I've been fortunate with opportunities to travel the world. Among various countries, I’ve counted Mexico, France, Sweden and Spain as my home at one time or other. In the past, a great part of my life was dedicated to business ventures: an art gallery, an advertising agency and commodity trading. My travels have taken me to faraway places and amazing situations. I arrived in Mongolia just as the country’s revolution for independence from the USSR started. A few years later, I was taken up the Sepik river by crocodile hunters in Papua Guinea. I’ve climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in Kenya; gone horseback riding to the place where the Río Magdalena in Colombia is born; crossed the Australian desert; hiked the Inca trail the wrong direction in Peru; and much more. However, the most harrowing experience I’ve lived through was to be arbitrarily jailed in a centre for torture in Paraguay during the Stroessner dictatorship, under the absurd accusation of being a terrorist (the non-fiction narrative of this ordeal is available in Spanish under the title “El Reino del Terror”).During the past two decades, my focus has been on artistic expressions – painting, photography, design and architecture, but mainly on writing. The sources for the things I'm interested in writing about are the passions of people; places and customs that I've experienced around the world; and stories or situations from life that intrigue me. However, I'm convinced that none of the aforementioned is enough to create a work of literature (or any kind of artwork, for that matter) unless it's supported by a strong, fundamental story-telling idea. My interests are centred around languages, music, travelling to extraordinary places, and all visual arts. These elements, I believe, occupy a large place in what I write. Moreover, I'm certain they make it easier to visualise my literary work.Read more about this authorRead less about this author