CURRENT MISSION

Organic gardening in Margarita Island Venezulea

ABOUT ME

I teach online courses in Introduction to Human Geography and World Regional Geography for Metro Tech Community College in Omaha Nebraska. My other job is a virtual assistant doing customer service over the phone (so the apartment needs to be quiet during the day and couchsurfers need to be at the beach haha). I currently live at the beach in Playa El Cardon Margarita Island Venezuela. I have two cats: Stumpi and Guasacaca and if you dont like cats you might want to surf elsewhere, but we can always meet for a drink when I have time. I know the island very well and have been living here for 6 years and know how to get most everywhere on a budget. I have rugby practice every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday so in addition to my jobs I am quite busy and surfers have to respect that. However I am very accomodating and love to cook. If you are coming to surf please do bring something cool to cook with or to drink. I would absolutely kill for some Thai fish sauce , a good curry paste, Walkerswood Jamaican Jerk Sauce, a bottle of good microbrew/artisan beer or anything cool, tasty and original to your culture if you are coming from North America or Europe and Margarita is one of your first stops.

PHILOSOPHY

Life is too short so don't need any stupid drama like in the reality shows. Keep it real. Honesty is the best policy: it is better to be upfront with something rather than beat around the bush. Treat people, animals, and the environment around you good and good things will happen...but if someone steals from me or screw me over I will kick some ass hahaha. If you have been around long enough and if you have had to work for everything that you have in your life you know that life is not easy for most and many others have it tougher that you (try living in a Third World Country)...so stop you whining and keep it positive.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

IMPORTANT PLEASE READ: I host and have a loft with a double bed, a bunkbed and a hammock for couchsurfers. I would like to say it here, but I am busy. I coach and play for a rugby team on the island. So in addition to my job, I am pretty busy. I have rugby practice and go to the gym on Tuesday and Thursday and return late at night back to the apartment. I have games on weekends, or practice on Saturday. So couch surfing schedules have to be coordinated with this. Also, I receive lots of couchsurfing requests, so please keep your request really simple. That is, do not write some soppy emotional novel why you want to meet me. I can read your profile and decide...you can read mine. Secondly, please do not bombard me with a million questions about the island via the internet. I know traveling in Venezuela is not easy, but I can tell you everything in person once you arrive. I know that couchsurfers write to several hosts with the philosophy that a bigger net will catch more fish, so that being, 90% of the people who write me are not 100% serious about staying at my apt...hence, keep it simple. You want a couch, tell me your dates and what you plan to do while you are here; I can sometimes host depending on my schedule.

Secondly, Couchsurfing is not 24 hours a day 7 days a week. Some people abuse Couchsurfing as a free place to stay when you are abroad and expect your Couchsurfing host to be like a hotel. You are backpackers, you are not little lost puppies in a foreign land. If you do not know the language or how to get around that is your problem. Really, I try to help people out as much as I can, but I have a job and responsiblilities and I am not on vacation. So please, if you are high maintanance and need somebody to service you (or babysit you), PAY FOR A HOTEL!!! But if you are cool, respectful, not just looking for a free place to stay, you know how to get around (or can learn quickly), then you are more than welcome to come stay on my couch. Respect my space, respect my time and we will have no problems.

Also: 2 NIGHT MAXIMUM for legnth of stay.

All that said, it is an excellent couch right next to the beach.

P.S. That Andrei dude from Romania is CRAZY!!!! Seriously, CRAZY!!! Complete CHAOS!!! And EXPECTED me to babysit him. This leads me to another point: backpacking in Venezuela is for ADVANCED backpackers only because of the violence, corruption and nothing works well here (bureaucracies, institutions, airlines, etc...). Furthermore, they speak Spanish really fast and cut most of thier words (like Spanish thrown in a blender). I recomend that if you are taking a tour of South America it is better to end your tour here (there is a lot to see in Venezuela and well worth it (I have lived here 7 years), but is best for ADVANCED backpackers).

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I have hosted many couchsurfers here in Margarita as well as when I lived in Valencia Venezuela. Dont surf too much however.

Interests

Rugby is my number 1 hobby and I spend a lot of time on it as well as helping organize my team and tournaments. However when I have time I love to be out in nature, do some gardening, go hiking, play basketball, hanging out at the beach and go fishing when somebody can hook up with a boat.

• animals
• cats
• fish
• culture
• books
• environment
• cooking
• beer
• coach
• drinking
• gardening
• boating
• politics
• technology
• traveling
• fishing
• hiking
• backpacking
• surfing
• basketball
• rugby
• geography
• beaches

Music, Movies, and Books

City of God is probably my favorite. But I generally like foreign films and if you know any good ones please let me know. For music I love reggae,dub, conscious vibes and some dancehall (lived in Jamaica), blues and funk (lived near New Orleans) and good hiphop...but in general I like music from all genras as long it is by great artists and musicians. My favorites are Mr. Vegas, Sizzla, Bob Marley, Jr Gong Marley, Chuck Fender, Big Youth, Lee Scratch Perry, Fela Kuti, Sublime, Long Beach Dub All Stars, Blackalicious, Lyrics Born, Talib Kwali, Mos Def, The JBs, The Funky Meters, Taj Mahal, John Lee Hooker, Social Distortion...the list goes on and on and I am always hungry for great music from all over the globe. For books, I have a ton of books back home in Nebraska. My collection consists mostly of Philosophy, Religion, Anthropology and Geography. Being a Gemini, I am "totally air" and really like philosophy. For religion, I am spiritual and like to read about religion from an anthoropological/psychological perspective and I am not an adherent to any one religion. And yeah, Geography, that is what I get paid to do. Real cool stuff.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Of historical interest, I did witness the Zapatista march to Mexico City in 2001 while living in Oaxaca Mexico. It was really interesting to see the cultural politics of various classes of people and how this revolved around this event. I also lived through Hurricanes Katrina and Rita when I was a grad student at Louisiana State University.

Teach, Learn, Share

Teaching is what I do for a living...so yeah, that is what I do.

Countries I’ve Visited

Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Austria, Brazil, Canada, Dominica, Guyana, Jamaica, Mexico, Slovakia, Trinidad and Tobago

Countries I’ve Lived In

Venezuela