COUCHSURFING IS CHANGING FOR WORSE

Couchsurfing in Rabat, Morocco, with Oualid, a chilled guy with a warm heart. 

Remember when I posted beautiful things about this travelers community called Couchsurfing? (read full post here) Well, my opinion about this website changed dramatically and I'm really sad about it. CS made me a better person, I met wonderful people I call good friends around the World, I saved much bucks that kept me longer on the road while learning about a culture and connecting with locals.

During the year 2014 I had awful experiences with Couchsurfing. Three years using it full on, for the first time I wrote negative and neutral references, I had bad experiences and felt like shit sometimes. 

CARTAGENA AND THE COLONIAL BUILDINGS

Did you ever arrive a new place that you couldn't stop taking pictures? The last time I felt this way was 6 years ago when I've been in New york City for the first time (I lived in Maine and was only a 7 hours drive to NYC so been there several times). I just couldn't stop myself, those high buildings with historical architecture, the movement in the streets, I was completly fascinated!

Cartagena was the same. Although is a less busy city, the colonial style houses got me quickly, the pastel and vivid colors mixed with whites and wood, I was in photography heaven.

TRAVELING WITHOUT DESTINATION

Did you ever book only one way flight ticket? Did you ever travel without plans of where to go, what to visit, what to do?

I think that when you travel with your job, kids, bills waiting for you it's hard not to organize: you know you have one week vacation in that beautiful country and will make the most of it.

Now imagine someone who answer "Yes" to both questions above. That's me. I like to go with the flow and ask locals what to do. I like to wake up pack my stuff and leave to a sunny place when it's been raining for 2 days straight. That's what I call freedom and that's the main reason I adopted traveling as my lifestyle.

2014 IN REVIEW AND 2015 MINI GOALS LIST

Hello 2015! The most recent photo of me. Quito, Ecuador

Iam one of those people out there who make goals for the next year when the old year is coming to an end. I reflect about my year, what I could do better, what I visited, how can I improve as an human being, how can I help Mother Earth,all the things I've done, all the new knowledge I got, the goals I crossed and all the wonderful people I met. I'm always grateful for my years but I have to admit that there are some years that are tough and extra challenging.

SCRAPBOOKING TRAVEL PHOTO ALBUM

One thing I regonized everytime I come back from a trip is that I have tons of wonderful pictures, all digital and none in paper. For this South America trip I wanted to make a change and print my favorite pictures on the road. What I wasn't expecting at all was to find wonderful stationary to play with in Walmart (Yes, I spent 20 dollars in Walmart, that awful place that pays low salaries, give no work conditions to employees, the products come mostly from China so a lot of children work going on and last, but not least, it's a not fair competion with local stores, since they sell more expensive but better quality), I immediatly fell in love with all these papers and started dreaming about my future Travel Photo Album.

First I want to show you all the goodies I got:

2014 GOALS LIST RECAP

Hello guys and Happy New Year!

I finally got a chance to come here to say Hi :) My computer still needs to be fixed and I'm driving insane that I can't type whenever I feel inspired. As soon as I get in Quito (Ecuador) I will fix my computer, it's a priority. In the other hand, it was great to be far away from electronics and internet during holidays season to fully enjoy it in a colombian way ;) I hope you had a great time with your family and/or friends or traveling. Let me know how you celebrated Xmas and New Year's Eve, I'm super curious!

I know, the first week of the year is coming to an end and here Iam talking about my goals for 2014. Great start hein? I have my 2015 Goals List on my mind, is a wayyyy smaller list... I will leave this for another post. Hopefully this month! Ha!