Meet Our Team
Our Administrative Team
Jorge
FOUNDER & PRESIDENT
Jorge founded Vámonos in 2002 after years of taking his students annually to Puerto Rico on immersion trips.
He used to be a French & Spanish teacher for middle and high school and loves German Shepherds and finding cool non-touristy places in his travels.
Hobbies: Hiking, traveling, looking for wolves and wildlife in Yellowstone, watching Portlandia
Bernardo
VP OPERATIONS MANAGER
Bernardo runs the land tour operations in Puerto Rico. He loves to share his Puerto Rico with travelers and his passion for off the beaten path spots (and knows where to find the best desserts in the most common but also oddest restaurants).
He speaks Spanish, English, Italian, and a bit of German as well and has lived in at least three continents.
Hobbies: Biking, hiking, going to the beach, reading about other cultures, photography
Michael
VP OF SALES & MARKETING
Michael is in charge of our Spanish-speaking destinations outside of Puerto Rico. He is our Cuba expert and one who always goes out of his way to make sure travelers are fully satisfied.
Michael is a world traveler and has visited more than 30 countries all over the world.
Hobbies: Watching sports and movies, reading, walking, and finding new and true cultural immersion experiences for visitors in all of our Spanish-speaking destinations.
Esther
CLIENT RELATIONS MANAGER
Esther is the face of Vámonos, in charge of walking groups going to Puerto Rico through tour planning.
She is a diverse teacher with experience teaching at an Amish schoolhouse, Jewish preschool, and Sunday school. She loves spending time with her husband, two kids and catahoula rescue dog.
Hobbies: the outdoors, reading historical non-fiction, bird identification, piano, singing, and hanging out with friends and family
Carrie
ADMINISTRATIVE & FINANCE MANAGER
Before joining Vámonos in 2013, Carrie taught both public and private elementary school for years. She currently volunteers tutoring underprivileged children.
She loves to learn new things, hike, and to travel to Puerto Rico.
Hobbies: Knitting, baking gluten free goodies, bird-watching, photographing nature.
Julie
TOUR COORDINATOR & PROJECT MANAGER
Julie’s extensive professional career goes from being an elementary school Support Staff, to being Regional Director & Event Coordinator for Impact World Tour in Scotland and New Zealand; she’s also worked at hotels and been an Optometric Assistant and a missionary.
Hobbies: Hiking, pottery, skiing, wedding event coordinating, creating music with family & friends
Louise-Hélène
MARTINIQUE OPERATIONS MANAGER
Louise-Hélène was born and raised in Le François, Martinique. She recently joined Vamonos’ team after spending many years working for the hotel and tourism industry in Martinique. Fluent in French, Spanish, and English, Louise-Hélène loves to share her lovely culture, creole world, and island with student and adult travelers. Currently, she lives part of the year in Martinique with her family, and part of the year in Puerto Rico.
Hobbies: Taking people to eat and chat with locals at a neighborhood event called Chez l’Habitant; she also loves hiking, swimming, and spending time with family and friends in Martinique.
Our Performance Team
Melissa
PERFORMANCE TOUR COORDINATOR
Melissa is our performance group expert with many years of experience walking travelers and conductors through the tour planning process. Her goal is to make sure this process is enjoyable and rewarding for our travelers.
Kevin
PERFORMANCE TOUR CONSULTANT
Kevin is our choir and band performance guru, conductor, and consultant. His international and local experience directing groups and playing even before the Pope has been invaluable to the success of our performance tours.
Kevin enjoys travel, writing choral music, working with wood, and gardening. He is a very experienced choir director who teaches master classes in conducting around the world. He loves to create experiences that are life-enhancing connecting people of different cultures (especially through music and the arts)…but most of all building bridges of friendship and understanding through international and domestic exchange opportunities.
Our Puerto Rico Team
Natalie
RESERVATIONS MANAGER
Natalie has been with Vámonos Tours since 2012. She is in charge of reservations and all tour needs as well as being the “on-call” person who handles unexpected issues to ensure that every tour runs smoothly.
Hobbies: Painting, repairing furniture, and spending time at the beach.
Wilfredo
SERVICE LEARNING MANAGER
Wilfredo is Vamonos’ expert in the area of service. He secures our groups’ service learning activities with schools and orphanages and assists with our tours there. He aims to make each group’s service event as memorable and meaningful as possible. He especially loves touring in El Yunque and La Parguera.
When Wilfredo was 12 year old student he helped his baseball team with the Championship by having the honor of pitching the final game!
Hobbies: Restoring old cars, going to the beach, watching action-superhero movies, spending time in nature and with family.
Nery
TOUR ASSISTANT
Nery leads all of our safety/ security initiatives. A retired police sergeant,
Nery is the most sociable and talkative member of our staff with connections and friends everywhere. Nery’s colloquial and facial expressions are famous and hard to decipher even for Puerto Ricans.
He is an avid baseball fan and player who fears nothing and loves to help anyone in need.
Hobbies: Baseball, fishing, traveling, speaking English, touring Puerto Rico and the U.S.
Wendi
TOUR ASSISTANT
A handyman by profession, Wendi is also our assistant wilderness specialist. His consistent smile and hardworking skills constantly amaze our travelers.
Wendi loves to spend time with his kids and family; he is fearless when it comes to fixing practically anything.
Hobbies: Fixing things, fishing, traveling through Puerto Rico, watching sports.
Alexandra
TOUR ASSISTANT
Alexandra is a Creative Writing and Foreign Language student at the University of Puerto Rico. She has studied German, Mandarin, and some Arabic. She also aspires to learn sign language in the near future.
She started working with Vámonos Tours Puerto Rico as a Tour Assistant in the summer of 2016.
She is very passionate about language-learning, foreign films, literature, meaningful travel and Puertorrican coffee.
Laura
TOUR DIRECTOR
Laura started working as a tour director with Vámonos Tours in 2014. She is a teacher in a local school in South Dakota.
She loves to inspire students to travel through her personal passion for languages and culture. She believes the world is a book and Puerto Rico is one of the most beautiful pages!
Hobbies: traveling, yoga, dance, reading, fashion, and lifelong learning.
Iolda
TOUR DIRECTOR
Iolda has been working with Vámonos as a guide since 2016.
In her free time she enjoys art, culture, attending festivals, films, dancing, coffee and travel! When she is not giving tours she can often be found traveling solo to remote places on earth to learn about other cultures and enjoy nature.
She has a deep love for Puerto Rico and promises that once you step on her bus she will take you on a grand adventure and show you the most beautiful things she has ever seen on her island!
Carlos
TOUR DIRECTOR
Hector
TOUR DIRECTOR