Lara Hernández Lapuente —in the photograph crossing a river in the Cambodian jungle— is 35 years old, from Santa Cruz de Tenerife, and his first solo trip arose after learning about an animal rescue center in Bolivia that was looking for volunteers. That was when she was finishing her studies and decided to take her backpack and go there to help. “After that I couldn’t stop traveling alone,” she admits. Despite this determination, he admits that during the first trips “uncertainty was what worried me the most” since there was always the question of what the place I was going to visit would be like, “whether it was going to be safe or where I was going to sleep” . However, over the years, “those fears have become the most exciting part of traveling.”
Although she normally plans her trips with little notice and tends to improvise a lot, she already knows that in May she will travel to Costa Rica, a country she has already visited four times. Ella Lara acknowledges that she has had “a lot of support” from her family and friends. “Obviously there is always a factor that worries them and a part that wants to protect me from the unknown, but they always keep it to themselves and push me to travel because they know what fills my heart,” she thanks excitedly. Among those fears to take into account, Hernández Lapuente does not believe that the fact of being a woman has influenced her: “That has not made it more difficult for me to decide to travel.” And he affirms that “the fear of security is something that everyone can have, regardless of their gender, because we all try to have common sense”, and adds: “I have known men who have had much more problems than I have traveling the simple fact that many people do not trust them.
Although she recommends “100%” traveling alone, she acknowledges that the hardest part of this experience is loneliness. “Traveling alone is beautiful and an experience that I love, but it can also be very introspective and that can sometimes be difficult to manage,” reflects the young woman, who adds that it also depends a lot on the destination of the trip since “rural areas tend to be more lonely while in the cities and tourist areas you know many people ». In this way, he acknowledges that this type of trip “is not for everyone” but qualifies that “it is an experience that makes you grow a lot at all levels” since it allows the traveler to develop their intuition, learn from oneself, develop a more flexible mentality, forces you to make decisions and allows you to meet many new people. “Every day is an opportunity for growth and teaches you to value the things in your life and to realize that the problems we have in our day to day are unimportant things,” concludes the traveler.
After several years of solo adventures, Lara Hernández invites those who want to follow her example to follow their own instinct because “that is what has freed me from many uncomfortable situations.” She invites not to be ashamed to reject offers or invitations that are not convincing because “we all have a sixth sense that tells us whether or not we should do something and listening to it is very important.” “It’s also a good idea to talk to local women, because they are the ones who can best help us and advise us on which places are safe,” she recommends.
