Instagram: @talvezsera

** Please only request to stay if you really want to stay here. Read the “my home” section to make sure the arrangements work for you. **

Hello! My name is Arturo Balanza, I'm 31 years old, born in Bolivia, raised in Chile and currently living in Calgary, Canada haha lol.

I moved to Canada in 2022, I lived in Banff for two years, in the lovely Rocky Mountains. I moved to Calgary in January this year looking for more opportunities in the city.

I'm a mix between extrovert and introvert I'd say, and I'm definitely not a morning person hahah I try though! I looove music, I've been playing drums since 11 years old. I got into it because of heavy music, that was my first favourite music genre, and I've been nerding about it since then. Everyone in my family has different music tastes and, as I was developing my musician brain, I grew up enjoying all of the genres like funky disco, opera, lyrical singing, R&B, South American folklore, jazz, classical music, j-rock, and more hahaha.

Since I was a little kid I've been around cooking, thanks to my dad, and food culture is something that unites people. I like to experiment and share recipes with people and see what they can make out of them. And if I can eat along with a nice red wine omg way better. I'd say the wine thing is a very Chilean detail, we have very good wines recognized worldwide. During the years, I became better and better at tasting and knowing how to make the best out of every bottle with tips about oxygenation and temperature, I can talk a lot about this as well.

I studied voice acting and radio host in Chile, I had a lot of fun doing voices for some underground video games and having a few online radio shows with friends. Both of those I'd love to try to do in Canada. I lived out of music for a while in Chile playing folklore music and teaching drums here and there. We recorded an album in
Mexico, called Carnaval de Flores from Delia Valdebenito. If you wanna listen you can ask me, it's on Spotify.

I could keep writing and writing, but I think these are the essentials for Arturo, the rest we can get to know each other with a good talk or maybe playing cards, yay!

Thank you so much if you got until the end!

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I think that Couchsurfing is an amazing way to do travelling networking, know different realities and have the local experience first hand. Being welcomed in someone else home is a big deal to me and I feel very grateful that things like this can happen within a safe environment.

I got to know this community because of Juliana, my fiancé. When I met her, she was Couchsurfing and when she spoke about it for the first time I thought it was a sport or something like that hahaha so funny. Then when I understood the context and the actual meaning I was very surprised, couldn't believe it, so I wanted to try it.

I've hosted someone once. Dan was very nice to us, he brought us food for dinner and we chatted about travels. He went to Chile a few times, so we had fun talking about that, Chile is super particular. We went to a farmers market one day and he gave us tips on how to make people take pictures for you hahaha. I tried my best to make him feel home - even tho I had a lot of work and side projects going on - so I wasn't home most of the times.

Interests

• cats
• folklore
• cooking
• chocolate
• wine
• beer
• coffee
• walking
• anime
• music
• live music
• alternative music
• drums
• geography
• geopolitics
• travel
• universe
• pop music
• reggaeton
• jamming
• percussion
• boardgames
• rap music
• randomness
• hardcore
• livemusic
• ancient cultures
• funk music
• ghosts
• burgers
• paramore
• completos
• thall

Music, Movies, and Books

My favourite music, as I mentioned before, is metal and some related genres, especially metalcore or modern metal. As well as anything groovey or cool and on songwriting and music interpretation.

On the movie side of things, I don't know my trend quite well haha, I like some horror movies, especially the ones made out of real events. I like epic battles and magic creature movies, action movies, sci-fi movies, and a few sad movies. I'm not crazy about Super heroes, even though I've seen a lot of them. I love Studio Ghibli movies.

Currently, I'm fascinated with Song of Ice and Fire by George R. Martin

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Recorded an album and toured Mexico with a Goverment arts founding that we won as a band in 2016.

Teach, Learn, Share

I can share all my music knowledge in any way hahah, music recomendations, drum tips and excercises or more if it is possible. As well as voice acting tips.

What I Can Share with Hosts

I can share some Chilean-Bolivian recipes and wine knowledge, along with my mixed culture and micro-culture way of life in which I was raised.

Countries I’ve Visited

Bolivia, Canada, Chile, Mexico, Peru, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

Canada, Chile