Welcome to Layer Culture!
This is not my About Page but instead, a launchpad telling the story of how it all started and some key lessons I learned along the way.
After two of my best friends passed away, literally one after the other back in 2010. Life forced me to look at myself in a new light.
The Travel Lifesyle / Mindset
I knew life was short. But losing my friends made me realize how even going to sleep at night was a risk. The risk being that, I may never wake up.
👼🏿 R.I.P Kola Lucas / 👼🏻 R.I.P John Plant
Shortly after, and without hesitation, I quit my previous life plan. From that day on, I decided to live a life of travel/uncertainty.
One of the major things I did that led me to create Layer Culture was the idea of traveling to new and different cultures.
Why Travel to Latin Countries?
After the intense feeling of intense culture shock from my first trip to Brazil in South America, I began to connect with my truth.
I felt stuck in-between two worlds and there was no turning back.
I liked the idea of uncertainty and had the realization that the patterns of my day-to-day life were no longer exciting me.
I always liked the idea of learning Spanish when I was younger and had talked about learning a language as a teenager. It all made sense.
Now was the time to make a decision to learn Spanish as an adult. I just needed some inspiration to get started.
Travel made it possible to learn with speed, thanks to immersion.
Cultural Immersion Travel
I had immersed myself in the culture before deciding to learn Spanish so I soon realized there was more to learning a language than just talking.
This gave me a desire to learn more about myself.
Layer Culture then became a personal development project. In fact, it was the beginning of a spiritual quest and realization.
By creating this project, I’ve made monumental changes in my life.
I went from being shy, wrestling with life, and down to almost zero interest in other cultures – to being fluent in Spanish, and living in new countries.
To date, I’ve spoken with over 3000 people throughout Latin America.
Solo Travel in South America
Solo travel has become my area of expertise over the past few years.
If I can inspire you with my journey to become fluent in Spanish and show you how to travel – you’ll soon see how rewarding it can be.
Not everyone wants to learn Spanish while traveling. That is one reason I started to document other related topics that interest me on this blog.
Before that, I was writing in my travel journal which was basically conversations with myself (about myself).
I’ve recently dug out my travel journals and started to re-read them; which on many trips becomes part of my daily ritual when on the road.
If you’re just looking for safety advice, travel inspiration, and information about being in Latin America, this blog is you.
Looking back, I’m proud to say that I’ve innovated my life via solo travel.
I go into more detail about this in my guide that talks all about traveling alone in South America and the comfort zone challenge I ultimately did.
These trips of growth as I call them were for my own self-exploration. They all started with my decision to start learning Spanish.
Traveling Around South America
By starting my travels in South America, I cultivated ideas about working as a digital nomad and being self-sufficient along the way.
It seems impossible to go back to my old way of thinking now. Back to the days when I was a graduate looking for entry-level jobs.
I’ve used solo travel as a tool. For me, it is one style of traveling that has offers the most effective way to grow as a person.
Solo travel helped me to break away from enclosed civilized living and re-connect with the meaning of life.
Learning Spanish on the other hand, was an ambitious goal I created to facilitate my travel! My initial goal was to speak with two thousand natives.
Take into account that everybody I spoke to in the beginning told me it was too late for me to learn a language.
Location Independence
By living in over five new countries I started built a location independent lifestyle that allowed me to travel more.
It allowed me to live life in a way that’s unique to me.
In November 2015 I moved to Buenos Aires, see the video I made:
Eject Mode
By 2013 I quickly realized that I’d been doing life all wrong. This is the funny part. It still took me another 2 years to fully awaken.
However, this was only the beginning of my quest.
Many things happened in a short period of time. First, it was John, then Kola. I was studying for a degree, in a long-term relationship, and away from home. Something wasn’t right.
I remember been sat down at 24 years old in front of my ex-girlfriend’s parents’ television, knowing there was more to my life. In hindsight, I was oblivious to what I had to do to change.
I had to make changes nobody else wanted to see! That was a terrifying moment. Nobody else I knew of at that time wanted me to change to who I was becoming.
Travel alone for the first time
The idea of travel never occurred to me. But actually was something that I’d been doing all my life.
