Cultural differences deeply fascinate me. I'm constantly longing for new challenges and experiences. My one chronic disease is wanderlust!

By profession I am a diplomat. But don't let this scare you! I'm not obsessed with protocols and formalities. Far from it: you'll find I'm a cheerful and very laid-back guy.

I try not to take life too seriously. As they say, "ashes to ashes, dust to dust": everything is finite and so are we. We're not really going anywhere, are we? So let us enjoy the time we have.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

"There are many worlds. Each is different. Each is important. And one must learn with them, because these other worlds, these other cultures, are mirrors in which we can see ourselves, thanks to which we understand ourselves better - for we cannot define our own identity until having confronted that of others, as comparison." (R. Kapuscinski, "Travels with Herodotus")

Over the years I've couch surfed or met CS members in Zagreb (Croatia), Frankfurt (Germany), Carcassonne (France), Lisbon, Coimbra and Albufeira (Portugal), Stockholm, Uppsala and Eskilstuna (Sweden), Prague and Ostrava (Czech Republic), London (UK), Tehran (Iran), Almaty (Kazakhstan), Dushanbe (Tajikistan), Ashgabat (Turkmenistan), Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), Hanoi (Vietnam), Khartoum (Sudan), Laayoune (Western Sahara), Algiers (Algeria), Tripoli and Benghazi (Libya), Jerusalem (Israel/Palestine), Washington DC and Chicago (USA), Nicosia (Cyprus), Minsk (Belarus) and several Brazilian cities. And it was always great - no exception at all!

I also hosted CS friends from France, Portugal, Brazil, Germany, Poland, New Zealand, Spain, Austria and the Netherlands in the cities I've lived: São Paulo, Paris, Brasília, Islamabad, New York, Moscow and now Caracas.

Interests

Perhaps a cinephile, likely a history buff, certainly a passionate photographer, definitely a bookworm. Part workaholic, part bon vivant.

• photography
• politics
• traveling
• music
• jazz
• hiking
• backpacking
• history
• international relations
• cinema

Music, Movies, and Books

Movies: anything by Nolan, Kubrick or Tarantino, most by Fellini and Woody Allen, Russian flicks (Zyvagyntsev, Sokurov, Mikhalkov), Monty Python and similar surreal comedies, old film noir.

TV shows: Game of Thrones, The Witcher, The Americans, The Borgias, The Man in the High Castle, Marco Polo, Vikings, Narcos (ie political/historical stuff, some fantasy too).

Music: Jazz (Billie Holiday, Miles Davis, Charlie Parker), Indie Rock (Radiohead, Franz Ferdinand, Muse, Placebo), Trip Hop (Portishead, Massive Attack), Eletrotango (Gotan Project, Tanghetto, Narcotango), solo singers (Azam Ali, Amy Winehouse, Norah Jones), Brazilian (Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil, Zeca Baleiro), Classical (Rachmaninoff, Dvorak, Mahler) and so on. Dilettante on Persian/Turkish/Indian music.

Books: history, politics and IR (nearly everything, really!), travel literature (Kapuscinski, Thubron, Kaplan, Newby, P. L. Fermor), modern literature (Saramago, Kafka, Borges, Camus, Márquez, Hemingway), some Nietzsche for cloudy days, diplomatic memoirs, crime/espionage novels, thick Russian prose.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

- Spending a winter in Siberia, including walking over the frozen Baikal Lake despite a temperature of minus 35 degrees celsius

- Finding my way through the minefields of the Serbo-Croatian border, around the then-destroyed city of Vukovar

- Witnessing extraordinary displays of Islamic faith and devotion, self-beatings included, at the Holy Shrine of Imam Reza, Mashhad, Iran

- Nearly losing a foot after being wounded by sea porcupines in a beach in Kusadasi, Turkey

- Surviving the heavenly Pamir Highway, visiting the dying Aral Sea and witnessing the magnificent Darvaza Gates of Hell during a crazy Silk Road trip to all five Stans

- Watching a sensational match of buzkashi (polo played with a decapitated calf) in Herat, Afghanistan, and then fleeing from a quite hostile crowd who noticed I was a foreigner

- Spending two months on an epic land journey through North Africa and the Middle East all the way from Laayoune to Jerusalem, while meeting fascinating people and narrowly avoiding terrorist attacks in Benghazi and the Sinai

Teach, Learn, Share

As a second job I teach International Politics, so if you'd like to have conversations on anything from South American integration to Eurasian geopolitics, count me in!

I'm also a documentary/travel photographer ( www.napoleaophoto.com ), so if you're looking for some photo talk or practice, I'm always ready for that!

What I Can Share with Hosts

Having just moved to Caracas, sadly I don’t have yet a home (and a couch) to share - but I do have a fair amount of stories to tell from my travels across the world (roughly 120 countries so far - and yes, I plan to visit all of them!)

Countries I’ve Visited

Afghanistan, Algeria, Antarctica, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Belize, Bhutan, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cabo Verde, Cambodia, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Egypt, El Salvador, England, Estonia, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Guatemala, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Honduras, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Latvia, Lebanon, Libya, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, Moldova, Mongolia, Morocco, Nepal, Netherlands, Nicaragua, North Korea, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Romania, Russian Federation, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saudi Arabia, Scotland, Senegal, Serbia, Singapore, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Sweden, Switzerland, Syrian Arab Republic, Taiwan, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Thailand, Timor-Leste (East Timor), Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Vatican City State, Venezuela, Viet Nam, Wales, Western Sahara

Countries I’ve Lived In

Brazil, France, Pakistan, Russian Federation, United States, Venezuela

• 

•