CURRENT MISSION

Learning to surf waves. At the moment, I'm really proud when I manage to stand on the board for more than 3 seconds.. I hope I can update that to 4 seconds soon...

ABOUT ME

My life is guided by a believe in good people. I expect to find them everywhere, and usually I'm not out of luck.
A good friend once told me that I create conversation with anyone.

PHILOSOPHY

The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago - the second best time is now.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I'm back in Porto now after doing project work in Denmark. I'm expecting to be around until July, 2015. I'm a fan of traveling and meeting travelers, which is why I joined Couchsurfing.

If you visit, I could provide a tour of Porto involving local galleries, street art, funky shops, tea shops, great restaurants (local food), Crystal Palace (sunset), the river and the beach. We could go slacklining or surfing (I'd be happy to teach you a bit of both).

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Recently, I traveled with a friend through Canada, US, Mexico, Zimbabwe and Mozambique largely by staying at friends' places; I wasn't aware of couchsurfing.com at the time, but I slept on a lot of couches and learned that it's a great way of traveling.

I worked on a development aid project in Zimbabwe in 1999; and I thought it would be great to go back to Zimbabwe after 14 years, so I found my friends there and knocked on their doors. Seeing their faces and sharing stories after so many years was unbelievable.
Meeting Mr. Chilimanzy again was the highlight. He lives with his family south of Lake Kariba in a very rural area (120 km east of Gokwe). He has nothing but a few huts, but he still invited me in and I stayed at his place for a few days. At that point, I realized what unique experiences couch surfers are getting and providing, and I thought I should host some travelers when I get the chance. Shortly after, I moved to Porto, and I made sure to have space for visiting travelers.

Interests

Roller skating, slacklining, rock climbing, live music, diving, snowboarding, hiking, fishing, partying, exploring new places and meeting new people.

• arts
• street art
• dining
• partying
• boating
• traveling
• music
• live music
• fishing
• hiking
• surfing
• scuba diving
• snowboarding
• rock climbing
• beaches

Music, Movies, and Books

Cool hand Luke is a great movie, and Hitchhikers Guide to Galaxy is a great book.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Imagine a grey whale in the Pacific Ocean. It's as big as a school bus - and it's right under you.

You can see it through the clear water. It's coming towards you, and it's not alone.
It's a huge female whale that just gave birth, so the baby is there as well.
You are sitting in a tiny boat, and you just splashed the water with your hands, so now the two whales are coming straight towards you from below the boat. You wonder if the mother whale is going to crash the boat, which would be easy for her, but as the two whales approach the boat, they slow down and eventually stop right where your hand is and allow you to gently touch them. They stay there for a while and seem to enjoy your company.

This is one of the best close-to-nature experiences I've had. It was in Baja California in Mexico a few years ago.

Teach, Learn, Share

Any chance you can teach me some basics in terms of using R?

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Canada, Cook Islands, Czech Republic, Faroe Islands, Fiji, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Malaysia, Mexico, Mozambique, Myanmar, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russian Federation, Samoa, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, United States, Zimbabwe

Countries I’ve Lived In

Canada, Denmark, Norway, Portugal, United Kingdom, United States, Zimbabwe