Guest Bio
Santiago Granda is the Co-founder of Amazing Ecuador DMC, a premier destination management company specializing in authentic travel experiences across Ecuador. With a deep passion for his country’s diverse landscapes and cultures, Santiago has dedicated his career to showcasing the beauty and richness of Ecuador to travelers worldwide.
Show Summary
In this episode, Santiago Granda discusses his journey into the tourism industry and the founding of Amazing Ecuador DMC. He shares insights into the importance of connecting with local communities, promoting sustainable tourism, and providing immersive experiences that highlight Ecuador’s natural wonders and cultural heritage. Santiago also reflects on the challenges and rewards of operating a destination management company and his vision for the future of tourism in Ecuador.
Key Takeaways
- ✓ Community Engagement – Building meaningful relationships with local communities to enhance travel experiences.
- ✓ Sustainable Tourism – Implementing practices that preserve the environment and respect cultural traditions.
- ✓ Authentic Experiences – Crafting itineraries that offer genuine insights into Ecuador’s diverse regions.
- ✓ Challenges in Tourism – Navigating the complexities of the tourism industry in a developing country.
- ✓ Future Vision – Envisioning the growth and evolution of Ecuador’s tourism sector.
What You’ll Find on Amazing Ecuador DMC’s Platform
- ✓ Customized Tours – Tailored travel packages that cater to individual interests and preferences.
- ✓ Cultural Immersion – Opportunities to engage with local communities and participate in traditional activities.
- ✓ Adventure Activities – Options for trekking, wildlife observation, and other outdoor pursuits.
- ✓ Travel Resources – Information and tips to help travelers prepare for their Ecuadorian journey.
- ✓ Contact Information – Channels to connect with Amazing Ecuador DMC for inquiries and bookings.
👉 Visit Amazing Ecuador DMC’s Official Website to explore their offerings and learn more about Santiago Granda’s contributions to Ecuador’s tourism industry.
Learn more about Amazing Ecuador DMC and connect with Santiago at:
https://amazingecuador.com.ec/
Send Santiago a Message
Send a short message through this guest feature page. Your email address will be included so they can reply directly.
No need to mention this page. They’ll see your note came through their Big World Made Small guest feature.
Message Sent
Your message has been sent.
Big World Made Small guest features are invitation-only and selected based on story, experience, and fit with the show. Guest support helps make the episode possible, but it does not determine who is featured. This helps keep the show free of third-party ads and interruptions while keeping the focus on real, story-driven conversations.
Guest access: enter your password to unlock your resources.
Incorrect password.
Guest & Partner Resources (Private)
Thank you Santiago, for being a Podcast Guest with us.
We’d love to have you join us at the next level and get even more out of your appearance on the Big World Made Small Podcast.
Below you will find access to tools to help you promote your episode and get the most from your partnership benefits. This section is only visible when you use the link we sent, or by entering the password BWMS8873. Do not share the email we sent, or the password, unless you want the person to access the following resources.
Follow, Rate, or Provide a Testimonial
Please use this tracking link to share with your audience:
https://bigworldmadesmall.com/guest/santiago-granda/?ref=guest8873
Cover Art
This is available to all podcast guests.
Download the file to use on your website or social media posts.
Buzzsprout Audio Player
This is available to all podcast guests.
This is the best option for website embeds, especially prior to the release date. Guests can listen to your episode on your website. This player keeps listeners on your site, which is why I use it.
Use this code to embed your Buzzsprout Player directly on your website:
<div id="buzzsprout-player-14921153"></div><script src="https://www.buzzsprout.com/2216718/episodes/14921153-adventure-travel-with-santiago-granda-amazing-ecuador.js?container_id=buzzsprout-player-14921153&player=small" type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8"></script>Full-Length YouTube Video Player
This is available to Base Camp, Expedition, and Summit Partners.
Upgrade to unlock these benefits.
45 Minute One-on-One Website Review
This is available to Base Camp, Expedition, and Summit Partners.
Upgrade to unlock these benefits.
Big World Made Small Podcast Pitch Portal©
This is available to Expedition & Summit Partners.
Upgrade to unlock these benefits.
All Video & Audio Files with Rights to Repurpose
This is available to Expedition and Summit Partners.
Upgrade to unlock these benefits.
45 Minute Content Strategy Session
This is available to Expedition and Summit Partners.
Upgrade to unlock these benefits.
Custom Branded Video Clips (12 clips)
This is available to Summit Partners.
Upgrade to unlock these benefits.
2 x 45 Minute Digital Marketing Strategy Sessions
This is available to Summit Partners.
Upgrade to unlock these benefits.
Review & Suggest Topic Tags
Review Episode Topics
These topic suggestions help keep this episode profile accurate and easier to find. Your suggestions will be reviewed before any changes are made.
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 (00:23.454)
All right, everybody, welcome back to another episode of the Big World Made Small podcast for the adventure traveler. Happy to have each and every one of you back today. And today we have a special guest, super excited to have him on the show, Santiago Granda. Welcome to the show, Santiago. Santiago is with Amazing Ecuador. One of my favorite partners we’ve worked with. I’ve met with other people on his team and just really impressed with what they’re doing. And so happy to have you on the show, Santiago, welcome.
Thank you so much, Jason. It’s such a pleasure to be here. I want to say hi to your audience as well. And yeah, thank you for having me and for letting me show a little bit of what I do and a little bit of my country. Well, wonderful. Well, we definitely, we wanna start with learning a little bit about you, because that’s what’s, in my opinion, the most interesting thing about these episodes is an opportunity to really learn, kind of like what’s behind the people that do this.
Why do they do it? How they got into it? Pretty much everybody I’ve spoken with has an interesting story. Quite a bit of variety, but they’re all interesting. And so let’s dig in there. How did you get into guiding? What was, basically, how did you get from where you were to where you are now and why? Well, there’s a little background about why I became a guide. So for a while I was…
I think it was easy to me to speak languages. I was studying English, I was studying French. But I remember when I was a little kid, my mom used to have pen pals, writing emails back and forth. Well, not emails back then, it was letters, right? So writing letters back and forth. And then these friends she had in Italy, she had in the States, in Brazil, they came to my country, to Ecuador.
