(This post is in two languages. English first, followed by Spanish. Esta pagina está escribiendo en dos lenguas, primera íngles, segundo castellano)
There are over 6.7 billion people in this world, in roughly 200 countries, in seven continents, in two hemispheres on one Earth and we all have, if not an actual piece of furniture, a space in our home and lives that is our couch.
If the human race is going to survive all of the political blunders, ignorance and obstinacy of this world, it will be through networks such as the Couch Surfing Project that create a way for individuals to connect. Suddenly, the foreigner overseas is a friend, the other is the same and by sleeping in someone else’s home a fundamental change occurs in the collected atoms that make up ourselves.
Locations of each couch are in latitude and longitude and the UTM code or the Universal Transverse Mercator (see end of post for explanation or click here. for Wikipedia definition). There are no cities, states, nor counties. Sounds a bit silly to say you’re from 13T, or 39F. It has no meaning, no identity, but also no politically preconceived notions.
Hay mas de 6.7 mil millones personas en este mundo, en 200 paises, en siete continentes, en dos hemispheros, en una Tierra y tenemos, si no un meuble real, un espacio en nuestras hogares y vidas que es nuestra sofá.
Si la raza humana sobrevive todas las torpezas políticas, la ignorancia y testarudez del mundo, será mediante redes como el Couch Surfing Project (Proyecto Couch Surfing), que hace posible conexiones entre gente a nivel personal. De repente, el extranjero en otro país es una amistad, el forastero es igual a uno, y al dormir en el hogar de otro ocurre un cambio fundamental en los átomos juntados que forman nuestros seres.
Cada lugar tiene latitude y longitude y el código UTM. No hay ciudades, estados, ni paises. Es un poco tonto ser de un numero como 13T. No hay identidad, pero no esteriotipos ninguno. (Hace clic acá. por una explinacion del UTM)
41˚ 56´ S, 71˚ 29´ W
19G
My couch is my home, a roof with walls and a door always open to new friends and human experiences with persons I don’t know, and who quickly become part of my life, and whom I will never forget.
My couch is a way of living, a philosophy, a connection to people, almost a lifestyle. It
began as curiosity and became something necessary and gratifying, something that brought me lovely experiences and satisfaction. I will keep forever the visitor’s book that everyone has signed, as something valuable and special.
-FL
Mi couch, es mi casa, un techo con paredes y una puerta siempre abierta a nuevas amistades y experiencias humanas con personas que no conozco y que muy rapido se vuelven parte de mi vida y a las que nunca olvidaré.
Mi couch es una forma de vida, una filosofía, una conexión con la gente casi un estilo de vida, empezó como una curiosidad y se convirtió en algo necesario y gratificante, que me llenó de hermosas experiencias y satisfaciones, el libro de visitas que todos firmaron es algo que conservaré siempre como un tesoro muy valioso y especial.
45˚51´ S, 67˚20´ W
19G
I think it’s useful for those who are so far from home. Often what for one is simple, for
others is almost a matter of life and death. It’s our duty to help in these cases, and nationality is irrelevant. People are always people.
-OS
Creo que es util para las personas que andan tan lejos de casa. Muchas veces lo que para uno es simple, para otros es de casi, vida o muerte. Es nuestro deber ayudar en estos casos y no importa la nacionalidad. Las personas son siempre personas.
41˚ 28´ S, 72˚ 56´ W
18G
This couch has a name: P A T A G O N I A… RAT PACK… HEADQUARTERS. WHERE the Patagonia spirit meets the Western world in a very narrow place. No beds, no tv, just you and me (or what you and me represent as in culture or civilization). If you can stay in a place like this you are tough, so you can be my friend.
I don’t share my nasty place with foreigners. I share it with crazy dudes like me. Crazy & smart guys who just use the system. I like that. I like, for instance, when a chick from San Francisco, tried to tell me she was an artist, a ballerina, but she refused to sleep on the floor. She was very narrow-minded, but it was a good experience also, maybe better than the “normal dudes”.
Situations like this girl are amazing to me. Not only the successful meets, where people have to take a shower in a nasty place and also to take a shit in it too. I love it. What happens in those little minds, are they prepared to this? Well 99% love it and amazing friendships begin. To me this is an act of art. I’m very serious about that. I’m taking the pulse of many countries in this way.
On my door there is a new sign that says:
“share with me
in my place
it will be as if I travel to your country
and know, very deeply,
your culture
without even taking
my backpack
you are sincerely
welcome here.”
-RP
Este sofá tiene un nombre…P A T A G O N I A…Manada de Ratas…Cuartel General. Donde el espiritu de Patagonia se encuentra con el mundo occidental en un lugar muy estrecho. No camas, no televisón, solo vos y yo (o lo que vos y yo representamos en cuanto a cultura y
civilización). Si podés quedarte en un lugar como este, sos duro/a, y podés ser mi amigo/a.
