CURRENT MISSION

Make the world a better place, one smile at a time!

ABOUT ME

Flew out of the US 12 years ago and have been traveling non-stop ever since. I love my life. One of those people who enjoys being social as much as being alone. Love to write, gaze at untouched nature, do qi gong, meet new intriguing humans. I prefer to stay in one place for extended periods of time, fully diving into the local culture and language, breaking the ´tourist´ boundaries and becoming a ´local´ instead. Love animals, children, world religions, variations of the earth´s people from one location to the next. Enjoy spending the day laughing, helping everyone as much as possible every day of my life and believe that humans are innately good.

PHILOSOPHY

Love life and life will love you back.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Mostly I host, but on occassion I surf. Love having guests, cooking, tending to the weary traveler, showing people around the hood, enriching the whole experience for others who share my passion of roaming the planet.

Host and be hosted! While writing this... I am in Cadiz, surfing the guestroom of friends I met in Laos 4.5 years ago. So it goes. When I have the space, friends come, and when I need a place, friends appear.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Hosted all sorts of amusing characters in Vashisht, HP, India. Many are still in my close circle of friends. One of them, a bubbly giggly sort of blond Brit, came for a night and ended up staying 2 weeks. We spent the time in constant laughter, filled our days with various arts and crafts, established dancing yoga time, and enjoyed every moment until she had to depart. Years later...In a few days I will be joining her at Stonehenge for solstice.

In Maroc a large tower house of blue with 5 extra beds also enabled a flow of new friends to rest their weary heads for a few days before setting out on their way. Camping, hostels, hotels and guesthouses blend into one after days, weeks, months on the road. Feels great to have your own room and space to spread out, a kitchen to make a few meals or a pot oh tea, a hot shower on demand, and a local friend to guide you around town and show you the sights and best local eats.

In Brasil my oceanside home serves as a base for nearby beach explorations or just some much needed rejuvination healing time. Old friends and new ones have enjoyed this breathtakingly beautiful space.

Travel can be exhausting and some countries will definitely push you to your limits. Knowing this after many years on the road and possessing an innate sense of hospitality, I do my best to refuel the weary traveler and set them back on the road nourished, rested, and with a backpack of clean clothes.

Once you begin to travel you realize that family refers not only to blood relations, but to people you meet along the way who share your journey and understand where you are coming from.

Interests

Earth explorations, culinary delights, interesting humans, artistic expressions, cultural immersions, new languages, unchartered lands, natual beauty, sustainable living, new friends, physical limitlessness, spiritual diversity, constant learning, and seeing all there is to see. Snowboarding, mountain biking, beach volleyballing, dancing, reading, writing, listening, eating, sitting in silence, jammin out to tunes, gazing out at the horizon or up at the stars. Animals, insects, organically natural eats, ancient architecture, yoga, my friends.

• animals
• horses
• insects
• arts
• culture
• writing
• architecture
• beauty
• dancing
• cooking
• yoga
• walking
• crafts
• clothing
• reading
• traveling
• painting
• cycling
• backpacking
• camping
• surfing
• scuba diving
• snowboarding
• languages
• religion
• tourism
• cultural immersion
• beaches

Music, Movies, and Books

Love the classics...Pride and Prejudice, David Copperfield...also recently enjoyed Cloud Atlas...dip into Krishnamurti if I need to center... Will give any book available a try if recommended. Playlists include a range for all moods...chill out jazz, pump me up and dance trance, sunny day reggae, get up the mountain heavy aggressive stuff, and classical/spacey for nighty nite lullabies.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

One day whilst sitting on my balcony overlooking the rice patties on the edge of Fewa Lake, Pokhara, Nepal, I noticed a small frail old woman in a red sari setting off in the direction of a herd of horses grazing several hundred meters away. One of the mares had given birth to a beautiful foal who shimmered a greyish brown as he pranced about. The mommy mare had spent most of the past 3 days fighting off the males of the herd and protecting her foal, using all sorts of kicking and biting maneuvers. The small frail old woman edged closer to the herd, making a wide circle to come around the back of the group, and began to move them in my direction towards their nightime stable. I was painting a picture of a Buddhist goddess on Nepali ricepaper using watercolors and refocused on my craft for several moments. When I glanced back into the rice patties I could see the woman approaching the testy mare and I paused momentarily to soak in my surroundings. At that moment, in a flash of red, I witnessed the mare kick the little old woman 3 meters into the air, she landed with finality, her stick flung to the side. For a moment I could not breathe as if my lungs had also felt the shock from the safety of my balcony, and I was sure I had just witnessed the last moment of her life. No one was around for me to yell to, she was so far away. But then miraculously, her grey head lifted, she pushed herself up to sitting, looked around as if to see if anyone had seen what happened, shook off her sari and slowly stood up. She gazed to the side, picked up her stick, straightened her head wrap and started walking once again towards the fiesty mare. She kept her distance but made her point with a few stones and soon enough mares, foals, and stallions were heading home guided by the strongest, most resiliant, incredibly amazing small frail old woman I have ever witnessed thus far in my life.

Teach, Learn, Share

We will sit. We will talk. We will laugh. We will learn.

Countries I’ve Visited

Australia, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cambodia, Cayman Islands, China, Croatia, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Jamaica, Laos, Malaysia, Peru, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland, Thailand, United Kingdom, Venezuela

Countries I’ve Lived In

American Samoa, Belize, Brazil, Costa Rica, Croatia, Guatemala, India, Indonesia, Italy, Montenegro, Morocco, Nepal, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Portugal, Spain, United States, Vanuatu