CURRENT MISSION

Looking to meet up with people in Arequipa! I'm living here for 6 months, and we might be able to host as well!

ABOUT ME

Well, I spent 10.5 months traveling from Mexico down to Chile between September 2010 and July 2011. Then this past year, I studied as an unclassified undergraduate student at UBC taking poli sci courses to be able to apply for a Masters in Public Policy/Int'l Relations. Now, I am working in the restaurant industry, and I begin a 6 month internship in Peru beginning in September. Hopefully after that, I'll get to spend a month or two camping, trekking and experiencing life in parts of (some, not all) Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, and Brazil.

I'm big into sports, photography, reading and artistic pursuits, but especially meeting and speaking with new people.

Hmm, I think I'll leave some mystery to my life story until I meet the wonderful people of couchsurfing.

PHILOSOPHY

I....don't really know what to write here. I'm basically looking to do as much as I can and want to do before I get to an age where I'll want to settle down...which is still definitely a long way off.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I'm always up for literally anything with people I'm hosting or couchsurfers who just want to hang out or whatever. I haven't really been able to host on my own yet unfortunately. Either roommates who were wary or living situations which weren't conducive to couchsurfing. I haven't surfed much either outside of a roadtrip through the USA. I tried on numerous occasions in Latin America, but it generally didn't work out because either I couldn't give enough notice of when I'd be in a place, or the people I contacted didn't respond to me quick enough.

Hopefully we can get some Couchsurfers stay with us while we're in Arequipa (my colleague/roommate and I).

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I went on a 17-state road trip with a buddy of mine from April to June '08. We rented a car in Seattle and drove through Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota, Iowa, Nebraska (really just Omaha), more of Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada (we just had to hit Vegas), California, Oregon, and back to Seattle through Washington.

I had never couchsurfed, but my buddy Matan had, and he arranged us places to stay in Omaha, Nebraska; Chicago, Illinois; St. Louis, Missouri; Norman, Oklahoma; Santa Fe, New Mexico; Flagstaff, Arizona; and several other places where the plans either fell through or we had to change our itinerary.

They were all great experiences, so I signed up.

And since then, I've met up with a handful of Couchsurfers for excursions and experiences in Vancouver, but haven't hosted or surfed since!

Interests

Hmmm, well I'm very involved with sports, both playing and watching.
Reading and collecting books-- of truly every "genre" imaginable.
Huge music nerd- very eclectic tastes, but I've been getting into a lot of electronic music lately.
Hiking and Mountaineering.
Horses...I used to have a horse, and worked at a horse camp for several years as well.
Photography.
Politics and International Development.
Ethnic cuisine and culture.
Oh! Traveling, obviously.

• wildlife
• horses
• arts
• culture
• books
• street art
• photography
• dancing
• working out
• partying
• drinking
• boating
• flowers
• politics
• reading
• traveling
• music
• electronic music
• hiking
• camping
• mountaineering
• scuba diving
• snorkeling
• sailing
• sports
• rock climbing
• soccer
• languages
• public policy
• beaches

Music, Movies, and Books

I love "thinking"-type films, foreign/alt film, and some mainstream comedies...or extremely black comedies. I, generally speaking, really enjoy Quebec, Argentinian, and Israeli film. Why? Not sure, but I almost always enjoy films from those places. If I had to put my finger on it? Hmmm: Quebecois humour is extremely entertaining; Argentinian joie de vivre REALLY comes out in film, and they have a lot of political and social commentary built into even the most banal of comedies; and Israeli film almost always deals with difficult subjects with a strong degree of diversity and opinion displayed-- and a darling sense of humour. As for favourite film-makers, I'd have to pick Wes Anderson and Pedro Almodovar.

Books, I LOVE. I have a HUGE collection of books and my favourites are usually something that looks into some kind of culture or movement which I know little about.
Also, like my movie preferences, anything which presents kinks and nuances which are designed to make me think:
So favourites? Barney's Version by Mordechai Richler is my favourite fiction book; The Mole People by Jennifer Toth; Searching for Respect: Selling Crack in El-Barrio by Philippe Bourgois; The Chosen by Chaim Potok; Walking the Bible by Bruce Feiler; Open Veins of Latin America by Eduardo Galeano; The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver; Paradise in Ashes by Beatriz Manz; The Winds of War by Herman Wouk; and The Jungle by Upton Sinclair.

Music: EVERYTHING. I have a huge music collection of just about everything. I love hip hop: Gift of Gab, Masta Ace, Boom Bap Project, Classified, K-Os, J-Live, Binary Star, Dilated Peoples...list goes on forever. Really into lots of electronic music lately too- The Knife, High Contrast, Pretty Lights, Purity Ring, Magnetic Man, A-Trak, Porter Robinson, Wolfgang Gartner and so on.

