Hello and thank for you stopping by.
I’ve spent the larger part of my life writing. I wrote my first short story at the age of seven and haven’t stopped.
I’ve been awarded second place in four nationwide Chilean short fiction contests (Embajada de Canada 1993, DUOC-UC 1995, 1996 and Intendencia de Santiago 2005).
I’m fluent in English and Spanish and feel comfortable writing in both languages, though English will always be the choice I gravitate towards. I think it is a language of precision: there exists a word for most any human thought or emotion.
I currently reside in Buenos Aires where I teach EFL during the day, translate, find time to write here and there and go to school at night.
I’m also a tour guide for the city of Buenos Aires (I’m in love with this place) and you can book me.
If you’d like to browse my books, click here.
About this Substack
You’ll see loads of paid Substacks but mine is free. I’m just happy you came along for the ride.
I started this Substack blog in order to write in English again. I can’t “not” write. It’s kind of like having coffee. Can’t live without it.
Because I reside in Buenos Aires, I write more in Spanish than I do in English, so this Substack was a necessary thing.
So… if you’re in the mood for personal essays where music, books, Theology, life in Buenos Aires, architecture, art and a lot of walking find a voice, I hope you’ll stay.
I love coffee and cafés, too. Just saying.
Oh, and Psalmbient comes from me finding my heart in the Psalms.
The Psalms are songs. They contain hope
and joy,
worship,
rage,
lament,
despair.
The Psalms are the epitome of all human emotion in the guise of lyrics. It’s the discography of humankind as it relates to God.
And my relationship with God is the cornerstone of my existence.
It permeates all I do. All that I am.
And music. Always.
Regarding “Ambient” - “Ambiente” in Spanish means “atmosphere” -as in how you feel about a place: either you like “el ambiente” or you don’t, or “el ambiente” is beautiful; it also means: the surrounding space” or “environment”. If on top of this, you add Ambient as a musical genre (you know, Eno with Music for Airports in 1978), the name Psalmbient is fitting.
And finally, about making art:
I wrote my first short story at the age of seven. Then came others that won school prizes, drew sighs from friends, and earned second-place in four national short story competitions.
I won’t lie—writing isn’t easy when you know you won’t make a living out of it. Bolaño died in poverty, so what more could one aspire to?
But one writes for the sake of writing—for the pleasure of creating something beautiful, something you look at on the screen and say, with satisfaction, “I created this, and it’s good, it’s lovely.”
You write to move the reader, to bring them joy, to stir something within or simply, to share the inner world you carry with you, in the hope that another might grasp it, might somehow understand —and in so doing, we feel a little more connected.
Some Buenos Aires moments 2024-2025 directly linked to joy.
Note: The weekly posts are structured in the following format:
a personal essay, be it relating to Buenos Aires, Art & Architecture, Theology, or just plain life happening within and outside,
music that I feel the need to talk about *insert smile here*
and photos of Buenos Aires.
Why subscribe?
Psalmbient is absolutely free… however, if you subscribe (a free subscription), you get access to the publication archives. Substack pushes subscribing because it is a subscription-based platform (and we, the authors, like to see folks subscribe) but it’s not necessary. It would be nice, though.
And also, if you ever want to say hello, just drop a line, I always reply.
And… or…
