First-person experiences of three great travelers
has celebrated GuruWalk , on December 20 at 6:30 p.m. In the old Ice Factory (Reopened today as a socio-cultural venue on the seafront of ** Valencia **, in the charismatic neighborhood of ** El Cabanyal **). The motto of the event speaks for itself.
GuruWalk , a company dedicated to organizing free tours around half the planet, held the second edition of traveling alone , convened for the second consecutive year in Valencia.
The objective? Put on the table the fears of those women who travel the world alone, seeking to live a unique experience. The best way to know how to travel, where to do it, which areas are more dangerous than others, etc. is listening to them. Silence, they have the floor.
ANDREA: FINGER LATIN AMERICA
“What is essential and what is not?” That was one of the first questions Andrea Bergareche asked herself, from Bilbao (although originally from a small town in Asturias), before going to Mexico for a year.
"All the people told me not to go," she claims she is referring to the one closest to her. But she bite the bullet and flew up Mexico City , to see if she was “ able to fend for myself in a foreign country.” And she so much that she did it: "A long trip gives you the ability to integrate into a place."
After that experience she returned to Spain, but not to stay. She returned with some life plans that were not fulfilled, but she stayed on that side of the pond: “One hot day I bought a ticket to Argentina”, to go see a friend.
“What scares is the fear of the unknown, leaving the comfort zone”, she recognizes by remembering those two voices that haunted her head, that of “Jiminy Cricket”, on the one hand, and that of the “excitement of doing it”, on the other.
After that they would arrive ** Bolivia , Peru , Ecuador ** … Seven months touring Latin America hitchhiking. She missed one of those “speculate” flights, to see if there are any seats left when it takes off. But she was worth it to meet Monica, a great travel companion. She would show him Argentina, her homeland, “from within”.
Her next target was the Iguazu Falls , but she could no longer “spend 85 dollars every time she took a bus”, because she had taken a budget of 1,000 euros for two months, and the thing was already going for seven. So she decided to start hitchhiking.
Virtually all of her experiences were good, despite her first, when that trucker tried to give her a “massage” the first night they stopped.
He took her denial and led her with more shame than glory to her fate. Once in the lagoons, she was congratulated with the reward, which above all consisted of "having reached Iguazú" by "her own means".
then she would come Paraguay , which although "it is not so prepared for tourists" is "the country of hospitality". It was supposed to be the end of the journey, but she wasn't. She ** she continued to Bolivia **, but she already had to assume that in addition to hitchhiking she had to save and set a daily spending limit: 6 dollars.
She would have drivers of all kinds on her hitchhiking trips: truckers, families, people of all ideologies and ways of thinking…” You know the culture from within, a much more intense contact ”.
"It is often said that women are more vulnerable, but we forget to say that we have a lot of mothers," she says, remembering that lady who took her in her house for seven days when she saw that she was alone.
And she remembers the worst thing about traveling this way: getting sick. But she also remembers the economic issue: “Let money not be an excuse, there are always ways to finance yourself”.
PAULA: THE OCEANS IN BARCOSTOP
Paula Gonzalvo she went to sea four years ago, and since then she has not stopped. She without her own sailboat, always as a crew member. And she starts her experience recognizing a great truth: "I wish it didn't have to be celebrated Traveling alone", pointing out that "there is a lack of public figures who show that it is normal to travel alone ”.
“I needed to see the world, alone, because it's easier as a team. When you are alone, it is you, yes or yes, ”she says, recalling the motivations of that trip that would change her life.
And it is that Paula does not drop the rings when it comes to listing the fears that went through her head before crossing half the world by boat: “ The family, for the health of the older ones, and the friends, for missing their great moments”.
Also “rejection. People do not understand the trip if it is not a vacation”, and other fears: “How are you going to finance yourself, when are you going to leave, what will happen when you return…”. "I did not know what it was to travel by sea, it is something very unknown." That's why she opened his blog, to tell about his experiences.
She went towards Latin America on a sailboat doing barcostop, which is like hitchhiking but by boat as its name indicates. He admits that, at first, crossing the pond by boat "It wasn't the journey, it was the means to get there" , but he soon fell in love with the trip, and since then he only wants to do it by boat.
“I had orienteering experience in the mountains, but I didn't know that there are also maps of the sea” , which led her to know that “everything can be done by sea: the world was at my feet”.
Not only was she captivated by the boat trip, but also by her lifestyle. Because you have to “live simply. I lived eight months on a sailboat in Panama , but she only sailed 10% of the time” since the rest she did working as a cook.
Since then, she has learned all the trades on board, and now she is captain of the ships where she sails the oceans. “On the boat you develop both inside and out” , and it is that "on land everything is very comfortable".
She has never had an experience so bad that she had to disembark her, although she admits that she has met women who have had to. "You have to know how to read between the lines, and be very clear about it before going, trying to do a preliminary interview."
KANDY: THE BACKPACKER GRANDMOTHER
Candida ( 'Kandy') Garcia Santos she spent her life running several campsites until she opened her office as a lawyer. But, as we all know, when she retired she fulfilled her life's dream: to go around the world alone.
She was 66 years old at the time, and she at 83 years old she continues to travel the planet with her backpack , which has earned her the nickname of the 'backpack granny'. She has it clear: "The best thing I've ever done in my life is change the toga for the backpack."
Comparing herself to people her age, she admits that “things hurt me too, because who doesn't hurt at all? To the dead”, she affirms bluntly. "It's an attitude thing, something happens to everyone", acknowledging that "I can be afraid of fire" but not of something "I don't know if it will happen".
Since then, what she likes is traveling alone, although she has "been through everything" (from enduring blackmail to dealing with situations at gunpoint). Now what she does is post her next destination on her Facebook page. her, recruiting for the trip a dozen people for whom she acts as a guide.
With the grace of a monologist and the energy of a rock star, she claims not to be 83 years old, because she has already lived them, but to have the years she has left to live. “I'm always in a hurry, I need to live today, now. I do not do projects for a month or a year” . And she remembers the words of Teresa of Calcutta: "I'd rather get tired than rust."
She points out that when you go on a trip alone "you have to have imagination, otherwise it's a bummer". ** Her latest discovery of hers is Burma **, and she loves “Asian countries”. Not surprisingly, her favorite country is India , where she has been seventeen times: "It gives me a lot of energy."
She invites everyone (and everyone) to write to her email both to consult itineraries and to answer questions: [email protected]. And she promises to answer. There is no longer any excuse to travel alone.