***
## <center> Steemfest2 is on my mind and nothing will get in my way. My name is Eric and this is my restless nomad story. </center>
***

While traveling the Mexican Mayan Riviera I met @luzcypher and he introduced me to steemit by late April and since then, I became addicted. I have been posting almost daily since I joined and I have fallen in love with this amazing community. 

I´ve been traveling for the past eleven months in a journey where everything has happened to me. I have visited pretty much every corner of México and had the opportunity to visit the US, Cuba, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica - right now I am blogging about my adventures in Nicaragua but a few days ago I decided to come back to México city to regroup and put my mind together because Steemfest2 got in my way, and I am decided to attend.

Don´t let the long term  traveling fool you, I am not a rich steemian, I travel as low budget as it comes. I spent only 1,200 USD in almost four months while experiencing Central America as a local. I [hitchhike](https://steemit.com/travel/@anomadsoul/hitchhiking-tales-5-crossing-by-foot-to-the-most-dangerous-country-in-america) most of the time, I [camp everywhere](https://steemit.com/sunthursday/@anomadsoul/when-you-camp-on-a-caribbean-island-the-first-daily-gift-you-get-is-the-sunrise) I am able to, I[ stay with locals](https://steemit.com/travel/@anomadsoul/any-given-sunday-with-a-guatemalan-family) whenever I find a good samaritan willing to help me and I [save money](https://steemit.com/travel/@anomadsoul/low-budget-travel-tips-2) on every opportunity I get. 

Most of my posts are travel-related but they are not your usual travel posts with a picture of a monument behind me, staying in fancy hotels or hiring tour guides everywhere I go.

I blog about [hunting crocodiles](https://steemit.com/travel/@anomadsoul/crocodile-hunting-in-northern-honduras---exploring-a-secret-mangrove-1501221535-6064103) in Norhern Honduras, [searching for Boas](https://steemit.com/travel/@anomadsoul/hunting-the-only-pink-boa-in-the-whole-world-a-solo-hunt-finally) in an almost desserted island in Honduras, I have six posts about my [Hitchhiking adventures](https://steemit.com/travel/@anomadsoul/hunting-the-only-pink-boa-in-the-whole-world-a-solo-hunt-finally), bear in mind i did it in some of the most dangerous countries in the continent, I [explored a batcave](https://steemit.com/travel/@anomadsoul/exploring-a-bat-cave-in-the-guatemalan-jungle) in Guatemala with nothing but a candle and [I swam with sharks](https://steemit.com/travel/@anomadsoul/shark-watching-and-jungle-hiking-in-caye-caulker-belize-the-wild-part-of-the-caye) in Belize, among other adventures.

#### Long story short, I am addicted to adventures and I am addicted to post them on Steemit.

<center> https://imgur.com/hFzd092.jpg </center>

This addiction led me to an engagement with the community that made me forget about the other blue social media platforms and I made new acquaintances that helped, encouraged and guide me but most importantly, made me feel like I have a family here, these people became my first friends and I have nothing to add but a thank you @surfermarly, @dreemit, @bilbop, @tincho, @yoganarchista and @lizanomadsoul. If I don´t mention other people it is because I am closer to these pals, not because I don´t appreciate their friendship.

One month after joining Steemit, I published a post that went viral mainly due to the votes and resteems @acidyo, @ausbitbank, @canadian-coconut and @officalfuzzy gave to it, that exact moment I learned what whales are and the role they play in the community. Right there I knew I wanted to play a role like this.

I made $360 SBD with the post [Why is it important to follow and upvote small accounts](https://steemit.com/steemit/@anomadsoul/why-is-it-important-to-follow-and-upvote-small-accounts-the-key-to-a-healthy-community-growth) but lost around $80 USD due to a mistake made while converting to Steem. No big deal, I wasn´t even planning on getting $20 SBD for the post, I just wanted to spread the word and to make more people think like me. After all, if the small accounts become medium size, they will push the medium size to an upper level and so on, if we grow as a community we all grow together, there is no losing side if we support new users and small accounts. All of this happened on June the first this year, around 35 days after I joined steemit.

https://imgur.com/BKz9vlA.jpg

***
## I have to get more involved with the community, but how?
***

Remember those 1,200 USD I spent on Central America? Well, most of that budget was based on steemit earnings. I was traveling, earning money while blogging and having a blast both in Steemit and in the real world. 

