Thiago 'Jack' Bolivar's Photo

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  • 60% response rate
  • Last login 1 day ago

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Overview

  • 56 references 48 Confirmed & Positive
  • Fluent in English, Portuguese, Spanish; learning Afrikaans, French, German, Italian, Polish
  • 45, Male
  • Member since 2013
  • I teach Linguistics / Foreign Languages at a Brazilian Fe...
  • Currently working on my PhD in Linguistics.
  • No hometown listed
  • Profile 100% complete

About Me

I’ve been off Couchsurfing for a couple of years starting with the pandemic and have decided to come back now (April 2023). I am sorry for all the people who requested a place or otherwise just messaged me during the period.

At first I doubted whether I should come back at all, mostly because the context of my new place makes it very hard to host ─ which makes me rather want to just meet up, offer tips, a ride, and/or a dinner etc. Nevertheless, if after reading this entire description carefully you still believe you would like to spend a couple of days here, please do request and we’ll see what we could do.

The thing is, I am currently living a ‘Walden’ kind of life (have you ever read Thoreau?) in a small, minimalistic house out in the country. It is located at the back of this family-run water park, and literally within arm’s reach from a nature preserve. It is NOT in Iguassu Falls city but in Santa Terezinha, the next county to the east. By car it takes me about 35-40 minutes to reach downtown Iguassu (which I do only about twice a week) and there are practically no bus connections to this area that I know of. Also, as I have mentioned, this is a tiny house with a suite, a living room, a mini studio and a veranda where the kitchen and dining table are located. The fact that there is only one bathroom and your would-be host is an EXTREMELY light sleeper makes it particularly hard to host. There is, however, an outside bathroom nearby and, if you believe you wouldn’t mind sleeping on a foldable cushion (quite a comfortable one for that matter, anyway) in the living room or in a tent within the veranda; and if you believe you would enjoy and maybe even need the peaceful conditions and rather unique experience, then read on. If, instead, you are backpacking in a hurry and expect to find urban commodities just around the corner, the place is obviously not for you.

Some of the advantages of this place include: the country experience and the completely silent nights under incredibly starry skies (well, unless it’s cloudy 😀); the proximity to a beautiful beach by the lake ─ my dear paradise, where I often go SUP boarding or kayaking to then enjoy the most stunning sunsets ever.
Getting to and from here: it is possible to visit places in downtown Iguassu or the waterfalls from here, but it would take some logistics. The bus station in Santa Terezinha is about 10km away, and I could drive you there and/or pick you up there if everything is well arranged. From there you’ll find buses to the central station in Iguassu Falls, where you could take a second means of transportation to the waterfalls or just walk around downtown to do what you want to do.

IMPORTANT: Please be CAREFUL AND CONSIDERATE with this space. I've never had a true bad experience on couchsurfing, but I did have a sequence of 'not-so-careful' guests, with its consequences on the long run. A stain here, a tear there, misused appliances, and it has ended up taking its toll on the house and my purse. Remember: I live here alone, I do every chore myself and, this being a minimalist home, every item has its own place and reason to be -- and they are usually hard-to-find items that are very dear to me. Please use all your common sense and follow the rules, even if they might appear 'unnecessary' to you. You are only passing by; I will be here 'forever'. Please also understand that I work mostly from home and will need my moments of concentration even before the real action on the computer.

Some of the house rules:
i) Please take off your shoes as you step into the house. Depending on your country/culture, this will be natural for you.
ii) I am vegetarian. While you don't have to be vegetarian yourself to be my guest, I will ask you to never prepare any meat dishes within the house.
iii) Upon leaving, do not leave ANYTHING behind, unless it is a gift or it was agreed upon. This goes specially for food or food items: I live alone, I won't eat "anything", and having to throw food away is something that really disturbs me.
iv) You should be able to tell the difference between 'recyclable' and 'organic' before throwing stuff away. I am baffled at the number of people who appear to ignore this.

Okay... If you have read it all and are not discouraged, please mention this, and I am sure we will have a great coexistence for a couple of days :-)

Interests

Nature, environmental activism, adventures, yoga, supboarding, keeping fit/healthy, cultures in contact, learning and teaching languages, reading and writing, ancient mysteries.

  • writing
  • animal welfare
  • environment
  • womens rights
  • cooking
  • wine
  • vegetarian
  • vegan
  • yoga
  • pilates
  • board games
  • reading
  • equestrian
  • hiking
  • kayaking
  • skiing
  • snowshoeing
  • olympics
  • rugby
  • ecology
  • languages
  • military science
  • trekking
  • sup
  • sea shepherd
  • stand up paddle

What I Can Share with Hosts

Life stories (I have had my share of adventures and funny stories), languages, world-views, cooking, and what not.

Countries I’ve Visited

Argentina, Austria, Canada, Chile, Croatia, Czech Republic, Ecuador, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Monaco, Norway, Paraguay, Poland, Slovenia, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, Uruguay

Countries I’ve Lived In

Brazil, Finland

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