Paulina Vallejos was a bank manager, she had a house, a car and jewelry. But a breakup made her realize that despite everything she had, she felt empty. Thus began his metamorphosis, which leads him today to coordinate trips around the world that experience the local culture without being intrusive and which, on the contrary, are a contribution to the community. “I’m very proud of the woman I’ve become,” she says.
“I get up, do yoga and meditate. I have my altar because I follow the Hindu and Buddhist religion. Then I take a shower, have my breakfast and get to work in the office I have at home”. These are the mornings of Paulina Vallejos (40) from her apartment in Cairo, Egypt, where she has been living for a year. But this fate is only temporary, as Paulina has been leading a nomadic life since 2015.
Before traveling around the world and founding his travel agency Balibuta Travel (@balibuttravel ) went through a dark period. In 2012 he went through a severe depression and in 2013 he ended a 16-year relationship with his partner, four of whom were married. “He was my first love. We loved each other very much, but our paths were different,” recalls Paulina, who decided in 2015 to change her life and give up everything to travel, including her stable job in a bank for 11 years.
“I felt like my life had no purpose. He lived to work. I was not happy, even though I had everything I had always dreamed of: my house, my job, my husband, my dog. . That’s why this breakup happened before the separation, this very strong depression in which I realized that I could no longer turn a blind eye to an unhappy life. After that, there was a revival. I look back and in 2012 another Pau was born the one that accompanied all the radical changes,” the businesswoman says of what prompted her to embark on the journey.
In 2014, he took a trip to Tibet, a destination he had dreamed of ever since he saw the film 7 years in Tibet. This flight back to Chile made her want to change everything she had been doing for years: “During this trip, the theme of Buddhist philosophy marked me a lot, that of detachment, detachment from both the material and the emotional. I decided to drop everything and travel the world to find out what I’m good at, because I thought I was no good at anything. I felt I was good enough to work in a bank and nothing more. I left my job, I communicated it super transparently and my boss totally understood me, I left on the best terms. Then I started selling all my things: the house, the car and more. As I was unhappy, I was very consumerist, so I had everything, jewelry, expensive handbags, but none of that made me happy, nothing mattered to me. I just wanted to have the Lucas to travel.
Around the world in a year
Paulina wanted to go around the world. In 2015, his journey begins in Latin America, then in Europe and then in the Middle East until reaching Southeast Asia. “I fulfilled my dream of going to Bhutan, because on this trip, I promised myself to go to Bhutan and Bali. I studied tourism and also when I was younger I had seen the program Namaste, by Sol Leyton, where they appeared these places and I haven’t forgotten any more. Bhutan and Bali were the most important travel destinations that year, which also gave rise to the name of my company: Balibut, for Bali and Bhutan. At that time, the idea of owning an agency didn’t even cross my mind,” she says.
For Paulina, these destinations were so important that she wanted to start her life in Bali, but unfortunately fell ill with pyelonephritis , a condition that kept her hospitalized for a month in a country and culture totally foreign to hers. “I was going to stay in Bali, I had everything ready. I was going to be in a community, with a shaman, very into this flow. But I got sick and didn’t get better, I had to go to Chile urgently. My travel insurance coverage had run out, so I spent whatever money I had left trying to upgrade. I arrived in Chile with less than a million pesos. I didn’t have a house or a car or anything, but I had friends, friends who helped me and welcomed me into their homes,” he explains.
Once recovered, she asked to return to her old job. She spoke with the boss at the time, who was previously her partner, and they came to an agreement: Paulina would stay for a year in the bank and then continue her nomadic life. “I told my boss that I was going to do my job well, as always, but that I could not continue in this situation.”
“I arrived in Chile in January and in September 2016 I founded the company with 500,000 pesos which I used to pay for the deed, the lawyer and the website. My friends encouraged me, they told me that I was the one who organized the trips for them, the one who had contacts; who had the necessary skills to found an agency. My light bulb went on. When you come back from such a trip, it’s as if you didn’t belong anywhere. In me, there was a huge need for people to know what exists, to travel, to discover that there are other ways of doing things. » Paulina says of her early days, which weren’t the best because she was new to the industry, but she quickly managed to establish herself in the market.
“At first I wanted offer the same thing that I had experienced: Bali and Bhutan. I had designed trips that made sense, in which people shared with local communities, that they had had a different experience, which is very old-fashioned today, but not in our way of working, which is immerse ourselves deeply in the local culture . But life alone guides you on other paths and we currently offer 30 destinations in the year. We have reproduced the model of meaningful travel even in countries that do not seem to need help, such as Sweden or Iceland, but there we are helping to preserve the traditions of the local culture, to give visibility to what is being lost”, explains Paulina, who currently works with seven other people spread across Chile, Spain and India.
His company offers group trips, of about eleven people, but also private trips. Each destination aims to provide an experience with a local community. “ In Bali I met my guide Wayan, with whom I went to cook at his place with his family then rode his motorbike through the rice fields. Before founding the agency, I asked him if it would not seem intrusive to him to live such an experience himself, with local contacts, and he loved the idea because he and his community like to share their traditions. Now we work together and this is one of the experiences we offer,” he explains.
“We think people only enjoy the end product, but they always thank us for the detail we put into the whole experience, they tell us the dedication shows. It’s super nice, because inseparable friendships are made during group trips. Then they get together and tag us, some even celebrate the anniversary of the trips,” says Paulina.
Contribute whenever you can
Paulina is clear that tourism is often an unsustainable industry, which is why she and her team care about responsible tourism and “do not engage in activities that are intrusive to communities. Although tourism is an industry that can do good for the world, how you travel will depend a lot on your positive or negative impact.
Although Balibuta has not made trips to Uganda, he maintains close relations with this African country through the Begin Anew Foundation, of the Chilean Einer Rubilar, which ensures the construction and preservation of water wells. “I met the foundation through the things of life. We have donated water wells and once a year I take money from my income to Support this non-profit organization. I would like to plan a group trip to do a medical operation or with teachers, I don’t know yet, I’m still planning it, but I want it to be something that contributes to change”, said Paulina.
If Paulina takes a brief trip down memory lane and visits this unfortunate woman, with no clear direction, and then sees the person she is today, she makes the following reflection: “I’m super proud of the woman I’ve become. I am grateful to this brave woman who dared against all odds to do all that she did. I feel like I’m living a life with purpose and that makes me feel fulfilled. Until today, when I am in a destination with travelers and see them happy, fulfilling their dreams, it fills my soul. I see myself reflected in them. »
Source: Latercera
I am David Jack and I have been working in the news industry for over 10 years. As an experienced journalist, I specialize in covering sports news with a focus on golf. My articles have been published by some of the most respected publications in the world including The New York Times and Sports Illustrated.