No comparto mi departamento asqueroso con extranjeros. Lo comparto con pibes locos como yo. Pibes locos y vivos que utilizan el sistema. Eso me gusta. Me gusta, por ejemplo, cuando una mina de San Francisco trató de decirme que es artista, una balerina, pero se negó a dormir en el suelo. Era muy intolerante, pero aún asi fue una buena experiencia, quizas mejor que los pibes “normales”.
Situaciones como esta mina son asombrosas para mi. No solo los encuentros exitosos, cuando la gente tiene que ducharse en un lugar asqueroso, y también cagar ahí. Me fascina. ¿Qué ocurre en esas mentes pequeñas? ¿Están preparados para hacer esto? Pues, a el 99% les
fascina y amistades increibles comienzan. Para mi esto es un acto artístico. Lo tomo muy serio. Asi le tomo el puslo a muchos países.
En mi puerta hay un cartel nuevo que dice:
“compartir conmigo
en mi piso,
sera como viajar a tu pais,
y conocer profundamente
tu cultura
sin siquiera tomar mi
mochila,
tu eres sinceramente
bienvenid(a)(o)”
51˚ 44´ S, 72˚ 31´ W
18F
What my couch is like: old, covered with a white, down comforter, a blend or recycling and work, with a bit of history, comfortable, sociable, a friend.
What my couch means to me: a bit of my life, a bit nomadic, but in the end traquil, stable, and warm, it signifies the rest we seek when coming home, it signifies the place where ideas and dreams are born, where discussions encounter the most different points of view, it signifies it will always be there to be shared.
Why I share it: I share simply because deep down a place that to me means rest, dreams,
tranquility, and friendship is a place to be shared, to be given to those who would receive it, to feel the energy of the couch, which at its core is the energy of my home, the energy of those who live there. The world is smaller when we realize that the continents and oceans physically separate us but not emotionally. I share it because doing so creates ties, ties of friendship the heart and mind can forget only with difficulty.
-DD
Como es mi couch: antiguo, lo cubre un blanco cobertor de plumas, una mezcla de reciclaje y trabajo, con un poco de historia, comodo, sociable, amigo.
Que significa para mi: un poco mi vida, un poco nomade, pero al final tranquilo, estable y
calido, significa el descanso que buscamos al llegar a casa, significa el lugar donde ideas y sueños nacen, donde algunas discuciones encuentran los mas diferentes puntos de vista, significa que siempre estara disponible para compartir.
Por que lo comparto: lo comparto sencillamente porque en el fondo, un lugar donde yo pienso que para mi significa descanso, sueños, tranquilidad y amistad es un lugar para compartirlo, para entregar eso a las personas que estan abiertas a recibir, a percibir la energia del couch, que en el fondo es la energia de mi casa, la energia de las personas que viven ahi, el mundo es mas pequeño cuando nos damos cuenta que los continentes, los oceanos nos separan ficicamente pero no emocionalmente, lo comparto porque se crean lazos, lazos de amostad que dificilmente el corazon y la mente olvidan.
40˚ 10´ S, 71˚ 21´ W
19G
My couch doesn’t have much meaning for me because it’s a couch I neither bought nor had given to me. It belongs to someone else and it’s here now, but if it weren’t here it wouldn’t change my life much.
Speaking of my house, well yes, sharing my house and offering it gives me life and the world without traveling and without leaving my home… I can learn a little about the world through the experiences of the world’s people who visit ‘my world.’
-RC
Para mi no es muy significativo my couch, mi sofa no lo es… porque no es un couch que yo no adquirí o compré ni me los reglarar. Es de alguien más y aquí está pero podría no estar que no cambiaraia much mi vida.
Hablando de mi casa eso si, compartir mi casa y ofrecerla, me suma vida y mundo sin viajar y sin salir de mi hogar, puedo conocer un poquito el mundo a traves de las vivenciaas de la gente del mundo que visita ‘mi mundo.’
54˚ 48´ S, 68˚ 18´ W
19F
My couch is not a couch but a bed, it’s beneath the stairs and whoever sleeps there has their own little corner with a table and a lamp. When no one is using it, on arriving home I leave my jacket and my backpack, or I sit on it while removing my shoes.
When I moved to this apartment after breaking up with my boyfriend there was no other bed but mine. But I always thought of having a sofa or a bed for whomever might want to visit me and stay overnight, or for whomever I might share the apartment with.
Later, when I heard about couchsurfing I imagined the feelings a person would have, coming from very distant place, who surely knows no one, and having a chance to sleep comfortably in a warm place, in a house with locals. I was happy to be able to contribute to this project because I, as a traveler, would feel safe and get rest, and moreover would have the valuable possibility of sharing in any language something as simple as a meal or chat.
