I founded Aracari to fulfill a personal dream of providing first class travel experiences for an international clientele while locally creating jobs and supporting the local communities. It’s extremely gratifying to source and reward those contributors who excel in effort, enthusiasm and commitment to sharing the best of Peru and South America with the rest of the world. Aracari has become a family for all of us. The best thing about working in Aracari is that it requires me to be permanently connected to the worlds of art, culture, archaeology, geography, wildlife conservation, cuisine: in short, all those disciplines that are key to sourcing outstanding experiences for our clients. It is also wonderful to connect with a network of amazing people from all over the world on a daily basis.

My favourite trip

Raul Varela | Client Relations

Raul is generally the first Aracari member that guests meet since he greets them upon arrival into Lima. He came from a business background, but was happy to leave a traditional office behind in order to work in the vibrant world of tourism. He has never regretted that change since there’s never a dull moment in the world of travel. He enjoys sharing his love for Peru with travelers from around the world and helping to solve issues on the ground. His job is to make our clients feel welcome, safe and well-advised from the moment they set foot into the Lima airport.

Maricarmen Vargas & Juan Llanos | Cusco-based Team

As a husband and wife team Maricarmen and Juan have a combined 34 years of experience working in tourism. They manage all of Aracari’s tours and treks in the Cuzco area and are used to handling any and every challenge that comes their way. It’s always a pleasure for them to welcome Aracari clients to their city and make sure that their visits to Machu Picchu, its beautiful surroundings and Cuzco itself are everything that they had hoped for. Here they are pictured with their daughter who works as a chef in Barcelona. They are so proud that she has taken Peruvian culinary tradition across the globe!

Vicky Limon | Sales & Operations Manager

Her full name is Virginia but everyone simply calls her Vicky. She has over 22 years of experience in receptive tourism. She decided to go into tourism after living in Europe (England and France) where she studied English and French translation. After returning to Peru she decided to apply her new found language skills in the field of tourism. She loves getting to know different destinations, customs and cultures and finds it gratifying to know that travelers who visit her country leave fascinated and completely enamored by it. They feel that Peru offers a perfect combination of nature, culture, archeology, adventure, and community tourism, and Vicky can’t help but agree!

Carlos de la Torre | Travel Planner

Carlos was born in the Dominican Republic, he moved to Peru during his teenage years and immediately fell in love with it. Tourism has always been a passion in his life and it led him to experience travel as a film producer, cameraman, director and even as an actor. After several years living in Europe he decided to come back to Peru and concentrate his skills and experience in Aracari, which for him is the only choice for working in the tourism sector.

Martin Nakaganeco | Travel Planner

After travelling to many places and having lived for more than 8 years in Japan where he worked as an English and Spanish teacher, Martin returned to Peru to stay for an extended time and reconnect once again with the country that he loves so much. Amongst the things he missed about his country were the delicious food and spectacular places that the country has to offer the world. For Martin, friendliness and honesty are the keys to progress: our guests’ smiles and happiness are the best gift he could receive.
Martin finds working in travel to be a very pleasurable and magical experience. He also loves language and at this point he is fluent in four tongues: Spanish, English, Portuguese and Japanese. Singing, music (listening and composing), photography and video editing, travelling, food and everything related to Mac products are just a few other things that Martin is passionate about.

Yasmin Rivera | Travel Planner - Groups

Yasmin has been working in tourism for the past 11 years. Over the years she has had the opportunity to visit the destination highlights of her country. She always wanted to study and work as a Tour Consultant because she enjoys preparing every single detail of a wonderful and unforgettable journey – especially when Peru is the main destination! At Aracari she enjoys being part of a nice and highly-trained professional team. In her opinion what binds the team is its desire to provide the highest quality service for each of its guests.

Cristina Miranda | Travel Planner

Since Cristina was little she used to travel with her family to the Andes of Ancash where her family owns a house, where she learnt to love Peru and to live with different cultures. After she finished school, (she has a degree in Tourism and Hotel Management) she decided to travel around the world since she thinks world is wide enough to explore it. She loves to meet people when travelling and to learn about new cultures, food, history and thinks that is one of the best ways to learn about life. She enjoys being outdoors, or doing short hikes , enjoying nature, playing with her dog, exploring a new place and getting to know new people. She also enjoys to talk to her clients in Aracari before and during their trip and to make tailor made itineraries to fulfill their expectations when they travel.

Carmen Cirilo | Travel Consultant

Carmen studied tourism because she was attracted to a service-oriented career that required her to be creative. At Aracari each journey is unique so putting together a proposal always requires her to use her imagination. She enjoys the challenge of working hard to make sure our guests’ preferences are met and that their travel dreams are fulfilled. She has been working for Aracari for 3 years and during this time she has had the opportunity to travel to Southern Peru with an incentive group from Brazil and other destinations to broaden her knowledge of her beautiful country. She speaks English and a bit of French.

Rocio Salazar | Administration

A public accountant by trade, but has lately dedicated herself to administration, Rocio is always reviewing matters concerning accounting, finances and admin. She has experience in all manner of different companies: commercial, service, industry … but she has never before worked for a travel agency. It’s a new experience, a very versatile and interesting job where there is a lot to learn. Rocio likes to cook, she likes spending time with friends and shopping. Her three kids ensure that she is kept on her toes!

Lidia Quillahuaman | Sales and Financial Support

Lidia currently studys tourism and hotel administration at San Martin de Porres University in Lima. She was drawn to this career because she feels it is so uplifting to work with foreigners who are interested in discovering the many tourist attractions found in her country. She decided to do my internship at Aracari because she appreciates the high standards and attention to detail that is required in the office. It’s a wonderful feeling knowing that we work hard each day to ensure that our clients feel comfortable and that they get to know the customs of each region of my beautiful country and beyond.

Belen Aliaga | Administrative Support

Belen has a background in accounting and is currently studying management consulting. She is very committed, hard-working and ready to learn. She has worked for several different companies as an administrative and management assistant. These experiences provided wonderful training for her position within the Aracari team. She is really enjoying her job at Aracari, and loves being a part of a team that strives to share the best of Peru with the rest of the world.

Simon Ross | Marketing & Communications

After writing his dissertation on the conquest of the Incas to complete his MA degree, the natural decision for Simon was to experience Peru through his own eyes, not least in a bid to escape the bitter cold and howling wind of Scotland. Many months of living and travelling in Peru and South America and he has arrived at Aracari where he is responsible for writing tantalising descriptions of all the places that he has seen to inspire others to do the same. He is very pleased to be working at Aracari where he can discover this vast country from new and different perspectives while helping people to find out about the very best of his adopted home ... not to mention play lots of football and eat delicious seafood while living and working in Lima.