CURRENT MISSION

Studying at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem

ABOUT ME

Hi! ¡Hola!

I am a 24 year old guy, born and raised in Santiago de Chile (a nice quiet metropolis surrounded by mountains). Very talkative, easy-going, loves having beer/coffee/tea/water/mate/wine/sahleb/pomegranate juice/narguile and talk about whatever the mood leads us to (or as we say in Chile when it comes to talk about anything, about 'the crab's inmortality', weird, isn't?)

When I was a kid I was so fan of reading about every single country in the world that my dad bought me an Encarta World Atlas in 1999 and 'started' travelling there, picking up the countries I'll fly to when I became older. And I got a huge Macmillian world map, too!

"For the boy playing with his globe and stamps,
the world is equal to his appetite â€
how grand the world in the blaze of the lamps,
how petty in tomorrow's small dry light!" -Baudelaire.

I also felt a need for learning languages: wanted to learn them all! specially those who have non-Latin scripts like Russian, Hebrew, Arabic, Georgian, Klingon maybe?

By the age of 16, one friend from a web forum sent me a book for learning Hebrew. I had no idea about this language and I knew so little about Israel and the Middle East. However, I couldn't stop! And now this is my second time in Israel, the first time in 2011 as a kibbutz volunteer in Yotvata (you work really hard but it's such a worth living experience and the volunteers are usually wonderful people who want to see the world through their eyes). Now I'm currently studying a one-semester program on Latin American and the Middle East at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Such a crazy city this is! Arabic bazaars, Jewish markets, Armenian handcraft, Georgian food, Ethiopian bars, Spanish-speaking people in the bus. You'll always be surprised here, for the better or the worse.

Now I'm starting to study a bit of Russian and learning to read Georgian (which is where I want to go to in june).

My first trip to Israel made me go to Ecuador and Brazil, to re-encounter my friends from there. I still have some places in the list (Austria, Germany, Sweden, Honduras) and now during this staying in Jerusalem I've added some more! By the time I go back to Latin America, Peru, Argentina, Brazil (Rio de Janeiro) and Costa Rica are new spots in the queue.

I studied journalism and then I learnt that EVERY single person has a huge story to tell. The media usually care about the "relevant" ones but if they only knew how relevant we all are :) One day (hopefully soon) I'll start a book with profiles on the people I've meet, to keep their stories for the future. Some of them are really suitable for a novel. In Chile, I've worked at a major newspaper in a minor section all about my hometown. So far so good: I love my city and as soon as I go there I'll start couchsurfing but there's a part of me that wants to travel so bad!

I have a twin sister, her name is Constanza and she's my other half living in Santiago whenever I decide to travel.

And we have many cats at home (my cat's called Laila, 'night' in Hebrew) and dogs and rabbits.

PENDANT ON MY LIST: Making a "On the road" trip alongside Chile (4500 km, 2700 miles, wow) and write about it.

I love coffee, specially Turkish coffee with cardamom. Cookies and pistacchios. A jar of red wine with chopped strawberries (that's called 'borgoña' in Chile) can make my day. I love singing from time to time but I can't play the guitar (yet).

That's it by now. Travelling is the best thing people can do for their spirits. Hopefully we can share some of that good vibe!

Warum ich bei Couchsurfing bin

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I'd love to start hosting as soon as I come back to my country. Welcome to Santiago always!

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I am totally new to Couchsurfing but I feel I've been indirectly into this for a long time because the best friends I've met in my trips do it all the time and they've had very good experiences so far.

Interessen

Learning languages, eating local food, talking to people and cats, writing from time to time, listening to music (love music in foreign languages), dancing Chilean cumbia with my friend Nicsia → http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=naeT4c-vm7c

• cats
• dogs
• rabbits
• writing
• books
• singing
• dancing
• cumbia
• dining
• wine
• red wine
• beer
• coffee
• desserts
• drinking
• flying
• reading
• traveling
• stamps
• music
• guitar
• communications
• journalism
• languages
• volunteering
• mountains

Musik, Filme und Bücher

Books: Milan Kunder, Paul Auster, José Saramago, Pedro Lemebel, Amos Oz, José Donoso, North American literature (both fiction and non-fiction).

I'll think about music. But Leonard Cohen, Joan Manuel Serrat, Mercedes Sosa, cumbia...some Calle 13 for fun.

Eine tolle Erfahrung, die ich gemacht habe

The Andes mountains!
Sunset in Jerusalem's Old City rooftops!
Having frozen açaí with condensated milk and strawberries in Brazil!
Having encebollado in Guayaquil!
Chocolates in Bariloche!
Drinking +-13 chupitos (shots) in Madrid!
Middle Eastern deserts and desserts!

Lehren, lernen, teilen

I can teach you Spanish and some good songs in Spanish.