Felipe 
Hello dear family from Rancho Mastatal, my name is Felipe Jimenez Rodriguez, and I am from Chile, I am a Civil Industrial Engineer by profession. For much of my life, I dedicated myself to advancing in the realm of formal education, following the conventional path, of earning a degree, then a master's degree, finding a job in a multinational corporation, and climbing the ladder to become a "successful" person in life. This led me to experience a very empty life, as I realized I was living a life to show the world that I was good and enough. I poured myself into my work, I lived a life full of stress and a lot of anxiety to meet the expectations of the external world, forgetting about my desires and interests. So, I decided to quit my job and reconnect with myself, traveling through Europe, Africa, and Asia for almost two years, until the pandemic arrived. This trip was full of learning and beautiful experiences, which completely transformed me, with the objective of aligning my purpose in life with my personal interests, directing me to begin a new path in my life, where I could learn about sustainability, reconnect with nature, and contribute with my energy to live a life in balance with the environment, to contribute to the preservation and conservation of this beautiful planet.

This is how I intended that new opportunities would begin to come into my life, to get closer and closer to natural cycles and learn from our great teacher, nature. I entered the world of medicinal plants, conscious eating, changing my consumption patterns, looking for options to learn regenerative agriculture in a practical way, etc. That's how a few months ago, while I was traveling through Central America, I did a volunteer program at Fundación Corcovado, and heard about the Ranch's apprenticeship program. When I heard about this incredible place, my eyes shone with excitement, this is the perfect place for me, both to learn sustainability techniques and tools, but also to be part of a conscious community for a long time and learn how to live in a community, a dream come true.

One of my great passions is traveling, getting to know different cultures around the world and different natural paradises to connect with nature. I love hiking which I practice in the mountains of my country and in different countries that I have visited. Furthermore, I am very attracted to exploring interpersonal relationships with people from different parts of the world. I practice meditation and yoga for my own internal balance.

Finally, I want to express that I am very happy and very excited to have obtained a place in this program, to begin this fantastic journey, in this magical community.