Tour guide in Easter Island Claudio T.

Hello! This is Claudio. I've working as a tour guide for the last 13 years. During the first years it was just a part time job since I was in business school, but when I finished college, I realized I wanted to keep working as a guide and started doing this job full-time. I am also a traveler so I do my best to provide the greatest experience here on the island. I treat visitors as I would like to be treated when I travel. For me that means being adaptable, being able to customize the experience to your needs and interests as well as make sure you have enough time to really experience the island atmosphere and get the feeling of it besides just visiting the famous touristic sites. I also love photography and being an amateur photographer here on the island I can provide great tips about locations and light conditions when visiting different sites. I think visiting the island is a once and a lifetime experience for most of our visitors so I make sure you can enjoy it and take long-lasting memories of your Easter Island experience when you leave. Local guides here in Easter Island are, in most cases, self-trained because we don't have schools that prepare us to be guides. We receive most of our knowledge from our families through oral tradition. That is a very important part of our culture since it was the way used to convey information from generation after generation. Also, we are self-taught through scientific publications about the island that are constantly been published and provide us with new perspectives about our own past and shed light on the many ancient mysteries of the island. I'm not only a local guide living on the island, I'm also rapa nui (part of the native people of the island) and so for me giving a tour is not only sharing information and history about the island, it is also talking about my own history and past. Therefore, I provide visitors with historical facts and general information but most importantly with a vision from a more personal perspective. We, the rapa nui people, are very proud of our culture and love sharing it and history with the visitors coming to the island. Today I conduct tours manly in English and French, so I am used to work with French people as well as with Americans. Of course, since English is an international language, we also receive visitors from other anglophones countries as well as many other people that use English as a second language. Over the years I've learn the ways and interests of the different nationalities that visit the island and try to adapt to them. Being a guide means also being a host and so we also provide our visitors information about other experiences that the island offers as well as practical tips for shopping, food and transportation. My goal it is for you to end up loving the island as we do! Licensed Guide by the National Tourism Office. None