Biographies of the Costa Rica Guides
More than twenty residents of the villages of Monteverde and Santa Elena in Costa Rica take researchers and tourists daily into the Monteverde Cloud Forest Preserve to study and experience the unique cloud forest environment. Armed with rain gear, binoculars, and keen senses of sight, smell, and hearing, the guides lead visitors into the forest to explore the magnificent flora and fauna hidden within. These guides are expert naturalists, many of whom have lived their entire lives in or near these forests. They are organized formally into the Monteverde Guides Association, and can be contacted for information or tours through the offices of the Monteverde Cloud Forest Preserve. Below is a quick biography of each of guide that is working to support this project.

Adrian Mendez C. (506-645-5282, adirancr@sol.racsa.co.cr): Adrian specializes in birdwatching and natural history. He was born and raised in the area of Monteverde and has 14 years of experience working in tourism.

Andres Trapp Belmar (506-645-5858)

Alexander Villegas (506-645-5343, alexmont@sol.racsa.co.cr): Alex is a specialist in birds and also works in the recording of birdcalls and natural sounds. He has 9 years guiding experience and is one of the permanent Monteverde Preserve guides. Alex organizes the Christmas Bird Counts of Monteverde, which have one of the highest results in the world. He also organizes birding trips throughout Costa Rica.

Danilo Brenes Ramirez (506-645-5464): Danilo started his career as a research assistant in the study of fruit eating birds and their use of forest fragments. He has also been part of the team studying the Three-wattled Bellbird since 1992. Danilo guides in the Monteverde zone and his walks are about the natural history of the forest.

Debra Hamilton DeRosier (derosier@sol.racsa.co.cr): Debra started guiding with the Monteverde Preserve and Children's Eternal Rainforest in 1994. She came to Monteverde to study bird utilization of windbreaks and has since led several research projects. Her current work is the study of the Three-wattled Bellbird and its conservation.

Eliamar Rojas Cespedes (506-645-5675, eliamar@sol.racsa.co.cr): This is Eliamar's fourth year of guiding in the Monteverde Preserve and other protected areas. Before this, he worked in the Preserve aiding tourists. In addition to guiding, he has participated in bird censuses and reforestation projects.

Erick Bello Carranza (506-645-5291): Erick has spent ten years studying the flora of the Monteverde area. He is also highly knowledgeable about birds and other aspects of the cloud forest ecosystem, and has many years of experience guiding for the Natural History Program of the Monteverde Cloud Forest Preserve and in forests throughout the Monteverde zone.

Giovanni Bello (506-645-5291): Giovanni Bello (506-645-5291): Giovanni graduated from the Technology Institute of Costa Rica in Forestry Engineering in 1978. He has worked for several companies on primary forest management, soil use capacity, land use planning, and reforestation projects. He served as the Director of the Monteverde Preserve for 8 years from 1983-1991 where he established the Natural History Program and the Environmental Education Program. He then worked as the Director of the Los Angeles Cloud Forest in San Ramón from 1991-1997.         In Monteverde, he studies Golden Toad Ecology and Fruiting Patterns of the Ficus Tree. This research is supported by Standford University, California. Also, he studied bird migration and communication with the help of the University of Minnesota and is one of the contributors to A guide to the Birds of Costa Rica. His expertise is in birds, plants, and tree and animal-plant relationships. He has worked as a free lance naturalist for the last 15 years in Costa Rica and Panama.

Humberto Jimenez Saa (506-231-1236): I have academic studies and experience in Forestry (Dendrology and Plant Ecology) and in the management of technical and scientific information, including the production of video programs.I have experience as Professor both at undergraduate and graduate levels, and have written project proposals and conducted special projects for international institutions. I keep good relationships with persons involved with agriculture, forestry, natural renewable resources and technical information. I have experience at local level in ecological and scientific tourism.

Ian Watson (506-645-5286)

Jorge R. Quesada Monge (506-645-5492, 506-645-5546, pager: 506-226-5656): Jorge, also known as Koki Porras, was born in Monteverde in July 1968. He has 9 years of guiding experience in the forests of Monteverde. His specialties include natural history, symbiotic relationships in the forest, and birds of Costa Rica.

Jose Manuel Torres Leiton

Marcony Suarez Soto (506-645-5124): Marcony grew up in the Monteverde zone and started guiding over 3 years ago. With his familiarity of the zone, he guides throughout the Monteverde area. He is also part of the Three-wattled Bellbird research team working with the capture of Bellbirds and censuses.

Melvin Leiton Mendez (506-645-5198): Melvin is from the village of San Luis, located just below Monteverde. He now has 4 years of guiding experience and enjoys taking people through the forest.