And she was showing them Keto’s old town. So she read a lot about it. She was very knowledgeable about history. She was, she is a teacher, but she was a physics teacher, nothing related to our history or geography, but she led, she learned a lot about it. And then she guided her friends, um, in a supernatural way. I was a little kid when I remember she was doing these kinds of things. And this is a funny thing, a funny fact.
Jason Elkins (02:44.982)
She was the guide informally for the glove trotters. They came for a game and we met them at this hill in Quito called Panecillo. And she just introduced herself and she started, you know, throwing all these facts and history stories about Ecuador and Quito. And I remember that I was maybe six or seven years old. I even have a photo with glove trotters in Quito. And then when I grew up,
It just felt natural to me. I was always talking to people, try to show them the richness of my country, of the city I was. And I guess it was always natural to me. And I’m so happy I went down this way because I’ve been tremendously awarded because I am able to show things and I’m always able to fulfill people’s dreams. I think that’s one of the most interesting things about becoming a guide.
That is such a cool story. I remember you shared a little bit of that with me last time we spoke and I was just, you know, it caused me to reflect on, you know, cause I do marketing stuff with a lot of tour operators and boy hasn’t that changed. Now we’ve got automated email campaigns and, you know, paid Google ads to create conversations and connections and all these things that I just, I’m envisioning your mom sitting there.
you know, writing out a letter, trying to get the words just right and, you know, and exchanging things. And the other thing you said that kind of reminded me of something that’s just kind of a, I firmly believe that the best guides are at heart, our teachers are at heart, right? Because that teacher, I mean, that’s really kind of what we do.
whether we’re teaching someone a technical skill, climbing a mountain, teaching someone scuba diving or safety stuff or whatever it is. And it’s just that wanting to really kind of share whatever’s inside of us, frankly, whatever our interests are with somebody else. So they can, so you can share that experience with your client and a good guide, in my opinion.
Jason Elkins (05:02.562)
gets just as much out of an interaction as the clients do, maybe sometimes more, I don’t know, because they’re really showing up, they really, really wanna share. So I can see that connection with your mom, you’re okay, she’s a physics teacher, she’s not a necessarily history teacher or a biology teacher, but I think when you’re a teacher at heart, that’s really what matters most. So that’s very cool. And I’m also, I got a…
I gotta admit, I’m envisioning you and your mom, and I don’t know how tall your mom is, but I’m kind of have this picture in my head because you were pretty young. I’m guessing your mom, you and your mom standing around the globetrotters. I bet that I, did you get a picture of that? We do have, I will come and send to you to share it. I have a picture of them, my younger brothers. I was like on their knees. My mom was like on their bellies. They were huge. We were right there. It was weird because.
It was not usual to see these giant basketball players walking around in a group in the middle of the old town. So we definitely took a picture of us. And I think I have it, so I will have it shared with you. Maybe you can show it later to your audience. But it was, yeah. Oh, I can just, I can picture that. And I can picture everybody else in town, or in the area, right? As you’re walking around, I can picture everybody just looking like, okay, what is going on here? So.
And that would still happen today, even with all the visual images and stuff we see on the internet and TV. It’s still when you basketball players are just always kind of interesting when they show up. So anyway, thanks for sharing. Thanks for sharing that story. That was that was pretty cool. Was was your mom supportive of you getting into guiding? Yeah, yeah. Well, my father, he wanted me to get me into finance and economics. He’s an economist. So they were both related to numbers.
Um, but I was, uh, I guess I was a people person and I always wanted to, to get to know people. I’ve always wanted to go to places. I always wanted to travel as well. So I’ve been lucky enough to fulfill many of my dreams through my career, through my guiding, uh, profession. And, um, I guess this is just. Aim into my DNA, uh, being a host, as you said.
Jason Elkins (07:26.666)
somehow being a teacher and learning all these languages with her, learning some Portuguese, some French. Most of my English I learned from her. So I had the tools very early in my life. I remember when I was 15, going to the beach and talking to everybody who looked like a little blonde, blue eyes. I would come to them and talk to them in English.
Sometimes they were Argentinian, sometimes most of the time they were from other countries, from Europe or from US or any other countries. And we made super good relationships with them. At first with some of them, I also became a pen pal and started exchanging letters through mail service. And eventually, you know, technology came up and it was way easier to do it. But then when I started to think about becoming a guide.
My dad was on the, like, I don’t know, man, maybe this should be a nice hobby, but you should do economics because it’s going to make a good living out of it. But here we are, 20 years later, still passionate about it, still feeling like I’m not just a guy, I think I’m a host. When people come, I want to feel them welcome. I want to embrace my culture. I want to learn about it because myself,
been super lucky. I’ve had these kind of friends when I travel abroad or when I travel to other cities. I always meet people who are super generous with their knowledge, super generous with their time. And I just want to give back and be the same, be just a host and show them with passion what I know and learn from them as well. Of course, it’s just permanent exchanging knowledge and experiences.
enriches our lives. No, I agree with you completely. And I think it’s just one of those things about being a guide. There’s the heart of the teacher, but there’s also just, I mean, let’s be honest, most guides probably fit in that tiny little slice of the population that are outgoing, friendly, willing to walk up to strangers on a beach at 15 and just start conversations. Hey, where are you from? Where are you from?
Jason Elkins (09:49.91)
And which is what kind of makes it a lot of fun to be in this world of guiding and adventure tourism because the people that I’m working with and like this conversation now, for example, this was somebody that’s, I’m the same way. I just like, I wanna know everybody. I wanna learn everybody’s story. It could be the guy in the tienda. You know, I’m in Columbia right now and I walked down the street and pop in the tienda.
