Efrain Valles
Efrain Valles
World`s Best Guide
Efrain was voted “Wanderlust World Guide of the Year 2014” by the British-based travel magazine and its readers.
He is probably still the best guide in the world, but they have to give the award to someone different each year.
Efrain has been guiding for Amazonas Explorer for over 15 years and has guided Royalty, Celebrities (Ed Sheeran would be the most famous one you’ve heard of), Writers (Hugh Thomson and Kim MacQuarrie to name just two), and has personally escorted Lucretia and David Bingham (Hiram Bingham’s grandchildren) around Peru on several occasions but still finds time to guide charity groups, honeymoon couples, families, Traidcraft “Meet the people” tours and even the odd student group to keep him firmly grounded in reality.
He is an ambassador for Marca Peru (the Peruvian tourist board) and is on the board of directors for the Chicuchas Wasi school, a charity-funded school set up to help poor girls in Cusco receive an education and escape the poverty cycle in which they would otherwise be trapped. Furthermore, he also volunteers his time with locals in the Totora area of Lares, and together they are doing a great job in cleaning up the area of plastic and reducing drastically their plastic consumption.
During the pandemic, with no tourism for many months, Efraín reinvented himself, famously selling fresh fruit and vegetables around Cusco, dressed in a Spider-Man costume, and with the help of a gofundme crowd raising page, he started a natural compost business, recycling vegetable waste from markets and hotels to make organic compost. It is an ongoing project, but one he says he’s not too sad to put on standby, as tourism picks back up and his guiding skills are high in demand.
His passion is running marathons, and he famously ran the London marathon in 2015, dressed as an Inca “Chaski” runner. He is married with 3 children and lives in Cusco, Southern Peru.
To travel with Efraín Valles as your guide, not only will you will learn about Peruvian history and culture, but also experience serendipitous moments through his unique contacts, and laugh along at his wonderful sense of humour, safe in the knowledge that he is looking out for you every minute of the day.
