{"id":84104,"date":"2025-04-23T03:58:51","date_gmt":"2025-04-22T17:58:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/?p=84104"},"modified":"2025-09-30T07:24:31","modified_gmt":"2025-09-29T21:24:31","slug":"nacho-patagonia-leader","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/nacho-patagonia-leader\/","title":{"rendered":"Nacho Gonzalez wants to show you Patagonia"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Nacho Gonzalez discovered his dream job in a bar in Buenos Aires. Chatting with an Intrepid trip leader from the Netherlands, he told her, \u2018I don\u2019t know what you do, but I want that.\u2019\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For over a decade, he\u2019s been doing exactly that \u2013 leading small groups on trips around the southern part of South America. From his home in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Nacho has established himself as one of Intrepid\u2019s top leaders, now leading trips like Premium Patagonia<\/a> and Premium Argentina & Brazil<\/a>.\u00a0I sat down to ask him why he does (and loves) what he does.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where do you get a name like Nacho From?<\/strong> <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Nacho is a nickname that comes from Ignacio, which is my actual name. Ignacio is a Spanish name. Nacho is the nickname that comes with it. You don’t even ask for it, it just comes with it. Nacho, Ignacio. Ignacio, Nacho. I don’t even know how and why, but that’s how it is.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s special about leading travellers around a place like Patagonia?<\/strong> <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Of course, the region is magical. So that helps to create magical moments. I’ve seen people breaking into tears just watching the landscape \u2013 stepping aside and staring at the landscape and then just crying. Sometimes they hold your hand or they give you a huge hug. And it’s a pretty cool moment, because there’s no words. There\u2019s maybe a touch \u2013 the hand, the head, the shoulder \u2013 and you just look at the immensity of the Patagonian<\/a> region, which is beautiful, just sharing that moment.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most of the time, you don’t know exactly what is going on in the person’s head. Sometimes they\u2019ve lost someone, maybe they recently got divorced, or their kids are going to college or whatever. But it’s something that has happened several times. For me, it\u2019s a beautiful shared moment. Even if you don’t know what is going on, you feel a connection with, first with the land and with the earth. And also with that particular person at that time. You feel that you know even more of that person, and they trust you for a few seconds. Those moments are pretty intense and beautiful. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read more: Finding the secret sauce to a great group in Patagonia<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"Intrepid-Travel-Argentina_Patagonia_Monte<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

How does Intrepid\u2019s approach to responsible tourism affect local communities and ecosystems?<\/strong> <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

All trip leaders are trained on these matters and we always try to pass down the information to travellers, like refilling your bottle or turning the air conditioning off when you’re not in the room. We also have an Intrepid Foundation partner in Patagonia called Torres del Paine Legacy Fund<\/a>. The Intrepid Foundation contributes to that project which supports the park\u2019s rangers and research projects.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During Intrepid’s Premium Argentina & Brazil trip, you host groups in Buenos Aires for an authentic Argentinian barbecue. What’s the best part of having people over?\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

