👋🏼 I'm Manu (31).

🧭🗺 When I was a kid I used to watch world maps: names of countries, different colours, shapes and lines on the paper hiding hugh mountains, long rivers and inland seas with crazy names like Caspian, Black, Dead or Aral. All those maps and flags filled my mind with curiosity about the people behind them. Nowadays I'm starting to reveal those hidden stories, while writing my own. Therefore, to explore the world is not only something I want, it is something I owe to the kid I used to be.

🌍 I'm Environmental Scientist. University meant meeting the greatest friends and learning so much about nature and earth. I am planning to study a Marine Biology Master in Galicia next year.

🗺 Currently fulfilling a dream i've had for so long: to travel with no return ticket for some months working, volunteering and enjoying so much. The aim is to know as many nice people, little villages, hike trails and cities as i can (and eat as much traditional food as possible). I left my country in november 2022. So far i have been in Spain, Albania, Montenegro, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Bulgaria, Denmark, France, Malta, Morocco and Poland.

🌻 I used to work with organic gardens, biodiversity and compost in Buenos Aires. I think self-sufficiency as something we should have more in our heads...

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I don't like the tourism with a lot of people from one country not speaking with anyone around. In my opinion, to travel is to exchange, listen and learn from locals or travelers...

...how else would i attend to a heavy metal concert in an ex comunist bunker in Prishtina? 🇽🇰
...or drink raki in a transhumant sheperd's house in the middle of the mountain in Tamarë? 🇦🇱
...or enjoy one of the most beautiful roads i've seen in the back of a truck while hitchiking in La Poma? 🇦🇷

Interests

🥰 Things living could do me no good without:

🚵‍♂️ 🚲 🏐 ⚽️ Sports, outdoor activities, hiking and biking. Particularly when surrounder nature is beautiful and even better with a nice sunset.

🌻🌵🍃🌿 Horticulture, composting, permaculture and every self-sufficiency related activity. Once i settle i would like to have my garden for growing organic food and chickens.

🎬 🎧 Good films and music.

🐶 Dogs... i love dogs!! and lately i started liking cats as well. They are kind of growing on me.

🌮 Homemade food and cooking. I also cook vegetarian or vegan (i'm not, but i don't eat too much meat). I find avocados, yogurt and cheese the most delicious things on earth 🥑🧀

🌧 Rainy days ⛈

🧉Mate: an 🇦🇷🇵🇾🇺🇾 drink i always carry around and is so nice to share with family, friends and travelers.

Music, Movies, and Books

Books, films and music make my life so much better.

🎬 I watch international cinema. I try to attend to filmfestivals when i am traveling or in Argentina. So far i have been in festivals in 🇦🇷Buenos Aires,🇦🇷Mar del Plata, 🇪🇦Barcelona, 🇧🇬Sofia and 🇲🇦 Marrakech.

Some of my favourite movies:
-🇺🇲 Into the Wild (Sean Penn)
-🇦🇷 Historias Extraordinarias (Mariano Llinás)
-🇨🇵 Le Voyage au Groenland (Sebastien Betbeder)
-🇩🇪 Fitzcarraldo (Werner Herzog)
-🇺🇲 Big Fish (Tim Burton)
-🇨🇵 400 coups (Francois Truffaut)
-🇺🇲 Inglorious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino)
-🇰🇷 Castaway on the Moon (Lee Hey Jun)
-🇰🇷 Parasite (Bong Joon Ho)
-🇮🇹 Cinema Paradiso (Giuseppe Tornatore)
-🇺🇲 Secret Life of Walter Mitty (Ben Stiller)
-🇦🇷 Como Funcionan Casi Todas las Cosas (Fer Salem)
-🇺🇲 Shawshank Redemption (Frank Darabont)
-🇺🇲 It's a Wonderful Life (Frank Capra)

Some of my favourite TV shows:
-🇦🇷 Los Simuladores
-🇺🇲 The Simpsons
-🇺🇲 Friends
-🇺🇲 The Office
-🇨🇵 L'effondrement
-🇺🇲 Breaking Bad
-🇺🇲 Better Call Saul
-🇦🇷 Okupas
-🇺🇲 Twin Peaks

Besides, i have lots of hidden gems to recomend, but also a lot i never heard about and hope someone can change it.

📚 Favourite books:
-🇨🇴 100 Años de Soledad (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
-🇺🇲 Dandelion Wine (Ray Bradbury)

🎧 To be brief, i'd say some of the music i like is:
-60's and 70's favourites: The Beatles (best band ever), Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, The Velvet Underground, David Bowie, Bob Dylan, CCR and Genesis.
-Post Rock (from Galaxie 500 to Sigur Ros)
-British post punk (The Smiths and Joy Division).
-Indie folk (like The Lumineers, Father John Misty).
-Other bands (Radiohead, Arcade Fire, Parcels and Beirut).
-Argentinian singers like Charly Garcia and Spinetta.
-Many other performers (Buena Vista Social Club, Silvio Rodriguez and Manu Chao).

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

The most amazing things are yet to come 😀

What I Can Share with Hosts

🧉We can share mate 🇦🇷🇺🇾🇵🇾

🤗 Lets just walk through the city, talking, listening, exchanging...

🥑 I would like to cook food or some dessert.

🎧 🎬 Recomend movies and bands, but hey, i will also ask you the same from your country.

Countries I’ve Visited

Albania, Argentina, Bulgaria, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Denmark, France, Kosovo, Macedonia, Malta, Montenegro, Morocco, Poland, Spain, Uruguay

Countries I’ve Lived In

Argentina