About Carlos

Raised by a Costa Rican diplomat and a German civil servant, I grew up speaking different languages: German, English, and Spanish. After attending international schools on both sides of the Atlantic, I left for England to study history at Lancaster (BA) and Oxford (Master's). My research for my PhD (York) brought me to Berlin, where I became a full time guide after completing my doctorate in 2011.

Berlin has a very special meaning for me. The family on my father’s side came from Thuringia, which formed part of the Soviet Zone of Occupation and later German Democratic Republic (Communist East Germany) after the end of the war. One after the other, members of my family went to West Berlin in the 1950s. The erection of the Berlin Wall in 1961 separated them from those friends and relatives who remained behind or could not leave in time. My father’s work for the West German government made the erstwhile capital city of Bonn my first home, but Berlin remained at the heart of family life. The end of the Wall in 1989 and German Unity in 1990 have allowed me to reconnect with the rest of my family across what is now a united Germany.

It is with this academic and personal background that I have learned to share my passion for Berlin over the last years.

And, of course, you can learn a lot about my other home, Costa Rica, on my tours!