Rafael Luft's Photo

Verified Profile

  • Payment verified
  • Phone verified
  • Government ID verified

Not Accepting Guests

  • 100% response rate
  • Last login 1 day ago

Join Couchsurfing to see Rafael’s full profile.

Overview

  • 137 references 68 Confirmed & Positive
  • Ambassador
  • Fluent in English, Portuguese; learning Italian, Spanish
  • 39, Male
  • Member since 2007
  • Law practitioner, musician and English teacher
  • Law degree
  • No hometown listed
  • Profile 100% complete

About Me

CURRENT MISSION

Learn to live free and enjoy life to every little bit. A free spirit.

ABOUT ME

**IMPORTANT: Even if my "last login" info is outdated, I read EVERY message as soon as it arrives in my e-mail, so you don't have to worry: contact me and I'll get back to you!**

I play the drums (rock, blues and jazz), practice law and love life. I am what can be called a free spirit. Everything in life is there to be enjoyed to the fullest. There always is something new to be tasted, to be heard, to be seen... And life is too short for living in a bad mood!

Alas, I love movies, literature and music. They are the magic vessels of long lost paradises, from which you can experience on your own way every single time...

PHILOSOPHY

As a free spirit, I try to live without regard to petty things. Life is so full of possibilities, and so short, that you must try and live the fullest and enjoy the most of anything, anytime, anywhere!

There are three phrases that I find most enlightening (coincidentally regarding alcohol, one way or another, but you get what I mean... hehehe):

- In taberna quando sumus, non curamus quid sit humus (Carmina Burana)

- It is better to die from vodka than from boredom! (Vladimir Mayakovsky)

- Life is too short to drink cheap.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I really enjoy meeting new people and cultures. I like to travel and to mix, to share my experiences and my knowledge in exchange for some experience and knowledge back.

We all have stories to tell, and have had lives full of thrills. There are lots of interesting people out there, and there won't be enough time to know them all! I make friends as I go, and carry those dear people with me for the rest of my life.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

CS is more than anything you could try to fit it in... In a nutshell, it is a whole lifestyle. A philosophy according to what you miss people you don't even know yet, and then you realize you have no idea how you could have been living without knowing them at all!

From all the years I have as a couchsurfer, I have managed to gather a world of friends, from the most varied backgrounds, with the most diverse interests, and not a single one too different nor too similar to the other... We all share the couchsurfing spirit, having adhered to the CS lifestyle, and I fell more and more whole with every new missed stranger I get to know.

Interests

I love movies, literature, music and food and drinks.

I play the drums, and carry a music player and some headphones in my pocket full time. There are always two or three books "on the reading" around my house, usually very different ones. And i am the proud achiever of almost 2k watched movies.

I love traveling, and try to catch every opportunity to go around and know different places. I don't travel abroad too often, as with Brazil being such a vast and diversified country there are just too much to know around here that we tend to let slip by... I always bet there are really amazing places not far from one's hometown, you just have to look!

I also LOVE food and drinks. I like to cook, although I am not as near a master cook as I would like, but I really like to try new flavors. You would be more than welcome to cook something different for me, should it be some cultural dish or anything a little out of the ordinary, or even your no-miss no-brainner jack-of-all-trades super supper. Your specialty will be our special of the day! On the other hand, we could also discuss your tastes and share a meal prepared by me, if you are brave enough.

Drinks are also another passion of mine. I have a lot of bottled spirits from a lot of kinds, and your local beverage would always be a very appreciated addition to my collection! I am always willing to taste new and different ways to mix drinks, and would happily introduce you to our southern Brazilian cachaça and caipirinha, or some South American wine or sparkling wine (ah, the wine... Won't even get started on that! Bacchus be forever blessed and praised!). I am also a coffee lover and a total tea junkie!

