CURRENT MISSION

live passionately and productively

ABOUT ME

I try to leave the country whenever I have the chance and have lived and/or traveled in Spain, Chile, Brazil, Mexico, Morocco, Senegal, Mali, Israel, Australia, all through Europe and often get into crazy, occassionaly dangerous situations I have to find unique ways of getting out of all the while wondering how I got into them in the first place. I've slept in many airports, been mugged, attacked by the homeless, thieves, animals, and once almost fell off a waterfall and was chased by a bear in the same day. One of the nicest people I have ever met, who also defended me from being beaten at a train station in Nice at 4 in the morning claimed he was a prince but was sleeping in a public bathroom. I have been extorted to varying degrees lost in the third world, have trekked across the saharan desert, northeastern spain on a pilgrimage, the negev desert by jeep, gotten harassed by mexican military in the middle of the night, blew a tire in the oaxacan jungle, was rushed out of a palestinian refugee camp under mortar fire after being told by a jewish soldier that I would die if I went in there in the first place, was once chased with threats of serious bodily harm through a Jerusalem fish market for taking pictures I probably shouldn't have taken and I once almost suffocated from getting lead poisoning at the cannes film festival and barely made my way out of africa after trying to be forced to have sex with an african prostitute, and spent the next days showering in airplane bathrooms, and sleeping 10 plus hours in airports of dakar, milan, madrid and JFK.

i'm thriving on passionate normality at this point.

PHILOSOPHY

the only thing never worth letting go is your integrity.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

giving whenever possible and even when it seems impossible.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I haven't had any experiences with this site, but I have stayed at many places from people I have met on the road and have hosted people in my house whom I have met in my travels

Interests

travel to exotic places, volunteering around the world whenever I can, hiking, mountain biking, ice climbing, kayaking, sky diving, exotic puppets, art, painting, writing, long conversations about one thing, many conversations about one thing, many conversations about many things, all holed up in some non-descript bar drinking something I have never heard of after eating something I have never tasted, somewhere I have never been or could possibly never find on a map. great stories, traveling to the most remote places and finding the most incredible people when I get there. great paintings. great painters. great writing. great photographers. great writers knock me out. passion. love. food. making food. making food with friends and lovers (not at the same time) movies that make me want to change the world. and kids of all shapes and sizes.

• animals
• fish
• arts
• writing
• festivals
• dining
• drinking
• movies
• traveling
• painting
• cycling
• fishing
• hiking
• kayaking
• camping
• scuba diving
• rock climbing
• military science
• volunteering

Music, Movies, and Books

Music

all types of music from all over, but most especially Estopa, Jaguares, Cafe Tacuba, Zayra Alvarez, Bebel Gilberto, U2, Tom Jobim, Caetono Veloso, Thievery Corporation, Vinicius de Moraes, Chico Buarque, Elis Regina, Control Machete, Andrea Echeverri, Amalia Rodrigues, Ojos de Brujo, Depeche Mode, Billie Holliday, most all salsa/cumbia/latin and all sorts of african, indian, fused with electronica mixes like Mark Farina, Timo Mass, Tiesto, the afro cuban stuff, B-side players, Quetzal, Ozomatli, Side Stepper, N'golo, Manu Chau, Serrat, Nina Simon, Legiao Urbana, Donna Delorey, the blues of the Mooncrickets ......

Books
Sleeping with the Devil, Revenge of the Prophet, Secrets of the Kingdom, Madness Visible, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Dubliners, 1984, down by the river, Impossible Vacation, Swimming to Cambodia, The Man who Folded Himself, Love in the Time of Cholera, Crossing Over: A Mexican Family on the Migrant Trail, The Road Less Traveled, Me Talk Pretty One Day

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

interviewed a palestinian family for a doc I was directing in a refugee camp in Bethlehem, whose son had been killed by mortar fire

Teach, Learn, Share

People that care enough to confront these kinds of problems:
http://www.nextaid.org/NEXTAIDPSAMASTERTamir.html

Countries I’ve Visited

Andorra, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Colombia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Mali, Mexico, Morocco, Netherlands, Paraguay, Poland, Portugal, Senegal, Slovenia, Switzerland, United Kingdom

Countries I’ve Lived In

Brazil, Chile, Spain, United States

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