Couch Surfing

When we first got to Honduras we were given a letter from the former North American teachers with several pointers about working at the school, living in Santa Rosa, and over all enjoying our next ten months. One thing that the former teachers suggested was that we sign up for couchsurfing.com, a networking website among travelers, backpackers, and the like looking for cheap places to stay and to meet fellow world explorers. Abby and I have taken the idea of hosting couch surfers to a whole new level. We are basically our own hotel. Two weeks ago we had four couch surfers in one week! They all came one after another…in and out- Belgium, California, Alaska, and Africa!

Now, many people will say, “Wait- so…you just let strangers stay in your house?” Well, yes. It is so much more than that though. Anyone who has traveled can understand this. There is this bond that happens between travelers and backpackers that cannot really be explained. A love of exploration, meeting new people, having new experiences, trying new things, and taking risks are all qualities that travelers, especially those in a much less touristy place like Central America, usually posses in some form or another. Not to mention, finding, as Anne of Green Gables would say, a “kindred spirit,” in a foreign place can be essential to ones sanity. Everyone we have met have not only been extremely nice, but additionally they have all been fantastically fascinating. From traveling to Antartica to growing up in Africa we have really enjoyed hearing all of their stories and making our world, just a little bit smaller.

Abby and I have been living in Santa Rosa for almost three months now (can you believe it!? Three months!) and have already had twelve couch surfers. Pretty impressive, I’d say. Not a ton of tourists come through Santa Rosa but considering we are the only people who are on couch surfing in this part of Honduras, we are the go to peeps. Not to mention we’ve been getting awesome reviews, so clearly, we are becoming a tourist attraction of our own. Abby’s secret dream in life is to own a hostel in Central America so she’s all about it and loves playing host, as do I. It’s really the perfect situation- we have two extra beds and an extra bathroom. Not to mention, we usually get a really good meal out of it! So, without further ado, I give you, our couch surfers!

Adam and David- Leeds, England. You already met these crazy Brits. But now, I have pictures from the infamous evening. Please see blog post of September 17 and then look at these pictures…a very VERY humorous night out.

Drunkette, in all her glory.

"You are very pretty for me"

"Far across the distance, and spaces, betweeeen us, you have come to show you...go OOnnnn"

Large and scary man who was unofficially (officially in his mind) our body guard for the night.

Rebecca and Ryan- Toronto, Canada. Recently married couple, stayed with us for a couple of days. Traveling Central and South American for 10 months together. Rebecca is a jazz singer and sings with a big band! Aka…I want her job. They volunteered with us at the orphanage and even though they didn’t speak much Spanish, all of the kids fell in love with them. One of the sweetest images I have seen was from the moment we all walked into the orphanage, Rebecca and Ryan had little girls immediately all over them, holding their hands, wanting to be their friend. Later Rebecca entertained the kids with guitar and songs. They were great guests, really nice, genuine people.

Pasquale and Augustine- Naples, Italy & Mexico City, Mexico. These two best friends stayed with us for only about 8 hours, arriving around 7:00 PM and leaving at 4:00AM to catch their bus to El Salvador. Never the less, they entertained us with their stories and cooked us a fabulous, authentically made, Italian spaghetti dish. Their English was pretty good, but one cool thing about foreigners like them is that our conversations consist of at least three languages interspersed throughout. A fly on the wall may find it a little hard to follow- the SpanItalianish- but it works for us. Just another example of why couch surfing is so cool.

Pasquale and Augustine...oh and my awesome roommate.

Laura- England. A friend of Chris, Laura stayed with us for a night. I didn’t get to talk to her a ton, but she was busy working in Costa Rica for a company that matches volunteers to different social projects throughout the country. She was really chill and gave us some great travel advice.

Danny- Buffalo, NY. We met Danny in Copan Ruinas during our Halloween extravaganza. He has been traveling in C.A. for about 3 months I think. He basically is staying down here until he runs out of money…which he hopes is never. Danny kept commenting on our very bare walls downstairs that are starving for some color and decoration. We came home the next day to a new accessory on the wall- a Honduran flag that Danny had signed. A great idea! Now we have two flags that all our couch surfers have to sign. A perfect momento!

Danny is on the left, Phil is on the right, another compañero we met in Copan. Discussing to which continent Central America really belongs. There are many arguments and it is QUITE a mystery.

Gregory- Belgium. What a loco! In a good way. He has been traveling for 2 years and 2 months throughout South and Central America on- wait for it- his BICYCLE. No joke. This fool is so cool. He is a little older, and I kind of deduced that this was maybe a really awesome mid life crisis adventure. He stayed with us for two days one of which he made us a DELICIOUS dinner…slaving in the kitchen for at least three hours. Ridiculous. Oh, and did I mention, along his trip he went to ANTARTICA?!? He showed us amazing photos from the trip. Anyone up for a vacation to the Artic? Cause I really want to go now. Check out his website. http://www.verdwaaldezwerver.be/ If you can figure out enough Dutch/German to understand that Fotos = Photos, take a look at his Antartica pics. They're pretty sweet. He is going to write a book when he gets back…I’d say there aren’t too many Belgian books about riding your bicycle through every country in South and Central America. I think he just might have a niche market there. Yeayyy Gregory!

