Hello I'm Cristobal

My life would probably been a typical one in my country, which means:
Go to school - check
Go to high school - check
Go to university - check
Get a work - check
Live a fulfilled life - what went wrong?

So after figure out that much I decided to try a different approach to understand life. Thankfully, a good friend of mine suggested me some books about the matter, but also encourage me to travel to experience life and not let it run you by. So after more or less 2 years struggling to get meaning in my job I decided to leave everything behind and just go for a quick adventure around the corner, to Australia.

I didn’t know how much it would help me to learn in the long run. To value all the works you stumble across; to be tidy and careful with your things; to welcome new friends, to say goodbye to old ones; to be independent.
It’s been good, bad, meh, and all in between. But, more important, it has been my decision, my growing and my reward :)

Leaving my history aside, I love to read. Philosophy, History, Psychology, Science, Classics, fantasy, Sci fiction, you name it. Books can always teach you something new or make you rethink something old. I'll never dare to travel without the company of my favorite teachers. On this note, I'll consider myself highly rational and skeptic so, unless I'm in a very good mood, I'm not interested in new age, mysticism or religious topics.

When I have free time I love to listen to music. My personal preference is for metal music, but after finishing university I have been more open to all genres. So much indeed that I can listen to salsa, romantic music, rap, techno. All in moderation. Usually when I stop in a big city, I take the opportunity to play board games with locals, which I find truly fascinating.

I'm a passionate dancer. Curiously I learn to dance, not in Latin America, in Australia. Dancing is one of those skills that accompanies you no matter where you go and it will always lead you to nice people. Besides, as Locke pointed out it teaches manliness, confidence and graceful carriage.

I try to maintain myself healthy, for that reason I don't drink or smoke and I'm also a vegetarian. I'm fond of outdoor activities, specially trekking. The higher the mountain and the challenge the better, but I enjoy any type of nature walk too. I also like to do sports or working out when travelling permits it. Although, I'm not particularly fond of the beach, I enjoyed it from time to time.

At the moment I'm in a long trip through Asia so I cannot host anyone.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

To learn from other people and cultures
To know the real culture of the cities I visited, not just the touristic places.

Interests

• salsa dancing
• bachata
• vegetarian
• meditation
• walking
• comics
• movies
• video games
• board games
• reading
• socializing
• music
• metal music
• hiking
• scuba diving
• atheism
• sports
• history
• languages
• philosophy
• science
• sociology
• trekking
• sci-fi
• vinyl
• vipassana
• dota2
• krav maga
• rick and morty
• fantasy books
• strategy games
• android: netruner
• rueda de casino

Music, Movies, and Books

My personal taste is for metal music like, but i actually listen to all kind stuff: I'm a fun of music not of a style, I also collect Vinyl Records

Favorite Music:
Slayer, At the Gates, Enslaved, Mesarthim, Amorphis, Batushka, Criminal, Pentagram Chile, Opeth, Rush, Alcest, Epitimia, Judas Priest, MONO, Paradise Lost, Violet Cold, Deafheaven, And a lot more...

More common Music:
Daft Punk, Bruno Mars, Depeche Mode, Inti Illimani, Los Jaivas, Los prisioneros, Soda Stereo, Joy Division, Pink Floyd, Yes, Scorpions, Chico Trujillo, La floripondio, Bloque Depresivo, Buena Vista Social Club, Havana d' primera. And a lot more that i forget.

My favorite Movies:
Bladerunner - Ridley Scott
Dune - David Lynch
Les miserables - Bille August
Interstellar - Christopher Nolan
Oldboy - Chan-wook Park
Inglourious Basterds
2001: A Space Odyssey
Taxi Driver
Amadeus
The Godfather
Adventure Time
Twin Peaks
Rick and Morty

Some of my favorite Books:
All Frank Herbert's Dune books
Fundation series - Asimov
The lord of the Rings - Tolkien
The Witcher Series - Andrzej Sapkowski
War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
Hamlet - Shakespeare
The Trial - Kafka
1984 - Georg Orwell
Animal Farm - George Orwell
Brave new World - Huxley
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? - Dick, Philip K.
Steppenwolf - Hermann Hesse
Siddhartha- Hermann Hesse
The call of cthulhu - Lovecraft
Les Misérables - Victor Hugo
Hijo de Ladrón - Manuel Rojas
Letters to a Young Contrarian - Christopher Hitchens
God Is Not Great - Christopher Hitchens
The end of Faith - Sam Harris
Waking up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion - Sam Harris

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I spent 5 days hiking in Torres del Paine. I really recommend doing it, one of the most beautiful places in the world!
Scuba diving
Vipassana meditation (10 days silent retreat)
Survive in a roadhouse in the remote area of Australia for 5 months
Trek Annapurna circuit in 14 days
Trek to Everest base camp in 6 days
Ha Giang motorbike loop in Vietnam (3 days)
Visit Cat Ba island and bay probably the most beautiful natural wonder of Vietnam

Teach, Learn, Share

Enjoy every moment of your life as if was the last one. You wont regret it!!!

"We are going to die, and that makes us the lucky ones. Most people are never going to die because they are never going to be born. The potential people who could have been here in my place but who will in fact never see the light of day outnumber the sand grains of Arabia. Certainly those unborn ghosts include greater poets than Keats, scientists greater than Newton. We know this because the set of possible people allowed by our DNA so massively exceeds the set of actual people. In the teeth of these stupefying odds it is you and I, in our ordinariness, that are here. We privileged few, who won the lottery of birth against all odds, how dare we whine at our inevitable return to that prior state from which the vast majority have never stirred?" - Richard Dawnkins

What I Can Share with Hosts

A place to rest, advice about Chile, Spanish and/or dancing lessons, and some of my own experience if you are interested :)

Countries I’ve Visited

Argentina, Australia, Chile, Dominican Republic, India, Malaysia, Nepal, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Viet Nam

Countries I’ve Lived In

Australia, Canada, Chile, Viet Nam