My Spanish isn’t that great, but I’ll spend 10, 15 minutes speaking to somebody that’s like, they, you know, something about my appearance, they recognize that maybe I’m not from here. And if they have any knowledge of the U.S. or sometimes even if they don’t, they just want to have that conversation. And I’m always so happy to do it. I walk out of there like, I know about their kids. I know about their uncle that lives in Manhattan and their plans to go visit when they get the visa. And it’s just, it’s so much fun. I just.
I get energy out of that. I can tell, you know, for those of our listeners that aren’t looking at your face when you tell these stories, I can clearly see it on your face as well. So that’s a lot of fun. I’m curious, do you have like a first, like what’s your first memory or let’s put it this way. What is your memory of the first time you actually made money as a guide? Do you remember that? Yeah, it was, well, it was very early before I got in college
in college. It was right after high school. And one of the people I was talking to at the beach, they said like, Hey, can you take me to Cotopaxi as well? And I have a car, I will pay good money, I will pick you up and drop you off. And of course.
Of course, why not? So it’s, you’re going to pay me for this? I love the big outdoors as well. So they say like, Oh, we’re going to do this. We’re going to go to Paxi. We went to not climbing it to the summit, but we want to hike around the place. So maybe if you’re free this Saturday, we can do that. So I went and yeah, after we visited Cotopaxi, they say, Oh, tomorrow we’re going to Otavalo as well. And my mom, she likes, she loves.
Jason Elkins (12:04.082)
traveling inside the country. She’s not that good for airplanes, but I was already familiar with this destination. So yeah, Sunday was perfect for me as well. They picked me up, dropped me off. And then at the end of the day, at the end of this weekend, they just kind of tip me. And it was the first time I was getting money for, you know, walking around places I love.
Jason Elkins (12:33.67)
I was, after I was done with high school, I stopped for a year. I was supposed to study abroad, but things happened and I had to stay, but I was not able to enter college right away. And throughout this year, I was supposed to study something different. I was related to the diplomatic school, so I wanted to be a diplomatic. Same thing, good with languages, traveling abroad. It was related.
I guess it was a people career as well, a social career. But then when this happened, I changed the switch and I said, I don’t want to study this anymore. I want to become a guide. I want to make this my profession. I want to make a living out of it. And yeah, it was super nice. So the first time was before getting into tourism as a professional career, and it just felt good. It just felt nice to be being paid for.
walking around in the big outdoors. Yeah, yeah. And making, and kind of making friends. That’s what’s always so interesting about it to me is like, there’s the outdoor. It’s really about the connection too, right? You’re out in a beautiful place, but you’re creating a connection with somebody that’s, you know, yes, it’s a livelihood. And many of us in this business, that’s how we make our living. And it’s like, how cool is it that we’re able to make a living making friends? You know, cause you’ve got.
What comes out of it is you’ve got a long list of friends from a bunch of different places in the world. And what a cool opportunity that creates. I’m curious, Santiago, was there anything along the way that you look back at it and think, man, that was a mistake? That was a kind of learning points or lessons either around tourism or just about you choosing your career path? Yeah, well, I couldn’t say, yeah, we all make mistakes.
I do not regret them though, because one of the things about learning from those mistakes, that makes it easier along the way. So not in my career, probably some decisions that I made like staying for way too long in some jobs that were related to tourism, like working in a hotel. I loved it. I met different people every day. I made some good friends.
Jason Elkins (14:59.618)
guests and workers that I hold up today close to my heart. So it was nice, but maybe staying for way too long, a couple of jobs, that’s the only thing that I say. Maybe it was about time to move different ways a little earlier, but other than that, I’ve learned from most of my mistakes. And also they took me to where I am right now. So I wouldn’t say I really regret it.
But well, if we had a chance to shuffle things around a little bit, I guess all of us. Yeah, hindsight is very good. My hindsight is 20-20. I know I’ve made a few tactical errors in the past. But like you, and like you, it’s hard to complain when we’re sitting here having this conversation that we’re having today about our opportunities that we’ve.
I guess been able to take advantage of or benefited from in tourism. I’m curious if there was someone listening right now that maybe has a similar background or maybe some of they had no exposure to tourism, but they’re listening to this because they want to figure out how do I get into it? How, you know, how do I get to, to do what Santiago is doing? And I know this is a general question because there’s a lot of different variables.
But what is the biggest piece of advice you give to somebody? And maybe it’s don’t stay in the wrong job too long. I don’t know. But what’s the biggest advice you give to young Santiago whose father says, you need to go to school for finance or this or that. And you’re like, but I want to do this. So what’s the best advice that you would give somebody? Well, I would say if you feel like you’re good at it, if you have a natural talent, if you’re a natural, go for it.
just go for it. Sometimes we just deny our natural skills that have been given to us. So my first piece of advice would be just go for it, give it a try, be persistent. Also, life is about being persistent. At first you start super motivated, but motivation washes away in a couple of months or weeks or whatever.
Jason Elkins (17:19.382)
But if you are persistent, you will achieve things in life. Sometimes you can feel it’s the wrong way for you, but if it makes you happy, things will happen for you. So my advice would be if you feel you’re unnatural, if you feel like you want to do it, just do it. Do it, go for it, do it. Stick with it, is what I hear you saying. Right, right. Because I’ve been around long enough to have…
had a lot of conversations with people that are working different, I want to, I guess I want to say traditional jobs. Not that I don’t think tourism is a job because it is. Um, but people that are working other traditional jobs that will say to me, man, I wish I could wish I could do that. Um, wish I could be involved in that. I did it for a summer.
But then, you know, my mom and dad said, OK, that’s enough. You had your summer. Let’s go. And now it’s time for you to go on to school and quote unquote get a real job. And they often are expressing how they’re frustrated that they made that choice. And 20, 30 years later, looking back at it, saying, man, I wish I would have kept going in that direction. So I get that completely. You know, one of the questions I wanted to ask you, because you had mentioned last time we spoke,
I want to talk a little bit about how the outdoors and being involved in the outdoors can help people kind of just deal with, I don’t want to say deal with personal issues, but for some reason, those are the words that are coming out of my mouth. So I want to ask you, what has the outdoors done for you? What do you think the outdoors does for people that want to push them, maybe push themselves? Because I know you’re a rock climber, so I’m not sure if that’s the direction you were going with the conversation.
