Meet Your Peru Travel Guide: Tina

Over the past years, Mrs. Ernestina “Tina” Valeriano has been doing an exceptional job showing travellers her home country of Peru. Via this interview, we like to recognise one of our popular Peru travel guides and we hope you enjoy the read. Perhaps you may meet her on a future trip, or this interview recalls memories from a past trek you did with her as a leader.

Tina is originally from a small town south of Cusco, but she currently lives in the gateway to the Inca Trail itself. Sharing a home with her mother and 14-year-old son, she loves to travel around Peru. When on the way leading trips, her mother takes care of her son and in the months when the Inca Trail is closed, they all like to go on a vacation together.

Why did you become a travel guide?

This job as a Peru travel guide helps me achieve a personal goal. It is my passion in life to share with visitors from other parts of the world the knowledge that I have about my culture and the customs that we follow in Peru. I wanted to grow more as a professional and therefore contacted World Expeditions to work with them.

What are your responsibilities on a trek?

I usually start with organising several of the activities we will undertake with a group. On the first day, I give the travellers a briefing about what our trip will look like and what areas of Peru we will visit. On a daily base, I brief the travellers about the details of each specific day. For example, this can be about certain difficulties that the walk can involve.

I take it as my responsibility to make travellers feel at home during their holiday in Peru.

What do you like best about your job?

It is very special for me to be travelling with a new group every time. Each group is unique. There are many different situations that we would find ourselves in during a trek and there are all kinds of emotions. For example, people can feel tired when walking in the mountains and this can bring about mixed emotions when having completed the trail at the end.

What is your favourite place in Peru?

Because I travel around Peru so much and see so many different places, I do not have one particular place that I like best. There is something fascinating about all the places that I have visited.

What is your best memory ever?

I have the satisfaction of having met very interesting people over the years being a Peru travel guide. I was able to share experiences with travellers on my trips and I have learned about the customs of their countries of origin. All of this has served to enrich my own knowledge and helped me every time to perform as a professional.

If travellers want to bring something to Peru what should it be?

I think it would be good to help the villagers in the mountains with some clothes or other products for the children. This could for example be t-shirts, sweaters, caps, books and notebooks.

What is your number 1 advice for people who are considering to trek in Peru?

My number one advice as a travel guide for Peru would be to make sure people acclimatise well before they start their walk. This also implies being in a good physical condition that travellers can work on at home. Then, of course, travellers should remember to enjoy a lot of what they are going to do while in Peru because each place is unique.

Is there anything else you would like to say to World Expeditions travellers?

When you come to visit my country, I will teach you everything about Peru’s archaeological and gastronomical richness, as a guide I like to explain about our biodiversity, customs & traditions of people living in either the jungle, along the coast or in the highlands (sierra).

Interested in a trip to Peru? Browse the easy to navigate WorldExpeditions.com website for more. Or, contact one of our teams around the world.