CURRENT MISSION

To keep in touch with the many beautiful people I've met through my travels, and to pay it forward.

ABOUT ME

In Sept. '08, I flew one-way to São Paulo, Brazil and then migrated all the way south and back up again, through every Latin American country on the continent. I flew home from Bogotá, Colombia in July '09, emotionally drained and physically exhausted, but also the happiest I've been in my entire life. The experience was everything I expected and more, and I can't believe I'm doing it all over again now, this time in Europe! I feel very, very lucky.

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PHILOSOPHY

"I'm a citizen of the world and my religion is to do good." (From M.I.A.'s Kala album.)
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"All you need is love." -The Beatles
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And from Mark Twain: "Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I love this planet! I worry that I won't get a chance to see most of it in my lifetime. :-/ Anything I can do today to earn good travel karma for tomorrow, I'll do it. With CS, I've hosted, I've surfed, and I've even organized several events in the Los Angeles area. As a traveler, I do whatever I can to bring peace and love (and some craziness) wherever I go.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

July 2008
Matthias Medaer (Belgium), hosted
Arthur Ribeiro (Brazil), hosted

August 2008
Michel Sauter (Switzerland), hosted
David James (United Kingdom), hosted
Johnny Youssef (USA), hosted
Remi Dion (Canada), hosted

September 2008
Vanessa Mathias (São Paulo, Brazil), surfed
Luiz Andrade (São Paulo, Brazil), surfed
Cristiana Campanha (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), surfed
Chris Eckel and Jente Minne (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), surfed
Mariana Faria (Belo Horizonte, Brazil), surfed
Aracoelli Hinkelmann (Belo Horizonte, Brazil), surfed

October 2008
Fausto Matos (Salvador, Brazil), surfed
São Jorge Hostel (Salvador, Brazil), crashed
Jessica N Julio Vazquez (Salvador, Brazil), surfed
Jarbas Pinheiro (Recife, Brazil), surfed
Jose Porto (Fortaleza, Brazil), surfed
Dani Ledo Reis (Belém, Brazil), surfed
Analucia Siqueira (Belém, Brazil), surfed

November 2008
Hostel Manaus (Manaus, Brazil), crashed*
Amazon Riders (Manaus, Brazil), toured
Maíra Rodrigues (Brasilia, Brazil), surfed
Tarso Liang (São Paulo, Brazil), surfed
Arthur Ribeiro (Florianópolis, Brazil), surfed (CS FULL CIRCLE!)
Murilo Alves Pereira (Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil), surfed
Sergio Morales G. (Asunción, Paraguay), surfed
Menelaos Prokos (Buenos Aires, Argentina), surfed

December 2008
Mario Scian (Buenos Aires/San Isidro, Argentina), surfed
Mandy Raasch (Buenos Aires, Argentina), surfed
Brett Jensen (Buenos Aires, Argentina), surfed
Hostel "El Español" (Colonia, Uruguay), crashed
Jime and Chris Gimon (Montevideo, Uruguay), surfed
Louis Nguyen (Buenos Aires, Argentina), surfed
El Gualicho Hostel (Puerto Madryn, Argentina), crashed*
Hospedaje Balmaceda (Puerto Natales, Chile), crashed**
Parque Nacional Torres del Paine (Torres del Paine, Chile), camped Calafate Hostel (Calafate, Argentina), crashed
Coihue Hostel (Calafate, Argentina), crashed*
Cóndor de los Andes Hostel (El Chaltén, Argentina), crashed
Rancho Grande Hostel (El Chaltén, Argentina), crashed
Mini Camping Raúl (Perito Moreno, Argentina), crashed
Periko's Youth Hostel (Bariloche, Argentina), crashed**
Hostel Rukalhue (San Martin de los Andes, Argentina), crashed*

January 2009
Mariusz Michalak and Mike Baeza (Santiago, Chile), surfed
Uli Calles (Viña del Mar, Chile), surfed
Jorge Mendez (Mendoza, Argentina), surfed
Corre Caminos Hostel (Salta, Argentina), crashed*
Hostal Inti Uyuni (Uyuni, Bolivia), crashed
Casa de María Victoria (Potosí, Bolivia), crashed
Sara Brossmann and Oscar Cavero (Sucre, Bolivia), surfed
Massimo Slaviero (La Paz, Bolivia), surfed
Hostal Emperador (Copacabana, Bolivia), crashed
Hostal Wiñay Cussi (Isla del Sol, Bolivia), crashed

February-March 2009
The Blue House (Cuzco, Peru), home**
Cusco Explorers (Cuzco, Peru), toured* (Inca Trail and Machu Picchu)

March 2009
Victor Manuel (Arequipa, Peru), surfed
El Edén Hostal (Cabanaconde, Peru), crashed
The WalkOn Inn (Nazca, Peru), crashed*
Casa de Arena 2 (Huacachina, Peru), crashed
Hosteria Titanic (Huacachina, Peru), crashed
Ricardo Rojas (Lima, Peru), surfed
Hospedaje Bako (Mancora, Peru), crashed

April 2009
Hosteria El Agua de Hierro (Vilcabamba, Ecuador), crashed
Cabañas Río Yambala (Vilcabamba, Ecuador), crashed*
James Wilson (Cuenca, Ecuador), surfed
Kahyda Rivera (Guayaquil and Montañita, Ecuador), surfed
CONDORBOY (Quito, Ecuador), surfed
Hosteria PapaGayo (Machachi, Ecuador), crashed**
Colette Moine (Puerto Ayora, Islas Galápagos), surfed
Hospedaje San Vicente (Puerto Villamil, Islas Galápagos), crashed