I had to find a way to give it all back. I know a lot of steemians do not have all the support, luck and timing I had when I started - I made 80 SBD with my english introduction post and $60 with my spanish introduction one - but most people don´t have the same outcome as I did, almost anyone. I have to, no, I need to give it all back, but how am I going to do that if my vote is worth 5 cents?

Then, as if he heard my pledge, @acidyo started the @ocd project, a project dedicated to curate underrated content from amazing authors new to the platform. I nominated myself to become part of his team and made the cut.


Well, I didn´t make the cut as @anomadsoul. I made the cut as @mexico-trail, the alternate account I created about a month after hoining steemit with the sole purpose of welcoming new steemians from my motherland and encouraging to engage, post quality content and trying to reward them with this account. I got 1,000 SP delegated and started to curate my fellow mexicans. It was only 19 cents per vote but still, a lot of people showed @mexico-trail their gratitude and I was the happiest mexican with the outcome.

I got @neuerko on board with the @mexico-trail project and we have made so far 4 challenges with more than 100 SBD in prizes and more than 80 participants in total. We make reports about our votes to get a bit more SP every now and then but we focus mainly on challenges.

<center>http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k120/nomadsouleric/Hitchhiking/20187851_459983851044699_207805235_n_zpsztvckgos.jpg</center>
***
#### <center>But where do I get the money for thechallenge  prizes, you ask?</center>
***
Well, in @ocd we dedicate to nominate underrated posts, then we all vote for the winning nominations and then, as an incentive, the rewards from every OCD comp post are divided among the curators. We use every SBD earned - and sometimes more than that - to reward our Mexican challenges winners. So by helping underrated authors with @ocd I am financing @mexico-trail´s challenges and rewarding more authors.

A few weeks passed and I became pals with some other @ocd curators like @chiefmappster, @mk40, @howtostartablog, @guyfawkes4-20, @elteamgordo and @ma1neevent. I appreciate all of the curators but I happen I am more like-minded with these folks. I became friends with newbies back then - right now they are not newbies at all - such as @derekrichardson, @therovingreader and @nomadnessie and eveytime I see a comment from them I get a smile on my face.

Life was going great, I was traveling, steeming as a full time job, working towards the community that has given me all I have - yep, I sold all of my stuff before starting this journey - and my body and mind was always craving for adventure.

http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k120/nomadsouleric/Acatenango/IMG_2759_zpsbifhio2j.jpg
***
## <center> And then I heard about SteemFest2and all my travel agenda changed </center>
***

The initial plan was to travel through Central America, then South America and after that south east Asia but, the moment a lot of people told me everything about this yearly event my mind went 1,000 RPM and my brain  went blank for almost a week. I didn´t know what to do. All of my foundations of stone were falling, I was not determined to travel South America anymore.

I started to look for options, how to change my traveling agenda, how to pay for a ticket to Europe, how was I going to pay fot accomodation, where could I stay but, most importantly, how to fit attending SteemFest2 on my short term calendar.

https://steemitimages.com/0x0/http://i1253.photobucket.com/albums/hh586/aNomadSoul/IMG_1868_zpslvt4yj33.jpg

***
#### <center>To be honest Eric, you can´t pay for it. Your mexican economy and your steemit earnings are not enough, scratch that from your list - I said to myself, and I was right. </center>
***
But then I heard about the contests @cervantes and @stellabelle... two contests that were paying a full trip to SteemFest2 to the winner! I have to participate, I have to win! For a moment there I could see the light, a plausible opportunity to attend this event was showing in my horizon.

