Esperanza Santiago: Opening Yourself to the Universe through Travel
Esperanza Santiago, 29, Spain, is a youthful spirit, discovering the way she wants to live and travel, one country at a time. When she felt the calling of the Bali spirit and found yoga, it changed her life’s direction forever.
In her youth, Esperanza dreamed of travelling to a new country every year. She was the child who listed countries as her future goals rather than milestones. But it was only in her ERASMUS year during University that she finally had the chance to explore life in another country.
Her experience of living in another country and culture changed her. Understanding that staying in one place just wouldn’t be enough. There were too many adventures untaken, too many paths unexplored.
The world was ready, and so was she.
Exploring the Expat Life
Esperanza’s travel experiences continued in 2015 when she took a working VISA in Australia, followed by two months travelling South East Asia. It was a balm to her soul, but eventually, her soul called to her to return to Europe and to the idea of settling somewhere for longer. She chose the Netherlands. Esperanza wanted not just to taste a new place, but to live and work in it. Embracing all that came with it.
After two years, however, the itch to travel again bubbled up. She missed the adventures attached to a new country, and all that came with it. So she quit her job and returned to Spain, hoping to take some time to think about her next steps. She didn’t want the kind of life she had been experiencing in the Netherlands. Her soul yearned for something new and when she heard about the digital nomad movement, it spoke to her and her soul began to flow once more. But she didn’t know where to start.
The Revelation of Yoga
Emboldened by her savings in the bank, Esperanza formulated a plan. She wanted to go where the Nomads were, so she could learn from them and discover new possibilities about life.
Trusting the Universe to point her in the right direction, she made a shortlist of destinations. Her choices: Bali, Portugal or Las Palmas (canary islands). But it was only when she went to Berlin, to attend a festival with her best friend, did she finally hear the call from Bali and booked a one-way ticket.
Bali was an uncovering of her eyes, and she discovered something that changed her whole perspective of herself. Having worked for some years in the financial industry, Esperanza found the healing nature of Yoga transformational. The practice made her happy in a way she hadn’t felt in years and for some reason, it just connected with her soul.
Suffering from a back condition for many years, Esperanza used Yoga to give her body strength. Yet, it also allowed her to release issues, which had plagued her mind for years and even combat feelings of depression. A true tonic.
Believing she needed to stay in Bali to explore more of this new side of herself, Esperanza continued to use her savings to support herself, as well as working on new projects, such a new travel blog and working as an SEO copy and content writer. She also began writing her first novel. Her goal was to enjoy life as much as she could, focusing on being the present, and regularly trying different things, which was a central part of the Nomad life.
Beyond Bali
Esperanza spent four months in Bali and planned to continue her journey to Portugal, another popular spot for nomads, but COVID changed those plans and she returned to Spain. A shock to the system for sure, but she continues to work on her Yoga practice, and focuses on remembering her lessons from Bali.
Now, she is exploring new paths in her life: yoga, marketing online and recently, coding programming. In the future, she would love to build her own start-up, living half the year in Bali and the other half in Malaga (Spain).
She’s walking a new path and she is very excited about it.
Esperanza’s biggest lesson: “Learn to go with the flow of life, by being open to what the universe is sending you. It’s difficult to do this because you want to control everything, but it creates the best experiences.”
The Details
- Catch her on Insta: @capitana_beach
- Check out her most recent project: www.elviajeroexperto.com
