Traveler Profile: sam i am

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Sankofa Center
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Oasis of The...
Costa Rica | view profile

kuc ber chil...
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Screen name:

sam i am

Age:

Gender:

Female

Hometown:

Cleveland, Ohio

Currently in:

Cleveland, Ohio

Traveling Next:

Seattle, NYC, Costa Rica

Favorite places I've been:

Lago Arenal, Costa Rica (laughing). Ushuaia, Argentina (writing). Malawi (walking). Mokhotlong, Lesotho (playing). Kampala, Uganda (cooking). Negril, Jamaica (dancing). NYC, USA (exploring). Bariloche, Argentina (daring). Athens, Ohio (learning). Puerto Varas, Chile (feeling).

Places I want to go to:

India, Spain, Brazil, Iceland...

About me:

At this moment in time, I'm living back in Cleveland, serving omelettes and waffles to help work off my starting-a-business debt that came from opening a B&B in Costa Rica. Then, back to CR in the fall to watch toucans and play near volcanoes and dodge scorpions and get more laugh lines and learn how to make tamales... and to meet even more amazing people at our El Nidito home.
And, I will continue to write write write so the pura vida doesn't leave my veins.

Profile URL:

http://matadortravel.com/travel-community/sam-i-am

Read more about sam i am

I'm fired up on:

Finding the right balance between intense conversations and deep silence, kiteboarding, writing from within, yoga, bicycling, reading and learning as much as i can, cooking with friends and enjoying meals that last for hours, dancing all night long, women's rights, human rights, buena gente, feeling it

Tunes I rock out to:

Otis Redding, Bright Eyes, The Grateful Dead, Tracy Chapman, Natalie Merchant, Sufjan Stevens, Jill Scott, Van Morrison, Bob Dylan, Erykah Badu, Bob Marley, Alicia Keys, Bruce Springsteen, the Velvet Underground, Fiona Apple... and any local and homemade music

Travel style:

I like to travel without any plans, with a notebook and a change of clothes. My best adventures have happened after making a split-second decision and trusting my instincts.
Companions are always welcome (especially if they can cook!), although I thrive on going off on my own.

Quote:

"Everyone is either making love or else expecting rain" -Bob Dylan

"We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience." -Teilhard de Chardin

Sports I do:

yoga, kiteboarding, biking, belly laughing

Favorite artist(s):

Klimt, Rodin, Basquiat, Rumi

Favorite books:

Moby Dick, Love in the Time of Cholera, The Poisonwood Bible, anything by Sena Jeter Naslund (Ahab's Wife!)

Who I'd like to meet on my travels:

storytellers, little kids, ancient friends, elders, b-boys and girls, artists of any kind, aimless wanderers, goal-setters, people who play euchre, philosophers, boat-owners, hammock-dwellers, music-makers, anyone who can teach me something new

I want to make a difference by:

Showing compassion and fostering open-mindedness

Languages spoken, other than English:

Spanish

I felt the most immersed in a foreign culture when:

young Tanzanian boys taught us card games while stuck on a train somewhere between Mbeya and Dar Es Salaam, waiting for a derailed train ahead to be cleared from the tracks... while their parents sang in the background.

And in Parselas, Costa Rica, after a lunch of arroz y frijoles y pollo, watching telenovelas while a friend does my makeup with tica-bright blue eyeliner

Why I travel:

Expansion... to try to dismantle the idea of the "other"

Ideal place to watch the sunrise:

Over the Beagle Bay, while on a "borrowed" raft in Ushuaia.

Ideal place to watch the sunset:

Looking out over Happy Valley near Lago Arenal, Costa Rica, after a crazy day of kitesurfing, munching ceviche and guacamole with best friends.

Before I die I'd like to:

Love more.

Let's collaborate:

I'm a writer who is willing to travel anywhere, under almost any conditions, alone or with others. Ultimately, I wish to use my writing ability to voice human rights
issues in Africa (specifically, women's rights) and to help develop
solutions for current problems within the realms of (maternal?) health
care and disease control/prevention.

My links:

our B&B:
www.elniditoguesthouse.com

The Touching Tiny Lives Foundation, helping children in Lesotho:
http://www.touchingtinylives.org

http://argentinastravel.com

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by chrysser | 2008/03/06

Good luck...what a plan. I haven't made it to Costa Rica yet but I promise I'll stay at your place when I do!

by mikehedge | 2007/11/02

you seem very neat

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Help a mother, help a woman

By sam i am | Location: United States | 09/12/07 | Pics: 1

Imagine that you are an impoverished 12-year-old girl living in sub-Saharan Africa or Asia and recently were married off to an older man. Imagine giving birth alone, without any pain medication, with maybe only a woman from your village to help. Imagine that the labor lasts for days because...

2 comments | Send to Friend |

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Help a mother, help a woman