But tell us a little bit more about your experiences with overcoming challenges and obstacles through your time in the outdoors.
Jason Elkins (19:16.37)
Yeah, for me, it’s been tremendously helpful to be in the big outdoors. It helps me heal in the, you know, whatever issues you have. It has always helped me to get in contact with nature, just being out there in the wild, in the big outdoors. It just helps with, say, self-contemplation. So it has helped me solving issues.
Because somehow being out there and feeling that small, realizing that sometimes my problems are, you know, I’m just a piece of a little piece of this big machinery in the universe. So being out there in awe, watching how immense nature is, how powerful nature is, makes me realize that sometimes my issues are not that big, my problems are not that big. And that’s…
in general with the big outdoors. But specifically when it comes to rock climbing, it helped me realize that I am more capable that I thought I would be, just because of overcoming the challenges that present yourself when you’re doing the climbing. You need imagination, you need problem solving skills, and you need to rely of someone else who is belaying you.
you need a partner that you have to rely on them with your life. So it taught me a lot of different lessons about my life. And I started climbing when I was 35. So before I was doing some mountains, bicycle riding, white water rafting, things related to adventure in nature. But when I started rock climbing, it opened a whole new mindset to me. Realizing that I am capable of overcoming challenges, realizing that I can trust
people with my life, those kind of things, and problem solving, all these skills that rock climbing gave me, I put them into my life, into my everyday life. And yeah, it just changed the way I looked at many different things happening in my life. Actually, it was for me, it was an eye opener in many ways. And I started enjoying as well being fit enough to overcome these challenges.
Jason Elkins (21:44.802)
So it worked on my mind, it worked on my body. And at the end of the day, when I feel a little on the blue side, always rock climbing, just touching the rock and feeling mother earth so close to me. It just helps me go through with my everyday life. What comes up for me when I listen to you is the importance of being present.
In the moment, especially when you’ve got other things like you said that are kind of weighing on you maybe interpersonal relationships finances, whatever it is. it’s really hard to think about those things when you’re out climbing a rock and you’ve got you know harness wrapped around you you’ve got someone else down below playing or whatever it’s that you’re really stepping into the present and that’s super important because.
That’s what we have. Everything we have really actually happens in the present, you know. So that’s pretty cool. And also just use the word awe. And I remember listening to someone not too long ago that was talking about the value of awe. And this person was suggesting that every day you should go out on an awe walk, I think is what he called it, and just go out there and find two or three things that just bring awe.
And it’s kind of forcing yourself to look at maybe a bird. Like this morning, I walked down to get coffee and a flock of parrots flew over. And I was like, I just stopped and looked at them and just, ah, that’s cool. Or it could be, man, this croissant is amazing. You know, whatever. But if we don’t force ourselves to do that, we get to the end of the day and we’re like, well, what did you experience today? And we can’t even tell you what we experienced because…
We were so hung up on what happened yesterday or so worried about what’s gonna happen tomorrow and the value of that awe and just, and rock climbing is such a perfect analogy for life anyway, about overcoming obstacles. We were just talking about being persistent. I said, what’s the piece of advice you give to somebody? Keep going. Well, guess what? That’s, I haven’t climbed a lot of mountains, but in my mind, you look at the guide and say, hey,
Jason Elkins (23:59.702)
I’m having this, you know, are we ever going to get there? And the guide’s going to say, yeah, if you just keep going one step after the other. And it’s a great analogy for life. So thanks for sharing that. What about, you know, you’ve been doing this for a while for a few different types of activities. You mentioned, you know, the rafting, all those different activities. I’m not sure where I’m going with this.
Other than I really want to touch on, because I am a firm believer it’s not. I mean, we’re talking about the mountain, the mountain has benefits. There’s a reason we go to the mountain, but I’m a firm believer that adventure tourism isn’t necessarily about the mountain, the river, the trees, the animals. It’s about the connection. And if that’s a connection with ourselves, a connection with our community, a connection with our family members, maybe that are sharing the experience with us. Connection with the guide, all these different things. So I want to touch in on.
connecting with the communities that you guys work with. And I’m sure you have some amazing stories. I can just envision you with some clients, meeting a family and just sitting down and having a glass of wine and some bread and just conversations. So tell us a little bit about the importance of the community and how that ties into tourism as well, if you would please. Of course. Yeah, first of all, I guess I forgot to mention
Being present is one of the things about adventure, because if you hesitate, if you have noise in your mind, noise happening there, things could go wrong if you’re not focused into what you’re doing at that exact time. And yeah, I forgot to mention being present, especially when rock climbing. What about communities? Of course, it took me a little while to realize that tourism affects community, where you make these activities.
So at first, yeah, when I was traveling, I was just, you know, staying in huts or tenting camps close to communities. They were super generous. They were embracing us as visitors. And then when I started working with these activities, I realized how much it could affect in both positive and negative ways, the local destinations that we were visiting. So what we wanted to do, and I’m talking maybe
Jason Elkins (26:24.578)
15 or 16 years ago is making our communities an active component of the places we visit. Because at the end of the day, rivers are everywhere, mountains are everywhere, experiences like this, they can happen outside in nature. And if each one experience will be super different from the others, but at the end of the day, you can find them everywhere. What makes places different is actually the people.
how rich their culture is, how rich their gastronomy is, the stories they have, which are just amazing. So that’s what make a place unique. Even if you’re a luxury traveler, at the end of the day, you will have nice, comfortable room, maybe a massage, but what makes memorable a trip, in my opinion, is when a trip becomes a journey. In order to become a journey, you have to go out different than you came in.