May 2009
Gaby y Claudia (Puerto Ayora, Islas Galápagos), surfed
Hostal S. Francisco (Pto. Baq. Moreno, Islas Galápagos), crashed
Koala Inn (Pasto, Colombia), crashed
Ximena Rodriguez and Cesar Augusto Urrego Velasquez (Cali, Colombia), surfed
Stella Mask (Manizales, Colombia), surfed
Margarita Rosa Tirado Mejia (Armenia/Boquía, Colombia), surfed
Ilmer Mendez Acero (Medellín, Colombia), surfed
Jonathan David Herrera Rodriguez (Zipaquirá, Colombia), surfed
Hector Gonzalez (Bogotá, Colombia), surfed
TANIA PARDO PULIDO (Bucaramanga, Colombia), surfed
Solimary Garcia (Girón, Colombia), surfed
Dan Gamboa Bohórquez (Cúcuta, Colombia), surfed
David Picon (Mérida, Venezuela), surfed

June 2009
Marisol Dacasa De la Lanza (Caracas, Venezuela), surfed
Emilio Rodriguez (Maracaibo, Venezuela), surfed
Julio Guerrero (Santa Marta, Colombia), surfed
ROSSHIPECA (Cartagena, Colombia), surfed
VAHINE (Cartagena, Colombia), surfed
Platypus Hotel (Bogotá, Colombia), crashed
Hostal Sue (Bogotá, Colombia), crashed*
Tiffany Kohl (Bogotá, Colombia), surfed
Adriana Woods Paez (Bogotá, Colombia), surfed

August 2009
Kyle Morris (USA), hosted

September 2009
Daniele Montemale (Italy), hosted
miss farha b (United Kingdom), hosted

March 2010
Paul Rutrecht (Germany), hosted

April 2010
Angelo Iannucci (Ireland), hosted
Daniel Ayala (Paraguay), hosted
Dona Nham (Canada), hosted

May 2010
Sheena Pinder (Canada), hosted

September 2010
Piotr Godzisz (Poland), hosted
Sparky Hewitt (Scotland), hosted
Nikolas Oehl (Germany), hosted
Markus Rhoese (Germany), hosted
Telemakos Gandash Endler (Brazil), hosted

November 2010
Blaiire Ryan (Sydney, Australia), surfed
Jasmine Hweh (Auckland, New Zealand), surfed

December 2010
Christoforos Ioannidis (Tempe, Arizona, USA), surfed
Joy Somers (Tempe, Arizona, USA), surfed

February 2011
Charles Montgomery (Canada), hosted

June 2011
Juanjo Morales (Barcelona, Spain), surfed
José Rosado (Barcelona, Spain), surfed
JUAN CARLOS B.G. (Gavà, Barcelona, Spain), surfed

July 2011
MEYJITO (Cologne, Germany), surfed
Tomas Kolarik and Honza Svoboda (Prague, Czech Republic), surfed
Petr Daniš (Prague, Czech Republic), surfed
Marek Novacek (Prague, Czech Republic), surfed
Attila Horvath (Budapest, Hungary), surfed
Zsolt Peter (Budapest, Hungary), surfed
ABENDLAENDER (Vienna, Austria), surfed
Andreas Ehrencrona (Munich, Germany), surfed
Cris [Julia] Weber (Zürich, Switzerland), surfed
Ruither Schwartz (Zürich, Switzerland), surfed

August 2011
Philo van Kemenade (Amsterdam, Netherlands), surfed
Beatrice Francois and TRAVELLUS MAXIMUS (Amsterdam, Netherlands), surfed
Florian Schmitz (Berlin, Germany), surfed
Jesper Bjoern (Copenhagen, Denmark), surfed
Tune Holstein (Copenhagen, Denmark), surfed
Erik Teuber (Hamburg, Germany), surfed
MICKYMAUS (Frankfurt, Germany), surfed

July 2012
Aly Hartwig (Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA), surfed

For hostels and tours only:
Recommended*
Highly recommended**

Interests

In alphabetical order: adoption, backpacking, camping, Chicanismo, cooking, cumbias, drawing, environmental justice, feng shui, fitness, Frida Kahlo, health, insects, kayaking, Mexico City, monkeys, naturopathic medicine, Nina Simone, painting, recycling, rockclimbing, salsa dancing, soccer, social justice, South America, travel, weightlifting.

• insects
• arts
• perfumes
• dancing
• salsa dancing
• cooking
• fitness
• traveling
• painting
• drawing
• guitar
• backpacking
• kayaking
• camping
• sailing
• soccer
• medicine
• religion
• tours

Music, Movies, and Books

I love movies that make me cry, and I can't really watch anything epic because I WILL fall asleep. Horror movies I pretty much stay away from (I'm a wuss!).
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Too many to list, but Nina Simone is probably my favorite artist EVER. I also appreciate anything that can get me on my feet and dancing, which is almost everything.
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My favorite book is the Autobiography of Malcolm X. I really like The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain and The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolaño - both books on travel and self-discovery.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Backpacking through South America, from the Brazilian Amazon through Patagonia, across the Andes and over to the Galápagos Islands, finally ending my trip in the Caribbean. It was most definitely an experience of a lifetime.

Teach, Learn, Share

I'm learning to play the guitar! Teach me a song and I will love you FOREVER. I also experiment with/teach myself different forms of art, so if anything, we can learn some of that together!

Countries I’ve Visited

Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, France, Germany, Haiti, Hungary, Italy, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Paraguay, Peru, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Venezuela

Countries I’ve Lived In

Costa Rica, Mexico, Peru, United States

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