The journey to Lupita

Hola! My name is Jaime, and I’m Lupita’s founder. The journey to Lupita is closely related to my experiences over the last ten years. The following post briefly explains this venture. Let’s begin!

It all started ten years ago…

After working hard on my first job as an engineer in Spain, I was feeling a bit empty and needed something more fulfilling and adventurous as a life journey. Therefore, I travelled out of Europe for the first time. My destination was Chiapas, a Mexican state rich in indigenous culture and famous due to the “Zapatista revolution” that occurred in 1994.

That is how I became a human right watcher for the Zapatista communities. Previously, in Spain, I took a course to learn about the history, the current political and human rights situation, the non-intervention policies and appropriate behaviours.

“I wanted to know about alternative ways of living, and thought these communities were the best place in the world to learn more about it.”

Something kept me attached, now I know it will last for life

Chiapas has been the most extraordinary, mind-opening experience in my whole life. It completely changed my way of seeing the world we live in, and I wouldn’t be writing this if I hadn’t had the chance to meet these cultures. All my experiences there well deserve another post… All in all, after one year as a human right watcher, I ended up understanding that the most interesting aspect of these people wasn’t their political journey but their “cosmology“, their unique appreciation of time and space.

I believe the fact of the “Zapatistas” starting a revolution was the consequence of something much much bigger. These people own a real treasure greater than anything material. They have extraordinary wisdom that the western world seems to have forgotten, and a self-dignity almost impossible to find in our home countries…

Something “clicked” in my mind during my human right watcher experience. After working one more year as an engineer (this time in Mexico City), I wanted to come back to Chiapas and keep learning. Consequently, I decided to change my career and dedicate myself to the adventure travel industry. This was a great way of somehow keeping in touch with these realities and, at the same time, having the chance to show the rest of the world those wonders and ways of thinking.

It wasn’t easy, but I was very lucky!

Beginnings in the tourism industry were a bit tough. Being a foreigner in Mexico with no experience didn’t make things easy. Nevertheless, after a few months, I found Dragoman, a British company that runs amazing overland tours all around the globe. After a long training process, I finally had the awesome chance of becoming a Tour Leader and Driver! Then, while leading tours around the Americas and Asia for four years, I acquired numerous skills that have been very useful to create Lupita. I’ll always remember those times as one of my best life experiences. The friends I made and epic journeys I experienced are something truly out of this world; Thank-you so much Dragoman!