The Chris Voss Show - The Chris Voss Show Podcast – Fernando Diez – Quasar Expeditions, Marketing Director on Galapagos Islands & Patagonia Trips of a Lifetime

Episode Date: November 21, 2023

Fernando Diez – Quasar Expeditions, Marketing Director on Galapagos Islands & Patagonia Trips of a Lifetime Quasarex.com From their website: "At Quasar Expeditions, our vision is to create aut...hentic, exclusive, unique, and meaningful land and sea experiences for adventurous travelers like you. Voted the #1 Small Ship Ocean Cruise Line by Travel+Leisure for the past 6 years, we’ve spent over 3 decades serving those who delight in travel, not tourism. Guests come to us seeking layers of depth and contrast: meaningful interactions with humans and the earth, well-appointed accommodations, unparalleled adventures, five-star cultural cuisine, and awe-inspiring wildlife encounters. In turn, Quasar travelers become not only expedition enthusiasts, but conservators. From hand-picked naturalist guides to the friendliest staff you’ll ever meet, our team is comprised of passion. Whether you’re exploring Galapagos, Patagonia, Chile, Ecuador, or Peru, we promise authentic experiences and lifetime memories." Biography Born and raised amidst the natural wonders of the Galapagos Islands, Fernando Diez is a proud Ecuadorian who has dedicated his adult life to sharing the unique beauty and rare wildlife of this enchanting archipelago with adventurous travelers from every corner of the globe. Fernando is the proud son of the founders of Quasar Expeditions, a high-end expedition cruising company that pioneered small group travel in the Galapagos Islands 37 years ago. His parents dream? To show this precious eco system to the world, ensuring its preservation for future generations through responsible tourism. Beyond his role at Quasar Expeditions, Fernando is loving father of 3, a proud husband and a man of many passions. He is a skilled photographer, an avid scuba diver, a high-altitude climber and overall just a lover of nature and the outdoors. A natural story teller at heart, Fernando has an ability to bring the stories of this unique archipelago to life, connecting listeners with the magic of the place that possessed Charles Darwin's mind.

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Starting point is 00:02:01 chrisfossfacebook.com. Way to amazing gentleman on the show. Fernando Diaz joins us today. He's a Galapagos Islands gentleman who is a proud Ecuadorian. He's dedicated his adult life to sharing the unique beauty and rare wildlife of his enchanting uh uh adventurous travel uh site uh to help people go from all over the globe and everything that they take and do uh and i think i didn't get his title uh fernando what's your title there i'm the director of marketing at quasar and i'm also second generation it's a family-owned company started by my parents.
Starting point is 00:02:45 There you go. Quasar Expeditions. And he's been doing this for a while. He's the proud son of the founders and a high-end expedition cruising company, Quasar Expeditions, that pioneered a small group travel in the Galapagos Islands 37 years ago. His parents dreamt to show the precious ecosystem to the world, ensuring its preservation for future generations through responsible tourism. And behind his role, he is a loving father of three, a proud husband, and man of many passions.
Starting point is 00:03:20 He is a skilled photographer, avid scuba diver, and high altitude climber, and overall just a lover of nature and outdoors. Welcome to the show, Fernando. How are you? Thank you, Chris. Thanks for having me. I'm doing very well today. There you go. And give us your dot coms. How can people find you on the interwebs?
Starting point is 00:03:34 Yeah, the easiest is just go to our website. So quasar, Q-U-A-S-A-R, ex.com, quasarex.com. There you go. So give us a 30,000 overview of what you guys do there and how you do it. Yeah. So Quasar pioneered high-end yacht cruising in the one-of-a-kind Galapagos Islands 37 years ago. It was actually started by my two parents with, as you mentioned before, the dream of showing this gem of the world to people from pretty much all corners of the planet who had an interest on nature, wildlife and the outdoors. You know, back in the days when they started, it was impossible to actually explore this archipelago.
Starting point is 00:04:21 There were there was no electricity. There was only one flight out to the islands. But it was was their dream to do that and it was very difficult back then it's a lot easier now but for the last 37 years we've been showing this place to you know people interested in and seeing what the galapagos islands have to offer there you go and so you guys create a safari stylestyle luxury adventure and tour in South America? Exactly. So we basically don't really refer to ourselves as a Galapagos cruise company, even though essentially, yes, it is cruises that we're offering.