And that happens just when you relate to people, when you learn from people, when you have this deep immersive experiences with people. In order to do so, you rely on communities. Like even if you do it whitewater rafting, then you have lunch. And then for lunch, you just go to a place where a family opens their home. So starting from this little fact, they open their home for guests.
it’s already a very generous act, especially nowadays when people is just so disconnected because of technology. I mean, it connects us in different ways like so like this, like this podcast, which is connected people and it’s very interesting, but we can’t lose the ability to connect with real people in real time. Um, it has an extra value to be, to be there again, to be present. So, um, for me, it’s,
super important to relate with community, to talk to them, to learn from them. Maybe they will show me a place that I didn’t even know there exists because they are from there. They will tell me, oh, if you just walk 15 minutes forward, you will find this amazing landscape or this waterfall or anything that I didn’t even know that it was there. It was just through people, just through getting to know them, getting to experience with them, getting to share time with them
Jason Elkins (28:53.002)
uh enriches the experiences of the visitors and eventually you are not just a tourist then you become a traveler and it’s not just a trip it becomes a journey. Oh I goosebumps yes um and as I was hearing you say that I was like you’re absolutely right because there are so many cool places and I I’ve been fortunate to see quite a few of them and
The highlights of every single one of the trips is a moment sharing a connection with somebody. And I can think to, OK, I don’t know why this one popped into my head, but Victoria Falls in Zambia. It’s like, OK, that’s pretty spectacular. But if you said, Jason, we’re just going to drop you off by helicopter, we’re going to drop you off at Vic Falls. Nobody is going to be around you. You’re not going to talk to anybody. You’re not going to see anybody. You’re just going to be there by yourself.
Maybe even like, we’re gonna take your phone away so you can’t even share it on Instagram. It would be cool. It would be nice to see it. But oh my gosh, it would be about 1% of the experience that I could have if I’m there with maybe a family member or some friends or just other people that I’ve met that are traveling from around the world or the guide who’s telling me the story of when he was a little kid and his mom brought him there for the first time.
because she was guiding clients or something, her pen pal friends, or you think Mount Kilimanjaro or any of these amazing places, any of the mountains in Ecuador, the beaches, going there without anybody else around, for me anyway, and I can’t speak for everybody, but for me, that would be like, oh, I need to share it with somebody. And I appreciate that some people have the solitary, okay, I wanna climb that mountain by myself.
to see if I can and they’re connecting with themselves. So I’d still make the argument that it’s all about connection. They’re trying to connect with themselves, trying to overcome their stories or their biases that they have in their head about what they’re able to do, the desire to feel independent and all that stuff. But really it’s all about connection. So I appreciate that you shared that. And…
Jason Elkins (31:15.414)
Let’s touch on it because you said sometimes our exposure to these communities or our involvement with these communities can have a negative side and I’m sure you’ve seen that. I’m curious if you have any stories or observations that maybe the typical traveler doesn’t have but would benefit from because I know if we don’t know we don’t know and we show up and
Maybe it’s just a social, I don’t know, we show up in shorts and flip flops and they feel like we’re not respecting their temple, would be an example in Southeast Asia, perhaps, or there’s a lot of things like that come up. So I’m curious, maybe specific to Ecuador or other areas, what are a few things that you feel like travelers should know so that when they do show up in these communities, it fosters?
an understanding or it fosters positive sentiments.
Of course, I think one of the first things that I always highlight is that we are entering someone else’s space. So respect the destination you go. Don’t be just a lousy tourist. Don’t be loud. It’s not your place. It’s not your home anymore. And they are opening their homes. They’re opening their places. They’re opening their hearts to you. So
Be respectful, be a respectful traveler. Enjoy the company, learn their ways. Even learn a couple of words in their language. It will make them feel good, and it will make you feel good. Then you can connect easier. So go the extra mile, make an extra effort to get involved with what they do. And they’ve been living these ways most of the times when you go to these ancestral communities, most of their lives.
Jason Elkins (33:15.346)
and for generations they’ve been doing things this way, which means your way is not the only way. There are other ways to do things. So of course, yeah, don’t throw any, you know, don’t leader or these kinds of things are basic rules, but other than that, I would say respect their ways. Just admire the way they are, learn from them, and just assimilate it. And if it works for you in your life, then…
it in. But it doesn’t, it just doesn’t work for you. It doesn’t mean it’s wrong. It’s just different than what you think, than what you believe in the way you do things. They’re just different. So, yeah, I think the social impact with tourism, it’s a danger when it becomes so massive that it
Jason Elkins (34:14.67)
not pro-massive tourism for many reasons, not just cultural reasons, of course, natural reasons. There’s a low capacity for trails in nature out there. So everybody else that comes after you get the same experience that you had. They get to see the same things. They get to enjoy the landscapes, but they also get to enjoy the culture as rich as it is. So those are one of the possibly
The negative impacts of tourism, it’s becoming so massive that it starts deteriorating the relationships in the communities that you visit, or the natural landscapes. So always like, keep it under control, keep going, keep learning, keep doing things, keep traveling around the world. But start, the only thing that you should take from there, it’s just like good memories. And leave nothing else behind, you know.
Yeah, leave nothing but footprints, take nothing but photos or something I’ve seen. Yeah, no, that’s, um, it’s great. And one of the things you mentioned was learn a few words of the language. And I got to tell you, I started, I’ve been traveling for quite a while within the, you know, the industry and a couple of years ago, I became a full-time nomad and I, you know, sold all my stuff, bought a one-way ticket to Columbia and I’d never spoke more than maybe three words of Spanish. And so I’ve had the fortune of seeing.
the progression for me as far as how I’m received into the community now, now that I can speak some Spanish compared to the very beginning when I first got here. And my biggest observation is the amount of social interaction I have increases proportional to the amount of, to the number of words that I know in Spanish. I don’t know how else to say it. And so the example of that is
You know, if I walk into a tienda or a little market or a restaurant or really anywhere, and I open my mouth, because I don’t look like I’m from here, and a lot of people maybe that look like me don’t really make a huge effort to speak the language. So when I show up and I’m trying, and I’m, and they, people overhear me, it’s weird, because I’ll walk in and like, I started speaking maybe with the shop owner.
