Connection #49

Juan Cristobal Banoviez A.

49. Juan Cristobal Banoviez A.

Chile, Hacienda Maria Isabel, Copiapo, 24 years old, religion: non-practicing catholic
Gift received: July 11, 2008

Cristobal is of Lithuanian, French, Italian, Scottish and Irish origin. His family history is large, having active roots in Chile, Uruguay, the USA, Canada, and Europe, which mainly his father keeps alive. Cristobals grandfather was Lithuanian, which makes him carry a Lithuanian surname, and having knowledge and experience about Lithuanian traditions.

Cristobal is about to be an agriculturist, currently writing his thesis about olive plantations. He loves "el campo" (the countryside), although he grew up in Santiago (capital of Chile) and has not have any relations to working in the fields before. Being passionate about nature and animals, he choose his agricultural studies by feeling, and landed seemingly on the right feet.

Cristobal is very sportive, too, being an active player of the national Chilean youth Rugby team, with whom he won on international level in France.

Being a Rugby player and countryside worker did not stop him from deepening his spiritual knowledge and insight. He used to practice Meditation, but nowadays prefers to get lost in literature about spirituality, and especially history.

A current big dream he is following is to travel through Europe, in search of experiencing the nowadays cultural life of countries of his origin. He is planning to leave to Europe in March 2009.

Gift: Asapas - olives grown in Atacama desert

Asapas - olives grown in Atacama desert

Gift given: July 14, 2008

Dear new friend, I am a young student writing on my Thesis in the Atacama Desert.

I had the pleasure to receive Katya and Augustas for a few days, achieving to know them a bit and understand their basic motivations.

I would have liked to know them better, and I hope that you will realize it. Now you have the chance to share with them, learn about their habits, their way of life.

I am a Lithuanian descendant and know and admire the German culture, and for this reason shared a great sympathy with them; I am as well traveller, adventurer and sportsman. Probably you will also manage to establish a good bond with them, because they are very interesting. We have the luck to be part of their Latinamerican adventure, and you will in a certain way help our nations, cultures and traditions to meet each other.

How we met Juan Cristobal Banoviez A.

Augustas found a post of Cristobal in the forum of the Argentinian website http://www.Lituanos.com.ar, because of his keen interest in meeting Lithuanians or its descendants in Chile. Both were in contact for several months, until we finally managed to visit Cristobal in July 2008 in Hacienda Maria Isabel, an Olive ranch existing since the 1550.