Adventure Collection

Pam Fritz hails from a small town in Ontario, Canada. After first leading trips for Backroads in the Canadian Rockies, she traveled to Ecuador to learn Spanish so that she could lead trips in more destinations. While her specialty these days is Costa Rica, she leads trips around the world for Backroads. She is also a photographer whose photos have appeared in numerous Backroads catalogs.

How long have you been a guide?

I’ve been working in outdoor education for 15 years but started guiding specifically ten years ago.

How long have you been a guide for Backroads?

I’ve been leading trips with Backroads for ten years.

As a guide, what do you do?

As a Backroads leader, I feel like so much more than just a ‘guide’ when I’m leading a trip. Backroads leaders go above and beyond to make sure that our guests have the vacation of a lifetime on every trip. We make a true effort to connect personally with each and every one of our guests, while fostering a rich sense of community within the group as well. Our trips offer travelers the chance to experience a country actively, by hiking, biking, or paddling through spectacular landscapes, while also learning about the area and indulging in great local food and traditions.

We have a variety of different roles on a trip, acting as translators, hosts, facilitators, bike mechanics, naturalists, and trouble-shooters. We work hard to form close relationships with the locals where we take guests so that they feel connected to the local communities through the leaders. After one of my trips, a guest wrote to the office, “This trip was not like a tour but rather like visiting very good friends in a country where they want to show you their favorite people and places.” That is a goal I have for all the trips that I lead.

What area/trip is your specialty?

I’ve led hiking, biking and multisport trips in Africa, Europe, Canada and Asia, but I spend most of my time designing and leading trips in Latin America, specifically in Costa Rica.

What is it about Cost Rica that most appeals to you and that you love most to share with your travelers?

Costa Rica is a wonderful little country that offers a beautiful landscape, lovely people, and an overwhelming natural biodiversity. As a biology student in university, I developed a passion for ecology and learning about natural history. I first wanted to visit Costa Rica because I had a strong desire to explore the rainforest. I fell in love with everything there was to discover: the big things, such as monkeys, sloths and toucans, and the small things – poison dart frogs, dragonflies, and leaf-cutter ants.

The rainforest continues to amaze me, but after spending more time in Costa Rica, it is the less obvious aspects of the country and the culture that I try to share with my travelers. Costa Rica is well known for the expression pura vida, which literally translated means ‘the pure life’. It is very unique to Costa Rica and the ‘Ticos’ use the expression all the time to say ‘thanks’, ‘great’, ‘no problem’, and in general, ‘life is good’. Life in Costa Rica is relatively simple, unpretentious and peaceful. I love sharing the spirit of Pura Vida with guests, and I encourage them to embrace it, and to try to take a little home with them.

Can you give an example of any special experience or connection you have that you have been able to pass on to your travelers?

About four years ago, we started visiting the small community of Santo Domingo, which is in the Savegre River Valley. We were looking for a way to help support more of the local community and connect our travelers to life in rural Costa Rica. We decided to try to arrange to have lunch at a local’s home in Santo Domingo, and through our connections, we met Edith Tapia and her family. Having lunch with Edith and her family has become a very special part of our trip, and it’s rewarding to know that we are helping a local family. We usually get a game of soccer going with the community, our guests have the opportunity to see a local home, meet the people who live there, and taste a traditional, home-cooked meal.

In recent years, Backroads has also ventured beyond the Tapia family to help the community at large as well. The Savegre River separates the villages of Santo Domingo and Quebrada Aroyo. The only way to get from one village to the other is via a cable crossing over the river. The cable crossing was destroyed in the wake of Hurricanes Rita and Katrina when the levels of the Savegre River drastically rose, wiping out roads and bridges. The government did very little to help the community. As a result, in order to get to school, go to work, or visit friends and family, the locals were crossing the river daily on a make-shift piece of wood that was very dangerous. I approached Backroads and asked if there was any way that we could help these communities and their commute across the river. As part of our Responsible Travel program, Backroads decided to donate money to rebuild the cable crossing. Now, up to four people and a bicycle can cross over the river safely at the same time. It’s a small gesture that makes a big difference in the lives of many people.

Can you give me an example where you think you made an important difference for the travelers on one of your trips?

I’ll give you two examples, both set in Peru, where I also sometimes lead trips. Our Peru trip involves a 13-kilometer hike along the Inca Trail, which climbs 2200 feet and passes through the Gate of the Sun and finishes at Machu Picchu. Around halfway through this hike, one of my guests started having trouble breathing. She just couldn’t catch her breath, started losing feeling on her left side and was going in and out of consciousness. I knew it wasn’t altitude sickness because she had been fine for the first five days at higher elevations. I called for a stretcher from the trekkers’ hostel and along with two porters and an assistant guide, we carried her up 350 steps of the Winay Wuayna ruins. At the hostel, I hired 10 porters to help us carry her another 5 kilometers into the Gate of the Sun, where a doctor was on the way up the trail from Machu Picchu to meet us. I held her hand the entire way, telling her she was going to make it. When we finally met the doctora, she listened to her lungs and diagnosed her with a pulmonary lung infection. With just a shot from the doctor, the guest instantly felt better. We carried her down for a view of Machu Picchu and then got her to the hotel, where she was able to rest and recover.