  • arts
  • culture
  • writing
  • books
  • literature
  • singing
  • theater
  • concerts
  • dancing
  • dining
  • cooking
  • wine
  • beer
  • coffee
  • partying
  • drinking
  • pub crawls
  • movies
  • reading
  • traveling
  • magic
  • music
  • jazz
  • drums
  • blues
  • camping
  • emergency services
  • law
  • beaches

Music, Movies, and Books

LOTS and LOTS of them all. As stated above already, I am always reading two or three books at the same time (keeps me from getting tired of the same book and to fit the book to the mood of the occasion), I am always listening to music and I watch movies and series whenever possible. A book of your local writer, some music of your local band, a movie from your country: all the perfect mementos for me to remember you by!

I read almost anything I can get my hands on, but I am an avid fan of fantastic literature (Tolkien is an absolute favorite). Not really into historical persona or biographies - I'd rather watch a documentary on that - but that can work. I also like noir and detectivesque romances, like the works of the great Agatha Christie (another absolute favorite).

Regarding music, I am a big fan of the good old rock, but I really love blues and jazz. I am an amateur musician, and I play rock, jazz and the blues with some friends and as a guest feature on some concerts around town (mostly jazz). There always is some jazz and some classical orchestrated (Beethoven or Mozart) music on my cell phone.

Now, about movies... I watch almost anything that comes across. When I have options, the tip from a friend with trustworthy taste or the ranking on IMDB are my tie-breakers. Reached the 1.7k movies mark!! My (ongoing and incomplete) list of watched movies can be found here: https://www.imdb.com/user/ur14122282/watchlist

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Couchsurfing has provided the opportunities to do amazing things... Midnight surprise parties, costume parties, below-zero countryside barbecues...

I shared a small 2-bedroom house with almost 15 other CSers, among tents, mattresses and hammocks, on what is probably the most rewarding couchsurfing experience I have ever had!

I have seen the sunset on some of the prettiest places on earth, and have smoked my pipe as pleasantly and quietly as it can be, at a deserted beach on new years eve, as the sun slowly rises on the horizon... Ah, the little pleasures in life!

Living through very different experiences on a week long car trip do Montevideo with 4 girls, from evening walks on the beach to theater plays inside a bus, to drinking champagne inside a hostel, singing and dancing, while everything else goes wrong!

Also, the thrill of rushing to find an alternative route to the airport on a unknown island, with only our guts and a cheap slow and malfunctioning GPS, while the main tunnels were closed by the state police to search for escaped prisoners...

Camping by a river, below an ancient abandoned bridge, passing my days in contemplation among lizards and monkeys for two whole weeks!

Managing to attend the concerts of two great bands, Dream Theater and Guns'n'Roses, on the same day, at the same time, on completely different venues!

Teach, Learn, Share

I can teach you some Portuguese and some English. Also, how to play the drums, the bongos, or, at least, help you to get some coordination with simple drills. I can introduce you to the wonderful worlds of tea brewing and pipe smoking, and take you to try some excellent beers and drinks at exquisite pubs. I can share with you my chimarrão (southern Brazilian hot water tea-like beverage) and my spirits and drinks. I can show you some local cuisine, literature and music. I can teach you to play some boardgames, and how to survive a zombie apocalypse. Your call.

On the other hand, I am willing to learn anything you have to teach me about your place, whether another continent, country, city or even another neighborhood. You can teach me the secret arts of your favorite dish or drink, and new dirty or fun expressions on your own language. You can always introduce me to your culture, bring some interesting local movies and music on a disc or a pendrive, show me photos of your trips, or bring a book of a local writer (in English, so I can read it, hehe).

Or, if everything else fails, we can always share the beautiful sunsets here in Porto Alegre, or at your place. All in all, I just want to know you, the stranger I have come to miss.

What I Can Share with Hosts

My cats (one of them, at least - who will make sure to get in your face from the moment you enter my apartment!), good Brazilian coffee from freshly ground beans, tips and pointers about the best places to go, and maybe even a typical southern american barbecue!

Countries I’ve Visited

Argentina, Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Italy, Paraguay, Spain, Switzerland, Uruguay

Countries I’ve Lived In

Brazil

Old School Badges

  • 39 Vouches
  • Pioneer Badge

Join Couchsurfing to see Rafael’s full profile.

My Groups