We are Wout en Bouk, a couple looking to explore South America for 5 months (starting June 2024). We've been together about 4 years, of which the last 2 we lived about 1000km apart. Our dream is to buy a little camper van and take it across the continent (update: we bought one and picking it up in Peru half of June!). We are learning Spanish (Wout is already at the intermediate level).

We are super curious about virtually everything and want to learn everything there is about the different cultures, histories and landscapes of the world/South America. We hope to meet many locals and other travellers and maybe even host people in our future home on wheels. Besides cultural interests, we love climbing, hiking, biking, running (although mostly Bouke), skiing/snowboarding/ski-touring - so basically everything one can do in the mountains. We'd be more than happy to explore together!

Update 20/08/24: Ecuador! Closing in on Cuenca today. Plan is to drive north over Macas, go to the jungle, maybe find some climbing spots, pass by Quito and head to Ecuador! Send us a message to join or convince us to change our plans (shouldn't be to hard)

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

CS is the best way to get in touch with locals, and locals are the best to explore new lands.

Interests

We love to be in the outdoors, whether it's hiking, climbing, snorkelling, camping, biking, you name it. But we also like to visit cities, do a walking tour and dance our way into the early hours.

• dancing
• cooking
• running
• chess
• reading
• juggling
• live music
• guitar
• hiking
• windsurfing
• camping
• snowboarding
• geopolitics
• history
• philosophy
• nature
• biking
• ice skating
• climbing
• beach volleyball
• wild camping
• boardgames
• new sports
• skitouring
• newspapers
• new stuff in general

Music, Movies, and Books

Music: very broad, Wout loves old funk and soul, 90s hiphop, edm. Bouk also likes more jazz and crazy funky stuff with electronic beats (snarky puppy, kaytranada, batiste, maalouf, etc.)
Movies: We just watched Okja and it is super cool. Wout loves crime thrillers and imdb top 250 movies (hehe). Bouk loves arthouse and movies with great music (Soul/Babylon/Blues Brothers) but is shit scared of thrillers.
Books: Wout doesn't really read, but like non-fiction about science or philosophy. Bouk reads a lot and likes non-fiction too. She got also really into Hermann Hesse and Isabel Allende.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Wout: When I was 15/16 I sailed from the Netherlands to the Carribean and back, visiting the most amazing islands around there. Update: I just did it again! Update2: I'll go do it a third time (feb2024)
Bouk: Bike through Norway for 6 weeks with camping gear which was epic, but now I'm living super close to the mountains so the most amazing thing is going climbing/ski touring every weekend! Well, and life in general is quite amazing :D

Teach, Learn, Share

Teach: see interests. Bouke works in environmental microbiology and will continue working on research about how CO2 is stored in the soil and what the bacteria do there, so she can explain a bit about that if interested ^^

Share: opinions, (travel)stories, our van (!!), food, climbing gear,

What I Can Share with Hosts

(Travel)stories, (rational)opinions, a listening ear. And dances of course!
We can also take you in our van and go climbing (we've got the gear) or do whatever!

Countries WE have visited, everything down to and including England is Wout, the rest is Bouk.

Countries I’ve Visited

Aruba, Austria, Belgium, Bermuda, Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba, Canada, Croatia, Cuba, Curaçao, Denmark, Dominica, Egypt, England, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Jordan, Lithuania, Morocco, Nepal, Norway, Panama, Scotland, Spain, Switzerland, Thailand, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

Canada, Israel, Netherlands, Switzerland