{"id":56822,"date":"2022-10-10T11:51:47","date_gmt":"2022-10-10T00:51:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/?p=56822"},"modified":"2025-03-22T02:57:29","modified_gmt":"2025-03-21T15:57:29","slug":"the-inca-trail-is-my-office-meet-one-of-perus-first-female-trekking-guides","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/the-inca-trail-is-my-office-meet-one-of-perus-first-female-trekking-guides\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cThe Inca Trail is my office\u201d: Meet one of Peru\u2019s first female trekking guides"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In the male-dominated world of Peruvian trekking, female tour guides are still quite rare. When Ernestina Valeriano started her tourism career 15 years ago, they were basically non-existent. Now, Tina is leading the charge for women in the travel industry, guiding female-only expeditions through the Andes.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s hard to get Ernestina Valeriano on the phone. Reception isn\u2019t great in the high, cloud-covered valleys of the Peruvian Andes, where Ernestina (Tina to her friends) has been working for the last 15 years. When she\u2019s not at home in Cusco, looking after three dogs, two cats, her husband, mother and 19-year-old son, she\u2019s trekking the mountains and sharing her culture with Intrepid travellers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI actually just finished a trip this morning!\u201d she says, clearly still buzzing. \u201cWe just got back from Machu Picchu. I was leading a group of 16 women, and it was an amazing journey.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Feeling tired? \u201cNo, no, no, definitely not tired. I love this job. For most people, their office is their home. For me, the Inca Trail is my office. Machu Picchu is my office. Everywhere outside Cusco is my office! I love to show people around this beautiful country.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tina is something still quite rare in Peru<\/a>: a female trekking guide. When she started her tourism career, women were not barred from the industry, but the male-dominated culture and Peru\u2019s conservative social values didn\u2019t exactly encourage participation. Women were generally expected to stay home and raise families, not go hiking through the Andes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Four<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe system is still very \u2013 how do you say \u2013 machismo?\u201d Tina says, \u201cBut little by little it\u2019s getting better. When I started there were hardly any female tour guides in Peru. The men in the office would say, \u2018Tina, why aren\u2019t you at home? Why aren\u2019t you looking after your family?\u2019 It was a difficult time. Now, of course, it\u2019s the opposite. Companies are actually looking for more women.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tina is Quechua. She grew up in the little village of Paucartambo, in Peru’s Southern highlands, and moved to Cusco when she was 11 years old. She lived with her mother and four siblings, and money was tight. Tina always dreamed of working in the trekking industry, which dominates the old Inca city, but there were a few hurdles to overcome.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

First, she was busy raising a child. Second, she was a woman, and tourism in Peru didn\u2019t exactly welcome women. And third, there was language: Tina\u2019s mother tongue is Quechua, so she threw herself into language classes in order to learn Spanish, and eventually English. Working in a restaurant and chatting to travellers helped speed up the process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI actually started very late in tourism,\u201d she admits. \u201cMost students when they finish school go straight to university to become a tour guide. In my case, I had my baby, so that wasn\u2019t an option. I worked as a waiter for a while to earn money, then spent three years at a tourism institute. I\u2019m over 40 now, and I\u2019ve been doing this for 15 years. Not too old, I guess!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tina ended up becoming one of the first female trek guides in Cusco, and on the Inca Trail. It was a huge achievement, especially while raising a family, and today she leads Intrepid\u2019s Women\u2019s Expeditions: limited-edition, female-only tours that wind through the high valleys, lakes and ruins of the Andes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Two<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s still very difficult for female guides in Peru,\u201d Tina admits. \u201cAs a woman, you wonder, will people think differently about me? Maybe my English isn\u2019t good enough. Maybe I\u2019m not strong enough for this. Some girls ask me, \u2018Tina, how do you become a leader? How are you doing all this with your family?\u2019 And I say that my family supports me. They know that this is a part of me. This is my life. They say, \u2018If you\u2019re happy, we\u2019re happy\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tina says juggling family and work is still the biggest hurdle for young women in Peru. But if you want to succeed in travel, you need that support network in place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn Peru, we start our families very early, and it\u2019s always going to be difficult to leave your family,\u201d she says. \u201cBut I always tell the girls they should follow their dreams. If they want to be a tour guide, they need support. I feel proud of me, and my family is proud of me too.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the male-dominated world of Peruvian trekking, female tour guides are still quite rare. When Ernestina Valeriano started her tourism career 15 years ago, they were basically non-existent. Now, Tina…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15098,"featured_media":56834,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3108],"tags":[1538,2402,57,37,38,2380],"class_list":["post-56822","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-good-stories","tag-female-local-leaders","tag-hiking-and-trekking","tag-inca-trail","tag-peru","tag-south-america","tag-womens-expeditions","ipf_theme-walking-trekking","ipf_theme-womens-expedition","ipf_region-peru"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n\u201cThe Inca Trail is my office\u201d: Meet one of Peru\u2019s first female trekking guides<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"When Tina started her tourism career, female tour guides in Peru were almost non-existent. 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