CURRENT MISSION

"There was nowhere to go but everywhere, so just keep on rolling under the stars" - Jack Kerouac, On the Road

ABOUT ME

"My body was born in Chile, my soul in the Balkans, my blood is Latin American, my growing-up experience, European... everything matured in the cold Arctic winter and it was gently washed on the shores of Rio de la Plata... until it ripened under the tropical sun of Java Island: then, that was me"

After being born in Chile and spending there my childhood, when I turned 18 I moved to Europe to study and there I spent almost a decade going around, living, studying, working and of course, traveling, based in Portugal, the Czech Republic, Macedonia, Latvia and finally Finland... until it comes a point where you can't live without always learning about other countries and cultures. Therefore it's difficult to get used to simply stay in your hometown again without hitting the road. And so, here I am, in the middle of Java Island and maritime Southeast Asia, looking forward to keep discovering this beautiful planet.

How can you describe yourself then? Perhaps it's better to let the actions and experiences talk by themselves.

It's not only about being in different places, but about learning something meaningful that stays with you forever. Then you somehow morph from being someone from a place, from a country, and slowly become something more and more universal: a citizen of the world... and more importantly, you can truly discover who you really are and you simply become YOURSELF.

PHILOSOPHY

I always try to do my best in everything I do. Life is one and if we're here we should try to make this place a little bit better. I like to take my time to enjoy life, I think life is meant to be lived and enjoyed!
Basically, being in this planet is just like getting one of these free bikes for going around town: Leave it in better conditions than what you found it and... enjoy the ride! ;-)

I prefer to be disliked for what I am rather than liked for what I am not.

Also, believe in yourself... If you don't, you can be the most talented person on Earth and you still are anything but lost... oh, by the way, self-confidence is sexy too! ;-)

Pourquoi je suis sur Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

When I was living in Portugal, more than a decade ago - yes, I'm in CS since the dawn of time-, I learnt about this project and instantly I thought it was a great idea... time proved me right!

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I've hosted and been hosted quite a few times and more often than not it was a great experience!

Centres d'intérêt

I love MUSIC, I play guitar and bass-guitar, I've had some concerts everywhere I've been hanging for a while and when I am in the mood, I can write songs too.

I just love to DANCE Salsa and Bachata, I am always up to join any salsa party! ... it's just hearing the music and the magic on the dancefloor will just happen!

I love COOKING too, cooking is an art and one very close to my heart. Cooking is for me a way of carrying with me a bit of all those places and peoples dear to me wherever I go. It's my way of giving new life to all those good memories deep in my mind that have the smell and taste of a delicious meal. Am I a fine cooker? Well, that's something you should decide after tasting for yourself... so far, seldom are people disappointed ;-)

Drinking and sharing some good MATE... such a relaxing and inspiring activity, the smell of a well-prepared Mate evokes such nice feelings. Brewing Mate is an art and sharing and drinking it, a ritual of friendship... if you don't know what Mate is, you're seriously missing out!

I practice some SPORTS, it used was one of my main activities when I was teenager, playing a lot of football and also tennis. I like running and training MARTIAL ARTS, of course. I have experience with Karate, Tae Kwon Do and JiuJitsu. Currently I’m training TaeKwon-do ITF and Box. I also like going to the gym from time to time and working out.

I love HIKING and going with a backpack and a small tent through mountains, forests and meadows. It's a really unique way of relating to your environment and the best way I know for connecting with nature. I enjoy both long hikes and some short trekkings as well... sometimes just going to pick a few berries and mushrooms can make a normal day become into a wonderful one!

I like GARDENING too, in Chile I created my own organic garden where I used to grow my own vegetables and medicinal herbs. It's such a lovely thing to do, to eat the fruits of your own work, to see a plant sprout from the seed, growing and then nourishing you... if you are lucky to be on season, you can even try some really fresh an organic produce straight from my garden!

I like READING, my favorite writers are Yasunari Kawabata, Mario Vargas Llosa, Jack Kerouac, Walt Whitmann, Gabriel García Márquez, Ivo Andrić, Miguel Torga and of course Pablo Neruda. I surely have a few books that you can peruse while you are here at my place.

WRITING comes close to it too and I guess is just the natural consequence of my love for literature. I've won a couple literary-awards for my prose writing when I was younger... nowadays it's hard for me to find the time for it, but who knows, perhaps one day I will get the inspiration to write a book too.

