really, really cool. So there’s so many different things I want to ask you, both about it.

Jason Elkins (11:44.158)
I don’t even know where to start. There’s so much stuff. Ecuador, it’s amazing, right? There’s so many things. I have not visited. I’m actually in Colombia right now. And before we started chatting in this conversation, you’d mentioned I should come down. I definitely wanna do that. And one question I like to ask is, let’s just say you’ve got an American speaks very little Spanish. I do speak some Spanish, but I’m just hypothetically, you’ve got American doesn’t speak a lot of Spanish.

has some time and wants to spend some time in Ecuador. Where’s a place that they could go, kind of do it as a do it yourself, maybe add some tours, do some stuff like that. Cause we’re gonna talk more about your tourism business here in a minute, but where’s a good place for somebody to go hang out in Ecuador to get a feel for the place where they can get along okay with limited Spanish skills? Well, in Ecuador, it is mandatory to study English for 12 years.

during middle school and high school. So we study, it depends on the level of the school. But we have to study for 12 years. So that’s because of everybody. All students for 12 years of English. English, and there is no other option, only English. That’s more than we study English in the US. Yeah, so most of the people in Ecuador at least understand English.

Okay, so as travel industry is one of the most important industry of the country actually. So most of the people speak English. So mainly in the big cities such as Quito, Guayaquil, of course in the Galapagos Islands. But a good place to start a trip is I think is Quito, which is the capital. And we have a very, very good connectivity with North America with direct flight from.

Houston, Atlanta, and Miami. So starting in Quito and doing everyday visits to different places is a good point to start. Ecuador is such a small country, only 18 million people of inhabitants. And it is, I always say that Ecuador is a compact hand. It is a summarize of the diversity of South America.

Jason Elkins (14:05.23)
it truly Ecuador has it all. So you are invited to come Jason, of course. And yeah, Ecuador is known as the country of the four worlds because we have four different regions. We have the Amazon region in the Eastern part of the country. Then we have the Andes right in the middle, then the Pacific coast region in the Western side of the country and the Galapagos Islands. And all of these regions,

have developed the infrastructure to receive tourists. Okay, very cool. Are there any, you know, some countries have a particular thing or place that draws a lot of attention for some reason, but maybe is a little bit disappointing. I’m trying to think of a good example, but maybe.

Um, you know, and I don’t want to disparage anybody’s home or whatever. When I, you know, say, uh, a random example. So maybe some people say, oh, well, if you go to the US, you need to go to XYZ. And then people go there and they’re like, oh, there’s so many better places. So I’m not asking this question very well, but I’m curious, are there any places in Ecuador that you feel like get a lot of attention, a lot of people want to go there, but you think they’re really overrated and.

maybe be on that list of places to skip. Does anything come to mind?

Jason Elkins (15:36.07)
Well, actually, the traditional markets, I don’t think they are overrated, but they are overcrowded of people. So what most of the people usually try to visit these traditional indigenous markets, but what we try to do is back again to creativity.

So we want to include the visits to the traditional workshops where we can find, where we can get involved with the daily life of the local people who fabricate the product that they are sell in the markets, in the indigenous markets. But basically, to answer your question, is the traditional indigenous markets.

Jason Elkins (16:33.154)
Gotcha. No, you did a great job with the poorly asked question. So thank you so much for your patience with that. But yeah, I get that. There have been places I’ve gone and I spent about five months in Southeast Asia recently. And there’s the big markets, like the one that’s, oh, this is the biggest wet market in Southeast Asia type of thing. So everybody wants to go there. And you go there and you’re like, OK, that’s interesting. Then when you dig around a little bit, there’s other places.

that you can go where the actual locals go or where you can really connect with the people because it’s not quite as crowded and it’s not such a touristy type of place. So that’s kind of what I got out of what you were saying. Yeah, basically I think when we plan an itinerary as a tour operator or as a travel guide, we have to be able to read what the clients want to do or want to visit.

