Hi, all. Just returning to CS after a ~10yr hiatus. Back in the day I co-hosted one of the busiest CS houses in the greater Houston area. I'm not looking to have anywhere near that volume of guests again, but I do miss hosting people something fierce.

As for me, I'm mostly the same person, at the core, just a decade more of life behind me. I'm calm and quiet, I'm a great storyteller, and a great listener. I have some old djembe drums that I'd love to dust off and jam with anyone packing an instrument. I love communal cooking and learning new dishes, I love teaching or learning new skills, playing board games and video games, or just quiet nights in with a movie or show.

If your primary goal while surfing in Austin is to go out every day and night and see and do all the awesome things there are to see and do, then perhaps I'm not the best host for you. My house is somewhat farther out from the city center, and if you'd want me to go out with you, then I'm able to at best once or twice a week.

If you're more of a self guided person that loves spending time swapping stories, cooking together, hanging out around a fire pit, and just relaxing? I'm your guy. Plus my two pups are adorable.

Last, I also share my house with a roommate. He's early 20s, never been a Surfer, tech guy with a love of anime, dinosaurs, and Transformers. Good kid, all around, with a good dog. He's excited for the chance to learn about CS and what it has to offer, and I think it'll be really good for him.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

Back between 2010-2015 or so, I was extremely active and involved in CS. I've surfed in 9 countries, I've hosted people from all over the world. Couchsurfing has had such a profound impact on my life, and I miss it dearly. The summer of 2014, I was co-host to something like 50+ surfers over a 4 month period; it was like living in a hostel. One of the best years of my life.

I'm not looking for that level of craziness again, and my current house is way smaller in scope anyway, but I do miss hosting. Meeting new people, hearing new stories, learning of new perspectives. Cultural and language exchanges, endless education...the beauty of it all. I love CS.

Interests

"I play djembe and love to just sit around and jam out with other musicians. I practice Parkour. I love to explore (read: "break into") abandoned buildings or scale shopping centers, or basically go anywhere I'm not supposed to go. I play Capoeira and practice a few other martial arts, though I'm not adept at any one form, really. I love anything that's a physical challenge. I climb stuff, a lot. I enjoy random adventures and spur of the moment road trips. Food. Good food. I love art and watching people create art, be it dance, drawn, voice, sculpture, whatever. I simply love creative people and watching them create. I love animals of all sorts and can spend quite a bit of time at the park with a dog or just sitting next to a cat on the porch, pondering life and all it's mysteries together. Hiking, camping, the wilderness. Scuba, too. If you haven't gathered yet, I do and enjoy just about anything..."

That paragraph above was me 12yrs ago. I'm leaving it because I liked my passion and pacing. While it's all still true, most of the more physical elements have fallen to the wayside. I can't practice Parkour anymore and haven't been in a martial arts class in ages now. I definitely haven't climbed any buildings in the a long while now. I've a few physical limitations now that prevent me from most of the more wild stuff. The food, the art, the pondering of life stuff is all still very true.

• animals
• cats
• dogs
• arts
• dancing
• capoeira
• dining
• cooking
• boating
• traveling
• juggling
• hiking
• backpacking
• camping
• scuba diving
• martial arts
• gaming
• dungeons and dragons
• cooking together

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

"I hiked a mountain, by myself, outside of Quito, Ecuador. It was the highest I've ever been, and I could barely breathe. But I made it to the top, after hours of climbing and stopping to rest. I was inside the birthplace of clouds, watching them form and dissipate all around me, hearing the cry of eagles and looking out over this entire valley so, so far below me. It was deeply spiritual and beautiful and probably the most amazing personal moment I've had.

My trip to and through South America was simply incredible, in general. It was the first time I'd ever gone backpacking, and I hitchhiked from Puerto Rico on a boat through the Caribbean, island hopping, couchsurfing, meeting strangers and traveling with them, sorting it as I went, working on farms, getting lost, and pretty much having the time of my life as all backpacking trips are, I'm sure. It was an incredible challenge and something I wasn't sure I could accomplish when I started, and I learned so much and pushed myself so far on that trip. It was an incredible growing experience."

Also written over a decade ago by a younger me, but still true as well.

Teach, Learn, Share

My focus nowadays is metal sculpture. Fire, steel, welding. I love it, and I've just got my garage here set up to seriously get to work again. It's dangerous work, though, and the output is heavy, so it's not the most approachable thing for a traveler to learn. I will happily teach it anyway, if you're ok with the risks.

Other than that, djembe and juggling are fun things to teach. I can teach some very basic acroyoga and martial art skills, though the more complex stuff is now lost to me.

I'll also teach any games of interest, or even run some short D&D games for guests that would like to play.

Countries I’ve Visited

Colombia, Ecuador, Grenada, Martinique, Peru, Puerto Rico, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, United States, Venezuela

Countries I’ve Lived In

United States

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