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We are Épico!

a woman smiling next to a body of water

Cláudia

Raised on a volcanic island, Cláudia inherited the genetics of volcanoes, and that’s why it’s hard to be quiet. He started working as a tourist guide, before knowing he was, in his parents’ artisanal cheese shop, at the age of nine. Here is explained how the cheese was made and promoted tastings at the end.

At the age of 17, he left the island for the mainland to study Tourism. Sometimes we have to leave the island for the island to enter us. In the four years he lived outside Pico, his passion for the island grew and his desire to come back and create an innovative project gained strength.

After six years of working in the local administration, he decided it was time to change his life, take risks, and create his company from scratch. The main idea led to the creation of this project: to offer experiences to tourists without feeling like tourists, but part of the island. Cláudia has invested heavily in her specialized training in different areas so that the experience of those who choose her services is as rich as possible!

However, tourism in the Azores still has some seasonality, which leaves free time for Cláudia to help her family take care of the farm! There are always cows to move pasture, pigs and chickens to feed, fresh fruit to pick or vegetables to grow! This side of Earth that runs in her veins brings her back to her origins.

It is in this balance between being a “picarota” (local women from Pico Island), the inconstancy of the island’s peace and the excitement of receiving visitors from all over the world, that lies its genuineness and the wealth of exclusive experiences it offers to those who choose it to discover more about Pico!

Jenni

Jennifer was born and raised in Germany. After graduating from university with an engineering degree, there were many possibilities ahead. Still looking for her future, she was brought to the Azores for a short vacation, not even knowing that she would live there for the next 11 years to the full.

In 2011 he began working as a guide for Futurismo in São Miguel and since then has worked in the tourism sector. In addition to her work at Futurismo as a local guide, group leader, and operations coordinator on the island of Pico (where she settled in 2015), she spent some time working in Austria in hotel receptions and ski schools.

He loves the mountains and the sea as much as the “simple” lifestyle of the Azores. In addition to spending hours in Nature, my work gives you the privilege of sharing this passion with others. In recent years in the Azores, she learned a lot about flora, fauna, geology, local culture, and life itself, becoming the proud mother of a 4-year-old half-Azorean boy and a certified guide for the Pico Natural Park.

Jenni
a man smiling for the camera

Mónica Mota & Nuno Gonçalves

Mónica and Nuno love to walk, starting by traversing different paths across the Portuguese continent and the Azores and deciding, in 2012, to embark on a two-year backpacking adventure, “walking through” all the countries of South America…

In 2014 they returned to Pico Island to implement their experiential and educational project “Walking in Permaculture”, seeking to create and live in an environmentally sustainable space, in harmony with Nature. Along with this project, they want to share their taste for walking and provide those who visit Pico with a different experience, an atíPico day.

Daniel Pena

Daniel discovered his passion for hiking and mountains when he moved from Lisbon to the Azores in 2009 when he climbed Pico Mountain for the first time.

In 2016 he decided to leave his work as a music teacher and programmer to volunteer in sustainable communities and projects in South America for over 2 years. He returned to Pico Island in 2019 to start a sustainable and ecological project, deciding to return to teaching music and becoming a mountain guide, joining the atiPICO team to provide him with an atypical experience on the climb to the highest point of Portugal.

a man standing in front of a mountain