An Interview with Nelson Mochilero

How did you first get into blogging and YouTubing about your travels?

I’ve been publishing content since 1996 but have specialised in travel since 2005 with the launch of my website. When I started my first travel blog there wasn’t any significant travel content in Spanish. Passionate about travel, I searched for places where I could share my adventures and read about others’ but the best that was available at the time was forums. You have to remember that this was a time when we turned to MySpace and MSN (Facebook and Youtube hadn’t been created yet!). I began by using forums to create a travel focused community and then progressed by using the early versions of WordPress to create my first online presence, the website.

The reason I started a travel blog was to present the big route I’d chosen to take along the Austral South America. It descends through the continent from the Pacific side and returns from the Atlantic, through the southern Latin-American, Patagonia, the Andes and the jungle. A couple of years after that, the project blossomed into a community and I founded a personal travel blog. Currently my focus is more on social networks, my favourites being YouTube and Facebook.

Where is your favorite place to explore?

Perú, without doubt. I travelled a lot in Perú, I was born in Perú and I still haven’t experienced everything this amazing country has to offer. The food, the different cultures, climates, and landscapes are just fantastic.

What made you take your channel to YouTube?

After blogging for many years I realised that I needed to do something new. At the same time there was a growing community of new bloggers and I wanted to find ways to innovate. Also, when I started my travel channel there was only few content producers in Spanish. Maybe no more than five. Now it’s easy to find hundreds.

As to why I specifically love YouTube…I love the way that video and photography can create stories and be supported by dialogue and music. It’s also a fantastic way to easily share information, reviews and guides.

When did you first gain your passion for travelling?

As to why I specifically love YouTube…I love the way that video and photography can create stories and be supported by dialogue and music. It’s also a fantastic way to easily share information, reviews and guides. From a very early age I read of the travels of old expeditioners like Charles Darwin, Francis Drake, Magallanes, Marco Polo. I love those stories!

Who is your biggest role model?

When I try to imagine the experience of travelling before the use of planes and before the internet era, it makes me really admire those explorers, scientists and sailors who took months, years even, to travel to distant lands. If I really had to choose, the first figure who comes to mind is the great Charles Darwin.

You are deserted in the middle of an uninhabited forest. You have one book, one album (with useful accompanying solar powered mp3 player) and one Osprey Pack. What do you choose and why?

What a beautiful question! One book could get pretty boring but I think the Bible could be open to many points of view and interpretations. It’s a book that has had a lot of influence on human history and that’s the reason why I’d choose it.

On music, I’d love to have the Alice in Chains unplugged. It’s a versatile acoustic rock album that could be good companion during a sunset or a sunrise, in happy and sad moments. I’ve listened to it for many years and it has special meaning to me.

And I’m sure a backpack would be essential to carry all the important stuff to survive, to hunt, to camp. I definitely would go for the Atmos 65 AG. The AntiGravity™ system is the best to avoid that “backpack feeling” and be one with the weight. I also love the accessibility of different compartments and the aesthetic/ design is definitely one of my favourites.