Here at TourScoop, we meet and travel with so many exceptional tour guides. Our Meet the tour guide series is designed to help tour guests meet their guides even before the trip, and to celebrate the guides that turn pins on a map into travel experiences bursting with local insight.
Victor Leiton is a Costa Rica specialist who introduced himself to my tour group this way: “Imagine I’m an old friend from your hometown. I moved to Costa Rica, got an accent, and am excited you’ve come to visit so I can show you around.” With that simple story, he shifted our group dynamic from a formal guide-guest relationship to one of a friend sharing a place they love with friends. And that’s how it felt throughout the trip, even as he kept us on time and on track, always with humor and wisdom.
Victor in his own words: “I grew up in a little town on the Pacific side of Costa Rica called Turrubares, a small farming town. I’m the youngest in a family of three kids, and I have two older sisters. I got married 15 years ago and I have two girls, Mariana and Dylana. I’m a nature lover who also loves music (sometimes I even try to sing).”
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Specialties: Leiton is a certified tour guide in Costa Rica. His first degree was as a naturalist tour guide, but after working as a naturalist for years he went back to college and got a degree in tourism management as well. His areas of expertise include bird watching, flora, and fauna.
As a guest on one of his tours, I can say with confidence that Leiton has an almost preternatural ability to spot wildlife. For example, on the tour I was on, we were driving down a dirt road when he spotted an almost-totally camouflaged sloth mom and baby out the window. He stopped the bus then pulled out his monocular and set it up so we could all watch (from a respectful distance) the mother groom her baby.
Why he guides: “I love sharing knowledge with people because I’m always learning from my guests and I try to make sure that they learn something from me. But what I love the most is seeing people’s smiling faces when get to see something they wanted to see. I feel like I’m part of a special moment in their life.”
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Tour companies he’s guided for: Trafalgar, Globus, Craig Travel, Gippsland travel, Geodyssey Travel, Llama Travel, People to People
Best advice for visiting Costa Rica: “Be prepared for weather that can change any time, and keep your eyes open because there is wildlife everywhere.”
