A friend recently wrote this which describes me better than I ever could: “Garry is cool as f**k. He’s like Osho meets Bruce Lee meets Aristotle meets Einstein meets Mother Teresa meets Bob Marley meets Yoda or some s**t … Hella talented and just amazing person. Definitely one of my role models… My buddy Brian was saying if Osho (who he thinks is Laozi reincarnated), Buddha, Jesus, any other spiritual leader were in a room they’d all be listening to Osho. I said, “Yeah, until my buddy Garry got there.”

About me: At the age of 66 years old, like many people my age, I have done a lot of things in my life, but in my case, even more so. My father was in the military for 25 years, so as a child, I attended nine schools in four US states and two countries by the age of seventeen (ages four to six in Portugal and 10-15 in Germany), and as an adult I have continued traveling (17 countries, so far). After graduating high school in 1974, I moved to the San Francisco Bay/Silicon Valley Area to attend college. Also, in 1974, I began my lifelong love of the martial arts, the guitar, and I have been a vegetarian since 1977.
I attended nine colleges and universities for a total of 18 years between 1974 and 2016, starting as a dual Fine Arts and Mathematics major, switching to Psychology my second year, declared myself a “Professional Student” my third year, studying everything from math and physics to music, philosophy, electronics, history, French, political and social science, commercial and fine arts, and more. In my 10th year, I began studying computer-aided-design (CAD), spending my 13th year (1989-1990) in a one-year internship program at National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in Mountain View, CA as a mechanical CAD designer and drafter.
After NASA, I spent the next 15 years working in the tech industry beginning as a CAD drafter, then became a CAD systems administrator and applications engineer. In 2005, I stopped working, gave away all of my possessions, except those which fit into a large backpack and my guitar, and began my 10-year “Spiritual Walkabout”, first wandering the US, then spending the last five years living in Mexico and Guatemala, giving lessons in Filipino self-defense, guitar, Spanish and English, and computers, and playing bass guitar in several bands. (I’m also a pretty decent jazz guitar player.)
In December, 2012, I returned to school in the USA earning a Bachelor degree in Language Studies in 2016 with a focus on Spanish and adult 2nd language acquisition, spending the final year in Costa Rica studying advanced Spanish. After graduating, I returned to Mexico, giving private lessons in English, self-defense, guitar, and computers until I moved to Panajachel, Guatemala in 2018 where I taught English as a 2nd language, English Language Arts, Mathematics, Social Sciences, History, and Computer Technology to middle and high school students for almost two years. From December 2019 until I retired in May 2023, I taught English online to mainly professional adults and occasionally university students from various Latin American countries while living in Guatemala and Mexico.

In September, 2023, I began what I hope to be, a 3-year trip around the world, starting in Thailand. exploring places I might like to retire.

Just finished teaching English to students from ages 6-23 in the rural town of Lak Sao in Laos. I created a new website for the school and am currently working on writing a NGO business plan and grant proposal to help raise funds for a new school building. Had a great time!

Up next: A three-month volunteer teaching position in Vietnam beginning on November 25th!

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Couchsurfing and house sitting.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I did a lot of couchsurfing and house-sitting in Mexico and Guatemala between 2008 and 2012. One of these experiences led to a month house-sitting gig. Another one happened when a woman came to a self-defense class I was teaching. Ends up that she is the wife of one of the two founding brothers of Hospitality.org (Couchsurfing came later)! I stayed with them on two separate occasions, a month each time, a year apart. Eventually, I moved there and we have remained good friends for the past 14 years.

Typically, I stay in hostels to meet fellow travelers and get tips on places to go, things to do and places to stay, but this time, I'm hoping to spend more time couchsurfing so I can meet local people to show me around, tell me about things to do in their town, and teach me a little of their language.

Interests

I love engaging in great conversations! With my educational and professional background, and life experience, I can have an intelligent conversation on almost any subject. Cooking gourmet Indian, Thai, Chinese, Japanese, and Californian vegetarian cuisine, Playing finger-style acoustic jazz guitar, and rock and reggae bass guitar. Computer hobbyist. I use Linux instead of Windows and I travel with a laptop, and a Raspberry Pi mini-computer.

My main goals are to travel around the world, earning extra income teaching English (I love teaching!), to start a green hostel/vegetarian bar-restaurant/art studio somewhere outside of the US, and to open a Filipino martial arts school.

• arts
• cooking
• vegetarian
• yoga
• traveling
• jazz
• guitar
• kayaking
• camping
• scuba diving
• sailing
• martial arts
• business
• teaching
• engineering
• study abroad
• computers

Music, Movies, and Books

Books: Autobiography of a Yogi, Tao Te Ching, Bhavagita Gita, Science-fiction and Fantasy (the Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Dune, and Wheel of Time series)

Extremely eclectical taste in music, favorites including Django Reinhardt, Antonio Carlos Jobim, XTC, the Clash, Madness, Metallica, Parliament

Movies: Anything by Akira Kurosawa or Quintin Tarentino, the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Harry Potter, and anything from Marvel Studio.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Giving up a comfortable life as a very well paid engineering software expert in Silicon Valley, CA for a life of poverty, giving away all of my possessions for a 10-year spiritual walkabout on the road in 2003 (US, Mexico, Guatemala) and enjoying every minute of it, then returning to the USA in 2012, earning a Bachelor Degree in Language Studies in 2016 at the age of 60 years old!

What I Can Share with Hosts

Self-defense/Martial arts (Filipino), Spanish (beginning) and English languages, guitar lessons, and I know a lot about computers!

Countries I’ve Visited

Belize, Costa Rica, France, Guatemala, Italy, Laos, Liechtenstein, Mexico, Netherlands, Panama, Switzerland, Thailand, United Kingdom

Countries I’ve Lived In

Costa Rica, Germany, Guatemala, Mexico, Portugal, United States