This rounds out this set of 3 weeks of travel with Pinar, 12 days in London!  She was gracious enough to host me in her amazing home in the super trendy neighborhood, Hackney Wick! I loved this neighborhood so much: the wall art was sooo cool, the canals running everywhere added a nice relaxing feeling, the bars and restaurants were excellent, and was super convenient to get to Central (~30-45 min)! 

I loved to be in the hustle and bustle of the city, it had a similar vibe to NYC. I was super lucky to have had some absolutely beautiful summer days, so it's not all gloomy all the time, making walks through the parks, by the canals, in the open air markets even more enjoyable! 

I had heard for years that the London scene was just ok but for me it was great! Danced most nights, everyone was really nice and welcoming, and dancing was great!​

​I've always had a crush on London though so I was happy to be there for a visit and will come back!

After Istanbul Pinar and I went to Belgrade for the ​Belgrade Tango Experience Festival/Marathon weekend. I loved the city!  It was easy to walk around, the food was delicious, and the people were so kind! Did you know that it is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in Europe and the world! 

While I was there ​Sofya Krasnova reached out asking if I wanted to participate in a mixed media project, well of course I do! Sofya found an amazing space, DIM, that had such an interesting mixed vibe with great cocktails! She was working with a tango music group of 2 ladies along with a few other tango dancers. The concept was to explore the idea of connection and how to connect as if we were showing it to an entity that didn't know what it was, gave me Graciela Gonzales vibes!  See the details below!

The event was a lot of fun: beautiful venue, great vibe, everyone was so laid back and friendly, and the dancing was great! This was the first big event that I even wore my heels for 1/2 the time, mostly the afternoons!

From Sofya:
"Hello, friends!
I can’t express the depth of grief that I constantly feel lately.
I also have a strong feeling of absurdness which I can express: here is the video of the performance “Instruction for Human” which we made in Belgrade in May. The full text of the “Instruction” in English. You can use the fourth comment to say hi. You can also add comments in the document to enrich this instruction - I will be glad.

Music: Evgeniya Popova and Katia Zeynetdinova
Voice of the Creator: Aysegul Okul
Models of the human being: Katarina Nikolic Anđela Stefanović Can Büyükbay Scott Boddye Marko Čakovan Jovan Stosic
Lens: Alexey Artamonov, Pasha paveilone

Thanks to the collaborator and the composer of my life Evgeniya, the kind audience (hi Polina and Нина), Marko Lukić, Igor, Slavna, Sonja, Vini, Senya, Valya, Tanya, Pasha, Ivan, Aleksandar, Indi, Nastya, Nikon, Baxx, Belgrade Art Residence and the team of Dim."

I had been to Istanbul once before and did all of the touristy things like seeing the Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia, Cisterns, a Bosphorus tour, etc. So this time was more about hanging out and seeing the city and dancing. I had the absolute pleasure of traveling with Pinar (who's Turkish which is always great to have a native speaker along haha) and we walked for hours most mornings exploring the city. The dancing was fantastic, as expected, but we got waylaid by a continuously amazing experience.

On our second night I found a cafe, ​Smyrna Art-Gallery Cafe, that was this cool funky mix of art and vibes. I ordered the meatballs at the suggestion of what I had assumed was a customer at first but quickly realized was the owner. When the food came out they brought something else which I was ok with but he insisted I have the right dish so when that came out and I took the first bite, wow was it amazing! We ended up going every day after, sometimes twice a day, because the food was so good but more importantly because of the owner, Kuzey. 

Kuzey Yücehan turns out to not only be the owner of the cafe but an actor, business man, Instagram and Youtube influencer, and more! When Pinar and I were sitting there having our first conversation with Kuzey she tells me that there is a Turkish saying that if someone likes something a lot they want to "eat" it so he wanted to "eat my rings"! He was fascinated by my look and story so much so that he even invited me to be on his Youtube show "Say Yes" where the concept of the show is that he is talking to foreigners about different topics and the interviewer asks follow up questions but as the foreigner I'm just supposed to say yes. Needless to say I said yes but was kind of confused but did what any good non-native speaker does and just said "yes". It made for a funny moment for sure! It was quite the experience to hang out with such an interesting and coolest of cool guy!

Back to Istanbul! Walking the through the city is amazing, the incredible hustle of 15.5 million people means there's so much energy! Everyone was so nice in the shops, dining spots, and even just walking the streets! I was also lucky enough to not only find Mary, who's recently moved to Istanbul, but also Rie who was visiting which was so nice to see old friends!