But - yes, another but - I wasn´t able to make the video for Stella´s contest due to my tight Central American agenda - If I didn´t keep posting about traveling I couldn´t keep traveling or even eating - and my participation in the @cervantes constest was compromised because...

@pgarcgo and @gargon offered me a position - which I happily and gratefully took - inside the @cervantes crew. I am one head of the two-headed @lince account alongside @walden, who has become a very good friend of mine. To put it simply,@lince is the @cheetah for the spanish speaking community. In Lince, a project that started not so long ago, we dedicate to encourage the community to post original content, currenlty we are posting the rules to follow to not commit plagiarism and abuse, we are starting to flag content - sadly, but it is a reality, the spanish speaking community has been growing so fast, mainly thanks to the work of @cervantes and its crew, that the user that post plagiarism has been growing at the same rate - because we strive to make the spanish speaking community the best version we can be.


http://i1253.photobucket.com/albums/hh586/aNomadSoul/Eric/Paises/Guatemala/Bat%20Cave/DSC08347_zpse70upbth.jpg
***
## Ok Eric, you only had two shots to go to SteemFest2 and now both are gone, but hey, you still have South America, perhaps you can change your plans...
***

I was about to give up but then a dear friend of mine told me about @blueorgy and his [SteemFest2 ticket giveaway](https://steemit.com/steemfest2-giveaway/@blueorgy/blueorgy-s-steemfest-2-ticket-giveaway-announcement). Ohhh yes!! The stars smile at me! 

If I win this ticket and I make a post about my obsession on attending, perhaps I can make a few SBD - or maybe more than a few - to help me pay for the plane ticket. My uncle works for a  mexican airline and I can get a cheaper ONE WAY ticket to Europe.

http://i1253.photobucket.com/albums/hh586/aNomadSoul/Eric/Paises/Guatemala/Semuc%20Champey/IMG_2584_zpsgodapcd9.jpg
***
## <center> Wait, did you just said **One way ticket** to Europe? </center>
***

If I am asking for your help by voting and maybe giving me a resteem to achieve my newest dream of attending SteemFest - and perhaps winning @blueorgy´s contest - I have to give something back, I have to keep delivering adventures like those on my previous posts (I still have to upload all the Nicaraguan adventures) so, in exchange for your vote I promise to:

* Buy the plain ticket to Spain, France or Germany - whichever is cheaper.
* Hitchhike all the way down to Lisbon and post everything that happens on my way to Portugal.
* Post live updates of my **Road to SteemFest2**the previous days before arriving to Lisbon.
* Post live videos of my experiences about SteemFest2 (every day) on the @mexico-trail account and my personal account.
* I will stay in a Hostel in Lisbon in order to save some green ones,as of now I am searching for hostel options and trying to make a deal with the hostel to get other low budget steemians to stay there for a cheaper price.
* After SteemFest2, I will Eurotrip for as long as I can manage to live out of my savings and my steemit earning. Of course I will post about all of my adventures there.
* The ticket back home, if this nomad ever decides to go back, will be on my account.
* Have a blast, meet new people, get to know my online friends attending and to always...
***
## Remember, Be Here Now
***

http://i1253.photobucket.com/albums/hh586/aNomadSoul/Eric/IMG_1928_zpsefl4tvpe.jpg

Disclaimer:
* All of the photos used here are my own, you can notice based on my haircut that they are taken on different stages of my trip but they are all taken while traveling, the one where I am wearing a yellow shirt was my very first picture uploaded to steemit.
* This is both a post to participate in @blueorgy´s STEEMFEST2 ticket giveaway and it is also my way of asking you to help me pay for my plane ticket to attend SteemFest2.
* I didn´t ask permission to mention any of the users here, they just happen to be part of my journey so far, if you would like me to erase your username from this post let me know.
* If I don´t get a Steemfest ticket, and if by any chance, money issues do not let me attend SteemFest2, I will use every reward, both SBD and SD (I am powering down so I have liquid SD) made by this post to help pay for another eager user´s entry  ticket.