For some people the word solo implies negative connotations. Especially for those who can’t stand being alone.
Not to mention the issue of safety in South America for travelers.
If that is you, just know that those negative connotations can be alleviated. It all depends on how creative you’re prepared to be.
Cultural Travel
Along my Spanish journey, I’ve had to learn how to trust the locality. I had to open up to people I’d never met before.
backpacking South America and opening up to others about who I am helped me to leave some of my histories behind.
From experience, I can say that solo travel is a journey like no other. However, it can be a tough journey for extended periods of time.
Solo Travel allows you to be in new places living on your own accord – with no distractions if you choose and, not having to rely on others.
I ask every person I meet if they’ve ever traveled solo. I will continue to wish for everybody to try solo travel at least once in their lifetime.
A Call to Action
After reading the book called King, Warrior, Magician, Lover I ended up learning something which turned out to be quite significant for me.
The message was this: In order to reach manhood, every young boy must undertake some type of ritual process.
Apparently, we do this to transform our boy energies into man energies. The book stressed that, unlike tribal cultures, we as a society lack modern ritual processes for making men out of boys.
I believe that Solo travel as a self-exploration tool can lead to transformation, especially in your early 20s.
After my initial travels in South America, I started to create my own ecosystems thorough finding mentors.
These mentors showed me new ways to apply my thoughts. I did this to be able to improve quality of my life.
I quickly realized that having mentors gives me the power and confidence to contribute more to the human experience.
Why Travel Solo?
It can feel insular traveling alone for extended periods of time. Personally, I found it easy to meet new people along the way.
It can be difficult for newbies to gain authentic local experiences.
Especially if they don’t speak the local language. Learning how to learn Spanish is a great way to gain these authentic local experiences.
I feel that when you’re in a foreign place and you travel solo, you can immerse yourself in the culture much easier.
Being alone can and will give you the space and time to intermingle with locals in a more meaningful way while spending true quality time.
One thing learning Spanish whilst in South America taught me, though, is that I can’t do everything alone. This is part of the reason why I began to share my learning experiences online.
Over the years one of the most important aspects of solo travel and learning languages is building a support group.
Whether online or in person, I have both available at any one time. Having an inner circle makes a huge difference in my quality of travel.
A (Travel) Lifestyle Choice
Friends and family may consider you a bit of a maverick due to your wild lifestyle choice of indefinite travel.
However, backpacking helped me significantly. I like living minimally and believe living with less is a decision we have to make, eventually.
Do you imagine living peacefully in a world that keeps giving us more?
My friend Obinna and I were discussing material objects:
Here are some of my achievements since going location independent:
- Learning Latin American Spanish
- Living with less material items
- Making new friends for life
- Creating a physical business in Latin America
- Changing my diet
- Building an online Business
After all these trips to South America, one of the best things I’ve done for my personal development is to learn about myself.
I’ve noticed that studying and practicing new skills daily improves my memory and mental sharpness.
How Can You Benefit?
See Layer Culture as personal guide to travel in Latin America with solo travel being a type of travel that can open new doors in your life.
Over time you’ll see me moving closer to fluency in Spanish.
If you also desire to learn a language, this site shows you some of my personal tricks and techniques as to how I learned Spanish.
Below are links to Five popular articles on this blog:
- Backpacking South America
- Colombia Travel Guide
- Jamaica Safety Guide
- Places to Visit in Brazil
- Safe Places in South America
Most of these articles stem from my personal travels in Latin America and document places I’ve visited on more than one occasion.
Every time I travel I improve in some way. I observe how I travel and aim to improve in some way or another.
Sometimes I like to document the journey. I shoot videos and take photographs of the people, places, and objects that inspire me.
Thank you for reading…
Traveling to Latin America has taken me to new levels in my life.
The culture, learning Spanish, living with families, and all that I have experienced – now there is no turning back.
My wish is to continue learning more about Latino culture. I’ll do this for as long as I can add value to my life and to the lives of the people.
I meet, I greet and I continue to speak Spanish and share my native language with those people who want to learn.
Stay Sharp,