There’s one very particular thing that I always notice every time. Most of the time I go outside to open the door and welcome them, and when they come in, often they shake your hand. Of course, they don’t know you. But after the barbecue, which is usually about three hours, on the way out they often give a big hug and kiss. So that always makes me really happy that in just three hours you turn from a handshake to a big hug and kiss, like you’re my friend now. You’re part of my family. So that’s huge.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Explore with a local leader on a range of trips in Patagonia<\/a> and South America<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nacho discovered his dream job in a bar in Buenos Aires, and now he’s one of Intrepid’s top leaders.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16309,"featured_media":84105,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3109],"tags":[145,2764],"class_list":["post-84104","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-good-trips","tag-chile","tag-premium","ipf_region-argentina","ipf_region-chile"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nNacho Gonzalez wants to show you Patagonia | The Good Times by Intrepid<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Nacho discovered his dream job in a bar in Buenos Aires, and now he's one of Intrepid's top leaders.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/nacho-patagonia-leader\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Nacho Gonzalez wants to show you Patagonia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Nacho discovered his dream job in a bar in Buenos Aires, and now he's one of Intrepid's top leaders.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/nacho-patagonia-leader\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Good Times by Intrepid\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/intrepidtravel\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-04-22T17:58:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-09-29T21:24:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Nacho-header.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Sahar Aman\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Nacho Gonzalez wants to show you Patagonia\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Nacho discovered his dream job in a bar in Buenos Aires, and now he's one of Intrepid's top leaders.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Nacho-header.jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Intrepid_Travel\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Intrepid_Travel\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Sahar Aman\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/nacho-patagonia-leader\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/nacho-patagonia-leader\/\",\"name\":\"Nacho Gonzalez wants to show you Patagonia | The Good Times by Intrepid\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/nacho-patagonia-leader\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/nacho-patagonia-leader\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Nacho-header.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-04-22T17:58:51+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-09-29T21:24:31+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/#\/schema\/person\/3d94b02f8a1acd7e76dfcd34a96e649a\"},\"description\":\"Nacho discovered his dream job in a bar in Buenos Aires, and now he's one of Intrepid's top leaders.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/nacho-patagonia-leader\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/nacho-patagonia-leader\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/nacho-patagonia-leader\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Nacho-header.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Nacho-header.jpeg\",\"width\":1600,\"height\":1200,\"caption\":\"Intrepid leader Nacho Gonzalez\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/nacho-patagonia-leader\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Nacho Gonzalez wants to show you Patagonia\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/\",\"name\":\"The Good Times by Intrepid\",\"description\":\"adventure news\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/#\/schema\/person\/3d94b02f8a1acd7e76dfcd34a96e649a\",\"name\":\"Sahar Aman\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ad985a140f21c17017853d6932c38ce3c23ce4c3866ea068d50c7679e3ec0cae?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ad985a140f21c17017853d6932c38ce3c23ce4c3866ea068d50c7679e3ec0cae?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Sahar Aman\"},\"description\":\"Sahar is an award-winning writer and editor based in Toronto. She has worked and lived in London, Pakistan and Canada across film, television, print and digital. She writes about lifestyle, culture and travel for numerous publications.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/author\/sahar-ibrahim\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Nacho Gonzalez wants to show you Patagonia | The Good Times by Intrepid","description":"Nacho discovered his dream job in a bar in Buenos Aires, and now he's one of Intrepid's top leaders.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/nacho-patagonia-leader\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Nacho Gonzalez wants to show you Patagonia","og_description":"Nacho discovered his dream job in a bar in Buenos Aires, and now he's one of Intrepid's top leaders.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/nacho-patagonia-leader\/","og_site_name":"The Good Times by Intrepid","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/intrepidtravel\/","article_published_time":"2025-04-22T17:58:51+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-09-29T21:24:31+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1600,"height":1200,"url":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Nacho-header.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Sahar Aman","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"Nacho Gonzalez wants to show you Patagonia","twitter_description":"Nacho discovered his dream job in a bar in Buenos Aires, and now he's one of Intrepid's top leaders.","twitter_image":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Nacho-header.jpeg","twitter_creator":"@Intrepid_Travel","twitter_site":"@Intrepid_Travel","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Sahar Aman","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/nacho-patagonia-leader\/","url":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/nacho-patagonia-leader\/","name":"Nacho Gonzalez wants to show you Patagonia | The Good Times by Intrepid","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/nacho-patagonia-leader\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/nacho-patagonia-leader\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Nacho-header.jpeg","datePublished":"2025-04-22T17:58:51+00:00","dateModified":"2025-09-29T21:24:31+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/#\/schema\/person\/3d94b02f8a1acd7e76dfcd34a96e649a"},"description":"Nacho discovered his dream job in a bar in Buenos Aires, and now he's one of Intrepid's top leaders.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/nacho-patagonia-leader\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/nacho-patagonia-leader\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/nacho-patagonia-leader\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Nacho-header.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Nacho-header.jpeg","width":1600,"height":1200,"caption":"Intrepid leader Nacho Gonzalez"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/nacho-patagonia-leader\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Nacho Gonzalez wants to show you Patagonia"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/","name":"The Good Times by Intrepid","description":"adventure news","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/#\/schema\/person\/3d94b02f8a1acd7e76dfcd34a96e649a","name":"Sahar Aman","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ad985a140f21c17017853d6932c38ce3c23ce4c3866ea068d50c7679e3ec0cae?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ad985a140f21c17017853d6932c38ce3c23ce4c3866ea068d50c7679e3ec0cae?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Sahar Aman"},"description":"Sahar is an award-winning writer and editor based in Toronto. She has worked and lived in London, Pakistan and Canada across film, television, print and digital. She writes about lifestyle, culture and travel for numerous publications.","url":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/author\/sahar-ibrahim\/"}]}},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Nacho-header.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4OQMK-lSw","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84104","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16309"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84104"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84104\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":84111,"href":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84104\/revisions\/84111"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/84105"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84104"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}