When Rafa Mayer was a teenager, he spent his school holidays backpacking through remote Patagonia. The landscapes were vast, fragile, and unlike anything else on earth. He came home with a conviction that would shape the next three decades of his life: that travel should leave a place better than it found it.
In 1999, at just 24 years old, he put that conviction to work and founded Say Hueque, a tailor-made travel company operating across Argentina, Chile, and South America. Long before “responsible travel” became an industry buzzword, Mayer was building a business model around it.
Nearly 25 years later, Say Hueque is a certified B Corp, and Mayer is still very much putting his money where his mouth is, this time, to the tune of half a million trees.
A Regeneration Fee, Not a Donation Box
The 500,000 Trees Project is Say Hueque’s most ambitious commitment to date. For every traveler the company takes through Patagonia, 10 native trees are planted in the region. Crucially, this isn’t an optional add-on or a feel-good donation prompt at checkout, it’s built directly into the cost of the trip as a Regeneration Fee. Responsibility, by design.
In partnership with ReforestArg, a local NGO specializing in ecosystem restoration, Say Hueque plants native Coihue and Cypress trees in areas devastated by wildfires near Cholila, in Argentine Patagonia. The scale of the problem is staggering: more than 35,000 hectares burned near Cholila alone in early 2026, with thousands more lost across the Andean Patagonian forests in prior seasons. The goal of 500,000 trees by 2030 isn’t a marketing target. It’s a direct response to an accelerating environmental crisis.
Since 2021, the project has planted nearly 200,000 native trees – and the pace is accelerating. This October, over 80 volunteers will gather in Cholila to plant more than 5,000 Cypress and Coihue trees in a single event, part of a growing annual rhythm that brings together travelers, locals, and conservationists around a shared and urgent goal.
What Planting Half a Million Trees Actually Looks Like
The work is hands-on and place-specific. Volunteers and local teams plant native species in degraded landscapes, working alongside park rangers, nurseries, and a growing network of environmental workers trained through Say Hueque’s “Forest Restorer” program, a scheme that provides paid ecological restoration work and formal training to people in the communities most directly impacted by the fires.
Planting days aren’t transactional. They include shared meals, conservation workshops, and the kind of conversations that tend to happen when people are working side by side in remote landscapes. The goal isn’t just trees in the ground, it’s people who leave with a different relationship to the places they’ve been.
Mayer describes it as a slower, more intentional process — one designed not just to reforest Patagonia, but to create a meaningful, collective effort that reconnects people with nature and underscores the long-term impact of responsible travel.
Built on Local, From the Ground Up
The tree planting is perhaps the most visible expression of a philosophy that runs through everything Say Hueque does. Since its founding, the company has deliberately chosen to work with small, family-run operators such as boutique lodges, local guides, and independent accommodations rather than international chains. The result is that what travelers spend flows directly back into the regional communities hosting them, supporting local economies and preserving cultural traditions that larger operators tend to flatten.
It’s a model that rejects the idea that sustainability requires sacrifice. “For us, sustainability is not about limiting the traveler experience,” Mayer has said. “It is about enriching it.”
That shows up in the details: plastic-free trips, partnerships with family-run eco-lodges, community-based tourism initiatives in places like Isla Maciel, and educational programs with local nonprofits in Buenos Aires. The company’s broader social and environmental impact is documented here.
25 Years Ahead of the Trend
What’s perhaps most striking about Mayer’s story is the timing. He wasn’t responding to consumer pressure or ESG reporting requirements when he built Say Hueque’s regenerative model. He was 24, fresh from the mountains, and simply unwilling to build something that took more than it gave.
As the travel industry now rushes to catch up with a generation of travelers who want their itineraries to mean something, Mayer has been living this model for a quarter of a century. He serves as the Ambassador of the Transformational Travel Council in Argentina and the local Ambassador for the Adventure Travel Trade Association, roles that reflect a genuine commitment to shifting industry norms, not just Say Hueque’s own practices.
He’s also a father now, traveling through South America with his wife and two sons, watching firsthand as the landscapes he grew up in shape the next generation the same way they shaped him. That personal thread runs through everything – the company, the trees, the communities, the vision.
In a world of carbon offsets and sustainability pledges, Say Hueque is doing something increasingly rare, actually showing up.
Say Hueque is a certified B Corp operating tailor-made travel experiences across Argentina, Chile, and South America. Learn more about the 500,000 Trees Project here.
Spencer Hulse is the Editorial Director at Grit Daily. He is responsible for overseeing other editors and writers, day-to-day operations, and covering breaking news.