Pedro Bosques Bermudez (506-645-5675): Pedro started guiding in the Monteverde Preserve 10 years ago. He now guides private groups and is a professional guide for the travel agency, Horizontes. He has research experience for two projects in Monteverde: the study of the Three-wattled Bellbird and a study of bird community changes in the Monteverde zone over the last 25 years.

Ricardo Guindon, (ricguindon@hotmail.com): My name is Ricardo Guindon Standing. I was born in the Monteverde Quaker community in l961, where I studied through high school at the Monteverde Friends School. I studied 2 years at Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana, U.S.A. where I took Ornithology and Ecological Biology. I returned to Monteverde in 1986 and began to work as a naturalist guide since 1987. My favorite subject is birds but I enjoy all aspects of nature. I've guided for Victor Emanuel Nature Tours, for Horizontes Nature Tours and have guided groups of students from various North American universities. I also guide Night Tours since 1997.

Richard LaVal (506-645 5052, rlaval@sol.racsa.co.cr): Richard first came to Monteverde in 1973 to do research on bats, frogs, lizards and spiders. He has guided periodically in the Reserve since 1982 and also in most parts of Costa Rica. He has been helping to teach college level courses in tropical biology for about 8 years with the Monteverde Institute and the CIEE. His current research deals with the effect of global warming on bat populations. Richard has helped found the Monteverde Conservation League, the Monteverde Institute, and the Creative Learning Center in Monteverde, and is a member of various professional organizations including the Tropical Science Center, owners of the Monteverde Reserve. He offers a professional slide show every evening at the Hotel Sapo Dorado, and presents lectures on bats and field experience with live bats for groups of visitors and students.

Robert Lee Maxson (506-645-5514, bobbymaxson@yahoo.com): Robert, also known as Bobby, was born in California; but at the early age of fourteen arrived in Monteverde in 1974. The love of nature that his parents had passed down to him started to blossom. He read, observed, spent time with biologists, and also became fascinated with nature photography. Bobby has been guiding since November 1992 for the Natural History Program at the Monteverde Cloud Forest Preserve and very much enjoys sharing what he has learned. He has continued to learn by taking courses, going to lectures, and keeping up with the latest studies. He is known for imitating the Howler Monkey almost to perfection.

Samuel Arguedas Trejos (506-645-5142) : Samuel is from Monteverde and has been a natural history guide for 7 years. His walks include information about everything that the forest has to offer but Samuel is also a specialist in plants. He is self-taught in many areas, including English. Samuel leads an ambitious reforestation effort of the deforested Pacific slope of Monteverde.

Sergio Vega Marin (506-645-6054, fincaval@sol.racsa.co.cr): The satisfaction that nature can give will bring out your deepest emotions and wake up each one's responsibility for our home. That is Sergio's outlook on his work and the tropical forest of Monteverde. Sergio leads groups of all nationalities throughout Costa Rica. He speaks Japanese in addition to Spanish and English. He is the son of 2 biologists and grew up in forests in various parts of Costa Rica, Canada and the United States.

Tobi Wallace (506-645-5757, pager 506-296-2626): Tobi is from one of the original founding families of Monteverde, and has lived in the area his whole life. He has been guiding in the zone for seven years, working in the butterfly garden before he began guiding in the Preserve. He is a specialist in entomology (insects), but is also an avid birder and botanist.

Victorino Molina Rojas (506-645-5470, vicmoro@sol.racsa.co.cr): Victorino is a natural history guide for both day walks and night hikes. He has over 4 years of experience guiding in the Monteverde zone and other parts of the country. He frequently takes groups for overnight hikes to San Gerardo on the Atlantic side of the continental divide. Victorino also helps in an on-going research project about the Three-wattled Bellbird. In addition to guiding, Victorino is the president of the Monteverde Guide Association.

Willow Zuchowski (506-645-5096, whaber@racsa.co.cr): Willow's specialty is plant identification and natural history. She has worked on several research projects in the area, and continues an on-going plant inventory with her husband, William Haber. She has 12 years of guiding experience, and is presently a back-up guide for the Preserve. While botany is her focus, Willow's other interests include birds, fungi, conservation, and environmental education. In addition to general natural history tours, she leads special orientation walks concentrating on tropical plant family identification for student groups (e.g., OTS, CIEE). She participates in committees of the Monteverde Conservation League, Monteverde Institute, and Creative Learning Center. Willow has helped write, illustrate, and publish several pamphlets and guides on cloud forest flora and fauna, her latest being An Introduction to Cloud Forest Trees: Monteverde, Costa Rica by William A. Haber, Willow Zuchowski, and Erick Bello (available through coganm@massed.net or www.amazon.com).