CURRENT MISSION

Build Spreadable Self Sustainable Eco-Communities interacting with our Indigenous neighbors to recover and affirm their knowledge, and create better lives together, becoming the Seeds for a new Beginning

ABOUT ME

"Pathologically Optimistic" (Janet, sister I adopted), "the Strangest combination of Luddite and Technology Fashionista that I've ever met!!" (Juli, best friend), "so Thoreau!" (une amie), "Weeping Warrior" (Alix, from Chogyam Trungpa's), "Doityourself maniac"€, "Jack of all trades"€, "Marmite" (you love it or hate it), "Warrior of Light", "€œPolymixanos"€ (Greek friends)... "Control Freak", "knowitall" (those too proud to listen), "Lisa Simpson"... a rare mix of opposites: motherTheresa/JamesBond, Peasant/McGyver, Old man/Teenager, Animal/Robot...
I do my best to remain Equanimous, be Brave, honest, good, true to myself... with an invincible good humour...
come and describe me, I'll post it here!

BootsnAll's Travel Quiz says I travel like St Christopher:
"You are the hardest of hardcore travelers, and may one day be our patron saint. There is no challenge that is too much for you, but don't get crazy, because you are not immortal... yet."

PHILOSOPHY:

BUDDHISM, TAO: Living for the upliftment of all sentient beings, always EQUANIMOUS, doing without doing,
ENVIRONMENTALISM is my religion! (Barbarinha)
Epicurus philosophy:
"Live to enjoy all kind of PLEASURES... without losing the most important of all pleasures: the "ATARAXIA" (Peace of Mind that comes from living according to our True Self, our Nature, our Principles ).

"There are NO STRANGERS here; Only FRIENDS you haven't YET met".

Practicing SOLIDARITY with people and all the peoples of the world develops our sensitivity to the point of getting affected when any EARTHLING suffers anywhere, and moved deeply seeing FREEDOM spreading and reaching the most remote corners of the world.
We are the mirror and the face in it...

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Spreading the idea and the feeling that this is NOT a web site to get FREE lodgement, or to DATE Foreigners... but to make people get to KNOW the TRUE (non touristy), DEEP essence of "the Others" behind those imaginary lines separating us, thus bearing UNDERSTANDING and SOLIDARITY among Nations all over the world. (no, I'd Never be a candidate for president :-)

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Before joining CS, I had hosted and guided people from different countries and cultures through the Andes and the jungle of my country for the same reason as CS: LOVE (This, however, distracts me and makes me get LOST, I suck as a guide! :-)
I usually get friends on my trips, helping them with some knowledge of languages, bicycles, all sort of equipment, human nature and survival techniques (specially for the city :-)

I enjoyed my trips the most specially when I had the chance to live as the natives that hosted me, sharing with me their unique and so different lifestyles and CosmoVisions, as I did in the USA, Colombian and Brazilian Amazon jungle, Scandinavian countries... and mostly in so many lovable little villages in the Andes...

Interests

Ancestral Wisdom ( from India, China, the Andes, Amazon tribes, etc.), Environmentalism, Ancient Healing Arts, JIN SHIN DO (to me the closest to Ancient Roots of 5 Elements Chinese Acupressure http://www.jinshindo.org/development.htm), Yoga, Qi gong, psychology, eco-design, biking (Human Powered Vehicles and fair means of Transportation like Skating, Sailing), mountain climbing, rock climbing, hiking, arts and beauty of all kinds, Mechanics, Architecture, Natural Building...

PEOPLE I LIKE:
the INTELLIGENT yet HUMBLE, the BRAVE yet COMPASSIONATE...
and those BRAVE enough to let me SEE inside them...
Great Conversationalists (mainly those who listen)...
FEMALE Humans (preferably WOMEN, as I think in general they are humans of better quality than men, unless these have become feminine enough)...
the MESSY ones that act as if they were NEAT just out of consideration, and the NEAT ones that dare to be MESSY
...just NO STINKY FEET please, mine also stink after hours hiking in waterproof boots, but some consideration for others is enough to FIX this, right?
So, if you write "No Wimps" or "No stinky feet" as the heading of your message I will read it for sure.

• animals
• arts
• architecture
• design
• beauty
• diy
• yoga
• technology
• traveling
• cars
• survival
• cycling
• hiking
• sailing
• buddhist
• rock climbing
• languages
• medicine
• psychology
• tourism

Music, Movies, and Books

all kind of books... Buddhist teachings (which i followed all my life without knowing them), Krishnamurti, Henri Thoreau's "Walden", "Civil Disobedience" (I was Thoreau before reading him ;-), De Saint Exupery's "Le Petit Prince", Alice Miller's "The Drama of the Gifted Child", Zen philosophy, Rumi poetry...
All kind of music but specially ancient, native, folk music from everywhere... Middle East, the Andes, Amazon, Celtic, African, Balkanic... Old Lullabies...
some of "my Songs": "Meu Mundo é Hoje", "A Thousand Years" (sting)...

Movies: Ettore Scola's "C'eravamo Tanto Amati", "Cinema Paradiso", "American Beauty", "Forrest Gump", "Zelig", "Amelie", "Himmel über Berlin"(merci for these last 2, Marlene), Kaurismaki, Cohen Bros., Fellini (Amarcord), Kusturica, Jarmusch, "Spirited Away"...

Movie Characters and phrases with whom I identify myself:
"are you talking to me?" Robert de Niro (Taxi driver)
"A man has to know his limitations" (Clint Eastwood)
Zohan ("Zohan" the movie)
Zelig ("Zelig" Woody Allen's)
Forrest Gump,
Amelie,
The Angel wishing to become mortal in "Himmel Über Berlin"

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Amazing to ME? I am learning to SEE with my HEART, Perfect Vision inVipassana
Amazing to people? hmmm... just the last:
-I built a raft to SAIL the Amazon river showing natives that sailing it is an alternative!
-I biked through the Amazon jungle, from the Pacific coast, through the Andes and then the whole Peruvian (bikable) jungle until Colombia and Brazil (and biking on the ship deck... you can't bike the Amazon river ;)
-Became an Ayahuasca healer's Aprentice for months.
-Meeting All these Wonderful Warriors of Peace that come to visit me!

Teach, Learn, Share

All I know, all you know... specially about life, the universe, human nature... I would become a scholar in you! (how to SAIL, please?)
We'd share our thirst for learning! Stay Thirsty my Friends! :-)
...and Massage, Healing, Soul and Body/Mind improving techniques (specially JIN SHIN DO acupressure), Medicine Plants, languages, "low-tech" eco-inventions, DIY (do it Yourself), HPV (Human Powered Vehicles), how to fix anything, I'm a Composting-Toiletologist :-)...

What I Can Share with Hosts

All the things I mentioned up here... and those that are not there, specially my questions, my mysteries... my empty spots... my weirdities, my flaws, my dark side, my soul, and all what I am...

Countries I’ve Visited

Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Denmark, Ecuador, Finland, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

Brazil, Norway, Peru, United States

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