CURRENT MISSION

I will be spending a month in El Calafayte and El Chalten. I am looking to meet people who are climbers or know climbers.

ABOUT ME

I am a thirty something woman from USA. I am married and will be sometimes traveling with my husband. We are in Argentina and Chile for six months. My husband is working some for an internation school called NOLS. He teaches rock climbing and mountaineering in Patagonia. Yes, he loves his job. I also love the outdoors and climb with him on our own personal trips. While my husband is working, I am expanding my life experience. Right now I am doing a HelpX work exchange outside of Buenos Aires. I am on a small farm helping with organic gardening, earthen building construction, and other sustainable practices. I consider myself in another 'sponge' stage. I am absorbing knowledge and wisdom from all of my experiences. I try to live each day one day at a time, unlike many of my fellow North Americans who have 'the plan'.

PHILOSOPHY

Life is about loving and learning. I love backpacking because it reduces life to the basics: food, water, and shelter. But from there I realize that those things are not enough. We need connection with others, personal growth, and a sense of purpose. But we tend to get lost with the incredible complexity of life trying to secure these things.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I am interested in meeting people who live in Chile and Argentina to understand more about these cultures. Staying in hostels is okay, but the typical traveler has the same traveling circuit stories to tell. I want to know more than that. With my limited Spanish, it is difficult to understand the finer details of politics and culture.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I learned about CouchSurfing from a friend who traveled in South America for a year. Now that I am in South America, I have met three people in a short span of time who are members and love it. I looked at the website and I am interested in trying. Hopefully someone will be willing to host me with limited references.

Interests

Outdoor sports including backpacking, backcountry rock climbing, mountaineering, and ice climbing. Front country sports like tennis, Ultimate frisbee, and volleyball. I am interested in bettering the lives of others. I have been blessed with so many jobs that have allowed me to meet and work with some amazing people. I am a classic introvert. I expend energy to be with people and then play sports, read, or mediatate by a river to recharge. I am interested in bits and pieces of politics and culture, but I am not extremely well read. I am always interested in life philosophies and how to be healthy holistically as well as helping others get there too.

• culture
• dining
• gardening
• politics
• traveling
• socializing
• outdoor activities
• backpacking
• mountaineering
• scuba diving
• skiing
• sports
• rock climbing
• tennis
• volleyball

Music, Movies, and Books

Feel good music: Deep Forest, Jack Johnson, etc. I'm not really picky. Movies: the Matrix is still a movie I think about and analyze. Movies and books are often a time of relaxation for me and I like dramas that can sweep me into the characters and make me cry. Thinking books: I'm beginning to explore more Eastern thought. Stuff by Deepak Chopra, Hinduism in general, the I Ching.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Scuba diving in Australia. Becoming a Christian and un-becoming a Christian in the course of twelve years. Marrying an amazing man and sharing my life with him.

Teach, Learn, Share

I want to learn more about Eastern philosophies. I am becoming more aware of our industrial food systems. I read Michael Pollen's Food Rules and see what the US has done in the industrial food system. It makes me sad to see the same advertising used in Chile and Argentina claiming that foodstuffs full of chemicals are 'sano'.

Countries I’ve Visited

Argentina

Countries I’ve Lived In

Argentina, Australia