Starting point is 00:04:58 But we call these safari-style yet adventures because it's very different from your regular definition of a cruise. As a matter of fact, we sometimes tell people that these are cruises for people who hate cruising. And essentially what we offer is this safari style concept where just like an African safari, it's an intimate group of individuals exploring these national parks, going out to see the wildlife each day, and really immersing themselves in that intimate setting and just watching nature do its thing from a safe setting with the leadership of a great guide. And so that's what we do, but on board ships. And you've got several different things you do here. You've got the Galapagos cruises, the gray shot,
Starting point is 00:05:49 the evolution yacht, different things people can do. The Patagonia, Patagonia safaris, where you can go to different places. The pictures on your website are extraordinary, just incredibly beautiful. And then you guys have an Instagram
Starting point is 00:06:05 account as well that you guys put stuff on as well as your Twitter. How do people engage with working with you guys? How do they onboard? It looks like on your website, they can contact a specialist. How can they learn more about what they can do there? And do you work with travel agents as well? Yeah, exactly. So we work with travel agents and, you know, B2C direct. So if anybody wants to get in touch with us, all they have to do is, you know, there's numbers on our website, live chat. You can schedule a call with our team. But the best way to really go about this is really to talk to an expert. You know, these are remote destinations that it's not like going to, you know, Expedia or
Starting point is 00:06:50 another booking engine and just, you know, booking a trip. It's not like the hotel. And then I'll figure out the tour on my own. Um, these are more complicated trips with a lot of moving parts. And so you gotta coordinate the flights properly get your expectations right pack um you know properly know what you're going to do every day um and of course you'll be in a remote location so it's important that you make sure that in terms of like health and safety it all aligns with you know what it is what you want whether you're traveling with a spouse or partner with family or whoever it is so yeah that's the best way to go about it but it always starts with the just a deep desire or interest to see the destinations that we have we rarely get people you know coming up to us and
Starting point is 00:07:36 saying oh well i've never heard of patagonia tell me a little bit no or the same thing with galapagos you know they've heard of the place and they've sort of heard about us or they found us on the web and just they they want to know how we do galapagos how we do pedagonia and then obviously we determine if we're a right fit for them or if they're a right fit for us and that's how the magic happens and you know how we're able to get the reviews that we get there you go why is the galapagos galapagos the best place to see in the world and seeing wildlife and what makes it so special yeah so often people refer to wildlife in the galapagos as being different from everywhere else in the world but the reality is that wildlife in galapagos
Starting point is 00:08:22 is today as it once was you know maybe hundreds or thousands of years ago before humans invaded, you know, their habitat before we started hunting them or killing them or driving off to other places. And so the islands, because they're 600 miles off the coast of Ecuador, you know, in isolated in the Pacific, they were untouched by humans for a long, long time. And so humans, the animals there never learned to fear us. And literally, you know, it's prohibited by the Galapagos National Park, but you could literally touch every single animal. The birds don't fly away. You know, the sea lions, they come up to you, the iguanas, the penguins, the sea turtles. There isn't one animal there that is afraid of humans, and it's magical because we're used to the opposite, right? So it looks beautiful.
Starting point is 00:09:12 I'm looking through your Instagram and everything else. It looks like there's just an extraordinary amount of variation. Like there's beautiful vistas. There's mountain peaks that are just unlike any mountains I've seen anywhere. Beautiful beaches, beautiful bays, just a variety of stuff. And everything just looks so pristine. Yeah. And that applies, you know, to both Galapagos and Patagonia.