Jason Elkins (36:39.186)
and other people in the shop will look over and just smile. They’re just like happy to see that, hey, this guy’s trying or they’re laughing at me. I don’t care, whatever. But what I’ve noticed is that if I’m trying, all of the sudden they wanna try. It allows because my Spanish is not perfect. I suspect if I walked in and my Spanish was perfect, they probably, there would be one level of interaction. But when I walk in and I’m trying,
and it’s clear that I’m trying and making an effort, amazingly, all of the sudden, they’re willing to make an effort with their English. Because if I just walk in and I’m like only English, like nobody speaks English, nobody wants to try and speak English with me. I walk in, I speak a handful of Spanish words, and all of a sudden the English starts creeping in. Because the reality is their English may even be better than my Spanish. And I’m giving them permission.
to be vulnerable with their English because a lot of them are insecure about their English. You don’t have a lot of opportunities to practice it. So they’re not likely to jump in and start speaking to you in English if they feel like they’re gonna be judged or if they’re embarrassed. But if you’re making a little bit of effort, all of a sudden they’re willing to make an effort. And it just like, you kind of see the light in their eyes. It’s like, sweet, I have a chance to practice a little English with somebody who’s Spanish isn’t very good.
So they’re not going to judge me. And we’ve got this little bit of dialogue going on. And it just makes my days so much more enjoyable as I move through the day having interactions like that. So the reason I share that, and you already know this, you see this. You have a lot more language skills than I do. And I’m just sharing this because, yeah, if you’re traveling to another country, do. You will have a much better experience if you learn like 10 words. If you can say hello.
Please, thank you. Do you have just a handful of words? And you’ll have like, your experience will be 10 times better than if you just walk in there with your Google Translate on your phone, trying to get people to read it. So I’m happy you brought that one up. I think that’s a really good one. And if I may, about, if you like, about 10 things, there’s one thing that you should always learn when you’re traveling abroad. There’s a big tip.
Jason Elkins (39:03.01)
for your audience. Thank you, goes a long way. Hello, please. Yeah, all of those go a long way. But one thing that I’ve learned through traveling is a phrase that always need to know in local language, where’s the bathroom? Where’s the toilet? That’s one of the things to do everywhere you go. I mean, you can like.
Yeah, the hand and arm signals, body language with I gotta go to the bathroom. You know, that reminds me and I don’t know why I’m sharing this, but I’m going to. I was in Venezuela. This was before I really made any effort to learn Spanish. But I was in Venezuela. I’d been there a few times and I had a moment, you know, of things that happen, Travelers Diary. And I’m on this little island off the north coast of Venezuela. They really do not speak a lot of English.
Jason Elkins (39:55.786)
Medicine for whatever I had I knew the word ammonium But apparently ammonium is not a real common word So it didn’t get me very far and I was in there as I you know Do you have a modium and they just looked at me blank stare and so I found myself using body language to try and explain What was wrong with me and what I needed and as I go and you know
And then they gave me this medicine. Of course, everything was in Spanish. And I’m like, okay. And then I left and I started thinking, I hope they interpreted that the way I was sending the message and didn’t think I was just constipated. Cause I could see where the body language would look the same, right? And if they think I’m constipated, we’re gonna have a much bigger problem. And it was, yeah. And I’ve noticed since I started speaking Spanish, I’m perfectly comfortable walking in and I don’t.
know every word, but I am confident that we’re going to figure it out. I’m not going to walk out with something to help my constipation when I really need something to help with something else. So anyway, what made me think to share that? So yes, it is good to know how to say where’s the bathroom. And one of my favorite ones I love about the language, especially, you know, Spanish is, I really think that part of why the Spanish, the Latino culture is so connected and so social is because of the language.
I mean, you just listen to the words. Once you start to learn a language, you start to realize, oh, that’s why they’re also social because words matter. If your language, you know, for example, in Columbia, if you say, you know, thank you, muchas gracias, they’re gonna respond with con mucho gusto, with much pleasure. That’s how they say you’re welcome, with much pleasure. Like that’s pretty cool. That’s like, we don’t have that in every language. And when they use words like that,
It actually reinforces the way they deliver their service because they believe that that’s what it’s all about, is to do it with pleasure, with my pleasure, that type of thing. So language is great. So I definitely encourage people to do that. And I’ll be honest, when I went to Southeast Asia this past spring, I fell short. I got about three words. It was a little bit mind blowing. So maybe Spanish is a little easier than jumping into Thai or something.
Jason Elkins (42:15.946)
One of the things you mentioned that I do want to touch on, because you had mentioned it last time as something that you wanted to touch on, and that’s terrorism and how it impacts, was it terrorism or tourism that you told me? I don’t know, but I think you’d written down terrorism. So what was behind that? It might have been maybe tourism. Oh, okay. Yeah. Maybe that’s why I was confused. Maybe I was type of there. Yeah. Okay, well, is there anything you want to discuss about terrorism?
The way you’d written it in some notes, I’d asked you, you know, Hey, is there any particular topic you want to discuss? And you actually wrote down communities and maybe I just read it wrong because I don’t have my glasses on, but yeah. Okay. Well that answers that. So we don’t need to talk about that unless you get something. No. Okay. Good. That’s for another podcast. All right. Right. Cool. That’s, that’s great. And just real quick, I want to make sure that everybody listening to this has a clear idea of what is amazing Ecuador.
It’s a DMC. So I’m going to let you explain what DMC means because we’ve got some people here that know some other people that don’t know some people that like to know so educate us on what DMC is how that works and then tell us a little bit more about amazing. That could work before we wrap.