I think my couch is there to be offered and shared with all who have the same free spirit and are open to learning about other cultures.
-YB
Mi couch no es un couch sino una cama, esta debajo de la escalera y la persona que duerme ahi tiene su propio rincon con una mesa y una lampara. Cuando nadie lo usa, llego y dejo sobre el mi campera y mi mochila, o me siento en el para sacarme los zapatos.
Cuando me mude a ese departamento, despues de la separacion con mi novio, no habia otra cama mas que la mia. Pero siempre pense en tener un sofa o una cama extra para las personas que quisieran venir a visitarme y quedarse a dormir o compartir conmigo el departamento.
Luego, cuando me entere de couchsurfing imagine la sensacion de una persona que viene desde lugares muy lejanos, que seguramente no conoce a nadie, tener la posibilidad de dormir comodo, en lugar calido y en una casa con gente del lugar. Me dio alegria poder contribuir a este proyecto porque a mi, como viajera, me daria seguridad y descanso y ademas tendria la valiosa posibilidad de compartir, en el idioma que sea, algo tan sencillo como una comida o una charla.
Creo que mi couch esta ahi para ser ofrecido y compartido con todas aquellas personas posean el mismo espiritu libre y esten abiertas a conocer otras culturas.
40˚ 47´ S, 71˚ 39´ W
19G
My couch is made of cloth, a three-piece, blue with small, yellow drawings and, I think, very comfortable.
It’s important to me because it’s the place where we share family moments, readings, and
movies on television.
It share it with tourists y unknown persons for various reasons. Here are some: I like very much where I live, for me it’s a sort of paradise and I like to help others learn about it. When I have time I go out with them, and if I can’t I at least feel I can give them a place and some information, another reason is I enjoy meeting people, to learn about other cultures, that helps expand our horizons, and if friendship comes from these connections then so much the better, I love the idea of having many friends throughout the world, it’s true that distances vanish.
-DG
Mi couch es de tela, de tres cuerpos, celeste con dibujitos en amarillo, en mi opinion muy
comodo.
Para mi es muy importante por que es el lugar donde compartimos momentos en familia,
lecturas y algunas peliculas en la tele.
Lo comparto con turistas y gente que no conozco por varias razones, aqui van algunas, me gusta mucho el lugar donde vivo, para mi es una especie de paraiso y me gusta ayudar a la gente a conocerlo, cuando tengo tiempo los acompaño y sino por lo menos siento que puedo brindarles un lugar e informacion, otra de las razones es que me gusta mucho conocer gente,
para aprender de otras culturas, eso nos ayuda a expandir nuestros horizontes y si de esas
relaciones surge la amistad mucho mejor, me encanta la idea de tener muchos amigos por todo el mundo, es una realidad que se acortan las distancias.
Universal Transverse Mercator
UTM
“The Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) coordinate system is a grid-based method of specifying locations on the surface of the Earth. It is used to identify locations on the earth, but differs from the traditional method of latitude and longitude in several respects.
The UTM system is not a single map projection. The system instead employs a series of sixty zones, each of which is based on a specifically defined secant Transverse Mercator projection.” – Wikipedia
What this mean is: the Earth is then flattened into a grid with 60 longitude zones (number) and 20 latitude zones (letters) therefore a spot such as Buenos Aires, Argentina would be represented by the coordinates 21H and Boulder, Colorado as 13T. In addition, each square on the UTM grid can be further broken down and the Pythagorean theorem is then used to pin point exact locations and determine distances. Cool, eh?
It begins with a crack in the formidable Patagonian glacier. A fissure appears as the ice shifts, slides, moves onward. Exposed beneath the white surface is the cool blue of ice, compressed over the years. Newly exposed, beaten by the sun, it begins to melt, the fissure widens, deepens. It happens quickly, without warning, no map, no way to know where to see such beauty. We walk the ice, trek the seracs looking for the birth of blue.
but, will we miss it?
I have no head for numbers. I see blue fields of ice, not the rate of retraction. I see awesome peaks of accumulated snow, not the decrease in precipitation. But after touching it and trekking it, I know I’ll miss it. But if you want the maps and percentages and the stuff that should give us all nightmares, download the Greenpeace Argentina report, Futuro Negro para los Glaciares (obviously written in Spanish). 
I have more images from my recent trip south. Some are not the Patagonia you would like to see.
I love this area of the world. I don’t know what it is about Patagonia exactly, but it has a part of my soul. It might be the allure of such a wild place located somewhere at the bottom of the earth, or memories from childhood stories of adventurers trekking the mountains and ice. The weather is unstable, beautiful sun one moment followed by clouds driven in by the whipping winds bringing a storm of sideways rain. The earth smells of cool dampness and the trees, stunted, broken and growing at angles speak to the ferocity of the weather.
