Everyone has their Galápagos moment. And mine I owe to Metropolitan Touring.   Of course, those fortunate enough to work in the Enchanted Isles like me are eternally grateful for the opportunity. So let me tell you my unforgettable experience...

It was really early in the morning and we were arriving at Bartholomew Island. I noticed that many of our guests were heading up to the deck, so I followed them out of curiosity.  To my complete and utter surprise...

Let’s go back to 1998 and the most particular wedding that was celebrated on 22nd October of that year. As captain of the Santa Cruz, I was asked specifically to marry a couple, both citizens of the United States. They arrived on board as happy as can be and ready...

I was brought on board Metropolitan Touring, as many people in the company know, to take care of the Jacchigua Folkloric Ballet. It was a very new product at the time, it took place in the Teatro Sucre, and was staged by dance and art director Rafael Camino. I was in charge of selling...

I’ve been a guide at Metropolitan Touring since the early 1980s and the question has come up, of course, what does it mean to be a guide? I guess I could try to answer it with concepts, but I have a story that maybe sums it up in a more poetic, eloquent way. It happened some 25...

I clearly remember my first fur seals, rays, sharks, seahorses, and hammerheads. But nothing compares to the indescribable feeling of having the largest fish in the world right in front of me. The whale shark is a monument to biomass! The experience transcends sight...

We’re a football/soccer nation. Everyone, even those who don’t watch the sport, know the names of the emblematic players… after football, comes tennis maybe… and then the Olympics… but in terms of sports fans, few are really into rugby...

Due to the never-ending energy Eduardo had and my inability to follow him, I called our visit to agents and tour operators through the United States in a matter of days, "the death march." I vividly remember one day in particular, when Eduardo flew very early to Kansas City...

Hacienda La Avelina became one of the important destinations during our first years promoting mainland Ecuador. I had asked my brother Carlos, who rented the property from the Plaza Lasso family, to adapt the site for guests to stretch their legs, use the bathroom or relax...

Every guide has their story involving a ditzy question or comment a tourists told or asked during a trip. They aren’t that common, and that’s why we remember the one thing so well. Maria Delia Cárdenas has that story of the lady that was sitting at a dock...

From a very young age, in the company of the few brothers that, at the time, made up the Proaño Salvador ‘conglomerate’, we spent our holidays at a very nice, small hotel, the 'Golden Falcon', in Pompano Beach, Florida....