What Visitors Think of Seattle – Bolivia (F 30)

S(Female-30) was originally from Bolivia, but grew up in Las Vegas and now lived in Denver.  She had recently quit her job and was doing a west coast US road trip with her brother D. They’d been doing some hiking, rock climbing and camping, but wanted to hang out in the city of Seattle for a break. They were looking for a place to stay for a couple of nights and I could tell they were really easy going because they were okay with sleeping in a small place, sleeping in their sleeping bags and had no plans and open to doing whatever was suggested while in Seattle. The capper for me was when they said they’d arrive with beers in hand for sharing. How could we turn down that offer?

Sure enough when they arrived they brought two six packs to the door-Ninkasi Total Domination IPA and Elysian Space Dust IPA. First thing we did was crack open beers and get to know each other. She had mentioned she had never drank beer before arriving in Denver, so I was impressed with both the amount she drank and the fact that she liked IPAs. They were easier to talk to than our normal couchsurfers because they were both super outgoing. Before coming to Seattle they had been doing some camping and rock climbing first in Leavenworth and then in the Olympic National Park on the beach. They had also visited Forks, but weren’t aware it had anything to do with Twilight until they got there and saw all the references to the book/movie.

Before settling down in Denver, S had lived in Sucre, Bolivia and had hosted couchsurfers. Although she had hosted surfers, she had never couchsurfed herself so we were her first host. She also said most of her friends in Denver were met via the Couchsurfing Happy Hour events.

S & D’s Questions/Observations about the US: 

• She thought people in the US were more down-to-earth than in Bolivia and mentioned Denver, Los Angeles and Seattle as example, but said Las Vegas folks were a “bunch of phonies”.

S&D’s Questions/Observations about Seattle: 

• They had a hankering for burgers the first night in Seattle, so we went to Rain City Burger, which they loved.
• We went to Molly Maguires in Ballard for pub trivia and actually came in 3rd!  Unfortunately, there were only 4 teams. It was their first time doing pub trivia and they were really excited to play and amazed they actually knew a lot of the answers, which were basically useless pop culture info. They were surprised that there was such a thing as trivia and drinking.
• Like many visitors before her, she commented on how short the Space Needle was when seen in person.
• I took them to Gas Works Park during one evening and they mistakenly went there the next day because they didn’t realize it was the same park they’d already been to.
• The places they wanted to go to before coming to Seattle was Fremont Brewing, Capitol Hill and to see the troll in Fremont.  They visited them all.
• We recommended going to Paseo for a sandwich if they were going to Fremont. She texted me that it was the best sandwich that she or her brother ever had.

 My observations of S & D/Learnings from S & D: 

• LaPaz, Bolivia has what is considered to be the most dangerous road in the world due to extreme elevation, blind curves and landslides. She advised you can arrange bike tours to ride it.
• Salar de Uyuni, Lake Titicaca and LaPaz are must sees.
• She said if we were ever in Denver, Vegas or Bolivia, she had friends or relatives that could host us.
• They were some of the most conscientious surfers I ever had. They prepared and made dinner for us. I tell all guests they can take anything out of our fridge to eat, but they bought all food/drinks for themselves and for us to share. They always took their trash and recyclables out themselves. They never argued with each other like most siblings do. You could tell they were very close and kind to each other.
• I told her of my intention of going there some day and she wrote down places to see, towns to visit, restaurants to go to and general Boliva pointers.
• S actually contacted me from Bolivia a few months later asking if I was coming to visit to make sure we could meet up and get hosted. Unfortunately, my plans fell through and ended up not going to Bolivia.
• D gave me one of the best compliments I’ve ever had as a host-“I feel like I’m home”
• They woke up early to present me with a drawing they made of Bolivia as a parting gift.

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