For example, I don’t know, probably for some people it’s important to visit these traditional markets. It doesn’t matter if they are overcrowded or people or overrated. But if they prefer to go for a different experience, so we can include them, these workshops that I mentioned. But the most important is to read what the client, what the guests want to visit. Very cool. And you mentioned the four zones.

I’m not sure you use the word zone, but we’ve got the Amazon, the Andes, the coast, and Galapagos and Ecuador. Where do the majority of your clients spend their time or where do you do the majority of your work? Usually in the Galapagos Islands. In the Galapagos Islands is the main destination for my guests, for clients, and for most tourists who come to Ecuador. But I always say that Ecuador is the best.

It’s such a small country and you can visit all these areas in just a short period of time, just in a couple of weeks you can have an experience of the Amazon rainforest spending three or four nights in one of the beautiful lodges that we have there. The only way to arrive to these lodges in the Amazon is by a flight from Quito to the city of Coca, 35 minutes flight, then having arrived in a motorized canoe.

Jason Elkins (18:59.818)
and then paddling with local people. And at the end of the day, you arrive to beautiful lodges with all facilities. And then every day you can do visit, you can do activities such as hiking, so bird watching, wildlife encounters, and visit two different local communities, Kichwa local communities. And three or four nights is just fine. Then in the end, you have the volcanoes, which are very beautiful, beautiful scenario. So you can travel from north to south and visit also.

world UNESCO heritage sites such as Quito and Cuenca, which are beautiful cities. And also on the coast of Ecuador, we have a beautiful destination. Ecuador is not a beach destination. It is more related to anthropology and nature and to visit local communities again, to visit national parks. And then you can fly at the end of the trip. I always…

that the best part is the Galapagos, so we usually leave it to the end. So you can fly from any of these cities, Guayaquil, Quito, or Manta, to Galapagos on a two-hour flight and spend the rest of the vacation in the Galapagos Island. I always suggest to spend at least four nights in the Galapagos Island. It’s really worth it. It’s perfect for four, five, or seven nights.

just perfect to travel between the islands or to cruise in one of the of the beautiful yachts in the Galapagos Islands so you can visit more islands. Sure, gotcha. I know that with the Galapagos there’s a few things that popped everybody’s mind if they’ve even heard of the Galapagos. There’s tortoises, there’s iguanas, there’s a lot of finches and you know those are the things I name off. I know there’s some other things there.

But I’m curious, like when people come there, is there something that’s just like, oh, I didn’t expect that. And that’s like, that they just get really excited about in general, or is there something there that you think is just like really kind of special that maybe kind of overshadows the tortoises and the iguanas or are the tortoises and the iguanas the real show? Yeah, well, the Galapagos is so, so special.

Jason Elkins (21:23.077)
Um.

Jason Elkins (21:28.051)
is spectacular. So we can talk about dirt to say the one has and finches and shards and whatever here. But to leave the experience is completely different. So I had the opportunity to live in the Galapagos Island. And it was an absolute blast. Basically, I spent a year in Santa Cruz Island, which is the most populated island of the Galapagos. There are only four islands which are inhabited.

Santa Cruz, Isabella, San Cristobal and Floriana. And Santa Cruz is the most populated. It was in 2002 and it was actually like hitting the jackpot of unique experiences. Galapagos in general is like a live, alive, natural laboratory. So just picture this, strolling through Puerto Ayora in Santa Cruz.

walking through sea lions or biking to the highlands and bumping into giant turtoises on the path, snorkeling with sharks, with hammerhead sharks or Galapagos sharks and manta rays, and soaking in the beauty of birdwatching to see fishes, frigate birds, the blue-footed boobies, the red-footed boobies, and the list is immense. So basically everything in the Galapagos is amazing. So beyond the natural wonders, I also made some

spectacular friends in the Galapagos Islands. And the connections are still part of my life today. So, and that’s what we want to do now, to make those connections. Everyone can go and visit Galapagos and go to the different islands, but we want to offer something which is different, to make a connection with islanders, to live the experience or the daily life they have with the fisher people.

