I live in Tepoztlán (south from Mexico City) where I'm involved with the local forest ranger organization for the preservation of the surrounding mountains. I'm married and had a son in 2023.

Currently, I'm doing a PhD in Music Technology at Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) with a focus on programming languages and geometry. My take on life and work is developing skills suitable for diverse applications and domains. Besides pursuing a career as an academic in music technology, I'm interested in applying programming language theory to solving (so-called) real life problems in industry and software development. I'm a Haskell enthusiast: a purely functional programming language with a sweet and beautiful syntax. I also compose music for diverse artistic media (like contemporary dance and video) and improvise music using traditional instruments and Tidal Cycles (https://tidalcycles.org/).
My author and artistic name is **Xavier Góngora** and my musical project is called Niño Artillero. You can checkout more about me at my site: https://ninioartillero.github.io/

My parenting situation does not allow me to receive guests at the moment, but everything changes so fast!

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

To connect with the actual living of the places I visit and make my solo travels affordable. This is a way to expose myself to serendipity and open the possibility of new friendships. Besides, I enjoy meeting people more than sightseeing. I also like being a host, as fresh eyes renew the appreciation of my own place.

Interests

My main interests are at the intersection of music, programming and mathematics. I consider myself all terrain, and enjoy both heat and cold, mountain and beach, the city and the wild; I feel soothed by unspoiled, remote and natural places. I like discovering new kinds of music and music making! If its groovy enough, I'll dance. I'm also interested in musical improvisation as a means to communicate and share an open creative space.

• technology
• music
• hiking
• mathematics
• science
• community
• computing
• autonomy

Music, Movies, and Books

MUSIC: Tortoise | Pink Floyd | Hiatus Kaiyote | John Coltrane | The Mars Volta | Keith Jarret | The Cinematic Orchestra | Kendrik Lamar | Jorge Drexley | Nujabes | Calle 13 | Omar Rodriguez Lopez | J Dilla

MOVIES: Fight Club | Star Wars | The Lord of the Rings | Dune | Puss With Boots: The Last Wish

Books: Shambala: The Sacred Path of the Warrrior (C. Trungpa) | Jouney to Ixtlan (C. Castaneda) | The Last Temptation of Christ (N. Kazantzakis) | The Aleph (J.L. Borges) | Visual Complex Analysis (T. Needham) | Morphic Resonance (R. Sheldrake) | The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying (Sogyal Rinponche) | Gödel, Escher and Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid (Douglas R. Hofstadter) | The Haskell School of Music (Paul Hudak and Donya Quick)

Teach, Learn, Share

I like sharing general life insights, in particular about my own path as a warrior. Also love talking about abstract mathematical concepts and critical thinking. In general, I tend to share whatever is happening in my life at the moment.

What I Can Share with Hosts

Music jams. Cooking. Help with house chores.

Countries I’ve Visited

Belize, Brazil, France, Germany, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Switzerland, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

Mexico