Starting point is 00:09:40 These places are absolutely beautiful. Whether it's the wildlife or the landscapes, Patagonia has something very unique that the extremes of the planet have. Places like Alaska, the poles, Greenland, Iceland, there's a lot of dramatic landscape in this part of the world. And that's really what Patagonia is about when it comes to landscapes and then Galapagos the fact that these islands are volcanic and that millions of years have eroded the islands in very different shapes and forms it also gives way to some spectacular landscapes there are some islands where you literally feel like you're in the moon you know walking the moon um so yeah the definitely the landscape is varied yeah there's even a picture i see on your instagram that shows it looks like a meteor hit it or something it looks like a huge divot yeah and those are exactly those are
Starting point is 00:10:39 craters that you know the galapagos it's a volcanic hot spot so it's covered in craters some of them you know are dormant volcanoes so they're now the craters are flooded you know they're lakes or they're animals living in there or they're covered in vegetation and then others the last eruption was only a couple of years ago so others are completely covered in solidified lava with no vegetation because they erupted you you know, just a couple of years ago. There you go. And it looks like the yachts and stuff are, you know, they're not these big giant things that you go on with Carnival Cruises and all that good stuff. And you're just like living in a small city.
Starting point is 00:11:19 They look very personable, very intimate, and they look like something where you can actually enjoy yourself. And you don't have a bunch of screaming people running around you, maybe. Yeah. Yeah. So, well, in Galapagos, the largest ship size is just 100 passengers. Oh, really? Yes. But Quasar, our largest ship is only 32 passengers.
Starting point is 00:11:56 And while for most people, maybe their idea of cruising a 100 passenger ship may seem intimate in a place like Galapagos that is very fragile and the visitor sites are small. 100 people can be the equivalent of 1000 to 2000 people on the big ships you know you can quickly overcrowd a visitor site on larger ships which is why since the very very beginning since you know 1986 we've always offered intimate adventures you know small groups and this is why you know travel and leisure we've been fortunate enough to be voted the number one intimate cruise company for the last six years because that's the type of travel that is necessary to really immerse yourself and discover the best of the galapagos it has to be in a small ship yeah i i would have a hard time enjoying a cruise with a bunch of crew uh screaming kids running around and you know just it would just take away from it and i think i think it's more interval yeah travel travel and leisure has you guys a 2023 world's best awards.
Starting point is 00:12:49 Um, I mean, just the pictures say, if you want, this is what those believe it. Go see the pictures on, uh, um,
Starting point is 00:12:56 on, uh, Instagram for you guys's account, uh, on quasar, uh, ex. It is extraordinary to look at and the variety of stuff like it's just
Starting point is 00:13:07 it's so insane how how much variety there is um you can see everything and anything now do you guys um do you guys have certain hotels or setups that you use uh people visit in what's the what's the stay like when it comes to lodging yeah so you know in the galapagos even though there are hotels uh we are a cruising company um precisely because that is the best way to explore the galapagos so even though you can stay in a hotel and often our guests do stay in a hotel pre or post cruise as a way to maybe enjoy the port towns or the islands. But if you really want to see evolution at work and you want to see the best of Galapagos, you need to take a cruise because the islands are actually far removed from one another.
Starting point is 00:13:53 And so while, you know, you basically you're navigating each night to a different island and you wake up in a different place. Otherwise, you know, if you stay in a hotel, you have to take these day tours from the hotel to only to a handful of visitor sites that are close to port, the ones that are far removed, which have been far removed since the beginning of time to the, you know, the inhabited areas. Humans, of course, never had so much access to those points. So at least in my opinion, the islands that are farthest from the central islands where people actually live, they are the most interesting ones. And it's worth noting that in Galapagos National Park where you have, you can only disembark at certain times of the day and you have to be back on board by certain times of the day.
Starting point is 00:14:50 So the animals rule the world in that 97% of the, you know, the Galapagos. And that's where we do all our expeditions. It's really where guests in their kingdom. There you go. And I imagine that contributes to the sustainability of this and, you know, it keeps things pristine where, you know, you don't have humans just running over things, destroying ecology and stuff like that. Yeah, exactly. So, you know, as Ecuadorians, we're very proud of the way the Galapagos National Park was set up from the very beginning, from the late 50s. They've done an excellent job of properly managing, you know, the demand, the growing demand that has always existed for, you know, tourism to the Galapagos. And so you have this cap, basically, of how many
Starting point is 00:15:40 people can visit the Galapagos per year. And that's why, you know, that's one reason why the Galapagos is an expensive destination. there's more demand than there actually is supply but at the same time it's the reason why the islands uh are still they're pristine and um it just you know we want to keep it that way for sure most definitely now uh it says here you guys have 8 to 15-day type cruises available, private charters, family cruises, photography cruises, so themed basically cruises, honeymoon cruises. Those must be nice. Autism dedicated cruise.
