I come from a remote island called Lewis and Harris, where there are more sheep than humans, and where a relatively large percentage of locals still speak the endangered indigenous language of Scottish Gaelic. Although it is an official language, only 1% of Scotland speak Gaelic. It is the first language of my dear Mother.

I was football crazy when I was a kid and I played many years with my local team. A family from Liverpool moved to our village when I was 6 years old and they introduced me to Liverpool Football Club who I supported ever since.

I was born on Halloween which might explain why I am plentiful in personality peculiarities.

I am a songwriter and a street performer, singing with a guitar, or a banjo ukelele.

I don't smoke, drink, or take drugs. I did far too much when I was younger, which inevitably led to trouble, so I decided to turn my life in the opposite direction. Since 2012 I have been focused on improving health and I wrote a free guide on how to achieve freedom from sickness and disease @ https://macaoidh.blogspot.com. As the great Sufi mystic Rumi said "Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself."

I love animals, but if I had to choose favourites then perhaps Cat, Tortoise, Owl, or a weird hybrid of all three.

Por qué estoy en Couchsurfing

I've been part of the Couchsurfing community since 2015 using another Couchsurfing profile with 70+ references which I cannot access or locate anymore. I'm very grateful for this website because I met so many kind-hearted and like-minded locals who included me in their everyday life, introduced me to new people, places, and experiences, or simply provided a welcoming and safe environment to share special moments together. When I am settled with my own place I hope to host travellers from every part of the world, whether using this website or not, because aside from the CS community I recall the many kind strangers who offered me a place to stay without knowing a single thing about me. Nine times out of ten I accepted their offer because I felt they were genuine and those turned out to be some of the most memorable travel experiences. I hope to be able to provide a similar memorable experience for travellers in the future.

Música, películas y libros

Strange face, with your eyes
So pale and sincere
Underneath you know well
You have nothing to fear
For the dreams that came
To you when so young
Told of a life
Where spring is sprung
("Cello Song" by Nick Drake)

Music: Bob Dylan. Bob Marley.
Books: Siddhartha. Songs of Innocence and of Experience.
Movies: Into The Wild. 12 Angry Men.

...and many more!

Algo increíble que he hecho

I have been a travelling homefree (not homeless) street performer since May 2015. Travel is amazing, and rewards are usually greater when I step outside of my comfort zone and take risks, for example, walking/hiking, hitchhiking, or bikepacking, busking (street performance), volunteering, hostels, communal living, wild and/or stealth camping, attending spiritual retreats, or just simply accepting an invitation to sleep at the home of a stranger.

Some interesting parts of my travels included:
* 7000km bicycle and street performance journey through 17 countries of Europe, spread across 18 months.
* 310km walking journey through Bali, Indonesia, which took me 12 days. The longest I walked in one day was 49km and I swore afterwards that I'll never do that much walking in one day again as the last 10km was tough.
* Travelled for long distances hitchhiking through large parts of Scandinavia and South East Asia, and shorter distances while travelling in many other countries.
* Volunteered for four different eco-communities for a total of more than one year in the Amazon rainforest, attempting to restore cattle grazing land into a sustainable fruit forest with the use of permaculture farming techniques.
* Participated in a 10 day silent Vipassana meditation retreat in Germany (10 hours a day of meditation) and a 10 day holistic health lifestyle retreat focused on energy cultivation through the use of qi-gong meditation in Kenya.
* Lived in a cave for a few months on the side of a mountain in the Canary Islands (near the Morocco coast).
* Participated in an Ayahuasca plant medicine ceremony in the Amazon jungle lead by a local Shaman and his friends from the Shuar tribe in Ecuador.

Since 2024 I have been into slow travel, spending weeks or even months in one area. For at least the next 4 years my main focus will be spiritual practise and so I decided to travel much less to help instill the discipline and dedication needed to achieve my goal.

Enseña, aprende, comparte

I have undergone many prolonged and short fasting periods and I have studied the subject extensively. For a five year period I had almost zero hearing in my left ear which I cured by prolonged fasting. Here is a link to an empowering talk by a man named Loren Lockman, the founder and director of Tanglewood Wellness Center in Costa Rica. Since 1997, he has guided more than 10,000 people from all walks of life through water-only fasts ranging from 1 to 9 weeks in length, and has coached several thousand others back to better levels of health. He explains how the body can cleanse and heal from sickness and disease if we simply allow for complete physiological rest by ceasing the energy consuming digestive processes. This is how animals seek to heal when sick or injured in the wild. Mama Nature's remedy! https://youtu.be/pvAa-szlZ_g

Qué puedo ofrecer a los anfitriones

Happy to help around the home.
Happy to help with English vocabulary.
I could also teach how to play guitar or ukekele.
I could even perform live music, or we could sing together, but not everybody will appreciate that, so let me know!

Países que he visitado

Albania, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, England, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Isle of Man, Italy, Kenya, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, Monaco, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Northern Ireland, Norway, Panama, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Scotland, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Tanzania, Thailand, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Viet Nam, Wales