FROM PANAMA AND ELSEWHERE: INSPIRING LATIN AMERICA BY CLAUDIA TERRADE

Today at the head of Quimbaya, which has 16 agencies located in 11 different countries, Claudia Terrade has found everything in Latin America: her professional path, love, but also an inexhaustible source of wonder...

2021-04-22
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FROM PANAMA AND ELSEWHERE: INSPIRING LATIN AMERICA BY CLAUDIA TERRADE

Today at the head of Quimbaya, which has 16 agencies located in 11 different countries, Claudia Terrade has found everything in Latin America: her professional path, love, but also an inexhaustible source of wonder and encounters. For COTAL, she tells about her atypical career, talks about her profession and shares her many favorites across the continent, between Aztec pyramids, extraordinary museums and natural paradises still intact.

FROM PANAMA AND ELSEWHERE: INSPIRING LATIN AMERICA BY CLAUDIA TERRADE

Professional Journey

How did you discover Latin America and why did you choose to devote your activities there?

Claudia Terrade: I do not come from tourism or the business world. My professional life started in Parisian hospitals, where I was an intensive care nurse. While working at the hospital, I did a master's degree at the Institute of Higher Studies on Latin America – IHEAL – devoted to all aspects of Latin American societies, from pre-Columbian history to the economic system of each countries. I am of Colombian origin, which binds me closely to Latin America. I have always been very proud to talk about Colombia to the point that one day I was thrown into a slapstick that I took very seriously: "Instead of talking all the time about your country, you should take them there ", told me a colleague who was also responsible for the works council. I liked this idea so much that a year later I left the hospital and moved to Colombia.

Business Development

Business Development

Did you then concentrate on the destination "Colombia"?

Claudia Terrade: Quite quickly, I also had to go to Ecuador and its mysterious islands to satisfy a demand for a Colombia-Ecuador / Galapagos combo. Then something exceptional happened in my life: I met Jean, a tourist, traveler and adventurer, who became my husband. He fell in love with my project (and me!) And joined me in Colombia to work alongside me. The adventure took on a whole new dimension and we settled in Ecuador, then in Peru. For ten years, we walked together on the continent.

Life in Panama

Where do you generally live when you are in Latin America? Why did you choose this place?

In Latin America, I put my suitcases in Panama, a very pleasant country where life is peaceful and simple. Panamanians are warm and welcoming, they have always lived with people from elsewhere and this is not a problem for them. Communities of different origins, cultures and traditions coexist in harmony and without conflict. Nature and modernity come together permanently: I happen to meet agoutis, iguanas, toucans, pelicans, sloths and other wild animals near my home, while walking along the Paseo del Canal!

Life in Panama

Cultural Highlights

What places on the continent fascinate the Latin American history and culture lover that you are?

All the sites that recall the pre-Columbian heritage of the continent, such as the Aztec and Mayan pyramids of Mexico and Guatemala, the Inca site of Machu Picchu, Easter Island or the archaeological park of San Agustín in Colombia, belong to me unmissable. Latin America also has formidable museums, such as the Gold Museum of Bogota, the Larco Museum in Lima, the Anthropology Museum in Mexico City or the National Archaeological Museum of Bolivia, in La Paz.

Natural Wonders

And for an experience in the heart of nature? Or on the contrary in the city?

On the nature side, the Iguaçu Falls, the Copper Canyon, the Colca Canyon, Lake Titicaca, Patagonia and in particular the Perito Moreno Glacier or Torres del Paine National Park, but also the Atacama Desert, that of the Tatacoa, the Salar d'Uyuni or the Amazon jungle are such impressive sites that you absolutely have to see them. Then there are places that make you cry with happiness and tenderness: this is the case of Tortuguero in Costa Rica, where giant sea turtles come to lay their eggs every September, or the Galapagos Islands and Puerto Madryn, where thousands of animals are simply at home.