Kevin- Oakland, CA. This kid gets the small world and best dinner-never to be topped- award. Firstly, he is from Nor Cal, grew up in Santa Rosa, CA and graduated from U.C. Santa Cruz two years before Abby. Not to mention, these two already had met each other on top of a volcano in Guatemala back in August. A funny guy, and a great chef, he will certainly be welcome back in our home any time. Get this- he made us chicken soup from scratch (which was muy rica) annnd an incredibly epic dessert.

Kevin and part of his master piece.

Abby and I were doing work as he was cooking and all of a sudden I smelt chocolate, prompting me to say, “Is that CHOCOLATE?” to which he replied, “Yes, yes there may be some chocolate goin on in here…” The soup was very tasty and Chris happened to be over and was able to partake in the dining festivities as well. At one point, we were all remarking over the fact that this dinner was never going to be topped by any couch surfer. To which I, for some reason, very matter of factly, replied, “Well…it might be topped, it IS possible.” We all had a big laugh about that comment. Well, after our meal, Kevin brought out- wait for it- CHOCOLATE COVERED STRAWBERRIES. He made them, in our little kitchen. We were in awe. Definitely will NOT be topped. There’s just no way.

Brian- Alaska. Born and raised on a tiny fishing island in Alaska, Brian decided to go to Northern Arizona University for college. Despite the Alaska/Arizona reppin’ he was not in favor of McCain/Palin, but of course that was our first question. Brian was pretty chill, had some interesting stories about growing up on an island not to mention about the “interesting” couple he and his girlfriend met in La Ceiba who were on a raw food diet (this includes raw MEAT) and were planning to sail to Thailand. Apparently Brian and said girlfriend were planning on sailing with them until they found out the rules of the sailboat- Raw Food and Anything Goes…the latter referring to a 1960’s style of free love…if you catch my drift. To make a long story short, Brian is no longer sailing to Thailand and no longer has a girlfriend. Yeah. Wherever your mind is going right now, you are on the right track. He was nice but he didn’t sign our flag. LAME. He did however bring us two bottles of wine upon arrival…decent trade off I suppose.

Michael- Lempira, Honduras/Northern Indiana/Ghana, Africa. Mike is currently volunteering in La Campa and Gracias through some Menninite organization based in the States. He was a really nice guy who was basically just looking for a weekend away from his tiny little town. Mike also holds…or HELD the honor of having the first place position on CouchSurfing.com for Honduras as he had the most friends/references/vouches. However, he has since been knocked down to number three, while our association with him has brought us up to number ten! Holla…we’re like the Jeffersons…just movin on up! Mike had an interesting background- parents were Meninite missionaries and he grew up- Mean Girls style- in Africa. However, his family is originally from Elkhart, IN! Northern Indy…worrrrd.

Michael, legit couch-surfing

We had some really deep convos with Mike about traveling, volunteering, and just life. Btw, I feel as though using the abbrev, “convos” demeans the idea that they were actually, in fact, “deep.” I have to admit though, during some of these “deep convos” I felt the three of us were being a little pretentious. Discussing our opinions on helping the third world, doing aid work, learning about a new culture…it seemed more of a platform to talk about all of the cool volunteer stuff you have done in your life and how this makes you a good person. After a while I just stopped talking about my volunteer experiences because I felt like they were being tarnished, as if I only did them so I could impress people who care about that sort of thing. Instead of leaving me more enlightened, the “deep convo” left me a little annoyed. Not a big deal, but I think it’s important for me to remember. Oh also, he is in the process of transferring colleges and wants to go to, gasp, Appalachian State. I wasn’t really listening to the conversation but all of a sudden I heard him say “…this college in North Carolina called Appalachian State…” and I let out a huge “Uahgahghhhhhahhahhh” Considering I was not at all in the conversation (it was an A and B conversation and I was C-ing my way out of it…4th grade jokes = la mejor), he and Abby were a little confused by my reaction. “What did App State do to you?” he said, and then soon remembered, “Oh. Yeah. They beat Michigan.” Gross. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVENWl8uBeg ...It's fine.) Anyway, we are definitely planning on visiting Mike as we really want to explore Gracias and the villages around. It’s about a 45 minute trip there, so not too bad and some really cool nature things to see like hot springs and the tallest mountain in Honduras.

This weekend we have no couch surfers…amazing! It’ll be nice to just be able to chill a little bit. This whole couch surfing idea is genius though. The best part is that we are forever connected with these people. Even if it is only in memory, they will have shared a little bit of themselves with us and vice versa. Even more cool is that I would feel completely comfortable contacting any of these people if I were ever in their neck of the woods. Abby and I may have to do our own world tour in a few years and visit all of our new friends. Who knows who else we might meet throughout this year...all I know is that they better sign the flag…it’s REALLY cool.