Obsessions

This carousel features some of the few surviving photos from my 2015-16 journey through Southeast Asia—a trip that lasted over four months, most importantly, was the realization of a personal dream I had long envisioned.

I took pictures daily, capturing everything I could. But during my time in Cambodia, my backpack was stolen—along with my laptop, GoPro, and, most importantly, my passport.

It happened at around 3-4 AM, just after a grueling 7-hour ride on a sleeping bus (if you’ve traveled in Asia, you know exactly what that’s like). My fiancée at the time and I were exhausted, riding through the empty streets in a tuk-tuk, when a group of bikes surrounded us. In a split second, one of them grabbed my backpack and sped off.

Inside was every photo I had taken, wiped clean each night as I backed them up onto my laptop—gone. The theft didn’t just take my gear; it forced a divergence in our journey, throwing us into the unknown in a way we hadn’t planned.

But these few remaining photos? They made it through. And that’s why they mean so much.

coming soon

♟️ Chess – Thinking Ahead, On and Off the Board

I’ve played a little chess throughout my life—just casually. I knew the rules, I enjoyed it when the occasion came up, and I always saw it as a game for smart or logical people. One thing was clear: it’s not a game for dummies.

But it wasn’t until the 2020 lockdown that chess really took hold of me. With the hospitality industry completely shut down and no work on the horizon, I found myself with a lot of time. That’s when I signed up on chess.com, and it quickly became my daily fix. I started playing every day—sometimes for hours. I even hit a peak rating of 1600 in 3-minute blitz games.

Chess has this way of humbling you fast. When you lose, it’s hard not to feel like your opponent is simply smarter. And if you’re competitive, if you hate making avoidable mistakes like I do—it stings. But that’s also why I kept coming back.

By mid-2022, chess was a part of my daily rhythm. I started playing shorter games—3-minute blitz—mostly because I’d sneak in games at work and needed to keep it quick. But it wasn’t just about killing time anymore. Chess became a way to train my mind.

It taught me to think ahead, to calculate possible outcomes, weigh risks, and make quick but thoughtful decisions. Over time, I noticed that I was applying the same mindset to my daily life—especially when juggling multiple tasks. I started approaching problems like a chessboard:
How do I move next to save time, avoid unnecessary steps, and stay ahead of the game?

Chess, for me, became more than a game. It became a mindset—one I still carry with me today.

Cigars aren’t something most people naturally get introduced to—they’re more of a symbol, something we see in movies, special moments, and powerful figures. Unlike cigarettes, which I smoked for over 10 years (Camel Blue Soft, when I could find them), cigars became something different: a ritual, a moment of meditation.

I never thought about quitting cigarettes until London, 2021, during the second lockdown. One morning, while working out, I started coughing—more than ever. At that moment, I asked myself: What’s more important? Keeping this habit or prioritizing my health? That day, I made the decision, and I never touched a cigarette again. There was almost no effort in quitting.

As for cigars, my first experience was in Barcelona in 2018, after a concert. I ran into a family I knew at the restaurant where I worked and stopped for a drink. The father, a well-known figure in the food industry across Europe and Latin America, offered me my first cigar. That moment stuck with me.

Later, in London, I had a few more, but it wasn’t until I returned to Barcelona in 2022 that cigars became part of my life. I started visiting a friend's place for long conversations, and I’d bring a couple of cigars to enjoy during our talks. That’s when I really began to appreciate them—not just as a smoke, but as a ritual, a time to slow down and reflect.

Smoking a cigar isn’t just about smoking. It’s about taking time for yourself, sitting in a comfortable chair, and enjoying those 30-40 minutes of peace. It became something I looked forward to—a weekly moment of stillness in a fast-moving world.

My cigar of choice? Romeo y Julieta No. 1.