First hour
By Sandra Torres Guzmán
March 14, 2019 • 5:50pm

More than 4,200 people from 74 countries and 635 cities chose Puerto Rican Ray David Rodríguez Colón as the best ecological tour guide in the world.

Rodríguez Colón, who is the founder of Veredas de mi Tierra, swept the 75% in the voting that concluded last Sunday, March 17.

This was confirmed by the online portal Eco TripMatch, dedicated to promoting ecological tourism, which also nominated participants from Kenya, the United States and Panama.

“On Monday morning I received an email with the news from the founder of Eco TripMatch, where she told me 'I want the whole world to know that you are the best nature guide 2019,' said Rodríguez Colón, still excited by the news.

“My reaction was like 'wow', unexpected, because when competing with two people from Kenya, another from California, from Panama, well I said that I am not a demographer, but these people have many more people than Puerto Rico. I didn't expect it, I felt happy, a little assimilating it, but it was a source of great joy and surprise," confessed the southerner raised in the Olimpo neighborhood of Guayama.

The people who voted found out before Rodríguez Colón, since they received an email with the results.

“At the time I was absorbing the news, people were already calling me from all over the Island, from New York and other parts of the United States, co-workers; “They were all waiting,” celebrated the tour guide, environmental interpreter and educator.

But the achievement not only benefits this nature lover, but also puts Puerto Rico in the global spotlight to promote its natural spaces.

“For me it represents that the sacrifice for our communities is worth it; There are more of us who are good and we cannot take ourselves away to continue doing things that benefit our communities and Puerto Rico. It continues to be proven that the most valuable resource a country has is its people,” he highlighted.

“For Puerto Rico this represents a great opportunity to expose ecotourism as a viable and sustainable opportunity that we should focus on. It leads us to propose that our communities continue to educate themselves, making an effort to receive the visitor as they deserve,” he stated.