Sure thing. So in the travel industry there are different components. Different, yeah, components, I’d say. So at DMC too, we are a destination management company. So basically what we do is that we stay local, we are very knowledgeable about the specific location, and then we welcome travelers from other places.
and show them around, but we are the local connection. So even if you’re having a trip booked through your, you know, the travel agent you trust or a company you trust back home, let’s say in the US, so you know a travel agent that you have traveled before with them, it’s impossible for them to do the job in every location you send your travelers, your tourists. So they have to rely on local companies
Jason Elkins (44:29.538)
to make operations and that’s what we do. We are kind of the logistics, the local logistics company for other companies or other travel agents around the world who maybe have been here most of the time we work with people who travel a lot. They’ve been here, they get to know us, they trust us and then they start sending their friends, let’s say to Ecuador and the Galapagos. So that’s my field of expertise, Ecuador, Galapagos and at DMCs, that’s what we do.
We are the destination management company. We are the local partners. And what we do is in a way, our platform we have is just business to business. So we don’t really work with the selling process to a final traveler, to a final client. That’s on the opposite side of the spectrum. That’s what our partners do in India.
in the US market, in the European market, in the British market, they get these relationships with the local travelers. And once they confirm their trip, it’s in our hands to make the dreams happen. It’s a very interesting job because at the end of the day, usually what the information we receive is interests, motivations, and the window of time they have to travel.
And we are super happy because we can kind of build up a personalized itinerary for every person traveling to Ecuador and the Galapagos. So we don’t have actually these group departures, set departures, set itineraries. Everything we do is super tailor-made. It just fits the same way, the way you want to enjoy your trip and have these immersive experiences.
related to your personal interests. So what I’m saying is at the end of the day, if you are into fishing, then probably your trip will have one or two stops where you actually get to fish with local communities. Sometimes will be catch and release, like piranhas in the Amazon, or sometimes it will be like, you know, cooking on the open ocean with a local family who are artisanal fishermen in the Galapagos.
Jason Elkins (46:52.278)
So you will get to see this experience. It’s not just going to the Galapagos, being on a cruise or being in a hotel, getting to see the fauna and being back. You get to connect with local people, local fishermen that do what they do every day for make a living out of it. So they fish for make a living out of it. It’s different when you do it just, you know, for tourism purposes, rather than when you do it every day. So what we want to do is to deliver this.
everyday experiences with people. So they get to connect, they get to see the way they live, the limitations they have, but the rich experiences they also have. So every trip will be customized tailored to the motivations you have for the trip. Either this is a multi-generation trip that you want to connect, maybe grandma with their grandkids, or if they want to live a close connection to
community because you’re into these cultural expressions. So there will be always these components inside your trip that will try to make your dreams come true. Your expectations will get to become true. It’s a nice way of make a living because at the end of the day you can see the spark in their eyes when they.
reach those dreams, would they fulfill those dreams? And yeah. I wanna ask you this because sometimes in a lot of different industries, people have opinions about why would I work with so-and-so when I can just go direct, right? So let’s have this conversation because it’s valuable. Because what I hear you saying is, I mean, I know enough about the industry, I’m gonna put it in my own words that
You guys handle the logistics. You’re the ones that make it happen. And then your partners, maybe in the US, let’s just say, for example, are the ones that focus on the marketing to make sure that the clients can find the trip, that they focus on maybe some of the handling of the money, the accounting, the initial sales process. And then you guys are the ones that make it happen. So some people in the industry will say, well,
Jason Elkins (49:14.826)
We actually own the lodges, we own the operation. You should just book directly with us. Don’t book through anybody else. And I get that. That’s their business model. I get that. And I’ve, I guess it’s an analogy. I see the value, cause I, you know, I ran a, what we call an outbound tour operator in the U.S. We worked with a lot of DMCs in other countries. So we would put together some itineraries, working with the DMCs, put together some itineraries that we thought were, you know, appealing, market them.
have the conversations with our clients. And then when they were interested in a particular trip, you’d go to our partners and customize it, tweak it to make it really customized. And then that’s how it worked. And then our DMC partners would handle logistics. They would be the ones, pick them up at the airport, make sure everything, basically once they get on the plane on their way to Ecuador, it’s like, you guys got it. You’re in charge. And of course there’s a lot of communication back and forth. I think it’s a brilliant plan.
And my analogy is, just for anybody that’s listening to this, just to help kind of understand my thinking, it’s kind of like a restaurant. Like I go into a restaurant, I’m not going to directly to the person that’s making my food, right? He’s back, he’s in the kitchen or she’s in the kitchen. Right? So I walk in and I meet the hostess or the host. They show me to my table, I sit down, they gave me the menu. That’s the outbound tour operator. They’re the ones, you know, they put the sign out in front of the building.
Come on in, have a seat, let us answer any questions. Here’s our menu, here’s our recommendations. And then they go put the order in with the kitchen and the kitchen takes his response for logistics of preparing the food, getting the food ready and that type of thing. So in that scenario, people are perfectly happy to not discuss directly with the person that’s making their food, what they want in the food. So there’s a trust thing there. And this happens in a lot of areas.
And I think that for the conversation around DMCs and outbound tour operators, it’s kind of the same thing. You know, a lot of people are, there’s a lot of benefits and reasons why you might wanna work with a outbound tour operator on the US, somebody like, you know, an intrepid travel or classic journeys or, you know, any of them really that work with DMCs. So I’m just throwing out that out there. So if you’re looking for trips, trying to figure out what to do.
Jason Elkins (51:41.926)
I would say don’t hesitate to work with an outbound tour operator. Yeah, the person picking you up at the airport is not their W2 employee. I get it. But they’ve established these strong relationships for a reason. And there’s a lot of benefits to working directly with the outbound tour operator. So any of my outbound tour operator friends who are listening to this will probably be happy that I’m bringing that up. Is there anything you want to add to that, Santiago? Because I know your relationship with your outbound tour operators is important.
And I’m sure you’ve had people reach out to you directly and say, hey, we saw this trip and we know you guys are the ones that are executing it. So can we just do it with you? Do we get a better deal? Is it cheaper? That type of thing. So what would you like to share? Yeah, so we are super clear about the platform we have. So we would never compete with our clients. At the end of the day, my client…
is the outbound tour operator in the US. It’s the travel agent in London. They are my clients. The ones who could get the benefit of the trip, of course, are travelers. But my client, the one with I want to establish a long-term relationship in terms of business-wise, is going to be the company that sends me all these tourists and travelers to Ecuador. So I will always respect that channel. And how does that benefit the traveler? Because I think that there’s a benefit there as well, because.
