Buenos Aires boasts one of couchsurfings biggest and most active groups, i was honored to join them all for a crazy camping weekend in Tigre, a small town two hours outside the city.
Situated around beautiful scenery
Hundreds of tents which pitched
Over 150 surfers from all around the world arrived to join in the fun
Games played
Cs Olympics
Music everywhere
Asado and home made pizzas
Sweet
What better place is there to celebrate your first ever Octoberfest with a huge group of couchsurfers, gallons of beer and the best barbacue i’ve ever witnessed..
Argentina of course!
We warmed up the first night in style
Drinking up an appetite for the monster Babry the following day.
Over 50kilos of meat consumed in 3 days..
Each surfer volunteering to work as a team
With over a hundred steak sandwiches prepared, not a crumb wasted.
Satisfied stomachs resting in the sun.
Asterix the Gaul cups ready for ale!
After dinner games
Lots of beer and Fernet!
Drunken illusions
Cs mob
One of the best weekends of my life
Argentina rocks..Its everything and more i dreamed of..
thanks to all the super surfers for making it such an incredible memory for me
I will never forget
Salute
To be honest I really wasn’t expecting that much from Paraguay, how wrong I was to presume it had little to offer. The first night i arrived to a welcome party of over 30 surfers, the biggest cs meeting so far in Asuncion.
Barrels of Beer..
And lots of Asado. hmmmm
Family gatherings also.
Local surfers helped me contact many respectable Media sources to help promote and grow the already super successful cs group in the Capital City and surrounding towns and villages.
Tv interview For ABC Newspaper with Miguel.
Interview For Fashion Magazine Teveo.
I enjoyed a wonderful 30th Birthday party and even received a few treats from back home.
My manager was so tired from organizing my busy schedule that she took a well earned catnap (sitting up) hehe I LOVE U RAQUEL
PARAGUAY ROCKS.
Its been over 3 months now since i left my new family and friends back in Guayaquil yet it seems somehow like i’m still there. Never do I forget our times together the good and the bad. The cs group i helped to build continues to shine and as a wonderful surprise my mami Karen decided to organize a British cs party on my behalf.
I really am gobsmacked. I’ll let the photos do the talking..
Fishes flying
My amazing family, wow i love you so much
Castaway, Wilson never looked so handsome.
Papi loves to kiss my balls, hehe
Lil sis, que linda…
orrrrrrrrrrrr
Angels
Flying the flag of unity
Family and friends
More fish that can fly
Superfishhhhhhhhh
Pilsener, home sweet home
Crazy Doc doing the doc dance
Now im crying….
Luis, thanks for visiting me in hospital bro..
Gods gift to me, my two little angels
The gang
Dedicated to you mami, i love you so much
Gracias todo
your son
brother
eternal soul mate
you just made my year!!
Saluteeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
Back in February i made a post in the ambassador group of cs suggesting we make an official International cs day, with the current growth rate of over 10000 new members a week, you never know it could actually end up becoming an official holiday hence another day off work for all you workaholics.
Ambassadors from all around the world posted ideas and thoughts as to the best way to celebrate the event in cities around the globe. And so June 12th has become the first official birthday celebrating five years of cs being live on the internet.
Countries, cities, strangers united all over the globe, to know i played a big role in the development of such a grand global event fills my heart with joy.
One surfer in Lima offered his house as the venue, with over 60 people attending there was barely any room to move.
This was our lame attempt to spell Lima
However we opted for an easier group shot.
Lima has proven to be much more than I imagined. Thanks to surfers all over the world for making this day truly one to remember. Cs just gets bigger and better everyday.
Having finally made it to Peru, i was hungry to meet the local surfers in the area and what better opportunity than to attend a cs meeting.
Manuel Aristondo, one of Lima’s many city ambassadors kindly invited everyone to attend an ancient family tradition from the Inca Empire known as Pachamanca.
First the pig needed to be killed (this was during the afternoon when i wasn’t present, although i love meat I’m no big fan of watching them die.)
Then chopped and marinated
A hole is then made in the ground lined with a fireproof material, rocks are preheated on a fire then assembled in the ground, the meat is placed above the rocks and covered with a traditional herb called ‘chincho’. The hole is then covered, buried in soil or sand and left to cook for 2-3 hours.