and the people who go to the market every day, because on the opposite side, life in Galapagos has its quirks, like the water situation, okay? It is not the kind that you can just take a sip from the tub. The water in Santa Cruz and Isabella Island is desalinated, and that’s a real deal, you know? And also the food game. You have got to get used to the fact that most products come from mainland. So,

Jason Elkins (23:51.114)
those supermarket staples sometimes a bit tricky to find and you learn to roll with it. So those connections with local, and we try to make a blend of these connections with the islanders and the daily activities so we can do snorkeling, surfing, swimming and whatever. So try to make a blend. That’s cool. What came up for me when you were describing that was,

this idea that people go to the Galapagos thinking, I’m going for the nature. And that’s obviously an important part of it. But I’m going for the nature. I’m gonna go see tortoises. I’m gonna go see iguanas. And that’s what I’m gonna come back with memories of. And as I’m listening to you, I’m recognizing that, yeah, I can imagine some people go there totally surprised that they ended up creating more of a connection with other people than they did the animals. And they come back from it and they remember the people that they met.

the Galapagos as much or more maybe than the animals because that’s an important part of this type of owl. So that’s very cool. Yeah, I’m happy I asked that question even if it wasn’t well-posed. So thank you. Thank you so much. I’m curious because anybody that works in tourism, you know, I’ve done it long enough. I know that sometimes it can be incredibly demanding. Our clients and our guests tend to think that we just are on vacation all the time.

because they’re on vacation, they show up, you’re in this beautiful place, you’re showing them these beautiful things, it’s easy for them to maybe assume that, wow, what an amazing life you have, and I’m not saying that you don’t because it is, but there’s things that maybe happen behind the scenes that they don’t quite understand, or they don’t realize that maybe you’re away from your family, they’re on vacation with their family, and you’re with them without your family.

So tell me how do you deal with the work-life balance? What are a couple of things maybe that people don’t realize about working in the tourism industry? And Shadiq, how do you make all that work with your particular situation and your wife and daughters? Well, I have…

Jason Elkins (26:08.942)
I share this passion with my wife, my wife Belen. I have, we have two daughters, nine and six years old, Victoria and Paula. And basically we try to cultivate a shared love for life simple treasures with our daughters. We have made it a point to educate our daughters about the richness found in the little things.

whether it’s the warmth of sunrise, the love of your shirt during a family meal or the joy of just discovering a hidden hand in my parents in law farm, which is very close to Quito. Fortunately, our travels have become more than just adventures. They are, we consider they are opportunities for our family to grow closer. After pandemic or during pandemic, we have the opportunity to reconnect.

to spend more time together because my wife and myself work in travel industry both. So now we learn to appreciate the diversity of the world and to create a treasure trove of our memories, basically balancing the grandeur of exploration with the intimacy of our family. I think that life is an art and we try to see that on our family, on our daughters.

Very, very cool. Do you, so Bella and your wife, she works in tourism. Does she work with you in your business or what is her role? No, her parents have a farm, a working farm. The farm produces milk and they converted this, the main business of the farm, the milking factory. They combine with,

It is called a guest farm. So they receive guests. They have cabins. Belen guides them, the clients or prepare meals with them. They do horseback riding. And Belen is part of the business, is her family business. Yeah, that’s very cool. And there’s a big trend in that kind of that, I guess, agro or food tourism, you know. It’s been growing actually. Farm to table type of thing.

Jason Elkins (28:35.634)
And I know that every time I go somewhere, like I wanna go see, well, what are you growing here? What stuff grows naturally here? Or what are you producing here that maybe I’ve seen in the shopping market back home? I wanna learn how to cook, how do they put these ingredients together? And you know, I’m not alone. You can see that. Just go onto YouTube or some of the television shows and past, you know, Anthony Bourdain and you know.