I hadn't planned to leave Buenos Aires until Megan and Ademir suggested to visit Brazil for Carnival, I'm so glad they did! The timing was great to get me starting the next nomad section of this year! It was an amazing 20 days traveling through Sāu Paulo, Rio, and Ilha Grande what an experience! We were all hesitant to travel to Brazil alone based on what friends and articles had said about the poverty and crime but (knock on wood) we didn't have any issues! Highly recommend a visit!

This was also the start of what I'm calling my "tango vacation" (haha)! In Buenos Aires I would dance nearly every night for hours on end. Now that I'm traveling again, not every city has this opportunity so I can spend more time and effort into exploring the cities, having deeper connections with old and new friends, and have tango be the cherry on top. I don't have that urge to dance every night or get every tanda, I'm here to enjoy and soak it all in. 

I'm extremely thankful to my travel friends Megan, Ademir, and Fiona for being willing to share their photos with me! I had the unfortunate luck to have lost my phone in a taxi in Buenos Aires right before I left so I was without a phone for 20 days. It's really thanks to them that I get to share my experiences of Brazil, THANK YOU THANK YOU!

(Here's a sampling of one of my favorite Samba songs from the Championship but be sure to pause it to enjoy the videos below)

A nomad walks into Brazil with a German-American, Mexican from Sweden, German from Sweden, Russian from Switzerland, and a Denver gal to have ~10 days of craziness in Sāo Paulo and Rio for Carnival! 

We were here for 2 nights. It was our introduction to Carnival by going to a "Blocko" which is basically a walking street party. The crowd was great with so many colors and the energy was high while we were walking to a live band playing samba music. Needless to say our group got into it with the makeup and glitter!

We also made it out for a night of Farro dancing and we were lucky enough to go on a night with a band, how cool is that! 

Lastly, Batman Alley. I was so impressed with the wall art in both Sāo Paulo and Rio but the Alley was a nice little neighborhood with a few vendors and with a focus on the caped crusader.  
​
​Photos: Megan, Ademir, and Fiona

We were in Rio 9 days. Only made it it 2 blockos, one was more of a college bar crawl and the other started at 7 am with 1000's of people spanning multiple blocks in costume, folks dancing on stilts and we had a live samba band.
We were lucky enough to celebrate Fiona's birthday so we did a day of tour that hit Christ the Redeemer, the Metropolitan cathedral, the Escadaria Selarón, Sambadrome, football stadium and we rounded out the night with a Brazilian Rodizio dinner at Carretao.
Of course I needed some adventure so Megan and I went paragliding! What an experience to float over Rio!

​​Photos: Megan, Ademir, and Fiona

This is what brings the city together, Samba!
The Samba schools
The schools practice for months on end to compete in the championship. Each school is made up of dancers, singers, a percussion group and other performers and usually belong to a particular neighborhood or in some cases to a ‘favela’, the name given to a shanty town in Brazil. The schools mainly consist of volunteers from the local neighborhood and money is raised from the sales of their school’s tickets for the Samba parade or by sponsorship. Each school usually has a particular political, commercial or social interest as well, and often plays an important role in the development of the particular locality. These schools are pivotal in creating a sense of belonging and purpose to the neighborhoods.

The Championship
The overall theme of the championship this year was Racism and African heritage and it starts off with two nights of parades by 12 samba groups, each featuring up to 6,000 dancers. The following Sunday is the championship with the top 6 schools. It takes each school ~45 minutes to come down the 700m (0.43mile) long runway. Each school is judged on their design and technical functioning, costumes, drum section, theme and lyrics, and the overall execution. It officially started at 8 and went until 4am.

• 6th - Salgueiro
• 5th - Portela
• 4th - Vila Isabel
• 3rd - Viradouro
• 2nd - Beija-Flor
• 1st - Grande Rio

The Experience
Word, pictures, and even video don't do it justice! It was amazing to see the energy that each school brought along with their colors, dancing, and themes all of which were incredibly powerful! To be in the stands of the Sambadromo with the crowd singing, dancing, and getting excited about each school shows how integral song and dance is to Rio and Brazil in general! Plus the fact that this was the first Carnival after the pandemic made it even more special. To watch all of these amazing performers all night and then to end it with the best sunrise on Copacabana beach makes for quite the memory. 

​Photos: Megan, Ademir, and Fiona

A little slice of heaven. Had the pleasure to hike and explore with Megan for 8 days! It was nice to really take a break after Carnival with all of the energy and partying! 

Photos: Megan