Well hello there.

My name is David and, like I imagine all of you, I like to travel. I tend to like to travel rather slowly, often spending months at a time just in one city to really get to have a feel for the place, the people, the food (so much food!), and what a culture can offer.

I come from military parents and while having very little interest in the propaganda machine myself, it did introduce me from an early age on to the ideas of different people, places, cultures, foods... all the things we're after when we travel.

So, I've moved around most of my life. I've lived in everywhere from Midwest America to the Azores, from Texas to Quebec. I spent the past 6 years working for an environmental nonprofit in NYC. It was good times, good work, but alas... I wanted more.

That wanting led me to quit my job. On the 1st of May, 2018, I quit 6 years of steady, gainful employment (eeek!) and an all-around good life with good friends, with little more in mind than (finally and seriously) try to learn Spanish and immerse myself in the cultures of the Spanish speaking countries that have captivated my interests for so long.

Alas, here I am. I spent the month of July in Guatemala and for 3 months lived in Mexico City. My Spanish is a little better, but I have a long way to go. Please help!

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I love all the ways of traveling. Hostels, Airbnb, sure, splurge on a fancy hotel... but CS brings out a specialness that just doesn't seem to exist in too many other places. I used to host somewhat regularly (before moving to NYC womp womp no hosting space there) and I met some truly incredible people. Actually, two of them, nearly 10 years later, I'm still regularly stay in touch with.

Hosting introduced me to cool, wonderful, brave people who said yes more than not and craved adventure. Although it took me a while to do the same, well, hello Coushsurfing world.

Interests

• arts
• reading
• cycling
• languages
• salsa
• queer culture
• musuems
• dark electro
• mexican film

Music, Movies, and Books

It's hard to place any of these interests after years of constantly discovery. Right now, I really enjoy listening to New Music (Philip Glass, Laurie Anderson), acoustic jazz mostly from the 60s and 70s, and non-lyrical EDM. Oh, and ratchet rap, reggaeton, really anything Dominican or 90s Puerto Rican...

Movies: mostly Mexican cine as of late.

Books: I used to be rather voracious at reading, averaging around 45 books a year. But with the travels and language learning, it's slowed a lot. But hey, I've read a lot of kids books in Spanish this year, entonces...

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Stayed a month with a tribe of people deep in the Peruvian Amazon off the Ucayali River where we shared zero common language and I had no access or contact outside of that 90 person tribe.

What I Can Share with Hosts

My company. I'm not one of those crash and run guests. I use couchsurfing to get a perspective that I can't get at hostels or elsewhere.

Countries I’ve Lived In

Canada, England, Germany, Mexico, Portugal, United States