Starting point is 00:16:18 That's very interesting. Yeah. So we offer all types of departures. You know, we believe that Galapagos should be for everyone. Right. So if you're a family, you'll probably want to travel during the summer when there are more families on board. If you want one of the nice things about the size of our boats. Most people don't have 100 friends or 100 family members to charter a 100-passenger ship. But 18 or 32 within the family is a possibility. So actually, our ships get chartered a lot by groups of family or friends or VIP clients that want to have the entire ship for themselves. And probably a great wedding cruise, right? Maybe? Or honeymoon cruise, as you say.
Starting point is 00:17:11 Yeah. Probably a great wedding cruise. I mean, does anybody have weddings down there? It sounds like a dumb question. Yeah. No, no. They do. Yeah. You get to have the guests with you for the entire week. As you said, we offer eight-day and 15-day cruises. So the weddings, you know, they normally happen either in the middle of the cruise or at the beginning. And then you get to spend time with the guests. But our captains, you know, they're all ordained to be able to marry. And there are actually some photos there on Instagram of weddings that we've had aboard the ship. Wow.
Starting point is 00:17:50 Yeah. actually some photos there on instagram of weddings that we've had aboard the ship wow and yeah if i got married i'm not i can't afford to get married because the divorce is i'm still saving up for the divorce but uh uh that looks like a beautiful place to get married in i mean it really does it looks extraordinary um it certainly is if you wanted a place that's memorable now i've got several friends that uh are either autistic or they have children that are autistic. I love this concept of the unique cruise dedicated to children with special needs. Tell us how that works. Yeah, so that was a dedicated departure. There was a family that came with us several years ago, and they were surprised how the proximity of the wildlife changed their child over the course of the week. And you've heard of equine therapy, where horses are used to treat kids with autism.
Starting point is 00:18:40 Somehow the Galapagos wildlife did that for this child and so together with an uh uh special needs expert we designed this cruise uh she is the tour leader of the cruise and it's only for uh families who have children with autism so you know everybody on board gets you nobody there is judging anybody if the kid you know just happens to have one of these difficult moments. We dedicated a departure for these families because they deserve it. It's like the truth is many of these families never actually dared to go on these trips because they were afraid of what perhaps others would think if their child had a difficult moment. So this departure was specific to them, and it was a real success. There you go.
Starting point is 00:19:29 Kind of a safe place for them. Yeah. Because sometimes they, I know with some of my autism friends and their kids, sometimes if they get too much stimuli or there's too much noise or too much going on, it can kind of overwhelm them. But what a great beautiful place to get them to experience Open Up and all that good stuff. I can see, like I say, I can see this would be a great place to get married. I imagine people can maybe
Starting point is 00:20:00 reach out to you guys for custom things. Maybe it might be a good business adventure for an outing or retreat for your company. Yeah, we've done a bunch of things over the years, Chris. Definitely we've had teams of like upper management get their strategize maybe in the morning and then in the afternoon, just enjoy the islands. It's a great way to, you know, have a company retreat. If you have one, it just have people relaxing families that don't really
Starting point is 00:20:31 get to see each other, that they're spread out all over the U S or all over the world, getting together for one week aboard a ship. It's definitely special photography departures. We have a special professional photographer leading the departure. So these are like active workshops, you know, the photographers helping you with the photos every evening. And the great thing about Galapagos is that you don't need to be a professional photographer to get amazing photos just because the animals are so close. Even like iPhones get amazing stuff. So yeah, all types of departures. And people reach out to us every week requesting customized itineraries or adventures.
Starting point is 00:21:12 And we're happy to listen and customize for it. There you go. You guys have won travel and leisure's world best awards, I think, let's see here, five years, six years in a row yeah there you go i flunked uh i flunked second grade so uh that is six yeah it is it's you know those awards are a combination of the voting of our guests reviews plus a panel of judges um it really it's not a popularity contest like like many of these travel awards are you, where it's just the number of votes and you can vote many times a day. Here, they accept one vote, you know, per email from somebody who traveled with you. They have to pay us back.
