CURRENT MISSION

self-seeking

ABOUT ME

I was born in Puerto Rico in the mid 1970's and had a wonderful childhood with my parents, two sisters, cousins and grandparents. Went for college to Iowa State University (talk about culture shock!) in 1993 but had my first passport in 1996 for an amazing environmental studies course trip to Costa Rica. My love for traveling started then.

On my last semester, after traveling most of the US midwest, I embarked on Semester at Sea. What an experience! While taking courses from a selected group of professors from all over the world, we visited 11 ports: Vancouver, Canada; Kobe, Japan; Shanghai, China; HoChiMinn City, Vietnam; Hong Kong, China; Madras, India; Port Said, Egypt; X, Cyprus; Pireas, Greece; Cadiz, Spain; and, Fort Lauderdale, USA where we disembarked. Needless to say the trip was amazing.

About four months after that (after living in Decatur, Georgia in the USA for a month) I started as a volunteer in Bolivia with the Peace Corps program. While there I traveled all of Bolivia (except for the Uyuni Salt Flats). When I finished three years later, I started traveling again stopping at Asunción and Ciudad del Este, Paraguay; Curitiba, Brazil; Montevideo and Colonia, Uruguay; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Harare and Mutare, Zimabwe; Chimoio and Beira, Mozambique. On the last one I got bitten by a mosquito and got malaria, so my trip was cut short and had to come back to Puerto Rico to get pampered by mom.

The malaria incident did not stopped me from other travels. I went to visit a good friend in Jamaica in 2002 and have traveled to the USA a few times, mostly the east coast (Texas, Florida, D.C., Pennsylvania , New York, New Hampshire, and Maine). Then my life changed when I decided I wanted to spend more time with Karla, who thankfully decided to spend some more time with me.

Since 2006, when Karla and I got together more seriously, we have traveled together to many countries: USA, Bolivia, Guatemala, Dominican Republic, France, Hungary, Austria, Czech Republic, and the US Virgin Islands (which are not technically a country). Other more recent countries are Bahamas, Barbados, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, and Canada.

PHILOSOPHY

I live the change I want to see in the world.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

It is just one of the best ideas that anyone could have ever come up with. So I support it.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

September 2012. My fourth CS experience was opening my own profile.

July 2012. My third CS experience was in St. Croix, US Virgin Islands, with Celena Votel who helped us relax as you can only relax on a tropical island. I was traveling with Karla Duran, my partner, through her CS account.

June 2011. My second CS experience was in Río Piedras, Puerto Rico when we celebrated CouchSurfing day at our store, La Chiwinha (the first Fair Trade store on the island). CS travelers and CS hosts gathered and shared their travels with everyone. A good time.

June 2009 My first CS experience was in Prague with Zdenek Mihalco who opened up a new world for us in travel experiences. I was traveling with my partner Karla Durán and we contacted him through her CS account. On that trip we also met with X? who invited us to his house and cooked a wonderful dinner for us.

Interests

Environmental living
Ecological design
Solidarity SocioEconomy
Sustainable tourism
Masculinity and sexuality
Theism and spirituality
Art as an experience
Slow Food
Enjoyable conversations

• arts
• culture
• design
• dining
• cooking
• gardening
• traveling
• teaching
• environmental studies
• tourism
• volunteering
• ecotourism
• green business

Music, Movies, and Books

I am not as geek as some of my friends, but I am geek enough with pride.

MOVIES. The best movie I remember watching is Shawshank Redemption and I rate movies against this standard:
- movies not worth watching (most American comedy)
- movies worth watching on airplanes
- movies worth watching on Netflix
- movies lent by a friend on DVD
- movies worth watching on a movie theater (mostly with special effects or Academy nominations)
- movies by Quentin Tarantino or Peter Jackson.

(I have a special place in my heart for the Star Wars saga but NOTHING can be equalled to or higher than Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings. Nothing)

MUSIC. I like music and tolerate most genre. I am definitely an 80's boy but have opened my heart to 90's slower alternative rock like R.E.M and Natalie Merchant. I also get recurrent moods of "sunday jazz", "saturday night lounge", Latin Rock and caribbean Cantautores folk.

When I travel I always buy music from the place I visit. So I have quite the collection right now.

BOOKS. I enjoy reading too much and have read many things from many different styles. I prefer fiction and, as geek, science fiction and fantasy. I also have an interesting comic book collection. My favorite authors right now are Neil Gaiman, Daniel Goleman, Joseph Campbell, and Malcolm Gladwell. Sufficiently eclectic I believe.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

The two most amazing things I have done in my life are:

Semester at Sea (Fall 1997). A trip around the world, literally, on a ship while taking a semester of university courses with the best professors. We visited and studied 11 ports in most of the continents.

Peace Corps (Bolivia 1998-2001). I worked with community tourism development at the municipality level in Buena Vista, a small gate town to Amboró National Park -one of the most biodiverse spots in the world!-. I liked the experience so much, I extended another year as a volunteer coordinator in Tarija, the land of wine and peaches.

Teach, Learn, Share

I have a strange capacity to acquire random knowledge from everywhere, so just ask and, if I do not know about it, I would probably know someone who does.

My passions right now are on ecotourism/conservation, ecourbanism/landscape arquitecture, and economic democracy/solidarity. Moreover, I love cooking, birdwatching, gardening, and, of course, traveling. I also hold strong opinions on theism, masculinity, and sexuality.

I really enjoy deep conversations on most subjects and try to learn from all kinds of people, including especially those who do not share my views and values.

Having said all that, I can teach you how to plan and plant a garden. I could help you visualize and conceptualize your small green business. I can help you with your Spanish as well.

I am learning Esperanto, and will welcome a patient and inspiring teacher.

What I Can Share with Hosts

Off the beaten path tours, birdwathching spots and "new economy" businesses.

Countries I’ve Visited

Argentina, Austria, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Costa Rica, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Dominican Republic, Egypt, France, Greece, Guatemala, Honduras, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Martinique, Mexico, Montenegro, Morocco, Mozambique, Paraguay, Puerto Rico, Saint Lucia, Saint Martin (French part), Sint Maarten (Dutch part), Spain, United States, Uruguay, Vatican City State, Viet Nam, Virgin Islands, U.S., Zimbabwe

Countries I’ve Lived In

Bolivia, Puerto Rico, United States