CUBA - Key Persons
Lily is our casa coordinator in Cienfuegos. She is a homemaker who loves to cook, and is an excellent hostess. Although she is past her girlhood days, to know her is to feel as though a small child is fluttering around you, with her infectious smile and her bubbly personality. Everyone loves her and she loves her city and its people.
Job Titles:
- Chief Operations Officer
- COO
Clarita is trained in the Arts, in Event & Tour Management, and in Tourism. At Big Planet Adventures her focus is on Purpose driven Sustainable and Responsible tourism, and on Social Impact & Circular Economy. Clarita had the travel bug from an early age, travelling to Japan at 15 as an exchange student. She has travelled to, and lived in many countries, with her other interests strongly rooted in Culture and the Arts. She has worked, coordinated and performed in some of Cuba's fantastic festivals.
For many years Emilio worked as a local guide in Vinales and was a regular favourite of our tour guides who would request him for the local tours of the Vinales valley. Like many of our guides, Emilio has a background in a diverse range of areas. His first career was in law. After graduating with honours in law, he worked as a tax lawyer for the Cuban government. While at university he also studied English and French. When tourism became the main industry and activity in Vinales, Emilio took up an offer from us to work as local guide for our Vinales short stay packages. During this time he did some formal study in biology concentrating on Cuban flora and fauna and especially birds. Emilio also has an excellent knowledge of Cuban history, and along with his experience, as well as his charming and vibrant personality this made him an obvious choice to offer the opportunity of a full-time position in our guide team.
Yonelkis is from the popular tourist destination of Trinidad. His path to becoming a top tour guide was a more traditional one. All of his formal studies have been in the tourism, cultural promotion, tour guiding, and English language areas. Before joining Cuban Adventures he worked as a tour guide for a number of different Cuban government agencies that contracted him to work for many different foreign tour companies.
Born in Havana, graduated in foreign languages. Daniel has trained in various museums in the capital as a local guide. However, his passion is to rediscover every place on the island, either by bike or on foot. Daniel is very proud of his country, landscapes and people, he is always willing to share his own Cuban lifestyle with each visitor. His most practiced hobbies are dominoes, playing the guitar and dancing some rhythms. He is also studying web development in a self-taught and very patient way. He considers that calmness and joy are skills so he practices them frequently.
Rainer has a jovial character and a very unique English accent. He possesses an innate power to help others and lead with indestructible joy. He can speak German fluently and has diverse talents although he could be the only Cuban who does not consider salsa a stronghold. He has an enviable spiritual strength, as well as a highly polished sense of humor that he puts at the service of the company to make us feel honored by his presence. He loves riding his bike and as well as his FIAT126 "Panchito", a Polish-soviet version of the VW Beattle that has remained in Cuba as relic of the post-Cold War years.
Before joining Cuban adventures Dayana was a professor at University. She is originally from Camaguey. She is graduated from English and Education.She is focused on her job, reliable and charismatic. She offers tours in Havana and shows her clients the best of her knowledge , cultural background and personal experiences. She loves reading adventures books and watching fantastic series.
My name is Estefan Manes Guzmán, I am from Havana, the suburb known as Lawton. Apart from Spanish, I also speak quite a few different languages such as English, French, Italian, German and Arabic, however I mainly specialise in English and Italian. I graduated in Account and Financial from the University of Havana in 2004. At the time I was also working for several public companies of foreign trade, as a specialist in accounting and finance, then in 2014 I got the chance to start again in tourism as tour guide.
Yuri majored in Biology at the University of Havana, his hometown. He has worked successfully as a tour guide for more than 15 years. He has a great passion for wildlife and a broad experience in Nature Tours like hiking and Birdwatching. He loves travelling and exploring the wide diversity of towns and landscapes of his Cuba. He also likes History, Geography, Music and Sports. He is a proud ambassador of his country and he enjoys sharing his knowledge and experiences with visitors.
Natalia has been venturing the globe and roaming far from her native Spain ever since she was old enough to travel. Luckily for us she has decided to spend a lot of this time in Cuba. You won't ever regret having Nata as your tour guide in Cuba.
Lazaro originally from Camaguey more specific Sierra de Cubitas is graduated in English and Education. He worked as a teacher in Preuniversity school before joining Cuban Adventures. He loves Culinary arts and he is a great chef. He enjoys cooking for his family and friends. He is very friendly,hardworking and charismatic. He takes people on tours around Havana city.
Jorge assists Roy in organising the Havana guesthouses for our groups. He is a very friendly and charismatic person and he uses this charm to help him keep the guesthouse owners happy most of the time, despite all the complications that are frequently thrown his way.
Away from work Jorge dedicates himself to caring for and bringing up his daughter.
Roy is in charge of selecting guesthouses in Havana for us, and coordinating the Havana guesthouse reservations for all of our regular groups. With well over 600 guesthouses in all of Havana, this is by no means a simple job. Roy's training in information systems helps in this complex task, as well as his calmness, attention to detail, and willingness to work hard.
John has been living, studying, traveling and adventuring in Latin America since 1990, and guiding and developing tourism programs there since 1997. He speaks both Spanish and Portuguese fluently and first starting working in Cuba in 2002. Since then has found it hard to stay away from the island for any length of time. His passion is to share the uniqueness of Cuba and its culture with others and to provide an authentic experience for those who are willing.
Mari is a qualified accountant from her native city of Sao Paulo, Brazil. She now lives in Australia and has the complex task of managing all of our finances and accounts, including payments, invoicing, and book-keeping. She somehow manages to carry out this duty with an outward appearance of serenity and equanimity. She loves spending time with friends and caring for her excitable puppy, 'Theo'.
Student and lover of Cuban History, excellent dancer, meticulous in his work, adept at analysis, Ruben is passionate about economics and internal control in management. Native Santiaguero, he is well respected and adored by many in the cultural sector for his work as a cultural promoter and manager within the musician's labor union. A romantic at heart, he is known to write and recite love poems on occasion.
"Trinitario de pura cepa" A true Trinidadian, Alejandro is a computer scientist by profession. He is in charge of managing our reservations in casa particulares in Trinidad. He is proud of Trinidad's storied history as being the third oldest city in Cuba. He manages more than 60 bed & breakfasts for our company and we appreciate his organization, responsibility, and devotion to making sure that our travelers have a good experience in his hometown. Alexx, as his friends call him, is a warm and friendly guy, a team player always willing to help out. We are grateful for his everyday dedication as casa coordinator.
Originally from Camaguey, Yanet moved to Havana as a teenager. She concentrates on our tours around Havana and is a veritable font of knowledge about local culture and history. Yanet is an English language graduate and is a very kind and cheerful person. She takes great pride in her job and is very concerned that every visitor to Havana has a great experience learning about her home city.