Starting point is 00:22:05 Even though they paid us for these trips, they feel like there needs to be some retribution and they need to fill out reviews and just rave about their experiences. And we're happy, really happy that they do this. And it's thanks to them that we've won that award for six years. Yeah, I'm looking at the photos and they're just extraordinary as a photographer i want to go there um and uh yeah if you go if you go here man you have a bad time man you you maybe you check your eyesight it's it's it's a feast for the eyes it's probably a great way to describe it and it's such a diverse thing now when people do people have to fly into ecuador and then take a special plane out to you guys or how does it
Starting point is 00:22:51 yeah exactly so there are no international flights out to the galapagos islands uh the islands belong to the country of ecuador so you have to fly in uh to the cities of quito or guayaquil they're the two cities with international airports. And then from there, Quasar takes care of you. We book your domestic flights up to the islands. Everybody on our cruises flies the same flight. So to make sure we just coordinate the logistics. So we help you with that.
Starting point is 00:23:18 All you need to do is get yourself to Quito and Guayaquil, and then Quasar can take care of everything else for you. These are very hassle-free trips, for sure. There you go. World's greatest places, 2023 by the Times Magazine, Chilean and Argentine wineries are the world's best vineyards, 2023 that you can visit with Quasar.
Starting point is 00:23:37 Just extraordinary stuff. They even have deserts there? Yeah, this is in the northern part of Chile. It has the Atacama Desert, the dri this is in the northern part of chile it has the atacama desert the driest desert in the world wow um it is that is literally like i believe one of the james bond movies where it was shot there these are like lunar-like landscapes um and i think it's i may be lying with the statistic but like 60 of the world's observatories are in the Atacama Desert because these are literally the clearest skies in the world. So for you as a photographer, night photography in Atacama is insane.
Starting point is 00:24:15 Wow. It is. You've never seen the stars and the Milky Way that clear, that part of it. I'm not putting you on. This is, I don't know why anybody want to go anywhere else from the pictures I've seen on here. I mean, it's just extraordinary in the diversity as well. What are some things we may have missed that I haven't touched on or asked you about on what you guys do and how you do it? Well, one of the things that makes us unique
Starting point is 00:24:42 in all of our destinations is just the way we sort of also give back, you know, sustainability. It used to be that it was optional on the agenda of travel companies. Today, I think it's an absolute must. You need to we say it's like paying rent for the world we live in and we need to be very responsible for it. We're fortunate that we have places like Galapagos and Patagonia that are extremely beautiful and that we can take people there, but we don't want to consider it as something that it's free for us to sort of abuse or expose without any retribution. So we have many programs going on in both destinations, whether it's through reforestation, support of the communities, wildlife conservation projects,
Starting point is 00:25:34 elimination of introduced species, you name it, depending on the destination, we'll focus the program based on, you know, the most pressing needs of the destination. And really, that's kind of like the type of travel we offer. And Quasar guests, they actually feel good because their dollars go a longer way than with most companies in these destinations. There you go. What are some of the biggest challenges you guys run into in organizing and executing these expeditions? You know, it's kind of remote. There's environmentally sensitive.
Starting point is 00:26:06 What do you guys find are the biggest challenges you overcome in delivering, you know, these unique experiences for people? Yeah. So I would say the first one is remoteness. It's just difficult, you know, to get anything there, whether it's spare parts for a ship, whether it's, you know, food for the crews in Patagoniaia you know you name it there's no cell phone connection in the park so it's satellite phone and satellite internet so
Starting point is 00:26:31 remoteness plays a big factor in the complication of the operation but i would also say that remoteness is really what makes these places unique um there's we do offer wi-fi on board but it's not available all the time on purpose right and we do this on purpose because when people really are able to disconnect that's when they get to really connect with nature with themselves like conversations over meals you know that things that they forgot how to do because of being connected with the technology all the time. It really helps. So we love that part about these adventures.
Starting point is 00:27:11 Families, when they come with us, especially, they love the fact that their kids are not glued to screens. You know, they're chasing sea lions and snorkeling and hiking and then just sleeping from a day of activity and adventure. So that's a it's a plus it's a plus on one side. And, of course, for us, operationally, it's an obstacle, but one that we would take on any day for how gratifying it is for the guests. It is so important to be present.