On another trip, the day before we were going to leave our base lodge to trek over the pass and into Machu Picchu, one of my guests got very sick. Another guest also had not been feeling well and was ill-prepared for the trek. So along with their partners, I planned to accompany these two guests out of the lodge and back to the Sacred Valley. Unfortunately, there was a landslide, and we couldn’t get transportation to come and get us at the base lodge. I finally hired a local truck to take us down to the next town and I rode in the back of the truck with our luggage. In town I found a taxi to take us into the Sacred Valley. The next day the guests were feeling better and we had a unique, personalized tour to local villages, ruins and schools in the Sacred Valley. We then re-arranged our travels to meet up with the rest of the group at the last lodge before hiking into Machu Picchu. Although they didn’t finish the trek over the pass, these guests still had a very special experience in Peru.

What are a guide’s most important skills?

It is such a multifaceted position that it is hard to pick just a few skills. But I would highlight compassion, communication, knowledge, problem solving, organization, a good sense of humor and enthusiasm. Above all, the ability to relate to people – both the travelers on your trip and the locals that you encounter along the way – is essential to making your guests feel comfortable and connected to the places you visit.

What does a good guide add to a journey?

A good guide will ensure that a trip runs smoothly, and they can customize the journey to ensure that the guests’ expectations are met. But a great guide will open their eyes to new and exciting experiences that they may never have dreamed were possible. They will add personal touches, a sense of comfort, laughter, and inside experiences. The goal is to provide a journey or experience that the guest will take home with them and continue to reflect upon, long after the actual trip is over.

What are the main challenges of travel in your destination?

From a physical standpoint, the roads in Costa Rica are really bad. They are usually gravel, unmaintained, or full of potholes. So traveling from one place to another can be difficult. Also, it can be really hot and humid on the coast, which makes activities such as hiking and biking even more challenging. From a logistics stance, it can be tough to work in Latin America when problems arise because things don’t always happen as fast as we’re used to in North America. The locals always want to be helpful, so they’ll give you a reply to a question, even if they don’t really know the answer. And quite often they will tell you what they think you want to hear, rather than the actual truth.

How do you overcome these challenges?

As far as the roads are concerned, we use charter flights a lot on our trips to get from one region to another. With the heat, we encourage guests to drink a lot of water, go at their own pace, listen to their bodies, and take lots of breaks along the way. Logistically, when I find myself in a situation and I need to get some answers, my rule is that I ask the question to several different people. Once I get the same answer at least three times, I can assume it’s correct and make a quick decision based on that information.

What do you enjoy most about your work?

I love being outdoors and active on a daily basis and I really enjoy that I’m constantly learning, meeting new people and sharing what I love most about the places we visit. It’s great to be able to provide opportunities for guests to challenge themselves, help them accomplish their goals and get them off the beaten path, to places less travelled.

What has been your one most memorable experience as a guide?

It’s hard to pick just one experience as the most memorable. However, one that sticks out was at Ngala Private Game Reserve in South Africa. It was my second season leading trips in South Africa and Botswana, but I had never seen a predator make a kill. We were observing a family of cheetahs – a mother and four adolescents. They spotted a herd of impala in the distance and worked together to bring one of the impala down. The family then devoured the entire antelope within less than 30 minutes, all the while looking over their shoulders in case another more powerful predator decided to try to take their feast. It was incredible to watch the circle of life and what these animals need to do to survive in the wild, to see how quick and graceful they were, yet how merciless and violent at the same time.

One other that has stuck with me occurred in Peru. In 2004 we started visiting an elementary school in Ollantaytambo, a small town in the Sacred Valley, after one of the teachers called over the fence and invited us in as our group was hiking by the school. After that first visit, we made it a standard visit on our hike and made regular donations to the school in the form of classroom supplies, a stove and new uniforms for the kids. Four years later, the graduating class of grade six asked me to be their madrina, or sponsor, for their year-end field trip. I felt honored that they chose me and I continue to visit with them whenever I’m in the country.

How can travelers get the most out of a Backroads trip?

If you’re traveling with Backroads on a trip that involves physical activities, it’s a good idea to take a bit of time to get in shape before the trip so that you can fully enjoy yourself throughout the trip. Otherwise, immerse yourself in the culture and get to know the locals where you’re traveling. Keep your mind and heart open to embarking on a new adventure every day.