Traveler Profile: Mago

View Photo Gallery (1)

Add to My Network

Send Private Message

This traveler's Friends Network is empty.

No posts yet. View other Travel Forum posts.

This user hasn't written any guides yet.

Screen name:

Mago

Age:

Gender:

Male

If you must know:

I'm single

Travel status:

Traveling soon

Hometown:

Wilton, Connecticut

Currently in:

New York

Traveling Next:

Deciding

Favorite places I've been:

Americas: USA (Yosemite, Big Sur, Colorado, Smugglers' Notch Vermont, Bryce Canyon Utah), Panama (Bocas del Toro), Brazil (Pantanal, Bonito, Salvador, Boipeba, Trancoso, Chapada dos Veadeiros, Jericoacara, Fernando de Noronha, Iguazu Falls) Argentina (Buenos Aires)
Europe: London, Madrid, Andalucia, Ibiza, Tuscany, Rome, Porto Cervo, Prague, the Swiss Alps
Asia: Thailand, Vietnam, India (Bombay, Dharmasala, Rajasthan)
Africa: Pyramids of Giza, Luxor, Marrakech

Places I want to go to:

just to name a few...
Africa: Overland from Cairo to Capetown, Mount Kilimanjaro, Serengeti for Great Migration, Victoria Falls, the Sahara, Timbuktu
Asia: Laos, Cambodia (Angor Wot), Nepal, Everest, Bangladesh, Trans-siberian railway, Tibet
Americas: Trekking in Patagonia, the Amazon, Bolivia, Machu Pichu, Colombia, Costa Rica, Canada's west, Alaska

About me:

Darren Gortz is a freelance writer who can’t seem to stay in one place. Originally from Wilton, Connecticut, roughly an hour from New York City, he has called LA, New York, London, Panama City (Panama, not Florida) and Sao Paulo, Brazil home over the last decade. In addition to spending nearly 10 years working as an investment banker, he found time to co-found Creative Conservation, a 501(c) 3 non-profit organization focused on development work in Latin America and to travel throughout Europe, Asia and the Americas to 30 different countries and counting.

Profile URL:

http://matadortravel.com/travel-community/mago

Read more about Mago

I'm fired up on:

seeing the world, making new friends and enjoying the journey of life. I love to go hiking, read and write, learn new things (just learned how to kitesurf this summer) and to make a difference (I hope to be remember by a few people as someone who made a significant difference in their lives).

Tunes I rock out to:

Thanks to the iPod I am able to adjust my music to match my mood. Genres I especially like are reggae, rock, classical, alternative and india rock. I love latin music and often like to listen to the local favorites while traveling. Brazilian music is a favorite. There is nothing like hearing the likes of Daniela Mercury or Ivett Sangalo while following a Trio Electrico down the street. On a recent trip to Madrid, I got to do just that.

Travel style:

I like to take it slow and really get to know a place. Too many travelers pass through places so fast that they never get to know what is beneath the surface.

Quote:

"A good traveler has no fixed plan, and is not intent on arriving"

- Lao-Tzu
The way of Life

Sports I do:

skiing, marathon running, hiking, mountain biking, kiteboarding, surfing, soccer

Favorite artist(s):

Picasso, Dali, Goya, El Greco, Monet, Van Gogh, Degas, Bob Marley, Paul Simon, Bob Dylan, Jerry Garcia, John Lennon, Bach, Chopin, Mozart

Favorite books:

On the Road, Into the Wild, The Alchemist, American Psycho,

Who I'd like to meet on my travels:

a woman to travel with for the rest of my life

I want to make a difference by:

using my gifts to make the world a better place

Languages spoken, other than English:

Portuguese

I felt the most immersed in a foreign culture when:

when I am on the road

Why I travel:

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did so. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."

- Mark Twain

Ideal place to watch the sunrise:

"The joy of life comes from encounters with new experiences and hence there is not greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun" - Alex McCandless

Ideal place to watch the sunset:

See Ideal place to watch the sunset

Before I die I'd like to:

see the world and know as many cultures as possible

Let's collaborate:

I am a freelance writer looking to collaborate with travel publications

My links:

http://cultureshockadventures.blogspot.com