‘When you reach rock bottom, you don’t doubt. You just do whatever your inner truth tells you to, and you don’t question it.’

– Ana Martins, Amsterdam

Ana Martins has been a local in Amsterdam for several years, but originally comes from Portugal. Amsterdam, she says, is the first place that has ever felt like home. She has been an actress and yoga teacher, and now writes a blog called Amsterdive exploring her own relationship with Amsterdam and the Netherlands while focusing on arts and culture, creative living, sustainability and self-development.

Ana talks about her parents, who grew up Portuguese in Mozambique, her own quest to find home in Amsterdam, and what she loves about the city.

Ana is currently undergoing active treatment for cancer, and during our interview she shares her journey toward healing, what she has learned along the way, and how it feels to be a cancer patient during a pandemic. We talk about how coronavirus and lockdown have impacted her, and what she wishes people knew about cancer in the time of corona, and how we can take care of the vulnerable among us.

Ana Martins Elsewhere

Follow Ana’s blog, Amsterdive, for cultural happenings in the city, musings on Amsterdam life and other stories. Especially be sure to read her recent post on What surviving cancer taught me about racism.

Photos courtesy of Ana Martens.

This episode features music by Meydän under a Creative Commons Attribution License.

Podcast produced by Sarah Bringhurst Familia on the canals of Amsterdam.