Banana leafs offer the perfect oven lining.
Finally the oven is uncovered and then proceeds the difficult task of removing the pork, chickens and potatoes from the steaming hole.
After a hearty meal we celebrated Manuel’s birthday in traditional fashion
Followed by the happy birthday song rapping style
and Ajam’s salsa masterclass
And the good old beer balance dance showcasing one of my many Jedi skills
Live music led the way
And as always friendships blossomed
What a welcome party to Peru, thanks to Manuel and family for providing me with yet more knowledge of this vast world.
On Saturday 24th May 2008 the cs community gave me a gift i shall forever cherish. Over 50 surfers attended an all day fiesta in a huge family beach house belonging to couchsurfers Jose Luis and Melissa Campos who kindly offered to open there doors to all the local surfers and travelers currently staying in Guayaquil.
A small road sign was created on the desolate road outside to lead the way.
Somehow people found the way and the house continued to fill up throughout the day.
The city ambassador was given the job of taking all the group photos!
Finally we got the shot we needed!
Whilst the ladies prepared a fresh salad with tuna, the guys competed with a game of football on the beach.
As the sun descended.
Plans where made to start a beach fire
Finally we got it started!!
Me and the guys supplied the live music!
Before passing out under a starry sky!
It was truely a night i shall never forget, thankyou to everyone involved with the organization and for being such wonderful friends during my stay in Guayaquil. I love you all!
On Tuesday 27th May 2008 i joined Guayaquil again for a final dinner to have the opportunity to say goodbye to some of the surfers that couldn’t make the beach party, yet another amazing turn out of people.
Followed by some beers of course!!!
And a few farewell Kisses! Nice.
Salute Guayaquil, i will never forget you!!!!
On Friday May 9th 2008 the cs group of Guayaquil made history with a record 45 members attending. Unfortunately at least 15 important active members where unable to attend on the night but plenty of new faces filled the spaces.
Luckily we managed to find a table for everyone at the last minute having been refused entry to our original meeting place due to the large amount of people.
Special guest Milli Vanilli joined us for his first cs experience. When asked what he thought about cs he replied ‘Girl you know it’s true’! Awesome.
The new city ambassador Mauricio Quito gave his first historical speech to his beloved surfers.
Followed by a few words from some guy apparently ‘Couchsurfing the world’
People all shapes and sizes arrived on the night.
Even the veterans made an appearance.
To celebrate the growth of cs the biggest newspaper in Ecuador El Universo also joined us that evening to take photos for an upcoming article in the paper about the success of the Guayaquil group. What a night!
On Saturday 12th April i joined a convoy of trucks and cars packed with couchsurfers, beer and bags of melting ice on a blinding hot day. In typical Ecuadorian fashion nobody arrived on time at the meeting point, however three hours later and a convoy somehow still intact, we finally arrived to our destination, a beautiful organic Banana Farm in the middle of an exotic lemon and lime countryside.
A lunch of juicy pork leg, fried bananas and fresh salad was prepared for our arrival. Buckets of ice where filled with the hundreds of beers we each supplied. New cs members joined us veterans for a taste of their first cs experience.
After a hearty lunch we soaked up the sun relaxing around the pool.
Cs Group of Guayaquil.
While the guys played water polo,
The girls provided the days live entertainment,
The host Paulo made sure everyone kept an ice cold beer to hand.
I asked one of our newist members what he thought of the party?
Chevere!
It seems everyone else thought the same.
My opinion ´F**kin Sweet´
The cs community of Guayaquil is now one of the strongest i´ve ever been part of. They are working together well organizing and discussing the future of the group. Plans to have a weekly cs meeting are undertalks. They are very excited to recieve travelers and other cs members from around the world and welcome them to the group and Guayaquil. They have all made my stay in Ecuador an unforgetable experience and i will be very sad to leave when that day finally arrives.
When i arrived to Guayaquil over four months ago there was less than ten active cs members. Today the community has over 250 members and counting. On Sat March 30th 2008 we celebrated our biggest meeting so far with over 35 new and old members.
The upcoming pool party promises to be even bigger, bring it on