MEET OUR GUIDES

Tours Specialist

Born in Colombia, Daniela grew up with a passion for the outdoors and traveling around Latin America and the United States. At 16 years old she took her first big trip to Morocco and Spain, where she realized how much she enjoyed traveling and getting to know other cultures. From there on, the travel experience continued as she backpacked through Europe, hiked the W trail in Torres del Paine Patagonia, studied abroad in Costa Rica, lived in small rural community in Paraguay as a Peace Corps volunteer and lived in a fishing community in Belize where she conducted her master’s capstone project.

Daniela has a great passion for connecting people with the outdoors, new cultures and local communities. Most importantly she highly believes in the value of sustainable travel and how it can help support local businesses, give travelers the opportunity to be immersed in a new culture, learn another language and help expand their worldview. She feels excited about the opportunity for participants to get the best travel experience during these tours and help them have a unique trip that will have a long lasting impact on them and the communities they visit.

Tours Specialist/Executive Director

Sebastian Africano has made a career of finding beauty, humanity, and purpose in some of the world's most difficult places to travel. He's been traveling to Latin America since childhood, and has navigated Central America and the Caribbean by land, air, and water since 2005 with Trees, Water & People. Sebastian builds custom tours and executive retreats for TWP Tours, and leads with expert communication and service as he opens doors to unforgettable experiences across the Americas.

Tours Specialist/Central America Program Director

Gemara Gifford, (or "Gem") is a Colorado Native from the original communities of the U.S. Southwest, and has been leading meaningful tours throughout the U.S. and Latin America for nearly 10 years. Her love of travel began as a wildlife biologist, where she studied some of the world's rarest and most endangered wildlife in Guatemala, Costa Rica, Ecuador, and in the United States. Today, she works closely with rural communities throughout Central America who are interested in protecting biodiversity, while also improving their own lives.

Gem is a passionate tour leader, and enjoys facilitating one-of-a-kind experiences for her tour participants, and making every minute count. When she isn't traveling, she enjoys spending time with her family in Fort Collins, writing music, and enjoying the Colorado wilderness. Join a tour with Gemara this year!

James is a native-born New Mexican, raised in Santo Domingo Pueblo with a keen interest in finding adventure and beauty through travel. His love for his culture and community drives James' passion to connect people and communities together. His travel adventures started when he was a young boy traveling with his grandpa to other Pueblo communities in the region for annual feasts and crop exchanges. It was in those moments he realized that the beauty of cultural exchange and storytelling is what enlightens the human spirit around travel.

Currently, James works with several Pueblo communities in the Land of Enchantment and other Tribes in the West who are working on the frontlines to restore their lands and natural resources, but most importantly protecting their cultural lifeways. James is committed to providing eye-opening experiences and long-lasting impacts with people and communities that have deep, rooted histories to their lands and culture.

Tours Specialist

Traveling and connecting with the local people has been Valentina’s passion from an early age. Despite growing in Nicaragua and living several years in Costa Rica, she hadn’t really explored Central America. Thus, she soon redirected her interest to places full of nature and culture in the region, trying to find stories and people that would expand her knowledge of our realities, identity and cultural heritage.

She currently resides in Guatemala, and with TWP she periodically visit rural communities in Nicaragua, El Salvador and Honduras. We work side by side with our local partners and communities to enable positive changes in their management of natural resources and quality of life. In her short experience with TWP Tours, she has witnessed genuine exchanges taking place, which have proven to be highly valued and become an incentive for the local groups with whom we work.