Priscilla Montero
Naturalist Guide
Born in San Jose on October 30th, 1982, Priscilla’s mother is from a tiny town near the city of Puriscal, an area mostly dedicated to farming. She came to San Jose to find work and learn to be a beautician. Her father, from the city of Palmares, also came to San Jose looking for work. A New Year’s tradition that is almost lost in Costa Rica, brought her parents together. Families take tables and chairs out to the street and share food, drink and resolutions while they count down to the New Year together. It was on one of those nights that her parents met.
Priscilla describes both of her parents as the most fun loving and intelligent people she knows, which must be why her smile is so bright and guests tell us how much they enjoy her warmth and her guiding.
Her parents got married and moved to Alajuelita, where they had Priscilla and her older brother and sister. Costa Rican’s love to travel and Priscilla remembers that on weekends and holidays they would visit their family back in Puriscal where she played with her cousins in pastures, rivers and fields. They always had a dog, the dog’s name was always Yogui.
The first thing she remembers wanting to be when she grew up was a veterinarian, she says that she fell in love with every dog she came across and that she wanted to help them all. She doesn’t recall how she became aware of guiding as a profession, but she remembers knowing that they existed and telling a cousin that she wanted to be a guide when she grew up so that she could visit every corner of Costa Rica and see all of our beaches.
After going to school to become a guide, Priscilla began working for Costa Rican Expeditions in 2012. She has been a guide, a children’s activity coordinator, and recently spent a year living in Tortuguero and working as a Naturalist Guide at Tortuga Lodge & Gardens.
Her childhood dream of exploring Costa Rica and experiencing all of its beaches has come true. She especially enjoys the look on her guests faces when she shows them a special creature or points out an adaptation in the forest.
When she’s not in the field Priscilla can be found at the movies or the theater or with Emily and Ethan her niece and nephew. At home her cats Goty and Pombo patiently wait her return.
