Lourdes Pesantes

Lourdes was born and raised on Santa Cruz Island in the Galápagos Archipelago and comes from a large family that settled in the Galápagos from mainland Ecuador in the 1930s. Since she was a child, she has always been fascinated with nature and sports, and loves being outdoors.

Lourdes first started working for the Galápagos National Park Service in 2005, when she took the training and became a naturalist guide. She feels that it is a perfect fit for her, and what she most enjoys sharing with visitors to her home islands is what it was like to grow up on a remote, scarcely inhabited island in the Pacific: the advantages, the freedom, the wilderness of the archipelago, and how human beings had to adapt to this unique place too. Although she works full time as a guide, Lourdes is also studying environmental management and she loves swimming, snorkeling, and spending quality time with her family.