CURRENT MISSION

My mission, and I've chosen to accept it, is to create the life of my dreams. Of course that might be boring enough to put others to sleep, but as long as I'm enjoying life, I'm on track. And I'm on track!

ABOUT ME

Born and bred in the beautiful Valley of Mexico I enjoyed it before it became a megalopolis. I've lived on the front range of Colorado and the California central coast and chose to settle in Sedona, northern Arizona, for the Colorado Plateau north of here is my favorite area of the United States. I met my South African wife on top of the big red rock behind our house, and both our daughters were born in that same house. We are no longer married but have taken our incredible daughters on some amazing trips, in Arizona, the western U.S., and above all in foreign countries, not just for the sheer joy of it but hopefully to inculcate them with the understanding that there are no "foreign" countries and we are in the dawn of a new era of planetary citizens. And my oldest daughter Savannah is a traveler now so please host her!

PHILOSOPHY

Like my old man used to say, keep a deep seat and a loose rein, and in the words of the immortal Aureliano Buendia, "!Apartanse vacas! que la vida es corta". I love the process of aging and just growing into greater awareness and trying to open my heart more and more and more.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Like to host people to learn about them, and because I appreciate so much when I was hosted.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Have hosted since November 2011 and used network some in traveling around the world in 2012-13. Took break after that and ready to host again.

Interests

I love my family and savor all my moments with them. I love my work as an architect, although at the moment I am probably working too much, both in my architecture work and building our family home myself, to have much time left for anything else. When things are more relaxed I hike a lot since I live in one of the most stunning natural areas in America. And I have a wide, wide range of interests from reading literature, history, poetry, anything to do with architecture, art, sculpture, pre-colombian cultures, world mythology and religions, and, to keep it grounded, movies and sports (well, just a little bit of the latter). I like seeing the humor in life and I love seeing my kids develop this ability.

• arts
• literature
• poetry
• architecture
• dancing
• movies
• reading
• traveling
• painting
• hiking
• sports
• history
• religion

Music, Movies, and Books

Movies: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon; Lonesome Dove; Love Actually; Forrest Gump; Amelie; Silver Linings Playbook; LaLa Land; Slumdog... forget it. This would take hours.
Music: varies with mood. Have playlists for movie soundtracks, Brasilian music, Sinatra, Michael Jackson, varied songs in spanish, romantic love songs in every genre, and on and on and...For couch surfing I'll throw out Stevie Wonder's "Niguecula", Al Jarreau's "Random Act of Love" , Sabrina Malheiro's "Tierra de ninguem" and a lot Earth, Wind & Fire.

Books: too many! Lots of non-fiction, but always do some classic literature. So, just to have something for this list: The Odyssey, Neruda's 100 Love Sonnets, and LOVED reading Harry Potter series and Lord of Rings to the kids. For non-fiction just about everything written by Joseph Campbell and don Miguel Ruiz.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Besides the obvious of watching your children be born? Once I stumbled upon a rare and huge waterfall in a hidden box canyon after heavy winter storms; savored being at the winter soltice celebration in Chichicastenango, Guatemala; visiting one of Luis Barragan's (mexican architect of global fame)greatest works as a young, impressionable child. I could go on and on with this list because just being alive is amazing to me.
Our family did a year journey around the planet in 2012-2013 that confirmed "amazing". It was great and also great feeling of accomplishment to get an 11 and 13 year old around the planet safe and sound... and they still love to travel! I hope they will be Couch Surfers someday on their own.

Teach, Learn, Share

Hmmmm. I used to do more slide shows for kids. I could do that on the region I live in; on various pre-columbian civilizations of the Americas; on architecture, especially Frank Lloyd Wright and the mexicans that followed path blazed by Luis Barragan; on the so-called "toltec" way of life as shared by don Miguel Ruiz. I'd love to learn my Tai Chi sword form again. I'd like to play more at painting and sculpture. I'd love to learn to speak nahuatl...

What I Can Share with Hosts

Besides washing dishes? I simply have enjoyed connecting with various Couch Surfers around the world and having good conversation, just connecting. I enjoy hosting and giving people the best advice I can for enjoying my hometown and my region.

Countries I’ve Visited

Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Cambodia, Canada, Chile, China, Denmark, Egypt, England, France, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Peru, Portugal, Scotland, South Africa, Spain, Swaziland, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, Viet Nam

Countries I’ve Lived In

Mexico, United States