Catherine: I love to travel, and have lived outside of my native country, the UK, for ten years now. This is what brought me to Venezuela seven years ago. My husband Carlos and Venezuela's natural beauty are what has kept me here.
Carlos was born in Maracay, Venezuela, but now lives in Caracas. He rides an empire motorbike which enables him to weave his way through Caracas' many traffic jams.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

We enjoy travelling and meeting new people, and have enough space in our apartment for guests. It would also help us to be able to travel more if we could save some money on accommodation costs.
I grew up in a household that loved to travel. My parents ran a small B&B in the spare room of our house, although at times they moved out of their bedroom into mine and vice versa in order to accommodate families who came to stay. I remember how much my parents enjoyed chatting with the people who stayed with us. In fact they ended up making friends with quite a few of them, some of which we stayed with when we visited the US.
Although we've only just become 'official' coach surfers we have been lucky enough to experience amazing hospitality from people we've bumped into in different parts of the world, and have been able to offer this to people we've met in Venezuela a couple of times. During the first few weeks of a two year backpacking trip my friend Amy and I met some children at a Hindu temple who insisted that we have dinner with them. A few weeks later, in Southern India, a man that we were sharing a compartment with on a train insisted that we stay with his parents-in-law, who happened to live in the city that we were on our way to visit, Madurai. The spoiling that we received over a two day stay with them was unmatchable! A number of months down the line, on a flight to Brunei, after chatting to the lady sat next to me for most of the flight she invited me to stay with her family. During the time I stayed with her I met most of her extended family, was taken to most of the sites in Brunei and even attended a family wedding. In Mongolia, where I lived for three years, I was invited into people's gers and houses for tea, biscuits, airag and food many times. Then, in July 2013 Carlos and I spent our honeymoon in Sri Lanka. There was not a place that we visited where we were not offered totally unsolicited help. All of these experiences have given me great faith in human nature and have made me want to do the same for other people. The people who've shown me such great hospitality are exemplary unofficial ambassadors for their countries. They have contributed greatly to my international understanding, helping to convert me from a naive immature twenty something to a more open minded person with much greater international understanding. I chose to seek a job in an international school in part so that I could continue to meet people of other nationalities and cultures with whom I could interact with and learn from.

Interests

We both like to swim, play tennis, run, dive, dance salsa, try new food, travel, take photos, drink good beer and go to the cinema.
Carlos also likes to play computer games.
Catherine also likes to practice yoga and to drink wine.

• beauty
• dancing
• dining
• cooking
• wine
• beer
• vegetarian
• yoga
• running
• coach
• drinking
• technology
• movies
• traveling
• socializing
• backpacking
• hinduism
• tennis
• paragliding
• swimming
• law
• science

Music, Movies, and Books

Music: Cold play, Salsa, Regeton, Guns and Roses, Musica de protesta Cubana (Carlos), Otgo, Ultan Urag, the Beatles, Manu Chao, Dido, Nirvana (Catherine)
Films: Interstellar (Carlos), One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest, Romeo and Juliet, Lord of the rings: The fellowship of the ring, American Beauty, Love Actually (Catherine).
Plays & Musicals: Animal farm, Blood Brothers (Catherine)

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Carlos: Parachute jump in Heguerote, Venezuela.
Catherine: Paragliding in Juanquito, Venezuela.
Carlos and Catherine: Swimming with Whale sharks in Mexico.

Teach, Learn, Share

We can talk to you in either English or Spanish; and can share travel stories and recommendations from/ for Asia, Latin America and Europe.
Catherine can help your kid's with their science homework and Carlos with their Spanish and computer technology homework.

What I Can Share with Hosts

We can cook you a few basic vegetarian dishes, based on what ingredients are locally available.

Countries I’ve Visited

Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Belize, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Curaçao, Czech Republic, Egypt, El Salvador, Falkland Islands (Malvinas), France, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Honduras, Hungary, India, Ireland, Italy, Laos, Malaysia, Mexico, Myanmar, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, United States, Uruguay, Viet Nam

Countries I’ve Lived In

Australia, England, Mongolia, Venezuela