We at Quetzaltrekkers have been lucky enough to have been joined by Marco Tiul for the last two years as one of our guides. Marco spent 4 years in the EDELAC hogar before deciding to hop on board as a Quetzaltrekkers guide back in January 2024.

In that time, Marco has led countless hikes, providing enthusiasm and a sharp sense of humour that has made him a favourite amongst guides and hikers alike. It is the kind of loss to our team that everyone will feel, as both our current guides and past guides will look back fondly on the time that they got to spend alongside him here in Xela and in the surrounding mountains.

Known sometimes to exaggerate a little, we asked him how many hikes exactly he thought he had been on with us. To this, his reply was simply “Muchas”, going on to say that he had done at least 100 Lago Atitlan hikes, not counting any of the others. With this in mind, and factoring in two high seasons on the team, I think we can comfortably say his total is well over 100 in total, a worthy number that most guides would find it tough to beat!

Marco has frequently expressed that his interest in guiding was largely due to the influence of Santi, another ex-hogar individual who was the first EDELAC kid to live and guide with Quetzaltrekkers back in 2011. Marco arrived at the hogar from Cobán when he was 13 years old with a limited Spanish speaking capacity. Santi proved to be an inspiration for him in his new home, and he knew early on that he wanted to do the same, guiding in his home country.

Joining us as a 17 year old and now leaving as an 19 year old, he is now basically part of the furniture. Every guide that has hiked with him over the last couple of years has a story or two, including the time that a couple of us guides managed to sneak a rock into his bag at the top of Tajumulco. In fairness, the rock was more like a boulder so he was not massively pleased to discover it when we got down! If he were’nt part mountain goat he might have noticed it earlier but he seemed fairly unfazed during the descent in spite of everything…

Yara, one of our amazing coordinators, remembers hiking with Marco back when he was still at EDELAC and not yet a guide. They spent most of the 2nd day of that hike hanging rubbish on Jorge’s backpack (another guide). Apparently he didn’t notice until they reached the homestay at Don Pedro’s that night – which makes me feel a little better about that rock on Tajumulco!

From setting off firecrackers in Casa Argentina to hiking his first Todos Santos in heavy jeans on one of the hottest weeks of that year, he has brought a little absurdity everywhere he has gone and it won’t be the same here without him. You might remember him bribing some local kids to return Gufy the dog to Santa Catarina, running out of sweets on hike or asking for a photo shoot with a dramatic backdrop. But we will always remember him as our Marco Pepino and we wish the absolute best for the future. He will always have a family here at Quetzaltrekkers!