When Malia Obama took a secret trip to Bolivia and Peru late last year, her trek guides knew there was a VIP in the group. But they didn't know who it was.
Gregorio Mamani, one of the guides told the New York Times that they had been convinced a blonde teenager in the group must have been the reason for American bodyguard accompaniment.
![Malia Obama, center, travelled with a group on an educational trip to the Cordillera Real mountain range in Bolivia. ...](/web/20170122130011im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/t/v/h/z/6/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gtv94o.png/1484884455565.jpg)
"There was a blond girl and we assumed she was the important one," Mamani said in a phone interview on Wednesday.
Obama, 18, took part in an educational trip organised for students on a gap year before college to "examine current political trends, social movements and environmental conservation efforts in the mountains and jungles of Bolivia and Peru" according to the company who ran the trip.
She spent spent 83 days in Central America, having decided to take a gap year between high school and starting college at Harvard in August this year.
During the trip Obama, who is fluent in Spanish, stayed with a family in Tiquipaya, a town in Central Bolivia, according to Bolivian news media. She also took part in a five-day trek to the lost city of the Incas at Machu Picchu.
Three Bolivian brothers, who lead the five day trek, told The New York Times that they were told by American Embassy officials they would be hosting an important American dignitary, but had been unsure which member of the group the embassy had been referring to.
After Bolivian journalists broke the news of Malia Obama's trip, the guides realised they had in fact hosted President Obama's eldest daughter.
![Malia Obama, with her father, outgoing US President Barack Obama.](/web/20170122130011im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/t/v/a/g/4/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gtv94o.png/1484925343255.jpg)
"She was very humble, chatty, spoke Spanish very well," Mamani said. "She was mesmerised by the Bolivian landscape."
The guide went on to say that Obama had taken part in the strenuous trek enthusiastically and received no preferential treatment.
Despite historical political differences between Bolivia and America, News Media in Bolivia reported that President Obama had contacted Bolivian President Evo Morales to ask for his cooperation in maintaining discretion and security during his daughter's trip.
"In spite of significant political differences with the Obama administration, he accepted the visit, understood the significance of the learning experience and respected Malia's privacy," Kathryn Ledebur, a Bolivia expert said in an email to The Times.
Malia Obama was in Bolivia over the US election period, with reports that she was out for pizza in Tiquipaya on the evening Donald Trump's win was announced.