But I really like ethnic music, mo-town, reggae-dub, alt rock, classic rock, folk, funk...just about everything.

Some other favourite artists:
Deer Tick, Cut Copy, Portugal. The Man, The Antlers, Kele, Memory Tapes, Austra, Ian Tyson, Au Revoir Simone, Lana Del Rey, Yukon Blonde, The Maccabees, The Wombats, Phantogram, Neil Young, Radiohead, Mother Mother, Handsome Furs, The Rural Alberta Advantage, and on it goes..

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Oh, hiking the Grand Canyon was incredible. So was waking up before sunrise to see the sun rise over the canyon.
Uhmmm, spending a Shabbat at the Western Wall in Jerusalem is a truly enlightening experience, even for somebody who's not religious, like myself.
Experiencing a Bedouin Wedding Party in Wadi Rum, Jordan was one of the most surreal and incredible experiences I'll ever have.
Living in the Rockies was amazing.
Spending time on any of the west coast islands in Canada is an experience that MUST be had.
Garifuna Settlement Day in Belize was amazing and so much fun to participate in.
Everything about Lanquin and Semuc Champey in Guatemala is awesome. Just amazingly fun and beautiful.
Scuba diving in general, but doing it in Utila was a real treat.
Experiencing the Honduran Professional Soccer league final game between Olympia from Tegucigalpa and Real Espana from San Pedro Sula was one of the most incredible cultural experiences I've ever seen. And being a part of the cheering and mayhem in one of the most exciting come from behind victories (by the home team, Real) was mind-shattering. There were fires in the stands, fireworks shot at players on the field, guys climbing razor wire barbed wire fences with no qualms about getting sliced up, moshing when the home team scored. Holy moly, and the party afterwards was even more unreal.
Sailing through the San Blas Islands was another incredible experience too. Deserted white sand beaches are surprisingly hard to come by along the mainland bordering the Caribbean, but not in the San Blas. Wow! Stunningly vibrant colours of water and beautiful sand, islands, and the Kuna indigenous people are fascinating as well.
Everything about Colombia. That country is an under-appreciated gem. I LOVE Bogota, and la zona cafetera is also magical.
The Galapagos Islands in Ecuador blew my mind. The colours, evolutionary processes, unique wildlife, landscape...snorkeling there had to be a highlight, but it was ALL a highlight. Just WOW.
Hiking in the Cordillera Blanca near Huaraz, Peru-- possibly the most incredible mountain landscape and scenery I've ever seen. AND, it was pissing rain and sleet the whole time we were hiking, so I can't even imagine how special it would be with perfect weather.
Experiencing Semana Santa in Ayacucho, Peru was wild too. The partying, the beautiful street art made out of flowers and plants, the processions and displays. Unreal.
Going to a birthday party in relatively rural Peru, near Huancayo, was really cool. The owner of the hostel/guest house I was staying at asked myself and a couple of girls I was traveling with if we wanted to join him at his friend's son's birthday, and of course we agreed, and spent all night drinking and dancing and interacting with locals-- one of those unique traveling experiences that really stuck with me.
Most of Bolivia amazed me-- the mines at Potosi. Traveling by 4x4 through SW Bolivia and all of the incredible desert-scapes, as well as the salar de uyuni (salt fields). Climbing to 19,975 feet (over 6000 metres) on Huayna Potosi mountain. La Paz and the beautiful chaos of that city-- easily the most confusingly fascinating city I've ever been. Taking a boat into the Amazon (minus the HORRENDOUS sand fleas), and then seeing anacondas, crocs, pink dolphins, and piranhas in the Pampas savannah. Wow, just everything!

Teach, Learn, Share

After learning functional Spanish, it blows my mind at how well so many people speak English as a second language.

Spanish makes sense. English? Spelling, pronunciation, grammar...NONE of it makes sense and we have a billion exceptions.

So I have a great appreciation for people who speak English fluently, or are trying to learn it. Kudos, it's hella tough.

So, maybe I can help you learn Spanish, or maybe you can help me learn it even better.

I'd love to (re-)learn some French, and I'm highly interested in picking up some Portuguese, Arabic, and Hebrew (for the time being...though I'm open to learning most languages).

Countries I’ve Visited

Belgium, Belize, Bolivia, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Germany, Guatemala, Honduras, Israel, Jordan, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, Panama, Peru, Poland, United Kingdom, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

Canada, Guatemala, Peru