CURRENT MISSION

Learn to communicate with anyone I meet.

Me in a nutshell:
I've been fortunate enough to travel since a rather tender age. That is if 12 years old means being young to you, although for most violin concertists I was decrepite already! So at the age of 12 I moved from a little town nearby Bogotá, Colombia to the monstruos people-ridden metropoli of Mexico City. There I discovered my passion for music, an ongoing one, which led me to, after going back and forth between Mexico and Colombia, to the beautiful and somehow bucolic city of La Plata in Argentina. There I underwent two years of formal education of a Bachelor Degree majoring in Classic Guitar, which, after realizing I didn't vouch for any formal education at the time and wanted to learn more than that one instrument (the charango, all kinds of flutes and percussion) I abandoned soon enough to pursue my newly found passion (although it had been in me all along, hiding inside of some shy vein): languages. I embarked on the undersevingly so-called "impossible mission" of learning Mandarin Chinese. By that time I had been taught how to speak and write English. Do notice that It took me quite a while after that to actually start learning the language! Then I self-taught myself French (look for the Assimil Method if interested, they are the THING!) to a degree a decency (not fluency haha). I studied some German and Portuguese as well, so Mandarin Chinese, although being really effing tough, was a great experience. And continues to be. I got so tangled up in the language that ended up, not really sure how, studying my Bachelor's at Guizhou University majoring in Chinese Language and Literature. And that is me now. Or, is it?

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I've stayed with a great uruguayan guy when I was traveling across Uruguay with my brother. And also crashed countless nights at a host's place in Buenos Aires. Then again at Bogotá and Mexico and more lately in China. I've been involved also in the events and meetings, specially those regarding language sharing held in Mexico City.
Couchsurfing is definetely much more than just crashing at somebody's home for free. And dare I say it's even more than sharing a good talk over a glass of the local alcohol. If you ask me, CS is a way of understanding yourself through others. It shows you how you are willing to cooperate with someone who is kind enough to open the door of his/her home to you, and that, is not by any means a small thing! It lets you know, for a split second, how things work in your host's or your surfer's head, ir forces you to play by the rules of somebody else's house and that, far from being strict or uptight, is beautiful. Because then you get to know the person, you truly enter their world. So yeah, that is the reason why I am on Couchsurfing. The vibe you feel when you enter a Couchsurfers home it's hard to describe and impossible to forget!

Interests

I love languages and what they teach you. It is almost as if I was suddenly transported to another body when I hear, read or say a word in another language. I've studied music for several years, both in formal and informal ways, and the learning just doesn't stop. I love getting together with other people and just play till it feels right. And it's when you've been swiming inside the pages of a book and at the tiniest of sounds you get pulled out, that it's when you know it is time to start writing.

• writing
• books
• traveling
• music
• jazz
• guitar
• drums
• languages
• playing flute

Music, Movies, and Books

I love latinamerican literature. Both the old and the new. Porfirio Barba-Jacob and Xavier Velasco. Neruda and Santiago Gamboa. Julio Cortázar and Federico Jeanmaire. Crossing the ocean I like José Saramago and his love for commas, Murakami's sense of etherealism, Yu Hua's capacity to paint you a description, Chejov's crude passages and Amélie Nothomb's sense of humour. Then, I have been struck by Patrick Rothfuss's writing, I have been kept late at night by Stefano Benni. I have had the chance of reading William Ospina's beautiful description of the Americas. I have been taught by Mario Vargas-Llosa how a character on paper can very well be somehow more real than those made out of flesh and bone.
I'm fond of classical music,.A Branderbug Concert interpreted by a guitar quartet or Rhapsody in Blue on Gershiwn's piano. Itzhak Perlman's violin swirling though a Beethoven Sonata touches me deeply. Denis Azabagic playing Vojislav Ivanovic's 6 Café Pieces is a must-listen-to. Piazzolla's bandoneon telling us how are the seasons in Buenos Aires. Venezuela's music under the direction of Gustavo Dudamel is absolutely marvelous, specially the Fuga con Pajarillo. Yo-Yo Ma playing Elgar's Cello Concerto. Hopkinson Smith going through some Dowland. As a matter of jazz, I feel close to Marsalis and McFerrin, to Jacques Loussier and Muhal Richard Abrams. Love some Keith Jarret, some Escaladrum, and, now and then, a bit of Charles Mingus. Anouar Brahem's delicate oud, Renaud García-Fons' mind-blowing counterbass, Didier Malherbe imaginative duduk. I melt under the voice of Caetano Veloso, soar with Jeff Coffin's solos, laugh at and with John Mayer's faces and can't believe the armonies on a Opeth track. I sit mouth wide open listening to Dave Matthews. I feel close to tears with Rhiannon Giddens beautiful voice. My soul claps furiously to Lisandro Aristimuño. I cannot think of a better plan than listen to El Kanka. Tryo teaches you how to be genious with three acoustic guitars, El Efecto surprises you at every turn, Marta Gómez doesn't let you stop smiling, Lucio Mantel happens to reinvent armony with every chord, Jorge Drexler's poetry makes me proud to speak Spanish, Leonard Cohen's makes me glad I learnt English. Go and have a listen to John Williams interpretation of Agustin Barrios guitar pieces. Download Avishai Cohen's discography. Search on Youtube Duratierra's "Enobra". Go through Mauricio Vicencio's music. They are all worth it, you won't regret it :)