And of course, LANGUAGES! :) ... I studied General Linguistics at the University and in fact I speak 24 languages with different degrees of fluency, ranging from a functional advanced intermediate to near-native with local accent, they are: Spanish (native), Portuguese, English, French, Italian, Czech, Catalan, Slovenian, Slovak, Serbo-Croatian (know well both variants), Macedonian, Turkish, Russian, Bulgarian, Polish, Latvian, Lithuanian, Indonesian, Finnish, Norwegian, Estonian, Swedish, Icelandic and Indonesian.
I've also studied a bit of Japanese, Korean, Persian, Tamil and Arabic and I understand Danish and Ukrainian due to similarity with other related languages I speak. While I'm not fluent on these last ones, I still found the experience of getting it touch with such languages - and therefore cultural realities- very enriching.
When I was back in Latin America I felt as my duty to learn and embrace our aboriginal heritage learning languages like Mapuche or Guarani. While I studied Mapuche for a year, it was difficult to progress from a certain level due to the lack of materials available.
Nowadays in Indonesia, besides perfecting my Indonesian skills, I also learn Javanese and I'm eager to learn other regional languages of Indonesia and from other places in Asia.

• arts
• culture
• writing
• books
• literature
• poetry
• performing arts
• concerts
• festivals
• dancing
• tango
• bachata
• environment
• dining
• cooking
• running
• working out
• partying
• drinking
• gardening
• chess
• reading
• traveling
• magic
• music
• guitar
• karaoke
• cycling
• hiking
• backpacking
• sports
• martial arts
• soccer
• tennis
• teaching
• freelancing
• history
• journalism
• languages
• hitchhiking
• language exchange
• mountains

Morceaux de musique, films et livres

Since the first time I saw Gustavo Cerati rocking it when I was a teenager, I knew I wanted to play the guitar. While I appreciate the quality of some Anglo Rock, Argentinean Rock has been the music of my life: Soda Stereo, Charly Garcia, Fito Paez, Luis Alberto Spinetta and a couple others have had a much deeper impact on me than any Anglo music will ever have.
As I love the Balkans, you can give me any movie of Kusturica and I’ll watch it.

God, if I were to write about every book or movie I like, I will never end. We can talk about it when we meet though!

But definitely and without any doubt, the best movie I've seen it's my own life: I hope I will find one day a copy of the recording... I'd love to watch it over and over!!

Une aventure extraordinaire que j'ai vécue

I was there when my daughter was born... that is amazing, and the most beautiful thing you can ever see.

Another great stuff is that I survived falling from a train near Nezamyslice, in the Czech Republic. If not, I couldn't see that nor anything else for that matter. Have you ever fallen from a train in movement?? (it was sort of an accident, I do not recommended anyone trying it, though).

Ahhh, and I was in the Faroe Islands for Ólavsøka!!! ... the best festival ever!

I have scored the equalizing goal in the last minute of a match when my team was losing 4-3 in a football tournament in Chile. After that we went to extra time and we won!

I have had many concerts in different places and performed in front of 200 people and had a Salsa and Bachata performance also in front of a big crowd.

The vice champion of the world in Kyokushin Karate broke two of my ribs with a Mawashi when sparring with him in Prague... but I kept on fighting, as it should be.

Once I lived in a beautiful country called Macedonia, where I used to help the old ladies make Ajvar, roasting red peppers and slowly cooking them with a few eggplants in an enourmous cauldron to become the most delicious thing I’ve ever tried... among many other magical things that happen underneath the Balkan sun.

I have experienced and lived a real English, Czech, Bulgarian and Finnish Christmas... besides the one at my home country, of course :)

I studied at an University with 7 centuries of history and also at the best Universities of Chile, Portugal, the Czech Republic and Latvia.

Once upon a time I met a wonderful girl for 20 minutes in a language exchange bar while traveling across South America... that was enough for me to later decide to change my travel plan, decide to go back to her town, pay her a visit... and make her my girlfriend.

I was honoured to be chosen among a hundred of foreign students to represent my Uni in Indonesia with a speech in Javanese language. It's a big honour indeed to speak such a beautiful language, especially in such an event.

Being to nearly 50 countries, speaking a couple dozen languages... if that's not amazing by itself, then the human experiences that come along with it, most certainly are.

Honestly, just being alive everyday and having a reason to get up it's amazing enough for me to be happy.

Enseignez, apprenez, partagez

I would really like to cook some Chilean food for you and sharing a nice lunch or dinner talking about the world... If I happen to be carrying my guitar, we could jam something and have fun... or I can teach you some Salsa and Bachata steps... and last but not least, have a wonderful language exchange!! I am always glad to learn something new :)

What about going together hitchhiking somewhere random? If the timing is right, why not? :)

Ce que j'aimerais partager avec mes hôtes

Isn't myself not enough? :))

Pays que j'ai visités

Albania, Andorra, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Chile, China, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Faroe Islands, Finland, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, Indonesia, Italy, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Macao, Macedonia, Malaysia, Morocco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russian Federation, Serbia, Singapore, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Thailand, Turkey, United Kingdom, Uruguay, Vatican City State

Pays dans lesquels j'ai vécu

Argentina, Chile, Czech Republic, Finland, Indonesia, Latvia, Macedonia, Portugal

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