When Danilo Manzano came out to his family, they didn't accept his sexuality and asked him to hide it from the world. But a key friendship would inspire Danilo to not only embrace his identity publicly, but to become an outspoken activist for LGBTQ rights in Ecuador.
Andrés Ruzo grew up listening to his grandfather tell a story about a river with boiling waters in the Amazon. When he later became a scientist specializing in geothermal energy, he set a goal for himself: Go deep into the jungle and find that river.
Carlos Marroquín has always been an inventor. But he wasn’t putting that talent to much use in his native Guatemala until he saw a rare sight on the road that stopped him in his tracks: bicycles. That turning point led Carlos to transform the lives of many farmers and towns through his bicycle-inspired inventions, or as he calls them, bicimáquinas.
Héctor Vergara escaped dictatorship in Chile in the 1970s and fled to Europe, where he landed in the restaurant industry. There he discovered a passion and talent for wine that led him to become the first Master Sommelier from Latin America. But his biggest impact on the world wouldn’t take place until he found his way back home, where no one even knew what a sommelier was.
The giant Galápagos tortoise is one of the most endangered animals in the world, and Lonesome George was the last of his particular species when he met conservationist Washington Tapia. They would go on to develop a bond that would inspire Washington to dedicate his life to protecting the tortoises of the Galápagos.