Andrew Zimmerman Zimmer, I guess, and travel in the world for food stuff. So that’s super exciting. And that’s one of the things I touched on earlier that we were going to discuss was the kind of the culinary part. So what should people know about food in Ecuador? Because there’s a couple of things that maybe they’ve already heard of. And I’ll let you share what’s what are the things that everybody already knows and what are the things we should know?

Ecuadorian gastronomy has been growing in the last years. So Ecuador’s culinary scene is actually is a vibrant tapestry woven with indigenous traditions, colonial influences, and the spirit, the sense of our people. We also have the rich Afro-Ecuadorian heritage, which contributes to the Ecuadorian gastronomy. So from the coastal charm of

Cebollado, which is a delicious fish soup made with onions to the to the mountain. We can we can have a Japingachos. Ecuador has a huge variety of potatoes, edible potatoes. So potatoes is every day in our meals. So we have the Japingachos, potato patties, brimming with cheese and Indian ingredients around.

Or cuisine actually is a mosaic of delicious contrasts. In Ecuadorian gastronomy, there’s to be different. It’s trying to blending the unexpected. So just picture chocolate infused savory dishes where cacao, which is our golden treasure, elevates the ordinary to the extraordinary actually. We also have alpaca meat.

Jason Elkins (30:57.022)
which shares the spotlight with quinoa and beans. We have the guinea pig, a tourist delicacy, which is served with cultural reverence. It is not so common for local people. It is more common for big celebrations as weddings for the indigenous communities. So we have diverse influences that shape our plates, including, as I said, Ecuadorian traditions. And we also have to, I also have to mention the drinks.

We have a traditional drink in the Andes, which is called canelazo, which is prepared with cinnamon, infused elixir of the Andes is called. It’s prepared with cinnamon, some sugar, and naranjilla, a typical fruit here from Ecuador, or with passion fruit. It is delicious. Or also the chicha, which is a fermented corn beverage, which whisper ancient traditions. Wow.

And is all of that stuff you mentioned, is that just readily available on the streets of Quito? Of course, yeah. In each region of Ecuador has its cuisine. But yeah, in every region, you can find these different options that I mentioned. So we have also the ceviche, a shrimp ceviche, which is important, which is totally different to ceviche from Mexico or from Peru.

Totally different compared, but it is delicious. We eat a lot of bananas, plantains here in Ecuador. We grow plantains, bananas. A lot, we are the largest exporter of bananas of the world. So we use it every day in our meals. Okay, very cool. And I don’t know why I’m gonna ask you this, but the listeners might tune out right now, but ever since I was a child, like the first thing I remember hearing about Ecuador.

was that if you were in Ecuador on the equator, you could stand an egg on end. Yeah. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen YouTube videos of people doing it. It is like, I don’t know, I gotta ask you, is there a place, like if I come to Quito, is there a place I can go up and stand an egg on end? Yeah, yeah, yeah. And on the equator, just very close to Quito is the equator monument.

Jason Elkins (33:16.79)
But actually it’s very tricky, okay? The trick of the day, yeah, it’s very tricky. Well, because I’ve seen a lot of people do a lot of cool things in a lot of places. It doesn’t necessarily mean that, just showing up, but yeah, okay. If you’ve got the skills and in a lot of practice, you can do that, okay, all right, cool. Well, I appreciate you sharing that with me. So let’s talk a little bit about your business. Just…

you know, when you meet somebody, maybe you go to a trade show and you’re meeting a bunch of people, how do you explain your business, what you do, what you offer so people can get their head around it? Well, I didn’t mention before, but I founded my company, Amazing Ecuador VMC, a destination management company. Two years ago, I co-founded the company. It is based in Quito and we do tailor-made

Okay, so we basically are in B2B business. That’s our business model. Help us understand when you say B2B, and I believe you’re probably getting ready to go there, I heard you say DMC. Some people listening might not quite know what that means. B2B, maybe they recognize that. So help us understand a little bit more what that means. Basically, DMC means destination management company.

