Featured Travellers: Pámela Bóveda and Josue Gonzalez – BJJ Globetrotters
Pámela Bóveda and Josue Gonzalez BJJ
Age: 32 (Pámela) and 29 (Josue)
Belt: Black (Pámela) and Purple (Josue)
Profession: Aerospace Engineer and Language Teacher (Pámela), Chef (Josue)
How many years in BJJ: 14 (Pámela) and 8 (Josue)
Other martial arts: MMA (Pámela), only BJJ (Josue)
Where do you live: Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA
Where are you originally from: Paraguay (Pámela) and Argentina (Josue)
Other fun or curious information you would like to share: Pámela was the first female black belt from Paraguay and also the first female aerospace engineer from her country. Josue can juggle and he cooks the best vegan pancakes in the entire world.
We have a YouTube channel where we show the academies and other places we visit while traveling.
Pámela Bóveda and Josue Gonzalez – BJJ Globetrotters
Tell us what inspired you to travel and train?
Self improvement keeps us motivated. From every place we learn more and more, not only technically but mentally. Also, getting to know so many different and cool people around the world is what keeps us inspired. We hosted a lot of globetrotters at our place in Buenos Aires, and always had such cool experiences. We can’t wait to host again. We also have been hosted in Europe when we had the chance to travel.
Tell us about your most recent travel and your upcoming travel – where have you been and where are you going?
After living in Cordoba, Argentina for several years, then Asunción, Paraguay for a year, and finally in Buenos Aires, Argentina for 4 years, we decided that experiencing the US BJJ scene would be a great option. So we applied for a Sports Visa, came to Miami, and started training at Fight Sports Miami and Vagner Rocha’s martial arts academy. We competed a lot. We also had the chance to teach and travel to El Paso, Texas, where we trained with Kings MMA El Paso and Fight Sports El Paso. Then we came back to Florida and trained at Fight Sports and Aviv Jiu Jitsu.
Next we’re going to South America, to visit our family and compete around there. We miss the food so much, that we need to get back for a while. (kidding)
What are the things you enjoy about traveling?
We enjoy being in places we haven’t been, getting to know people, training and learning from the culture and the people. We also enjoy sharing what we know. Teaching Jiu Jitsu or languages is always cool.
Can you give us some examples of experiences you had that makes it worth traveling and training?
I remember one time Josue and I were going to Germany to compete, and this girl reached us out because she saw we were from South America, so she actually went to the train station to wait for us and show us around. Someone we had never met before. Our friend from Paraguay was also there waiting for us, and they ended up training together because he was living there.
Getting to know these kinds of people is priceless. After that we trained together, and now she is a friend.
Another thing that happened in Germany is that we made a mistake on the date while booking a hostel, so we had no place to sleep and no extra money either. So I just googled “jiu jitsu Munich” and found this academy, Munich MMA. I asked if we could spend the night there. The owner had never seen us in his life, and he said yes – he trusted us with his academy with no one there. The next day, I had the chance to teach a women’s class at his academy. It was amazing.
Pámela Bóveda and Josue Gonzalez – BJJ competitions
What has so far been the most surprising experience for you when traveling?
This happened back in 2013. My friend Raith and I went to compete in Gramado, Brazil, and we had no money to go back to Argentina. So we started to hitchhike, and this guy saw us with a Jiu Jitsu t-shirt from the tournament, so he stopped his car, took us to the bus station and bought us tickets back. We asked him for his info so we could send the money later, but he said no. He said one day we also need to help someone, and then left.
Are you a budget traveller – and if so how do you plan for a cheap trip?
As you guys have read, we are 100% budget travelers. Competing and traveling is not easy at all, but it is worth it! We plan a trip using public transportation as much as we can, buying the tickets in advance to get better prices, matsurfing or couch surfing or staying at a friend’s place. We also try to teach seminars or classes when we go to a new city. We have a lot of experience at refereeing, so we offer that kind of training also.
If you were to pass on travel advice to your fellow Globetrotters, what would it be?
The advice would be – go for it. There is nothing like seeing the world and enjoying what you love doing. It will be very hard sometimes, but it will be worth it, especially if it’s a long trip.
