Washington, DC, USA

Washington, DC, USA

I have been published in various student literature publications.

Romp about, meet cool people, make great friends, and never forget the small act's of kindness among all of the craziness.

Actually, I would say this random church made from recycled/used concrete in Mejorada del Pueblo, Spain. I heard it was random and cool, but was not expecting what I got. I arrived at this large, half built building that appeared completely abandoned, to find an older man (probably in his 90s) as well as his younger friend randomly making stained glass in this small, smoke filled back room. They invited me to stay and also make stained glass...I am not religious but hung around to hear the story of how this all got started. Apparently, 37 years ago the older man decided he wanted to build a church. He didn't have much money, so he just found random pieces of concrete and started...putting them together. Along the way he met some other random people who helped out and they all enjoyed building a church, and occasionally doing a decent amount of drugs. I stayed for a few hours, and just listened as the two men talked and talked about many random, and some slightly unrepeatable, things. It was a very weird, and awesome, conversation. The goal is now to build the entire church from used materials. It's...more than part way done, and very pretty on the inside. Anyways, I think it was probably one of the most completely random, I can't believe I'm here type situations. I have a book, a video, and 9 (literally) lighters with some logo (not the church logo, so it must be a sponsoring group) from the excursion. Although I have done much, much crazier things in my travels, I think this was just probably the weirdest experience I have ever had.

In Suchitoto, El Salvador, I went to this bar that is owned and frequented by former FMLN fighters. The entire place was covered in Che...I actually don't think I've ever seen so much Che in one place, and that says a lot. Other posters of resistance fighters splattered the walls as well. I sat down at the bar, with four very, very drunk women sitting at a table behind me. While they were screaming at each other and at the bar tender, I started talking to one of the random, obviously injured vet's who was sitting next to me. He is incredibly drunk as well, so I could barely understand him. He left, and a new man sat down next to me. This one had a degree in Peace and Conflict resolution, which provided us with an awesome conversation. At the same time, the irony of the situation is unmistakable...two peace and conflict resolution nerds, sitting in a bar covered with resistance fighter paraphernalia, surrounded by very, very drunk screaming FMLN fighters. It was interesting, though, because I saw both points of view on the conflict itself smooshed together into one che-tastic bar. While some Salvadorians there were just itching to overthrow everything, others were working to find a sustainable peace. They just viewed the situation super differently. Although this isn't cultural in the traditional sense of the word, I think it really does represent the clash of cultures, and of interests, that continue to push many Latin American countries to their limits.

Talk to locals! Too many travelers sit in hostels and don't make enough of an effort to meet local people. When you can communicate orally, do it! When not, small conversations can be had with non-verbal communication. You would be surprised the random, unusual, and life changing situations that you find yourself in when you put yourself out there.

I don't have just one! Thats quite limiting. I want to see the rest of South America, though, especially Bolivia. I have also wanted to go to Jakarta since I was around 15...I'm not really sure why, but I'll get there at some point.

I have traveled to Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Spain, Morocco, Zambia, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.

Back to Latin America! Then Southeast Asia, southern Africa, and the Middle East.