A chronic wanderer
from Minnesota, I am currently based in San Pablo del Lago, Ecuador. I love to
discover new places, but not just passing through ` I prefer to really get to
know a place. I will work for food and stay, I trade my skills to
travel and I am eager to learn anything new wherever I wander.
School:
I grew up in Minnesota and went to college in Northfield at St Olaf where I spent four years studying Spanish and created my own major titled Children, Art and Society. Fantastic people on that hill, I tell you... Um Ya ya! 
Spain: I spent a semester in Seville, Spain and fell in love with the city, the dancing, the afternoon siestas and the late late nights. Having a word for that time in between midnight and full-on daylight is so essential to defining a culture. After finishing classes there I took some time off (wait, what? I wasn't really working OR studying, in true Spanish-style... so I guess it was just some MORE time off) and traveled around Europe for six weeks on my own. This was when I decided being a solo traveler is pretty much the most awesome way to discover new places. I was addicted.
Peru:
My first time in Peru I volunteered with Aldea Yanapay in Cusco as a regular volunteer for three months at the end of 2010. I taught kids ages 5-10 (depending on the week) different after school activities and classes according to the theme. The second time I went to Peru as the Coordinator of Volunteers and director of the school and stayed for six months up until January 2012. It was a fantastic experience and those little big-eyed angels taught me so much.
Ecuador:This culture-packed country about one fifth the size of Peru has very quickly stolen my heart. Living the Andes of Ecuador is very different from the Andes of Peru, but there are a few similarities. I lived at worked at the historically famous and utterly beautiful Hacienda Zuleta for two and a half months as a translator, horseback riding teacher and volunteer tour guide.
Now I am living at 4 Volcanoes Lodge in San Pablo working as an intern for Christina Ring, the founder of Horse Guided Empowerment. I am training a young horse and learning about the therapy program that works in collaboration with horses to help children and adults resolve life issues and gain new perspectives from the eyes of the horse. It is exactly what I want to do in my life (along with a myriad of other things...) and I am very grateful to have such a wonderful opportunity.Plans:
Really? Do I have those?? Maybe... I would like to continue to work with horses and kids, mostly likely children with autism. Having had this experience with Christina and her program, I know I can continue to learn more and hopefully find a career in this field. I am interested in the EAGALA method of equine assisted therapy, Pat Parelli Natural Horsemanship, Kathy Pike's life coaching models and the work of Linda Kohanov (author of Tao of Equus, an amazing book about the horse-human relationship and one of the original resources for understanding the spiritual connection we have with these creatures). The Horse Boy Foundation is another method I would love to study in order to really work with kids with autism but I'm not ready to go to Texas quite yet.
Goals:
That sounds a bit nicer. I have a bucket list, part of it is on Pinterest, and most of it involves traveling. I want to go sailing, travel with nomadic people, be a really good writer, have my own horses and of course eventually have a family of my own to drag around the world with me (or ideally they'll be willing to go along and no dragging will be involved). I'm a little bit hippie, some parts a gypsy, in a previous life must have been Latina... and just trying to be totally authentic and love life down the last drop.
;Thanks for stopping by!
Love love love
Maia