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

-I can tell one amazing thing I haven't been able to do. When traveling across Uruguay, I attempted to walk a straight line while I was heading to Barrio Positos: it was a can't-do. Every step I took, it was carried away by the winter uruguayan wind.
-I can also share a thing I've seen: at the Feria de San Telmo in a Porteño Sunday a jazz quintet that played some meters away from Defensa street had to suddenly stop playing, there was a comparsa of Uruguayan Candombe passing through and the drums obliged them to stop. They weren't shocked, nor anoyed. They were listening, because , rahter soon than late, they started to play together, and continued their finished up their tune with a smile on the lips.
-There are two amazing things people have done for me.
The first one: when returning from Uruguay to Argentina with my brother, there was a problem with the ships at the dock. Apparently a heavy storm, although the sky was clean a whistle, so our ship got delayed. We waited and waited for hours. We were taking some air outside with a guy from Buenos Aires and another one from Cataluña when my brother went to the bathroom and let me in charge of our backpacks. Two minutes in and a employee of the dock comes up to us and says: "one of you, come with me ". So I go, after a split second of hesitation. I leave all of our things with the 2 guys we just met, don't get me wrong, they seemed rather nice but you never know. So I went wih the employee up to a little stand where they were selling facturas (sweet bread, what argentinians and uruguayans usually have for breakfast), he ordered a dozen, handed it over to me and said: "I've been there too". When I got back, our backpacks were still there.
The second one: when in Valparaiso, a city renowned for its mind-blowing graffittis, I was looking for that of a big blue man laying down. I circled the most famous Cerros (hills, they call them) three times over and still didn't find it. Ready to give up I ran into a guy playing guitar in some random alley. I loved his music so I asked him if I could join him. We played and sang. I offered to buy him a beer, which he accepted, pretty surprised. Then I made the question: "the blue man, where is it?". His eyes shone with recognition. We took me through back-alleys, through maddening streets, through escherian staircases and then, up to a gigantic graffitti. He was not blue, but yellow and he wasn't laying down, he was just flipped over. It wasn't what I was looking for. It was better. In order to restrain tears I asked as casually as I could "Is that Viña del Mar?" I pointed to a city you could see on the coast line. "No!" He laughed, "that is Reñaca, Viña del Mar is way closer. And that one in the back is Concon, the one with the dunes". Dunes? I remembered the song by the Rolling Stones "You can't always get what you want/But in time you might find you get what you need". I offered to pay his bus ticket there if he took me. Still surprised, he agreed. We climbed the dunes and enjoyed the sunset sitting on a stone by the sea, with seagulls and sea-lions swimming the waves. On our way back he gave me an apple from his own orchard. It was the best apple I've ever eaten.
-Roger Waters gave a thumbs up during one of his concerts.
-I met a chinese man who could speak perfect Spanish on my way to Suzhou.
-I made one hundred yuan playing with my dear friend Silvia on the streets of Shanghai.
-I was left in charge of a hostel in Villa de Leyva for no apparent reason at all.
-I've shaken the hands of Lucio Mantel, William Ospina and Fernando Vallejo.
-I played music (done with instruments made out of daily use items) for the police at a police station in Bogota, after they took us under the false impression we were drunk. We were just tossing some soda at the doves in la carrera 15 in Bogota.
-I saw sunrise twice on 25th of December on a plane from Shanghai to Tijuana.
-I took my mother to a Joan Manuel Serrat concert on her birthday. She got to be a scarce meter away from him.
-I've seen an animal that seemed to be a toad and a bird at the same time in Los Llanos, Casanare, Colombia.
-I've been followed by the police in Suzhou for playing on streets. Nothing serious, they just were making sure we didn't kept playing, I guess.
-I met a pirate in Lijiang. He was playing some music that talked about making love when growing old. There were paintings of naked women hanging from the walls. He tried to sell us some self-brewed liquor. We refused (a hundred yuan a bottle!) but we offered to play some music for him. When we ended he gave us, me and my friend Silvia, a cup each for free.

Teach, Learn, Share

A guitar lesson, maybe not the best you'll have, but certainly one of the funniest!
I can also share some of the things I know (or at least think I know) about languages.

What I Can Share with Hosts

Whatever I can, as I wrote before, I'm all for sharing, learning and teaching.

Countries I’ve Visited

Chile, Uruguay

Countries I’ve Lived In

Argentina, China, Colombia, Mexico