Valerio and his daughter at a Tenerife Tourism event

Buenavista - 04.02.2009 - After attending a three month course as a guide to the Teno Rural Park in 1996 Valerio became hooked and was quick to sign up on a two year study workshop that was organ­ised by the local council the following year, Escuela Taller El Cardón – named after one of the area’s most spectacular offerings of flora.  The curriculum for the course was wide and in­cluded: getting to know the flora and fauna of the area, its culture and geography, social and historical inherit­ance, studying English, the management of natural areas and how to go about educating people about the environment, interpreting the rich heritage for them. 

Valerio del Rosario Martín - Born: Buenavista, Tenerife - 1972

It is this latter area in which Valerio and various associates and later em­ployees have excelled, so much so that this year the company is celebrating its tenth anniversary.

This year they have begun a new programme of routes especially designed for tourists

This fun, dynamic and very different way of ex­plaining the world about us was first expressed by Scottish born American citizen, John Muir.  In 1871, while living and working near Yosemite Valley, Muir recorded in his notebook, “I’ll interpret the rocks, learn the language of flood, storm and the avalanche.  I’ll acquaint myself with the glaciers and wild gardens, and get as near the heart of the world as I can.” 

He then passed on this knowledge to others and it was this spirit of investi­gation, conservation and diffusion which inspired the world’s first interpreta­tive guide service in the Yellowstone National Park.  In Spain, the first such service was begun in Teide National Park and it is a method which is widely recognised as one of the most effective in environ­mental education. Accord­ing to the Association of Heritage Interpretation the aim is to, “reveal hid­den stories and meanings; bring places, objects and ideas to life; create thought-provoking and memorable experiences; connect us with our natural and cul­tural heritage; deepen our understanding and expand our horizons.”

It is the, “art of helping people explore and appreci­ate our world”.  It was this dream that Valerio and two friends, Sonia and Yaye turned into a business when the Taller Escuela ended starting an environ­mental association which then became a company that they also called El Cardón (www,elcardon.com). They started offer­ing guided walks, summer camps for children, envi­ronmental education cours­es for schools and working on projects for the public use and enjoyment of the Teno Rural Park.  The first few years were tough as they are in any business and for various family and economic reasons the women had to drop out, but Valerio stuck in there and with grit, determination, dedication and a lot of hard effort, he made it work, picking up along the way a hard-won post graduate qualification in heritage interpretation.

Nowadays, the company offers a whole gamut of environmental options and they are constantly coming up with new plans. 

The most visible sections of their operations are the guided routes which they prepare for individuals or groups as well as regular routes for Icod de los Vinos, Santiago de Teide and San Juan de la Rambla councils, subsidised by the appropriate departments in each.  They also offer themed routes for bird watching, night routes for star gazing, an ascent of Teide, ethnographic routes where local artisans will give displays of how to make roof tiles or basket­work for example or there may be an exhibition of the salto del pastor, a method used by the shepherds to scale and descend ravines at a rapid pace. 

There are also visits to cheese making establish­ments and of course tast­ings, wine, gastronomic and cultural routes.

The active tourism range includes visits to volcanic tubes, ravine descents, mountain bikes, caving, climbing, abseiling, orien­tation, archery, routes by kayak, boat trips for whale watching, guided routes for divers and other sports activities in the open air.

This year they have be­gun a new programme of routes especially designed for tourists, every Tuesday in the famous Montes del Agua in the north, then a changing programme for each Saturday in the month.  The first Saturday is dedicated to a walk through the Teide National Park, the second through the world famous Masca ra­vine, the third through the volcanic tube complex at the Cueva de San Marcos and the fourth to a trip by kayak off the Los Gigantes cliffs at Punta de Teno.

In addition the company runs the Bolico mountain refuge, similar to a youth hostel but available for all ages, and lodged in a stunningly converted old farmhouse in the heart of the Teno Rural Park (www.alberguebolico.com), they have a reservation centre for quality rural accom­modation in the area (www.tenoturismorural.com), an information centre and sales point for local crafts and hikers’ needs in La Venta in Buenavista’s main town square where they also offer mountain bikes for hire. They continue with the school education classes and children’s sum­mer camps and now also manage work camps for en­vironmental projects in the area for young volunteers from all over the world as well as organising chal­lenge excursions or short stay camps for company employees.  El Cardón reg­ularly organise workshops, talks and games for fiestas and at present are develop­ing a kind of bouncy castle type game which helps children understand their surroundings more. Whilst they started in the Teno Rural Park they now work all over the Canaries in the open air and in visitors’ centres, historical buildings and museums.  Their full time staff now consists of about 10 people but can be fairly elastic depending on the season.   They employ fully qualified specialists in environmental education and heritage interpreta­tion, tourism, leisure and free time monitors, nature guides, illustrators and graphic designers.  The latter help them to provide a huge range of interpre­tative panels, teaching aids for schools, guides, information pamphlets for courses, posters and a long etcetera.  They are one of the first points of call when the islands’ authorities are looking for someone to design for example a teach­ers’ guide on educating kids about how to recycle and deal with rubbish in an environmentally friendly way or their current work in progress which is how to prevent fires. Valerio thrives on innovation and new challenges, “it helps to charge the batteries” he grinned.  His personal challenge for the next two years is as a monitor for a new Escuela Taller to help train up 12 youngsters in Icod de los Vinos to develop, protect and show the resources of their area – the Drago tree, the Cueva del Viento in addition to doting on his wife and young daughter and contin­uing running his busy and successful company.  “We consider ourselves suc­cessful.  It’s not about how much money you make,” he stated firmly, “it’s about a job well done, carried out with principles and stand­ards and a firm involve­ment with and commitment to the environment”.
By Sheila Collis

Gallery: Showing the world

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