Who we are?
Have you noticed that San José tends to be a mandatory stop (mostly for transport connections) rather than a destination in most tourists itineraries? Visitors rush to our beautiful coasts, mountains and volcanoes without even bothering to find out what kind of charms does this city hide. Travelers, on the other hand, tend to blend in and search to interact with the people that call this place home. THE LOCALS.
We are the locals. We live here, and we have tons of fun. You just need a friendly hand to point you in the right direction.Our tours blend history, fun and recommendations from locals who love traveling and want to help other fellow travelers to make the most out of Chepe. Hope that our tours can help you to explore and discover why is that we love it here!
Carpe Diem, Carpe Chepe!
Our Team
Iva
Guide
Languages: English, Spanish, some French and Portuguese and she’s been trying to learn Russian for ages with Duolingo. Iva is our expert beer-master by excellence, is one of the veteran guides of the company, and she’s been with us since the beginning so she knows it all. Talks about beer like the best lover she’s had and with details!
Pitti
Staff
Languages: Spanish, English, French, and Portuguese Born and raised in San José by a panamenian family.
This side of his heritage surfaces when he´s drunk and salsa music is playing! CouchSurfing is to blame for unveiling his passion for showing travelers around his hometown.
He loves to learn new languages and sharing cultural experiences, you never know when knowing how to ask for a beer in Chech or Mandarin might become handy, right?
Leonel
Guide
Languages: English and Spanish. Nature lover, from the great dantas to all the bugs and spiders🕷. Adrenaline Junkie, survivor amateur and rocker 🤘🏼, always looking for adventures to tell with some birras 🍺 (beers in tico). An urban exploration fanatic, always willing to share the secrets of his native city with those willing to explore it.
Ama
Guide
Languages: Spanish, English, a bit of Italian, a bit of Portuguese, “Pachuco,” (street slang), “labioso” (flatterer) and with enough booze even ancient Aramaic. He’s the top party-man, loves socializing, have it clear he’s known as Miss Costa Rica, he speaks to no end so no awkward silences guaranteed. Has the biggest collection of hats on the country and there’s no geek topic he doesn’t have his hands on.
Knows completely the story of Carpe Chepe (which, duh, he lived). With his booming voice you’ll certainly hear him 100 meters away, in middle of a comparsa (music band).
Deivo
Guide
Languages: Spanish, English and Portuguese, interested in French in the near future! He is a History nerd, very keen for facts, dates, characters and stories of our country and beloved capital city San José. Very good with people, David will talk pretty much about everything you want to know from his vast vault of useless facts (as he likes to call them). Very interested in arts, David is an amateur photographer which you can follow at his Instagram page “@deivophotos”. Also a musician and an amateur writer, he constantly provides content for our Carpe Chepe own blog. It is very normal to spot him due to his notorious smile.
Nane
Staff
Languages: English, Spanish, French and Portuguese.
She’s enthusiastic about learning anything from arts and music to science and history. Museums, concerts and exhibitions are part of her hobbies. Nane is part of our team almost from the beginning, being in charge of different tasks from guiding to administrative and marketing. She loves to share urban nature with visitors. She hates plastic flowers.
Tribe: Karaoke lovers. Preferred food: Ice Cream. Drink: Gin & Tonic. Catchphrase: “Excellent performance” Worst flaw: Talking too much.
Nacho
Guide
Languages: English, Spanish, some German and two Mandarin words. Jose Ignacio Barrantes Sánchez, better known as Nacho, like all the Ignacios in Latin America, lost his first name seconds after being baptized. There are few things that this “mae” does not like to do (mae: Costa Rican word used to say friend, partner or person)… from climbing trees in the middle of the city to taste seasonal fruits with tourists, to savor a jug of craft beer while flying his drone, one of his favorite hobbies. He knows a little of everything, ask him about history, culture, technology and if you want him with a smile on his face: tell him about the music of your countries; with this, you will have won a friend forever!
Amy
Guide
Languages: She goes for it with English, Spanish and Italian, but she’s super fluent with Sarcastic, “Pachuco” (street slang) and “Soncho” (kinda redneck.)
“La Flaca” is our Duracell batteries bunny guide – she’s never tired, has the most extreme “bombetismo” of the country with which she raises the roof whenever and however!
Danny
Guide
Languages: Spanish, English and willing to revisit French from old high school days. In the eternal search for himself, fascinated for his own origins and looking forward to expand his horizons, Dan got away from rutinary office jobs and embarked on the extraordinary experience of rediscovering his native city with renewed eyes and a profound sense of belonging. Big fan of plastic arts, live music and local traditions, he always finds joy on sharing a coffee (or a beer) with anyone that feels wondered and inspired by creativity of artists, writers and all kinds of people who simply try making this a better world somehow.
What people says about us
We had the best time with our guide Mariano Calvo "Nano". Besides been very young, he's very knowledgeable and taught us a lot of things. We got to know new places and got to experience a night full of entertainment
Alexis G, TripAdvisor
When i came to San José for My second time i had no expectations, thought it was kind of a boring town and with a quite boring nightlife, then we saw that carpe chepe dis a pub crawl and decide to try it and see what happens, and i will tell you that this night changed my opinion in San José. One of the best night i had and everything was well orginazed. Our guide Erick was fantastic and telled us about the town and made this to an amazing night. I would recommend this to everyone WHO goes to San José and looking for a good night!
Droghurt - TripAdvisor
We have been to San Jose on our own a few times. We always ended up walking up and down the pedestrian mall and seeing the same shops over and over again. This time we tried something different and did a formal tour with Aimee from Carpe Chepe. It was sooooo much better than trying to figure out the city ourselves!!! She showed us all sorts of cool neighbourhoods and brought us to cool restaurants. Her recommendations on local craft beer were perfect. She told us about the city walking tour and craft beer tour. I only wish we had found out about Carpe Chepe earlier as we are leaving before being able to try the other tours. Next time
Bryan Tr
