Editors’ Note: The author, Marinel Malvar De Jesus, is a former civil rights attorney in Washington, DC who practiced law for 15 years and discovered during that time her passion for mountain trekking. In 2017, she left her legal career and life in the U.S. completely to pursue a life of a global mountain nomad.  She’s the Founder and CEO at Brown Gal Trekker and Equity Global Treks. BGT is her media entity that documents her travel and trekking experiences. EGT offers mountain trails trekking that are mission-based and transformational while providing livelihood opportunities for the local indigenous workforce. She founded The Porter Voice Collective, a non-profit, human rights focused media entity that serves to amplify the voices of indigenous porters in the mountains of Peru, Nepal, and Tanzania. Her father and grandparents were from Camarines Norte.

About KM 82: The small village of Piscacucho is known as Kilometro 82, the railway line stop between Cusco and Aguas Calientes in the Andes mountains of Peru. It is the start of the Inca Trail leading to Machu Pichu. “KM 82: The Porter Voices of Peru’s Camino Inca” is the title of the short documentary directed and produced by Marinel, through the Porter Voice Collective, about the workforce inequities that the porters face on the Inca Trail and their struggle to create a more equitable mountain trekking industry. The film has been recognized and given “Special Mention” at the Moc Gor Film Festival in Zakopane, Poland, June 24, 2023 – a recognition given by the student jury of the film festival.

In her Facebook page, Marinel writes are about justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion in the mountain trails trekking she does among women, indigenous communities, and people of color. The following is about KM 82…

Today was historic for me. KM 82 has finally been shown to the world in person while I ponder how it has affected the most important thing in my life – freedom.

There’s a sacrifice to be made to stay free. Here I am in the Tatras Mountains of Poland – the place I call home while KM 82 – the film that I worked on for 3-4 years has finally launched in Europe. I knew the day was to come when I had to leave Peru once KM 82 is shown to the world.

“As a woman with a historically marginalized and colonized indigenous identity, I see porters in Peru, Nepal and Tanzania as my brothers and sisters. When you are an avid hiker and feel love towards the mountains, it is only natural to want everyone on the trails to be treated with the utmost level of humanity and respect. It broke my heart the first time I learned the truth about the inequities towards the porters. The worst part is carrying this truth around for more than a decade without knowing how to create change in the industry until now.”

– Marinel M. De Jesus, Director & Executive Producer, KM 82

As a I sat in the Kino Theater here in Zakopane, Poland where KM 82 was screened for the first time in-person, I had mixed emotions – happy that we finally crossed the finish line but sad that I gave up so much for a film that affected my peace and joy in so many ways.  I felt longing for the Andes and Peru while being reminded of the heartbreak that I went through with the KM 82 project.

KM 82 has taught me that freedom requires sacrifice at times – in my case, I had to leave Peru to retain my freedom; otherwise, there are risks to contend as the producer of the film if I opted to stay in Peru (e.g. continued risks of harm from harassment to death).

KM 82 has taught me that the oppression of indigenous voices extends to brown people like me, whether indigenous or not.

KM 82 has taught me that colonialism thrives not just in those who are white but also in those brown and black bodies whose minds have been enslaved by the colonizers, then and now. In fact, the latter is worse of the two scenarios.

That brown people can be the source of their own barriers.

The source of their own marginalization.

The source of their own oppression.

The enemy of their own vision.

And some of these enemies I met along the way – they weren’t white. They were brown. It shouldn’t surprise me but somehow it did. It ached to see those who looked like me so driven by the greed that their colonizers once emulated while subjecting their ancestors to generations of oppression. To this day, that oppression lingers, albeit, in a different form – often revealing itself in the most discrete ways.

I wait for the day that KM 82 feels like some kind of a triumph because even with a respectable film festival recognizing the value of KM 82, I still feel somewhat lost as to why I produced this film in the first place.

Is it for the porters? The indigenous Quechua community? For all marginalized groups? For me? For whom?

KM 82 is a tragic necessity in my life. It made me deconstruct the naivete that I held as an advocate only to replace it with a harsh honest look at the world around me. It broke me. It healed me. And then it empowered me.

No matter what race we belong to, indigenous or not, the only true barrier in our lives is ourselves. If we let society rule the way we live at the risk of losing ourselves, then we lose the battle for good.

I can’t say that the porters of Inca Trail have figured out what their advocacy towards equitable working conditions means but for me, it’s not about them necessarily, it’s about the burden of pain that I carry being a witness to a world that is too stubborn to do better. And if I don’t speak now for me or others for that matter, I’m no better than those who created the injustices in our current world in the first place.

In the end, it’s a choice I made – choosing to produce KM 82. Choosing to leave Peru to be safe. Choosing to advocate tomorrow and the next day, the next month and perhaps the next year.

Watching the film for the first time on the big screen, I finally came to realize –

KM 82 didn’t take away anything from my life, not even my freedom. No, not at all. Instead, it’s attempting to free me from parts of myself that I never knew I unhealthily hold onto. It enhanced my life to be the authentic life that it’s meant to be, whether I like it or not, rendering my existence on earth more meaningful. And that meaning is why I’m still here – to see it unfold before my eyes.

Featured images and video credits: The Porter Voice Collective, Brown Gal Trekker Facebook page.

About the author: MARINEL M. DE JESUS is Founder & CEO at Brown Gal Trekker and Equity Global Treks; Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Advisor at The Points Guy; Writer/Director/Producer at KM 82; Brand Ambassador for 2022, 2023 at Osprey Packs; Herald at The Transformational Travel Council; Co-Founder at Khusvegi English & Nomadic Culture Camp; Writer/Director/Producer at We Are Nomads; Volunteer English Teacher to Eagle Hunter kids at Sagsaï, Bayan-Olgiy, Mongolia; Brand Ambassador at KÜHL; Board Member & Chair of JEDI Committee at American Hiking Society; Founder & Volunteer at The Porter Voice Collective; Brand Ambassador at AKU trekking & outdoor footwear; Former Brand Ambassador at Marmot. Education – Studied Law at University of Washington School of Law; Studied Bachelor of Arts in American Ethnic Studies at University of Washington; Studied Bachelor of Social Work at University of Washington; Studied Masters in Social Work at University of Washington.