Aut Viam Inveniam Aut Faciam
– “I shall either find a way or make one.”
I am Christian Marron Santillan from the Philippines and you can call me Marron, like the French word for brown.
A graduate of BS in International Hospitality Management from the Lyceum of the Philippines University. I worked as a barista for 5 years but I quit my passionate job with coffee to go find my purpose in life. And as you read this one right now, I am taking that journey already.
As a Writer
Growing up, I was the kind of kid who will less likely to become a writer when he grows up. But a few years after graduating from college, I randomly developed a passion for writing which lead me into creating this blog.
The blog started as my place to share my stories from my travels for my friends and family who are asking itineraries, things to do, and other forms of recommendations. As my passion for writing grew, it evolved into a place where I could be myself for talking basically everything under the scorching sun that I find interesting. I write from the heart.
As a Traveler
I am a thrifty backpacker. I love taking the road less traveled, going through the backdoor, and get a full experience of what it feels like to be living in a place through food, culture, and language.
I started traveling from islands to islands in my home country the Philippines. Now I am working hard to travel across continents, between time zones, and to be able to experience the different sunsets of the world.
As a Barista
I worked as barista basically just to finance my travels in the Philippines. There’s something with coffee that makes me fall in love with it in every sip so I went into a journey for deeper understandings. That lead me to become a Barista Trainer and a certified Global Coffee Master. I was also a back-to-back champion of our district’s Barista Championship which opened a door for me to work with the country’s Learning & Development team as a District Coffee Master.
As an athlete
My first Spartan Race was in 2018 where I signed up alone to prove everyone and mostly myself, that I am capable of doing such sport. I went to Race Day with minimal training and just courage. Surprisingly I ended up in 12th place for my age group category. Now, I completed 4 Spartan Races so far and I earned my first Trifecta in 2019! I also love running a lot. One of the my proudest moment was finishing in the 9th place during a 10KM race. I also ran a full marathon in 2019 where I finished running the 42KM in 5 hours and 46 minutes.
Things that I am also passionate about:
Minimalist Lifestyle
Practicing Yoga
Equality act of LGBTQ+
Environmental Protection