Katia Valverde
Naturalist Guide
Katia was born on September 21st, 1970 in San Jose, Costa Rica. Her father and mother raised three kids: Katia, her sister and brother.
As a child her favorite subjects were science, history, and geography. Katia enjoyed practicing sports, and dreamed about learning foreign languages.A lifelong passion has been taekwondo, which she began at age 11, and by the age of 15 was teaching to both adults and kids, along with competing on the National Team. These activities together with school occupied 100% of Katia’s early years.
Aside from teaching taekwondo, while in College she worked at a call center; which is a good way to put language skills to work in Costa Rica. Katia chose to study at the School of Tourism because it combined everything she enjoyed. The fact that being outdoors and interacting with people is what she most loves to do made being a naturalist guide the perfect choice.
Katia gets very excited going to the museums to share Costa Rica’s Pre-Columbian history, or visiting the National Theater to immerse visitors in the prosperity and transformation coffee brought to Costa Rica. However, she says best of all is exploring a rain or cloud forest, looking for amazing species of flora and fauna that are waiting to be discovered.
Katia has been guiding for 20 years, and says she’s loved every single one.
Her career has allowed her to pursue her youthful love of foreign languages, and she now speaks English and French, as well as her native Spanish.
She is married and has two kids, a son Isaac who is 15, and a daughter Gabriel, who is 12. Although she says they keep her quite busy, she tries to leave some time for her hobbies: jogging, bird watching, and quilting flower and bird patterns.
