I grew up in Costa Rica and spent most of my childhood playing soccer, riding bicycles and horses, and running around with my dogs and cousins. During my early teens I developed an interest in music, and spent the next several years playing guitar, at first mostly rock and blues, and later classical and flamenco.

At around age 15 I became interested in mathematics, and it wasn't long before I decided that I wanted to be a professional mathematician. I gradually began shifting my attention from music to math. At the University of Costa Rica I studied math and computer science, and avoided all other subjects as much as possible. I spent the first half of my senior year in Venezuela studying logic, analysis, and number theory. During that time I decided that I wanted to go to graduate school in the US.

I got a masters degree at Georgia Tech, where I focused mostly on analysis until I took an algebraic number theory course which made me realize that number theory was my kind of thing. I then moved to the University of Georgia for my Ph.D. since it had a larger number theory group. During my graduate school years I was focused almost exclusively on math, not having time for much else. However, I did get to travel a lot throughout the US, Europe, and Canada.

After graduate school I moved to Southern California to work at Claremont McKenna College. I really enjoyed the drive from Georgia to California, which took me through many interesting and beautiful places. I had a good couple of years teaching, working on research, and exploring the Los Angeles area. I traveled to the ICM in Korea and then spent a few days in Japan. I was fascinated by pretty much everything in Japan, and I've since returned many times (seven?) and traveled extensively throughout the country.

The next chapter of my life took place in Maine, where I moved to work at Colby College. In Maine I made a couple of friends and learned a lot about snow, but I still don't know how to ski. Being so close to Canada, I traveled a few times to Québec; that was most enjoyable during the summer but most interesting to me during the winter.

My next stop was Portland, Oregon, where I moved to work at Reed College. The long drive from Maine to Oregon took me through many new and interesting places that I'd like to see again. My first couple of years in Portland were quite wonderful thanks to both the city and the college, but things got much harder during the pandemic, and I was left feeling exhausted by work. I decided during that time to move back to Costa Rica, where I am based now and hope to live happily ever after.