When Kandy García retired from her legal career at 65, she began travelling. Now 91, García, known as “Abuelita Mochilera,” is described as having visited more than 70 countries, often alone, with a backpack weighing about five kilograms. She travels light, skipping checked luggage and luxury hotels while avoiding elaborate arrangements.
Raised in San Sebastián and later settled in Granada, García set out with a one-way ticket to Argentina. The journey took her to India, which she has visited nearly thirty times. Her travels have also taken her across Europe, to Malaysia and Iran, and farther afield to the United Arab Emirates, Peru, Colombia, Thailand and Uzbekistan.
Travel Without Luxury
García travels light and adapts to local conditions, leaving room for new experiences. She favours street food over expensive restaurants and uses public transport, choices that bring her closer to daily life in the places she visits.
Her travels are more than a checklist of monuments. They give her a chance to meet people and learn about cultures different from her own, often by sharing customs. For García, travelling means improvising and staying flexible, even with fewer material comforts.
A Minimalist Approach
A small backpack is central to García’s way of travelling. She washes her clothes daily and avoids checking luggage, keeping her belongings manageable as she moves from place to place.
That approach shapes the practical side of her journeys: travelling with less means fewer possessions to carry and more room to adapt when plans change.
Travel and Human Connection
García’s journeys have included stays with Māori families in New Zealand, visits to Mapuche communities in Chile and time with Guaraní people in Argentina. These encounters reflect her emphasis on human connection and cultural exchange over souvenirs or luxury.
Her story has also been linked to group trips for women seeking to travel beyond familiar surroundings. The journeys add a shared dimension to an approach otherwise defined by independent travel.
Retirement as a New Beginning
For García, retirement became a starting point for travel and new experiences. Her example presents later life as a time when people may pursue interests set aside because of work, family responsibilities or other commitments.
After travelling to Uzbekistan, she has listed Vietnam and Sri Lanka among her next destinations. Her ongoing plans underline the basic idea of her travels: age need not end curiosity or the desire to explore.