Of course, I as if I as a traveler, I’m just I don’t know why it’s in my head. One of my partner, you know, I’ve got a connection with Intrepid. So I’m just going to say, Trumpet Intrepid sends you guys a lot of clients. If they send you a client and that client has a problem, you’re going to bend over backwards, you’re going to pull to pull out all the stops to make sure that client has an amazing experience and whatever situation has arisen.
is taken care of because you know darn well that they’re going to go back to Intrepid and say, Hey, we had this issue with the transfer. We had this, that, this, whatever. So really it’s to the client’s benefit because they, they’ve got the whole buying power of Intrepid travel behind them as opposed to being a one-off client that booked through your website and might write a bad review or something like that. And I’m not, that’s important too. I just, I think there’s a benefit to the client and I think it’s worth hearing that. Would you agree? Of course.
Jason Elkins (53:59.882)
Of course, it’s, I mean, at the end of the day, I would always, always suggest arranging, you know, arranging a trip through a travel agent, through a company. Because when things are, when things go well, they just go well. They are seamless because someone is doing all the job behind the stage to make it happen. But when you are doing things on your own and things go wrong, that’s when you really feel like.
Oh, I should have. Wish you had a partner. I got this with my troll agent, instead of doing a, and about even with, I guess price wise, it’s not really, really that cheap because we’ve been working with, the way it works, we work with a lot of restaurants, hotels, guides, drivers, even myself, I’m part of this value chain. So we got super great deals to put together these itineraries that you will never get if you go directly because let’s say,
A hotel. You will book the best available rate at the hotel, but the deal that we have as local GMCs is going to be way better. So even price-wise, it’s not going to make a big difference because these companies, they have great deals with the local suppliers. So it will be at the end of the day. It will not be much more expensive, but you will have everybody walking on the back of the stage, behind the scenes.
to make everything happen. And at the end of the day as well, you may not see the difference when things go well. And that’s the idea. We like to make it seamless. But- In the hotel, I’m imagining the hotel, you show up and the hotel accidentally overbooked. Who are they gonna book? Who are they gonna book first? Right? The person who booked through booking.com for the night, or one of the many clients that happens to be there. Or who?
that’s under amazing Ecuador’s arrangement or whatever. It’s that booking.com one’s gonna be like, okay. Oh, sorry, we’ll pull up tonight. Yeah, I guess who’s going to get the upgrade if the suite is available? Who’s going to get the upgrade? The grade is going to go to someone who is using regular customers rather than one time. It’s all about communications, right? Or connections on both sides of this deal. So I love that we had that conversation.
Jason Elkins (56:27.538)
Maybe there’s other people out here listening that might disagree and that’s okay. This is just about sharing Perspective tips and some feedback. So I appreciate you there I feel like you and I could probably do five more episodes and maybe we get to come back and do that at some point But I’m curious what else is there anything I should have asked That I failed to ask or that you just want to make sure that our listeners here before we wrap this up second Well
Um, I, yeah, I think we have, we can have a chance to talk more and more. I mean, last time we talked, it was super nice and this has been also a super nice conversation. So just like this, thanking you for the, uh, for opening these spaces for people who maybe never traveled before. And this will encourage them to travel. This was, this podcast will encourage them to discover other places, other cultures, other gastronomies.
Um, but other than that, I guess we have covered a lot of basics and, um, yeah, thank you for doing this for tourism. It’s a beautiful industry. I’m in love with tourism and I’m super happy. I just took this road, uh, years ago because it means it’s been, um, very welcoming at first, and now I’ve met a lot of friends throughout the world. Thanks to these beautiful industry. So, um, thank you for doing this job.
Thank you for putting up tourism. Thank you for showing Ecuador as well. And yeah, I guess that would wrap it up. Thank you so much. I appreciate the kind words. And that’s exactly why I’m doing this as in the business name, big world made small. It’s really about, because the world is a big place and it just, every time we take a trip, every time we connect with someone from a different culture, that world gets a little bit smaller in a really, really good way.
And I’m a firm believer that the more people that travel and connect with other cultures, I mentioned the word terrorism earlier, you know, I mean, it’s conflict and things like that tend to go down as people become more in touch with other communities. When you see other people as people and realize that they have a lot of the same wants and needs, desires and all that stuff and concerns, it just kind of changes the way you see the world. And having folks like yourself on the show to…
Jason Elkins (58:51.458)
to kind of expose us to you, your story, and Ecuador, and other things that we talked about is really a huge part of it. If it was just me sitting here talking for an hour, I’m pretty sure we wouldn’t have got past two episodes. So thank you so much for being a part of it and sharing your wisdom. And I look forward to, I’m just up the road in Columbia. So I’ll bounce down and see you here pretty soon, Santiago. Thank you so much for joining us. Thank you so much Jason. And you know you’re always welcome in Ecuador with open arms. It would be great to, you know,
Maybe have a copy of a cup of coffee or a beer sometime soon in the disco sour, Pisco sour. Okay. Yeah. Oh, we have kind of lasso. You have to try kind of last. So when you arrive, yeah, this is the first thing you’re going to have will be a kind of, okay. I love it for sure. Sounds like a deal. I will take you up on that. I’ll see you real soon. Thanks, Santiago. Thanks.
Follow 205+ Leaders and the Stories That Shape the Adventure Travel World on the Big World Made Small Podcast
Access the stories here, or on your favorite platform; wherever you prefer.
Get Expert Interviews Delivered Directly to Your Inbox
Join the Big World Made Small Adventure Travel Podcast community and we’ll send you new podcast episodes weekly, and make sure you hear about exclusive and relevant opportunities that you won’t find elsewhere.