Katinka & Bengt

Travel information

We are currently

Description

Hello there, we are Katinka (33) and Bengt (32) and we used to live in Nijmegen, a small town in the Netherlands. A few weeks ago, we decided to embark on an adventure:

We have quit our apartment and given up our jobs to travel for an indefinite period, with Mexico as our first destination. After enjoying the first few weeks in Mexico City, Oaxaca City and surrounding villages, and Mazunte, we are looking for a place where we can stay a little longer, contribute, and learn something in exchange for accommodation. This is our first time using work away and we are looking forward to it.

We share our love for adventure and seeking out precisely those places where other tourists are nowhere to be found, discovering the different flavors and stories of the dishes of the places we travel to (one of the reasons to pick Mexico as a first destination), for the sea and animals. We both like to get to know local cultures and traditions, such as festivities, food and other things that give a country or region character. We both are pretty active persons, loving hikes, surfing and other aquatic sports. Bengt loves to do calisthenics and boxing, whereas Katinka is a pretty proficient rock climber.

Interests

Sustainability

Events & social

Culture

DIY & crafts

Languages

Photography

History

Music

Art & design

Cooking & food

Animals

Dancing

Water sports

Outdoor activities

Nature

Mountain

Hiking

Camping

Beach

Adventure sports

Languages

Languages spoken
German: Fluent
English: Fluent
Dutch: Fluent
Spanish: Intermediate
French: Intermediate
Portuguese: Intermediate

More details about my language interests
Teaching a language is not our main reason to sign up for Workaway. However, should the occasion arise, we are definitely able and open to teach the languages that we are fluent in.

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Skills and knowledge we'd like to share or learn

We're interested in:  

Creative DIY projects

Light maintenance

Life at a Farmstay

Charity Work

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Some knowledge of:  

Animal Care

Hospitality/Tourism

House & pet sitting

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Able to teach about:  

Light gardening

Creating/ Cooking family meals

Eco Projects

Languages

Art Projects

More details about your skills

Katinka is a social and creative person, always curious about the world around her. Her background is quite diverse, and that's one of her biggest strengths. She has studied and worked across different fields, including anthropology, documentary filmmaking, arts education, sustainability and urban food forest design. These experiences have made her adaptable and comfortable in many different environments.

For the past three years she worked as a sustainability advisor while remaining co-owner of a company that designs and creates urban food forests in the Netherlands. Before starting this travel adventure, she decided to leave her advisory job to make room for new experiences and reconnect with a long-time passion: documentary photography and film, especially stories about food, agriculture, landscapes, and the people and traditions behind them. She hopes to continue telling those stories during her travels.

Along the way she has developed practical skills in project communication, organising events, visual storytelling, photography and filmmaking. She genuinely enjoys getting her hands dirty—whether that's planting gardens, helping in the kitchen, caring for animals (something she's loved since growing up in a small village), building something, or learning completely new skills.

She's a quick learner, reliable, creative and not afraid of hard work. She loves meeting people, exchanging knowledge and contributing wherever she's needed.

Bengt is a guy with a pretty big range of interests. Being born in Amsterdam, he got to know various cultures early in his life. After a somewhat unsuccesful academic journey in philosophy and American studies he decided to make a career of something he has been doing as part time jobs: cooking.

He attended culinary school and got schooled in french cuisine at several high end restaurants in the city of Nijmegen. His journey culminated at being the chef of a rather high level wine bar/restaurant.

Being in charge of a kitchen he is stress resistent, used to working hard and long hours, possessing didactic and communicational skills and being used to follow instructions with a pro active mindset. He is a quick learner and a real team player.

Age

33 & 32

What else ...

Good to mention: during our stay we'd love to spend time together and for example enjoy an occasional board game, movie night, hike or surf session, but to us it is also completely fine to to our own think. But we are also perfectly fine with mostly doing our own thing. In other words: fun activities are welcome, but we don't expect you to entertain us :-)

Some more information

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  Smoker

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  Driver's licence

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  Allergies

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  Special dietary requirements