Hello CS World!

We are Karina and Juan, a couple born and raised in Chile, and we are newbies travelers.

Juan is a graphic and web designer and Karina has a degree in Tourism Management. We both run an online business and work a little while we are traveling.

We also started a Travel Blog http://www.maperz.com, to share our experiences with other people, an encourage them to escape from their boring lives and to start traveling and meeting people and cultures from all over the world.

Since we can remember we've been wanting to explore the outside world and its beauty, but our journey recently started on 2015. We realized that the bubble was getting the best of our younger years and we needed it to start really living. So, we decided to get rid off all the unnecessary, clothes, furniture, car and everything that couldn't fit in our backpacks.

"Downshifting" has been the best choice we've made so far, has taught us how to appreciate what really matters in life.

We have been together for almost 12 years now, since day 1 we've been sharing the same taste in music, places, hobbies and the eager of traveling has been our main life project.

Australia was the starting point of this journey. After living in Melbourne for 4 months, it was time to leave the city and get in touch with the real australian culture, so we moved and worked for 5 month at a 100 acres farm and lived with a wonderful family in Harcourt, Victoria. There we learned a lot.

Now we moved to the Bickley Valley near Perth, Western Australia... where we are working in a little farm and travelling around.

At the end of October of 2016 we will arriving in Singapore, the starting point of our trip around Asia. Our main goal in this journey is to get in touch with the real culture of every country we'll visit. We truly believe that the travel experience means nothing if you don't exchange culture with the locals and of course, their food!!! We are not afraid of trying and tasting new and exotic flavors, we consider ourselves very passionate about cooking, probably not to good at it yet, but we are able to cook with you and mix recipes! We know some chilean dishes that you'll love :)

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

We think this quote sums up our reason... “A journey is best measured in friends, rather than miles.” – Tim Cahill.

We are not seeking only going to touristic places and sending a picture to our friends and families, we are seeking meeting you, meeting people with the same intentions as us, exchanging culture, makes the experience of traveling more exciting and powerful.

Interests

Juan: I'm a football (soccer) fan and I like to play anywhere I go. Also i'm a musician a I play the guitar, I love to discover local music. I love technology and Web Design, so maybe I can teach you some of this.

We both love Nature, Culture, Trekking, Wild Life and Photography.

Music, Movies, and Books

We love all music but mostly alternative rock, punk pop, grunge and we enjoy listening the old 80`s and 90`s songs.

JP is a musician and plays the guitar.

Horror movies are our favorite ones!!! Also documentaries, we like to learn too.

We love reading crime books, recently we read "Field of Prey" by John Sanford and it was awesome. Books from chilean authors are our top 1!, like Hernán Rivera Letelier, he writes novels based on true stories during the time of saltpetre minings in North of Chile, also called "Pampa Chilena". And Alberto Fuguet is an other great option to read.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Leaving the bubble and started traveling and meeting new people...

What I Can Share with Hosts

We can cook together, we know some Chilean dishes that you will like! We would love you to take us to the most interesting places of your hometown... do city tours, hang around. Also we can share music, drinks, good food, stories and experiences...

Countries I’ve Visited

Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Cambodia, Canada, Costa Rica, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, United States, Viet Nam

Countries I’ve Lived In

Australia, Chile