| Trail
Blazer
Times-Union Upfront, New York
December 5, 1995
By Patti Singer
A former Pittsford
woman is the big wheel in Iguana Mama, a Caribbean tour company
that is riding the wave of wilderness trips.
Tricia Thorndike de Suriel curls up on the
couch in the library of her parents' Pittsford home, her body
soaking up the warmth from a crackling fire.
But her heart is already warmed by the thought
that soon she'll be back in the Dominican Republic, where
she runs that country's first "ecotourism" company.
"There's only been tourism in the country
for 10 years," she says.
And her brand of tourism is even newer: Ecotourism,
which has boomed over the last five years, offers adventurous
travelers a chance to experience a place in its natural splendor
- by hiking, biking, or otherwise getting off the beaten path.
While ecotours can take place anywhere, they have come to
be associated with Third World countries.
Thorndike de Suriel, 33, started Iguana Mama
Mountain Bike and Adventure Specialists two years ago in the
coastal town of Cabarete.
She came back to Pittsford earlier this fall
with her Dominican-born husband, 25-year old Freddy Suriel,
so she could give birth to the couple's first child, Nicolas,
in an American hospital - and so he could be an American citizen.
But even the birth couldn't stop her from
working. During her visit, which ended last weekend, she also
produced Iguana Mama's first brochure and planned new tour
routes. (The December issue of Outside magazine mentions the
company in a story on the Caribbean.)
Adventure tours are a novelty to the Dominican
people. When she first rode through the countryside to scout
trails, "Everyone gave me free food because they thought
I was too poor to afford public transportation".
Ecotourism's cardinal rule is "Take
only photographs, leave only footprints." But this woman
takes it one step further: She gives back to the community
by organizing charitable drives for the local poor.
Thorndike de Suriel, who once taught wealthy
children at a Colorado ski resort, says, "I feel I have
a chance to make an impact on this small country".
Fluent in Spanish, she has become a fixture
in Cabarete, where she is active in the town's version of
a Chamber of Commerce. Friends say her outgoing manner and
fairness with people make her a good ambassador for the fledgling
tourism industry.
"The Dominicans adore her," says
Tina Bjornson, a former Pittsford resident who worked for
almost a year for Iguana Mama. "Not only does she sound
like them, but she can go into any situation that's nothing
like she expected and adapt to it".
Thorndike de Suriel graduated from Pittsford
Mendon High School in 1980, and left town shortly thereafter.
"I was bored to death in Pittsford,"
she recalled.
She moved to Colorado, where she started
work as a $4-an-hour ski instructor and eventually went on
to own the ski school.
But she never lost the wanderlust that started
when Edward and Elizabeth Thorndike took their three children
skiing in Switzerland.
Thorndike has visited every continent except
Antarctica, and lived for a time in Guatemala. Her older sister
teaches in Mexico.
"It doesn't surprise any of us in the
family" that Tricia lives in the Dominican Republic,
says her younger brother, Edward, who migrated only as far
as Connecticut, where he runs a restaurant.
In fact, the family has come to expect such
exploits. "They say, ÎThere goes Tricia again.
She's on another adventure,'" her brother says by telephone.
In 1992, Thorndike de Suriel was planning
a bicycling adventure to Bolivia when a friend suggested she
try the Dominican Republic. The world traveler confessed,
"I'd never heard of it."
Roughly the size of Vermont and New Hampshire,
which have a combined population of about 1.6 million people,
the Dominican Republic has 7.5 million residents. The nation
shares the Caribbean island of Hispaniola with Haiti, but
Thorndike de Suriel says that's all they have in common. Haitian
unrest, she says, has not crossed the border into the democratic
Dominican. Still, more than half the tourists are Europeans,
as Americans remain wary.
With peaks topping 10,000 feet, unspoiled
beaches and miles of rugged terrain in between, the Dominican
Republic is a natural for ecotourism, she says.
Thorndike de Suriel and an Australian acquaintance
started the tour business two years ago as a part-time operation.
The name Iguana Mama "means nothing," says Thorndike
de Suriel. "In a country where the drinks are called
Coco Loco and Banana Mama and everything rhymes, Iguana Mama
sounds normal."
Her partner soon grew homesick and left,
dropping Iguana Mama in Thorndike de Suriel's lap. The problem
was that Thorndike de Suriel already had a business - the
Colorado ski school.
But Colorado had snow, and she was sick of
winter. So she sold her share of the ski school and moved
to Cabarete (pronounced cah-ba-REH-teh). "I left Colorado
because I was looking for a challenge," she says. "I
was making money. It was all so easy. This was too simple."
Life in Cabarete certainly has its challenges.
Phone lines often go dead for no apparent reason. While she
was recently remodeling her bike shop, a cow ran through and
knocked over the paint cans.
"Now I'm not making any money and I'm
working my ass off."
She started with 10 bicycles and now stocks
more than 40 - state-of-the-art mountain bikes that can handle
the rough terrain. Tours have expanded from half-day outings
to include weeklong expeditions. Prices range from $10 a day
for a bike rental to $1,250 for a seven-day tour. The treks
include as few as six or as many as 14 people. So far, most
have been Europeans.
Thorndike de Suriel leads many of the tours.
When they occasionally stop at people's homes, visitors are
invited in along with her.
"For some, it's a shock to see people
live in huts," she says. "But once you're there,
you see it makes sense. Their houses are (made) from the trees.
If a strong wind blows over, they have less to lose."
"I found the country to be rich,"
she says. "They have good drinking water from the rivers.
Everything they need grows around them. None of their people
are starving. They all have homes."
But she admits there is deprivation, especially
in medical care and public education.
To help the local people improve their economy,
Thorndike de Suriel employs several Dominicans, including
her husband. She contributes 20 percent of the company's income
to local charities and organizes drives to collect clothing
and books. She gives discounts to tourists who donate Spanish-language
children's books.
She also pays the $4,000 tuition to send
a 10-year-old girl to the private International School of
Sosua.
"I call her St. Tricia," says Michelle
Kleiss, a teacher at the school. "I've called her that
since the day I met her."
Thorndike de Suriel helped Kleiss move into
an apartment, but it's the Pittsford woman's gifts to the
Dominicans that earn Kleiss' admiration.
"When you meet a person who wants to
give, it's unique. She's an altruistic person. That's what
it boils down to."
© Times-Union Upfront
|
