My First Couchsurfing Exerience While Traveling

In the Barlovento Region of Venezuela

CouchSurfing International, today, has millions of members in over 230 countries and territories around the world. I myself joined Couchsurfing back in March 2010 while planning my vacation to five Latin-American countries. Before I could join, however, Couchsurfing conducted an identity and residence check: a standard practice to help ensure everyones safety.

Rosa, my Lima, Peru couchsurfing host
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I found the Couchsurfing.com website to be so vast and overwhelming that, at first,  I was not sure how to go about finding places to stay in the countries I was going to visit. Slowly, I began to explore and learn to navigate my way around the site, but not in time to meet the needs of my 2010 vacation. I decided when I get back, that I was going to commit to learning and getting more involved with Couchsurfing.com. My first task was to make Couchsurfing friends and get references. Good references play a vital role in your ability to find people who are willing to host you, a total stranger, in their homes during your vacations, especially if those references are people you hosted in your home, or people who hosted you in their home.

My next move was to get involved with group discussions or message boards. I joined groups pertaining to my 2011 trip to Lima, Perú, and Caracas, Venezuela. This way, I can make myself known and make people feel more comfortable hosting me. It worked. Even if I didn't find a place; even if I was satisfied paying $400 per night at the Hilton Hotel, Couchsurfing.com is a great site to get inside information on any place from the people who actually live there. For example, I've been to Lima, Perú six times already, but I never been to Lima's Chinatown. I posted a message on the Lima board asking for Chinese restaurant recommedations, and the uninamous choice was Wah Lok.

Felix, my Caracas, Venezuela couchsurfing host

When I arrived in Lima, my couchsurfing host, Rosa, gave me my own bedroom, a kitchen, and a computer in her home in the ritzy part of town. Free. Couchsurfing International prohibits hosts from charging surfers, and I was told that offering money to hosts can be insulting. There are other ways to compensate hosts like helping to buy groceries and household goods, or even taking them out to dinner. Rosa herself was excited about going to the Wah Lok restaurant in Chinatown.

When I got to Caracas, Venezuela, Felix, who also has been observing my posts on the Caracas group granted me a bed in his cramped family home in the hood (or the barrio). He was good enough to not only pick me up at the airport, but show me the city as we came across a band playing live Venezuelan music. Many of you know how much I love salsa, but I was definitely feeling these genres of music; tambor, parranda, and gaita. Like in every country, Venezuelan music is diverse. 

Then there was María who saw my post on the Venezuelan national board about my desire to visit the Region of Barlovento, the hub of Afro-Venezuelan culture. She took it upon herself to accompany me on a two-hour bus ride from Caracas to the Region of Barlovento, where I spent the rest of my South American vacation.

Maria, my Caracas and Higuerote, Venezuela couchsurfing host

As a couchsurfing rookie, I was deeply touched by what I experienced from Rosa, Felix, and María. I felt inspired to follow their examples in carrying out the mission of Couchsurfing International, which is not all about getting your personal needs met during your vacations. When a savvy  couchsurfing host looks at your profile to screen you, a total stranger, as a potential couchsurfer in their home, they want to see that you too are doing your part to help fulfill Couchsurfing Internationsl's mission by building meaningful connections across cultures by either hosting or showing visitors around your town. If enough of us have these kinds of experiences, we begin to see a world where people feel a greater sense of connection with each other, in spite of differences.  CouchSurfing International's goal is for the people of the world to respond to diversity with curiosity, appreciation, and respect while creating a global community one couch at a time.

See my Couchsurfing profile by clicking here Bill Smith Jr