Hi! my name is Luis Puerto and I’m from Ponferrada, a medium-size town in the Green part of Spain 
, in the Northwest of the country and the main city of El Bierzo 
county. El Bierzo, is a small region formed basically for a big valley which main river is the Sil and ends in Galicia. El Bierzo is surrounded by Asturias and the rest of León province too, but our main cultural influence is the people that came up river and we considered us —at least me— mostly or partly Galicians.
There, I spent the first 30 years of my life. I went to high school 
and college at University of León 
, where I got a Degree in Forestry and Environmental Engineering 
.
In the last years of my studies, and after I got my degree, I worked in different forestry related projects around my region, where I got experience in GIS 
, GPS 
, forest management and inventory. Later, I landed in a non-profict organization created by the Spanish Central Government, whose aims were related to the development of El Bierzo, CO2 capture technologies and the Energy Museum. I was there for almost 4 years working in different positions, doing incredible different tasks and getting a great experience. I learned how big organizations work, how the government works, how to manage big projects and budgets, I polished my cartographic skills and I got experience managing teams. I started as a responsible of field work for a research project related to chestnut tree blight and ended as responsible of the technology and innovation area.
After that, I decided I wanted to have an international life and career and moved to Umeå, Sweden 
where my then SO was living at the moment. I was living there for 6 months enjoying the Swedish life and people, being a little Skogstokig, learning a little bit of Swedish (jaaahhaa!!) and about fire management in the North or Europe. Finally, I enrolled in the iGEON master about GIS and remote sensing, from Lund University. Then, my SO was offered a good opportunity to do her PhD in Joensuu, Finland 
and we decided to moved there, where we’ve been living since the beginning of 2014 (yes, it’s cold!, but only with the wrong clothing). Here, I had the opportunity to learn Finnish (minä puhun vähän suomea), enjoy Finnish forest and sauna, learn a little bit of cross-country skiing and discover Finnish people and their silence.
In between, we also have been living and traveling here and there for business and pleasure. We were in USA 
twice discovering Oregon and the Pacific Northwest . First, for 5 months, in which we were so in love with the area that we decide to return for an additional 3 months 2 years after. There we discovering an amazing culture, people and landscapes that really left us awestruck and made us always want to return. We also lived for 2 months in Vienna, Austria 
, enjoying the traditional Austrian values, food and culture from central Europe and the Alps 
.
Now, we just moved to Zürich 
, Switzerland 
which is ranked as one of the best cities in Europe and the World to live, but also one of the most expensive. We are here for professional reasons and we soon expect to start new adventures, make new friends and find new challenges. We are really eager to learn about the Swiss and Central Europe culture, the Alps, and alpine forest and ecosystems. We also hope to be as happy as we’ve been in the North of Europe.
My main areas of interest are —as you could guess due my background— forestry and engineering although I’m also interested in science and technology in general. I’m a really curious person and I’m usually interested in everything. While I was in Finland, and while I’m finishing my master on my free time, I have the opportunity to learn and explore about remote sensing, LiDAR, biomass, research and trade statistics, and some of my current ongoing projects are related to those areas. Recently, I also discover my interest about statistics (I always hated them) and more specific about the RStats, data science 
and data visualization fields (long life to Tufte). Perhaps, for the influence of the people I have around (thanks!) and my fairly good relation with computers which got me into the world of coding. Also, and maybe, because for me is a way to squeeze data and see the “hidden truth”. Finally, I interested in big data analysis, nanocomputing and new ways to get data.
Above all of that and in more personal setting, I really like the outdoors 
and I’m always ready to explore 
and camp in the wilderness 
. I’m interested in wide spectrum of music 
, photography 
and movies 
too. For a while, I was doing a little bit of horseback riding 
and archery 
. When I arrived to Finland, I developed an acute interest in baking bread 
and pizza 
, mainly because for us was difficult to find Spanish style (hard crust) bread there and I learned using Ken’s book (I was recently in his bakery and I have to say it was a delicious experience).
Other fields that call my attention are, politics, globalization and internationalization 
(in the human sense) and work management and organization (mainly through the Fifth Discipline). Astronomy and space exploration 
are of my interest too. And of course, history 
, as a way to learn from others experience. I’ve been also trying to improve my concentration through meditation, but the nirvana is something difficult to reach (damn!). I dream with learning to fly 
and to sail 
someday soon, too.
On a final note, I would like to mention that recently I’ve changed my civil status. I was just married before and now I’m married and father of one. A proud, scared and anxious father. Proud because I’m sure that my son is going to be an outstanding creature —we all parents are proud of our kids, otherwise you’re probably a …— and scared and anxious because this is going to be the adventure of my life and one from where I can’t never scape. Luckily, I’m not alone. I have him and, of course, I have my wife. If you want to know a little bit more about my fatherhood, you can check https://jr.luispuerto.net or this post.
See you around (the World 
).