With seven years of history and born during the Covid-19 pandemic, Fuego & Barrica stands as an example of the life philosophy of Mayra Urquía, director of Royal Eventos and an event organizer. She maintains that insistence, persistence, and resilience are fundamental to achieving success and one’s dreams.
She is a dreamer with faith and hope who has always sought and seized the opportunities life has presented her. The second of seven siblings, she left home at an early age to start a proud life as a mother and wife.
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She holds degrees in Marketing and International Trade, an MBA in Commercial Management, and various diplomas, including one in Defense and Security, as she stepped out of her comfort zone to explore other interesting areas of learning and study.
During an interview with César Salinas, director of Humo Latino, she said that for the past 21 years, she has made event organization her life’s work, having produced nearly 500 events of all sizes and for all markets in different parts of the country and abroad.
Mayra began in the business after finishing her International Trade degree when she and a friend and partner at the time were invited by a school to organize an event. “Since I was a child, I was methodical; I was the family’s promoter and organizer. These people loved our way of working and our results. That’s how we started.”
Fuego & Barrica
“Insistent, persistent, and resilient” is how Mayra Urquía describes herself, and Fuego & Barrica is an example of this life philosophy. “In the midst of crises, you can strengthen yourself in many ways when you see adversity as an opportunity.”
Although it emerged during difficult times when many businesses remained out of service, especially within the event organization industry, she did not stop her creative nature in the search for new work opportunities for her company.
In the middle of the isolation, she contacted a friend from Danlí with the idea of being ready to do something related to the tobacco industry when restrictions eased. She did so with the idea of satisfying the natural need for social gathering among Latinos, making use of one of her most valuable assets: her contacts, which included wine and spirits brands, as well as audio, staging, and structural services, among others.
For that first edition, she arranged for the Intercontinental Hotel to provide a terrace, an ideal open-air space for organizing an event under the new guidelines imposed by health organizations, respecting capacity limits and the conditions to be considered due to the pandemic.
The result was the birth of a very special event, which only allowed 30 people to attend. They enjoyed live music, a cigar rolling demonstration, and pairings. “The capacity was limited, but there were more people outside the hotel who were interested in getting in. From there, the rest is history.”
According to Mayra, a larger space was later secured, accommodating a hundred guests and providing better experiences. Since 2022, however, the Hotel Honduras Maya has served as the venue, as it has a large pool area and open spaces ideal for the event’s continuity, consolidating Fuego & Barrica as a wonderful opportunity that was born in the midst of a crisis.
Deep Roots
This last edition, which took place on Thursday, August 28, recalled the origins of the tobacco and mining industries, which forged the country’s identity, under the motto “Between smoke and mining, deep roots of our land.” Mayra recalled that Tegucigalpa was home to a mining hub that once strengthened the country’s economic development. For this reason, along with tobacco, “we pay tribute to what is extracted with labor, transformed with art, and enjoyed with pride.”
Hundreds of attendees had a sensory experience that took them –through an interactive panel– from the origins of each type of cigar to the different blends that compose them; their proper storage, cutting, and lighting; and the pairings needed for full enjoyment. Because a cigar reveals its richness third by third, accompanied by the warmth of an aged rum or the firmness of a good whiskey, the exquisite taste of a wine, and, of course, a high-altitude coffee.
It was a 360-degree event with a central stage, surrounded by booths from various national and international brands that offered their products with special discounts, and through raffles, they gave personalized cigars to the guests. It was a festive day, enlivened with various shows, but it also made space for networking.
Along with Banco de Occidente, as the presenter; Royal Eventos, the organizer; and the Hotel Honduras Maya, the venue; the following participated: Carlos Castillo Cigars & Co. and its brands Bandido, Blue Blood, Smoking Rabit, and Abuelo Tomás; Joaquín Blanco, with a wide variety of lines under his eponymous brand; and Vianto Cigars, with “V,” Mehira, and its regular line, which includes three blends; Loaisiga Cigars, a Nicaraguan company that produces Infiel; and the Dominican company Doña Jisset, with Infinity Rose, La Doña, and La Diva.
Also present were The Cigar Lounge; Hondutabaco; Zacapa, Botran, and Flor de Caña rums; El Santo distillates; Crucillón, San Telmo, and A Felling For wines; La Casa del Ron; Distribuidora Istamania; Vivento, Premium Liquor Store; and Quartz Sparkling, a tonic and mineral water.
Among other sponsors and strategic allies were the exclusive brand Excel Automotriz BMW Honduras; the National Chamber of Tourism of Honduras (Canaturh); Cluster MICE Tegucigalpa; Canal 11 of Honduran television, the media partner; the national magazine GenteSur; Eventum; Expoferias; Vector, Digital Signage; Opinalia, event technology; Tapme, networking; and Publicorp, specialized print advertising.
Finally, the event featured Pasta Bar; La Estancia Café y Cultura; Nudos, by Isabel; Índigo Pósters; and the startups Candelia, Home Decor; De Abolengo accessories, by Grace; and the chocolate company Atucún, all promoted by Banco de Occidente, in line with its corporate motto: “Supporting today’s small businesses to make tomorrow’s big ones,” as mentioned by Leonel Rivas, corporate manager of marketing and commercial strategy for this institution, which has positively impacted the country for seven decades.
A Standout Event
Mayra has a special interest in boosting the convention tourism industry, and as a pioneer in tobacco events in Honduras, she has motivated and introduced more people to this passion, hoping that this will lead to the continued growth of Fuego & Barrica: a major event for the tobacco industry in her country, just as Procigar is for the Dominican Republic, Puro Sabor for Nicaragua, or the Festival del Habano in Cuba.
After the seventh edition, Mayra and her team have already begun working to give the brand a different feel. “This is an event that is going to transform into something different, but that is a surprise to be revealed later.”
If you have a dream, you have to try to make it happen in different ways until it works. “If I told you the ratio of effort to results from the first few editions, you’d laugh, but heading toward 2026 and the eighth edition, things are changing and dreams are coming true.”
In this way, Fuego & Barrica is set to make history hand in hand with Banco de Occidente, a financial institution that will celebrate a major anniversary in 2026 and will have the event as a centerpiece for its celebration. “Gratitude above all. They believed in me from the very beginning.”
If in 2025 Fuego & Barrica hosted brands from Honduras, the Dominican Republic, and Nicaragua, “what’s coming for the eighth edition is something incredible, a three-dimensional event.”
