Valeria has been main Intrepid journeys in Mexico for 9 years, however earlier than that, her life was music. Altering careers felt like a leap, till she realised that guiding travellers wasn’t fairly the change of tune she thought it was.
I by no means deliberate to develop into a tour chief. For practically twenty years, music and schooling had been my world. I taught choir to youngsters and youngsters, carried out ensembles, carried out, composed and spent numerous hours rehearsing and creating.
Educating taught me one thing basic: the significance of creating the implicit express – whether or not guiding a scholar by way of a musical phrase or deciphering a chunk with an ensemble, I used to be at all times attempting to light up what was hidden beneath the floor.
However over time, the enjoyment I as soon as felt in music began to fade. Juggling a number of jobs and struggling to make ends meet left me drained. Regardless of how a lot effort I put in, it by no means gave the impression to be sufficient to dwell higher or really feel fulfilled. When my long-term relationship ended, my psychological well being was in a extremely conflicted place.
Round that point, my finest pal, who had been working as a tour chief with Intrepid for about ten years, lastly informed me what his job was actually like. I had by no means paid a lot consideration to it earlier than, however once I requested, it gave the impression of a dream: getting paid to journey, assembly new folks and seeing stunning locations in my very own nation that I had by no means visited.
It felt like the possibility to place a long way between myself and a life that not felt sustainable. I wanted to interrupt out of that cycle, and this chance gave me a method to do it. So I utilized.
After I received the job, it wasn’t nearly getting into a brand new profession – it was about getting into a brand new model of myself. On the primary journey, shadowing an skilled chief, I felt alive once more. It was my first actual alternative to offer for myself, to journey as a lady inside my very own nation and to see my very own tradition with contemporary eyes, filled with delight.
But it surely got here a wave of guilt, too. I had informed myself for therefore lengthy that music was the one path for me, and now I used to be feeling nice doing one thing utterly totally different. I needed to wrestle with that alongside doubts:
What if I don’t have what it takes?
What if I fail?
About six months in, I began to grasp that most of the expertise I wanted had been ones I had already developed by way of music: listening to the group, understanding rhythm and circulation, figuring out when to construct up, when to decelerate, when to let silence communicate. Bringing folks collectively to create one thing significant.
I nonetheless had these instruments – I simply needed to study to make use of them in a distinct key.
You see, the journey of a visit mirrors the journey of a tune.
You see, the journey of a visit mirrors the journey of a tune. It’s not nearly shifting from one place to a different or ticking off landmarks. It’s about experiencing – listening to, smelling, touching, tasting, feeling and studying from locals.
And for that to occur, one important hyperlink is required: the tour chief. A tour chief is the Rosetta Stone, the interpreter of the expertise. However not simply that. A tour chief is an artist.
Take into consideration music: a conductor understands the large image. They know that not each observe or chord is equally necessary – however collectively, they construct as much as create one thing extraordinary out of odd sounds.
That’s additionally the work of a fantastic tour chief: guiding odd folks by way of a unprecedented expertise, permitting moments to unfold naturally, constructing towards one thing particular.
And that’s the place the ‘wow second’ is available in. It doesn’t occur by chance. Like in music, the place a composer creates pressure and backbone, a fantastic tour chief builds anticipation, permits silence, lets issues breathe, in order that when the magic occurs – when the group arrives at that breathtaking view, once they style one thing utterly surprising, once they share a deep, unplanned second of connection – it lands with full drive.
And like all artist, we should refine our approach, take away ego and hear. We respect rhythm, permitting dissonance and pressure – in order that we are able to resolve it, creating concord.
With that intentionality, there’s affect – on the travellers, on ourselves and on the native individuals who, whether or not they search it or not, come into contact with one thing new.
That affect is bodily – touching, tasting, being there. But it surely’s additionally emotional and mental – the transformation that occurs when two realities meet.
Each traveller brings a brand new melodic line, and collectively we compose one thing distinctive.
Journey is a drive. It’s motion, power, transformation. The query is: What sort of affect can we wish to create?
As a result of tour main is about orchestrating each effort with the ambition that the tour itself will develop into a masterpiece. Each traveller brings a brand new melodic line, and collectively, inside this unbelievable parenthesis that journey creates, we compose one thing distinctive – a tune that all of us sing collectively, that all of us elevate.
And that’s how, with rhythm, sound, silence, dynamics, tempo and construction, we are able to jazz our approach by way of a vacation spot, turning it right into a jam – enjoyable, genuine, actual and exquisite.
And that is artwork.
As a tour chief, I found one thing I hadn’t anticipated: the fantastic thing about service. There’s something deeply noble about dedicating your self to creating others really feel welcomed, supported and seen. It jogs my memory of what artwork aspires to do at its highest stage – to vanish as ego and develop into a channel for one thing significant.
Discovering a brand new path allowed me to reconnect with music from a spot of freedom and love, not survival. I sing now as a result of I wish to, not as a result of I’ve to. And that’s a form of concord I by no means anticipated to seek out.
Valeria leads Intrepid journeys in Mexico. Learn extra about Intrepid’s locally-based leaders and e book your subsequent journey.
