| Adventurous Entrepreneur |
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| August 2006 | |
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When Suresh Krishnan moved to Today, Krishnan, 41, and his wife Christine, oversee the burgeoning company, which also has offices in Monteverde. Desafio operates the pure adrenaline Rio Toro class, a white water rafting tour, which features more than 45 continuous rapids, and the company’s 14-day Costa Rican Adventure tour was recently voted among the top 25 adventure tours in National Geographic magazine. Born in southern India in the town of Kerela, Krishnan’s taste for adventure was apparent at a young age. His family moved to the United States when he was 7 years old and he excelled in athletics, competing in his first full marathon at 14 years old. After high school, he served in the U.S. Army for six years. East West recently visited Krishnan at his company’s new office in La Fortuna to talk about adventure, riding the tourism wave and what Americans should consider before making a life-changing move overseas. What does Desafio offer? We now offer a wide range of adventure activities from rafting to kayaking to horseback riding, canyoneering (rappelling down tropical waterfalls) and volcano hikes — we're a one-stop shop for trip planning for all of Costa Rica and Central America.
I don’t know. I was looking for adventure, I guess. Since Indiana Jones was always my hero, once I left the Army, I decided to study anthropology and I worked at a sea kayaking shop in Long Beach, California. A Costa Rican came into the shop to buy some rafting equipment to start a rafting company in Costa Rica on the Pacuare River on the Caribbean side and asked if I wanted to be a guide. And you ended up staying in Costa Rica for good; how did that happen? By finding a way to make money and actually earn an income. I decided to help the Costa Rican out at a time when Costa Rica was still in diapers for tourism. Things were tough. I didn’t actually get paid. But I met a nice Swedish girl who invited me to La Fortuna, which is at the base of the very active and majestic Arenal Volcano. Once I was there, I thought to myself, “There must be some good rivers around here.” So, I plopped down a map and drew a circle around La Fortuna and started to explore the local rivers on my own with my kayak. I figured out we had some great, world-class rivers basically right in our backyard here in La Fortuna, and it became my goal to put the Arenal area on the map as the premier place to paddle in Central America. Did you speak Spanish when you moved to Costa Rica? If not, how did you learn? No. I knew very little Spanish except "Hola" and "otra cerveza, por favor." I had to be self-taught so I bought a book and practiced with locals every chance I got. Since I was doing business in a Spanish-speaking country, it was important to learn the language, but more importantly, the culture. Tell me how you started your company. In the beginning it was basically a one-man show — I was the guide, secretary, driver, accountant, plus I needed to grab clients off the street and convince them to go rafting. Eventually I hired more people and often had to offer jobs to foreign raft guides because Costa Rica was so new to the adventure business and didn't have many qualified guides back then. How did you grow your company? Since I was the only adventure company in town, I ended up having to train locals (most of whom came straight off the coffee plantations) to guide class 3-4 rivers. The transition from farming to creating "River Gods" and "Adventure Gurus" has had a big impact on the community. What’s the biggest challenge of running your business? I never thought managing people would be the hardest part of my job, but I now have about 22 employees and my biggest challenge is training middle managers. I still find I am too-involved in the day-to-day operation of the office. It's still such a new business concept down here that it is hard to find well-rounded, capable staff. What are the risks/dangers of your business? Approximately 85 percent of our client base [are] North American travelers. As they say, every time the U.S. sneezes, we catch a cold down here, so the U.S. economy directly affects my business and the tourism industry in general. Costa Rica has been a popular destination for several years and it's a beautiful, enchanting country, but our neighbors Nicaragua and Panama are catching up fast. Do you still guide tours? My passion has always been extreme kayaking, so I safety kayak for trips from time to time or guide our canyoneering tours and I love it, but the office keeps me very occupied. How do you plan to grow Desafio? What’s in store for the future? I love inventing new adventure tours and always exploring new canyons, rivers, mountains and anything to pump up the adrenaline and keep Desafío Adventure Company on the cutting edge of adventure. One of my biggest goals is to build a permanent kayak surf wave in the river in front of our house and turn our town into the adventure mecca of Latin America. We have so many options here from world-class rivers to a huge, pristine lake, an active volcano, hot springs and much more. Retail is also an interest of mine. I'd like to brand my logo and start an adventure clothing and equipment line. In addition, I promised my mom we'd open a natural foods Indian restaurant as well. What’s your advice for Americans who are thinking of moving to Costa Rica? Costa Rica and Central America, in general, is the next frontier. For me, coming to Costa Rica was like when Ernest Hemmingway went to France in the 1920s — full of adventure, excitement and inspiration. In fact, I read somewhere that Costa Rica has the largest population of American ex-pats of anywhere in the world — about 45,000 of us down here! It's a peaceful country and more developed and safer than anywhere I've seen in Latin America. What’s the best thing about Costa Rica? Costa Rica is an incredible adventure playground — I have been able to do everything from bull riding to doing first descents on local rivers to kayak surfing and then finishing off the day with a nice Cuba Libre, watching the sunset on a beautiful tropical beach with my wife. Do you think you will ever come back to America to live? No, probably not. After six years in the U.S. military and becoming a commissioned officer, although I will always be a die-hard American, I have realized the world is much bigger than just the United States. Learn more about Krishnan and Desafio at www.desafiocostarica.com |
How did you get the idea of going to Costa Rica?
