Galiwonders Team
Sabela Gippini Ruiz
CEO
My first contact with the Camino was when I walked the Portuguese Way with my sister, right before I moved to Ireland, in 2012. I would soon realize that it would be a glimpse into my future, since the well-named Emerald Isle set the path where I find myself at the moment: leading Galiwonders. When abroad, I learned to describe to the rest of the world the virtues of our region, Galicia, and prove that our country is much more than a sun and beach destination (which it is, but there is more, much more to it!).
Chiara Lugato
Sustainability and CSR Manager
My relationship with Galicia begins thanks to a Galician that I met in Scotland in 2012 whom allowed me to discover this incredible land that I had not yet had the chance to visit. I must mention that, I fell in love (with both!) and, after many trips and a few more years living abroad, we decided to settle in Pontevedra and start our lives here.
Melissa Bouzas Vording
Chief Operating Officer
My relationship with Tourism begins at a young age: my first memories are located in the corridors of the hotels where my parents worked. It did not come as a surprise that my first teenage summer job would be at a charming hotel in the old town of Compostela. Since then, I have matured in this work sector, both nationally and abroad, until one fine day, living in Belgium, I decided to return to my beautiful land.
Giulia Rachele
Groups Agent
My first Camino experience began at the age of 17 years, when I walked the French Way with the Scouts, it was an enriching experience that I will remember forever. Since then, I have traveled back and forth: first to A Coruña and then to Canterbury, where I finished my degree in Economics, and kept dreaming of Galicia.
Sonia Núñez
Marketing
Passionate about art, the slow and sustainable life, and an animal lover, I seek inspiration in every corner of the world. My connection with the Apostle Santiago goes back a long way: as a child, I was fascinated by the stories my great-grandmother told about the legend.
Mercedes Landazábal
Travel Agent
After completing my studies in Travel Agencies and Tourism Marketing, I realized that my passion always was organizing trips: for me and for others (since it also makes me dream of travelling).
Vanesa Lains
Account Manager
I remember most of my childhood looking at pilgrims walking by, wishing them buen camino and indicating the stamping store. The Portuguese Way passed in front of my grandparents’ house (Soutoxuste) and also my parents (Arcade). It is incredible to see how everything has changed little by little. But… can you believe that I haven’t done it yet? I think it’s so special to me that I’ve always waited for the ideal moment and this year I have had no more excuses to do it!
Tania Broullón
Digital Marketing Specialist
They say I’m Generation Z, and it proves it that I’m up to date with all the trends or capturing everything with my phone. What you see in our networks or emails, that’s part of my job! But I combine it with my love for art, music, reading and nature.
Loreto Barreiro
Booking Agent
First I started my tourist relationship with the shipping companies that visit the National Park of the Atlantic Islands. My following experiences in the sector took place outside Galicia, being as a nomad for many years between the Balearic archipelago, the Canary Islands and winter seasons in the Pyrenees, enjoying the privileges of living between seasons, but always thinking of returning to Galicia.
Liliana Rozados
Sales Manager
My relationship with the Camino de Santiago goes back a long way. My first contact was during my university years in Santiago, where it was very common to meet pilgrims while enjoying all the options offered by a city like Santiago de Compostela. During these years I understood the saying: “Santiago is more beautiful when it rains” and, for me, Santiago has something special when the stone of the Casco Vello is wet.
Alba Freire
Travel Agent
It was my parents who instilled in me their passion for travelling and learning about other cultures. Rural tourism, our Canadian camping tent, the windmill routes, Asturias and the Cares route, etc. Europe, Africa, South America… They discovered the world for me.
Amanda Ruibal
Account Assistant
Since I started painting, my main hobby along with photography, I have always looked for places that inspire me to do it, and none has done it as well as the Galician landscape. It is
thanks to them and to my passion for nature that I was able to discover the marvellous Galician corners.
Roberto Fernández
Booking Agent
A lover of music and musician, of sport, of travel and above all of Galicia. My relationship with tourism began several years ago when I started working in an online travel agency. For the last six years I have been working in international hotel sales management, specifically with hotels in the cities of Amsterdam and Prague.
Marta Senra
Booking Manager
In my family, there have always been people who at some point were involved in the hospitality industry and with their numerous anecdotes, they aroused my interest in the sector. This led me to study Hotel Management and to live in several countries.
Iria Juncal
Product Agent
Creative, committed and a social person, since I was a child I felt that my path would go hand in hand with journalism and communication, but fate would have it that in 2013 my route took a detour towards tourism.
Andrés Mora
Booking Agent
One way or another, and despite not having anyone in the sector, I’ve always felt connected to tourism. I don’t know why—it’s something that caught my attention from the very first minute. And when the opportunity arose to train in hospitality management, I dived in headfirst.
I’m passionate about gastronomy, nature, and the way a place can tell its own story through its landscapes and traditions. And, as it turns out, I didn’t even realize I had been lucky enough to grow up in Galicia—the perfect setting to discover and enjoy all of that at once!
I’m a restless person, always looking for new opportunities and experiences (I admit, low ceilings make me a bit claustrophobic). And even though I felt comfortable behind the counter with the numbers, my body was asking for something more; a closer involvement and the chance to experience those journeys firsthand. That’s how I ended up at Galiwonders, where every day I connect with travelers from all over the world walking the Camino de Santiago for different reasons. Listening to their stories and being part of their adventure has made me, for the first time, consider living it myself and becoming one more pilgrim (even though that’s not exactly me).
I tick off goals little by little as they come along. The only thing left to decide before marking the next box and claiming my Compostela is whether to do it alone or with Tip, the cat who was left with me as a “tip” at the hostel I worked at and who has since become my inseparable companion in all my adventures./read].