Starting point is 00:27:40 It is good to get away from the screens and turn turn the internet off it'll it'll still be there back folks when you turn it back on it'll still be there trust me you'll be fine uh and but you know you're you're experiencing such a beautiful place an extraordinary place and it's so good to get away from the FOMO and the the knee-jerk reaction of being a slave to those devices it's great for kids of, because they need to see the world. They need to get out behind these screens. You can't experience the world. And metaphysically, our brains aren't designed to look at the world through 2D.
Starting point is 00:28:19 We're designed to experience it in first person and 3 3d actually and uh and and and tactile wise as well um you know we we process so much information through our brains when we experience the world that way as opposed to just looking at a two-day screen our brains really haven't adapted to it really um which is why we you know had trouble with blue light and everything else um you know you mentioned snorkeling hiking what are some other activities people can do there yep so in the given cruise um every day you'll have um a soft hike or walk in the morning and probably one in the afternoon as well as an opportunity to go snorkeling and also Zodiac rides around mangroves or the shorelines there of, uh, uh, around the different islands. We also offer sit on top kayaks and paddle boards. So in a given week, you can
Starting point is 00:29:21 expect to do, you know, walks and hikes, snorkeling, zodiac rides, kayak and stand up paddle boarding. And so these are active cruises. People are doing stuff all the time. We joke about this, but our bar consumption on these cruises, it's terrible, Chris. Like people, they check out early because they've been active so long. They have dinner and maybe they can get a drink or two. But nobody's
Starting point is 00:29:51 abusing the bar like in cruises how people are used to. It's very different. There you go. Yeah, you're all worn out. You're like, I need to get some sleep because we've got stuff to do tomorrow. It sounds amazing uh what about the wildlife why is that different than anywhere else in the world in the galapagos
Starting point is 00:30:10 yeah i i think that is the main highlight of the destination and uh let me give you just an example so there you know the animals that ended up in galapagos, they either, the birds flew in and you know, the, the wildlife that doesn't fly or swim, it basically floated there. So there, the iguanas, the marine iguanas in Galapagos probably floated on a log or a,
Starting point is 00:30:38 a grass, but whatever it is, it floated from the mainland to Galapagos. And they are the relatives of the green iguana that lives there in the coast of Ecuador. When they arrived to these volcanic islands and they had no vegetation to eat, they quickly learned that the only thing they could eat was the sea algae that was there in the shore. But it wasn't abundant enough or in some periods it would dry out and the only one available is the one under the water so they had to learn to swim and dive like fish in order to survive and because
Starting point is 00:31:13 these are reptiles and they're cold-blooded the ones with the darker skin color would do better because they would get warmer faster after going in the water and so now these iguanas turn black evolution turned them black their tails flattened because they now use them for propulsion uh in the water their nails grew really big because they need to cling on the rocks as they feed on on the algae and they learn to slow down their heart rate to a point where it's like one beat per minute where they're almost dead as they feed for hours underwater so that's what i do at mcdonald's exactly the same thing so it's chris like it's these animals where it's undeniable that evolution happened you know you see evolution at work and when you see them and you see what their relatives look like in the mainland, it's, it's insane. And like the iguanas, you have many
Starting point is 00:32:09 other animals that adapted and they're now endemic, which means they only exist in the Galapagos. And they're so, so different from what we're used to seeing. And that's a highlight of the trip for sure. That is wild. That is wild, man. Uh, it's,. It just looks so beautiful on the pictures and stuff. Why should people have this on their travel bucket list? Why is this a must-see? Where would you put on the list of must-see things in the world? Yeah, if you like nature, if you like the outdoors, if you like wildlife, it should be at the very top of your list. You know, Jacques Cousteau, the famous oceanographer and explorer, said that the last two wildlife sanctuaries left on Earth were Antarctica and Galapagos. Oh, really? Yeah, with the main difference that in Antarctica, you have like four
Starting point is 00:32:58 or five species that live above the ice that you can see in Galapagos you literally have hundreds and so being able to see wildlife in this state is something that is a something that people have to see once in their lives like how was wildlife before humans invaded their space you know how was wildlife when animals ruled the world and that is the Galapagos. And when you get to see and experience there, these, we call them life-changing wildlife encounters. They really change you. They change your perspective on the natural world. Our guests leave from our trips becoming ambassadors of the Galapagos, conservationists, really caring a lot more for the planet, for the world and being a lot more aware of what we humans
Starting point is 00:33:45 are doing to the natural world. And so I would say, you know, for anybody who loves adventure, who loves wildlife and the outdoors, put Galapagos at the very top of your list. You won't regret it. There you go. It sounds like, you know, the pristine nature that has been there and the protection and conservationism have made it something that has sustained itself.
