Meet Sergio, one of Serendipity’s longest-serving guides! In this short interview, we scrape the surface of how he went from wildlife and forest management student to a principal adventure guide (with a little bit of help from ‘serendipity’ along the way…).
What were you doing before your time with Serendipity?
Back in 1996, I graduated from forest and wildlife management and intended to pursue a career in biology at the National University. However, there were so many delays with paperwork, so I started to work with different wildlife rescue centers and developed hands-on experience and knowledge. I was conducting surveys of species in the wild as well as volunteering a lot with people and animals. I lived with Doña Lilly and Werner Hagenauer for a few months, a nurse and an engineer from Switzerland who took care of injured wild species. It was very different from a zoo, and very few Costa Ricans had even heard of a place like it 30 years ago. I also spent a lot of time working with wild cats and fell in love with this species.
How do you take a step towards becoming a Serendipity Adventure guide?
It just so happened that, one day, a microbus came by with a biologist and 15 students from a university abroad. He had taken them to Paloverde Biological Station and somewhere else. I was there along with one other member of staff. They asked if they could come for a tour because, you know, this is not a visitor’s kind of place. Back then, there was not even a gate, just a barbed wire fence and a little wooden box for donations. I didn’t speak much English, but the group leader said they would translate for me. During the visit, the leader got distracted, so I ended up doing most of the talking. And that was it. That’s how I started.
How did you hear of Serendipity Adventures?
In 1993, I did several projects with Youth Challenge International and crossed paths with someone called Juan Carlos (now one of Serendipity’s principal guides). He asked me to come to Tortuguero to help with a group and talk about the wildlife and nature there. Later on, I got involved with the National University and he was studying there. I was freelancing at the time and, as is the nature of freelancing, you are always looking for the next thing to pay the bills. So, I was in San Jose when I got a call from someone from a company looking for adventure guides. I had heard of Serendipity, because of the famous hot air balloons, but it was still very hidden in 2002.
I managed to get the next morning off to go to the interview in Turrialba but my boss needed me back by one o’clock. So, I took an expensive 1.5-hour cab ride from San Jose and met with Alfonso at Serendipity. He was surprised to see the ‘J’ on the cab (meaning it was from San Jose) and that I was walking with a stick. He then looked worried and I explained that I played indoor soccer and my knee would be just fine. The cab waited for me the whole time during the interview before driving me back. The rest is history! Along with Juan Carlos, and Mariano, I’m now one of the longest serving guides at Serendipity.
Do you specialize in a particular activity to do as a Serendipity Adventure guide?
Everybody has A, B, and C of their favorites. Mine has always been D, all of the above.
About 10 years ago, I heard a talk about multi-potentiality. Who are we, the ones that are not specialty-oriented? It resonated with me, I finally heard someone talking about how I felt. I saw another example of this in a book saying a human being should be able to change diapers, play an animation, build a house, take care of a kid, sail, and so on. At the end of the very long paragraph, it says, specialties are four king-sakes. So they have that one purpose.
That stuck with me, especially in the society in which, well, more in that time now, people who had many interests and kept jumping from one career to another from one job to another, were not that well seen. This meant that I was kind of the black sheep of my family. You have lawyers, and you have doctors, and you have very academic people and they’re very centered. That’s your path and that’s what you do. You come out of high school, get a job, save some money, get a cell phone, save some money or get a car, graduate, build a house, find a wife, and then have children. It’s predetermined. Whereas, I’ve chosen to just see what happens.
If I say, I’m here because of Serendipity, people will hear it and think that I am a very loyal employee. Which is true. But, what I mean is I am here because of actual serendipity, because of all the crossroads and people I met along the way.
