ABOUT ME

Biking, hiking, traveling, politically active, student, do-gooder, love my adopted city, wont own uncomfortable shoes, think Halloween is the only worthwhile holiday, and who is awfully good at rambling today.

Some interesting things I have done that may help describe me:

- Walked for 6 months on the Appalachian Trail from Tennessee to Maine. I've hiked other long (but not as long) hikes as well: John Muir Trail, Camino de Santiago across Spain, West Highland Way in Scotland, Lost City Trail in Colombia, Lost Coast Trail in California...

- Swam from Alcatraz. Twice. The fist time in January, OK, that was showing off, sorry.

- Hopped freight trains half way across the country to spend some months volunteering in post-Katrina New Orleans. It took a while to get the diesel smell out of my hair but it was one of the funnest 10 days of my life. Once we got there we donned tyvec suits and respirators and weilded crowbars to gutt houses to save their underlying frames from black mold. I also helped run a community bike shop which aimed to get bikes to newly returning residents who had, among everything else, lost their cars and public transit system.

- Brew beer and cider. Collect wild mushrooms. Bake bread. Make my own butter and jam. Make quilts, play in lapidary, made myself a set of ceramic dishes.

- Was a massage therapist for years. I had the honor of seeing people at their lowest points and was able to offer some relief. My clients ranged from a women pregnant with triplets on bed rest, an ultra marathoner recovering from knee damage, a women who had had a double mastectomy, police officers and firefighters who were hurt on the job and high school athletes who had yet to learn their full capacity or limitations, senior citizens who were surprised they could no longer do everything alone anymore, and many, many people who spend too much time in front of a computer.

Slept on a bag of coconuts on a commercial boat in Latin America. At least it smelled good...

Rode my bike from Arcata to Big Sur in California and from the Sierras to Crater Lake.

Worked on a farm in Mexico, and in Italy.

Stayed with a shepherd in the mountains of Italy where I learned a thing or three about cheese making.

Now I am boring. A boring graduate student arriving in Philadelphia soon.

PHILOSOPHY

There are two kinds of people in this world: those who believe there are two kinds of people in this world and those who are smart enough to know better.
Tom Robbins

That, and you can´t get lost if you have no where to go.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I host, surf and meet up. Just like you!

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Yes.

Interests

Learning, biking, backpacking, traveling, burning man, cooking, eating, ceramics, lapidary, quilting, making beer, having excuses to meet strangers and speaking Spanish badly.

• cooking
• cheese
• beer
• running
• boating
• shopping
• traveling
• cars
• pottery
• homebrewing
• cycling
• hiking
• backpacking
• emergency services
• volunteering
• mountains

Music, Movies, and Books

Books I have read in the last couple years, mostly for my own record.

The Lost Continent,
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep,
The Things They Carried,
Mountains Beyond Mountains,
100 Years of Solitude,
Lolita,
Tropic of Cancer,
Globalization and its Discontents,
Botany of Desire,
Harry Potter (in Spanish),
Shanghai Baby,
The Shadow of the Wind,
Middle Sex,
Lord of the Flies,
Houroun and the Sea of Stories,
Dragon Country
Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, Breakfast at Tiffany´s,
God Bless You Mr. Rosewater,
Lord Malquist and Mr. Moon,
El Principito,
Sula
Mother Night
Kafka on the Shore
Conspiracy of Paper
Galapagos
The Documents in the Case
San Francisco Noir
Ethical Assasination
Assassination Vacation
My Year in Meats
How We Are Hungry
If I Live To Be 100
Choke
What Is The What
Confederacy of Dunces
mona lisa overdrive
wind up bird chronicle
sellevision
i am the cheese
persepoles
embroideries
how we are hungry
humpty dumpty in oakland
Tales of a shaman´´s apprentice
metamorphosis
white castle
snow
half of a short history of nearly everything
the witch of portobella
the heartbreaking work of staggering genius
slow fat triathlete

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I have seen a child being born.

Teach, Learn, Share

I could teach you how to pack a bag for long distance hiking. Also known as "forget your towel."

Countries I’ve Visited

Belize, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, France, Germany, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Israel, Italy, Mexico, Morocco, Peru, Portugal, Spain, United Kingdom, United States, Vatican City State

Countries I’ve Lived In

United States

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