Starting point is 00:34:10 If you go to Florida, you're in a whole different world. If you go to Orlando, everything's stepped on. Exactly. In Galapagos, you have these very clearly defined trails that you can walk or you can't even exit.
Starting point is 00:34:26 This is a fantastic thing that the Galapagos National Park guides do. One great thing is, you know, that Quasar has these amazing guys that have worked with us for 15 plus years, but they are not employees of Quasar. They're employees of the Galapagos National Park and their number one responsibility is to protect the park and so these are ambassadors showing you their islands and they make sure to take care of them that you know that tourists follow the guidelines that they don't touch the wildlife and that is why you know at least the first time I went there was 36 years ago and till today wildlife is the same unafraid of humans and it's largely the job of the guy there you go and and is it true that charles darwin uh did some of his
Starting point is 00:35:12 journey or yeah research through there yeah so charles darwin theory of evolution um he largely attributes it to his week in the galapagos. It is the Galapagos Islands were the most influential of all his visits during the voyage of the Beagle to formulating his theory of evolution. And so, yeah, you know, he only spent about two weeks there, but it literally changed his perception. And he, as I said, you know, like the example of the iguana, which he also saw on the coast of Ecuador or Peru on his voyage of the Beagle. And then he saw how it had changed. Like, it's undeniable to see evolution work. And he, as a man of science, noticed that and, you know, very much ahead of his time. But, you know, the 1600s knew, you know, the importance of this, and that's how he formulated that theory, sorry, the 1800s. Wow, this is historic, and just an amazing thing,
Starting point is 00:36:12 so give us your final pitch out, thoughts to the audience on getting on your guys' website, and getting signed up with you guys, and learning more. Yeah. So, you know, for anybody looking for transformational travel, and I know this term has sort of been thrown around a lot, but we would like to think that in 1986, we were one of the pioneers of these transformational experiences. If you think about it, you know, complicating their lives so much, my two parents to try to show people a place at Galapagos, like it was an operational nightmare for sure, but they knew how special these places were. And they knew that through tourism, we could protect these places. So if you are, if you love adventure, if you love the outdoors outdoors if you really want to be transformed um give us a call
Starting point is 00:37:06 you know go on our website look at what we have to offer in patagonia look at what we have to offer in galapagos and talk to one of our expedition designers they will be able to design a trip that perfectly fits your style of travel your needs your budget budget, and really getting you to see these destinations that are, you know, rare in this world today. And some of them are disappearing. Thankfully, you know, Galapagos and Patagonia at least are quite well protected, but they're less and less every year. Definitely, definitely. And you want to see them before, you know, I don't know, there's all sorts of pollution and climate change and things going on right now. Go see him before while you still can.
Starting point is 00:37:49 And it just looks like such a rich experience. Thank you very much for coming on the show. We really appreciate it, Fernando. Oh, you're welcome, Chris. It's a great time. There you go. And give us the.com one more time as we go out. Yep, it's quaserex.com.
Starting point is 00:38:05 And we actually have some great specials for 2024. Be sure to check out our specials page if you want to go to Galapagos and Patagonia. So, yeah, quaserex.com. There you go. And thanks to my audience for tuning in. Go to goodreads.com, 4chesschrisfoss, linkedin.com, 4chesschrisfoss, youtube.com, 4chesschrisfoss, linkedin.com, 4chesschrisfoss, YouTube.com, 4chesschrisfoss, LinkedIn.com, 4chesschrisfoss, and all those great places on the internet. Thanks for tuning in.
Starting point is 00:38:30 Be good to each other, stay safe, and we'll see you guys next time.

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