B2B means business to business. So we work with travel agencies. We represent travel agencies down here in Ecuador. We are total white branding. So we represent in Ecuador to these companies which contact us from any other country. Okay, and we do tailor-made itineraries when…

Jason Elkins (35:13.45)
And again, it’s the same with what we try to do is to present a different option to our clients, to impose them to visit instead the traditional markets, to visit the local communities, the local people, and to make those connections with the locals. Not basically.

When I mean locals, it’s not only indigenous communities. It’s people like me, medium class people, people like you, Jason, or people like the visitors, you know? So we try to make these connections. We know that this is not for everybody, not everybody wants to meet local people, people like me, to share lunch with my family. But we want to find the right people, the people who want to do what we offer. Okay?

Yeah, and that’s what we do. We do plan trips to the Galapagos Islands around Ecuador and Taylor May, depending on what do the clients want to include in their itineraries. Got it. And you’re working with, as you mentioned, tour operators, maybe outbound tour operators, somebody in the US that is offering tours to Ecuador. You know, you’re contracting with them to take care of their clients. If there’s somebody listening to this right now that’s not a tour operator, not a travel agent,

but is just resonating with the conversation that we’re having and thinks, you know, I want an experience like that with Paul and his team. How would they go about connecting with you? What is that? What should they know if they wanna do one of your trips? So my company is amazing Ecuador, but if they want to plan to do a trip to Ecuador, they can research with their travel agency in their country.

they can contact us, the company can contact us and we can make the suggestions, we can make an itinerary depending of what do the clients want to do. But that is what basically we do. We receive requests from tour operators or travel agencies all over and then we prepare the itineraries on the trip. So what I heard you say was reach out to your travel agent, your travel professional, your whoever and.

Jason Elkins (37:38.186)
and let them know that you are interested in Amazing Ecuador and want to learn more about Amazing Ecuador. So that agent, if there are, if for some weird reason they’re not already familiar with you, can connect with you, learn more about your programs and help together on the right. That’s what I heard. Did I get it spot on?

Jason Elkins (38:01.942)
All right, we’ll.

Well, Paul, I certainly appreciate you being here today. It looks like, I’m not sure if we lost our connection there or not, can you hear me okay, Paul? I can hear you, I can hear you now. Oh, okay, great. Just, I was just recapping that if somebody’s listening to this and is inspired to do something with you guys, they should reach out to their travel agent and tell them all about you and the travel agent can reach out to you and work out a great itinerary for them, is that right? Yes, that’s correct, yeah. All right, very cool.

Paul, is there anything else that you want to share with our listeners either about Amazing Ecuador, about yourself, your team, or anything else that we would be remiss in not discussing before I let you go? Well, I would like to mention that for us is important, we think in circular economy. So,

in our products, in our itineraries, we try to use as much as we can, local resources, local products, we try to leave a positive economy impact in these communities or with these local people. We love the concept of orange economy, which is related to creativity and culture. And this is how

we connect these visitors with local people. We can find musicians or artists or painters and we try to get them connected. So depending, everything depend of the profile of our clients. So we usually receive as much information. We request as much information as possible from our clients and travel agencies about the visitors to try to connect with the right people.

Jason Elkins (39:59.71)
and to include the right activities for these visitors. No, this is everything I probably, I would like to say thank you very much, Jason, for inviting me. I hope you come to visit to Ecuador and please let me know if you come. You are more than invited to visit us in our farm. I look forward to that.

Excited to take advantage of that. I feel like I’m very close. So I’ll take that opportunity and come down and see you here soon. Thank you so much for being on the show, telling us a little bit about what’s going on in your world and look forward to continuing the conversation in person very soon. And thank you so much. And listeners, I’ll have Paul’s website address and some information on our website. So you’re able to click through and connect with, you know, with his website and learn more about him and then encourage.

anybody that you know that’s working in the travel industry to reach out to Paul as well and so they can offer amazing good or to their clients. Paul, thank you so much for being here and have a wonderful day. Thank you Jason. You too. Bye.

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