Click on any image below to see my photo journal from week 1 in Bogota.
I have taken this backpack to 5/7 continents. I love this pack! Here is the description from the North Face website “A journeyman favorite – this light, dialed, easy to use, 65-liter pack is a classic multi-day exploration pack that enables explorers to cover ground, comfortably…”
I wrote this ten days before my Kickstarter campaign launched. I made it my goal to turn my intention into a reality and I did. The best part of this so far has been the amount of support and interest I have received. Thank you to everyone who has become a part of this first chapter with me.
I made a few hundred bucks selling some unnecessary belongings. As cliche as it may sound, I feel pretty damn free from attachments knowing that what I carry in my bags is all I am responsible for.
Oh yeah, I sold my truck. Never again will I live in a place like California and drive a V8. $100 dollars a tank, I will not miss that!
Here are all my “Important” material items. I enjoy having each of these items, as they each have a purpose. However, I know that if they were to ever be “deleted” from my life I would be just fine.
Clothes, shoes, towel, pants, cleats, and one dress shirt (hey you never know, I might go out on a fancy date at some point!)
All I need I have, and all I have is within these bags. To be honest I could have taken much less.
I finally took some travel advice from an ex-girlfirend. Ok, you were right, taking my own pillow has been nice:)
It all really became a reality when I got dropped off at the train station to go to LA. This was it, the reality was there was no turning back!
My last night in America. I stayed at some with my close friends in Venice Beach. This was a photo I shot for an interview I did that night for witness-this.com I am interested to hear what people think of it when it comes out….
I would guess I have travelled 25km+ around the city by skateboard. Zig-zagging my way through busy streets and crowded alleys. Weaving in and out of traffic and past pedestrians, Through old neighborhoods of cobblestone past new developments of tile. I love seeing a city this way.
The whole city is filled with amazing street art. It creates an entire story as I roll through different neighborhoods.
I am not exactly sure what that story is….
It is nice to see such creativity embraced and accepted.
This is the local plaza where you can get anything a backpacker might want.
This pictures sums up a lot of Bogota for me so far. The vibrant streets are impossible to not be influenced by. I think of walking through the grey, cement-filled city of Los Angeles. This is in the Candelaria district of the city. Every little cobblestone alley tells a story with each step.
I guess I am supposed to feel safe because the city is filled with police, security guards, and army men like this guy. For some reason the army men seem to be the youngest of the bunch, yet have the biggest guns.
La Candelaria district of Bogota. A wonderful mixture of local and spanish heritage.
If you are a skateboarder like me, you tear laces on your shoes quite often. Luckily there are people dedicated to selling just laces about every five blocks. Want to upgrade your straps? A new set will cost you back about $0.50
I met the guys from skatecol.com and it is awesome to get connected with such a rad crew that knows the city well.
Felipe from OnBoard Skateshop has also been an awesome host since I have been here. On Sunday (the best day for skating because business are closed down) he invited me out to go skate with the OnBoard team.
We met up at a plaza that was filled with skaters getting their sunday skate.
Mateo Martinez – Feeble transfer
Jeankita – Front Blunt
They invited me out with them on sunday to skate with the team around the city. It was awesome, we met at a plaza near where I am staying in the Candelaria district and then went all over town to different skate spots. All these guys ride for OnBoard skateshop here in Bogota and they rip! I will post some more about their team later.
I have been staying at an awesome hostel. For $20,000 COP ($10USD) I have been staying in a dorm room since I got here.
My bunk is the one up top. I really love the sliding blinds that each person gets. It gives you a little more privacy, and keeps the light out in the morning.
The common area where I have been writing each morning with my cup of Colombian java.
Want to play guitar? Swing in a hammock? Watch a spanish film? The Masaya made my initiation to South America quite easy.
Orlando, what an amazing human. I can only use one word to describe him, Genius. Last year he was drawing with pencils and pens and a British lady bought him oil paints and canvasses. With no formal training and an imagination that creates most of what he sees he sits next to my hostel and works on his craft daily. The Hostel I am staying in just agreed to put up some of his work in their restaurant for 15 days. I helped him set up and gave him a few presents I thought he would enjoy. A new sweatshirt, a small buddha incense holder from Thailand and a picture of my cabin on Bowyer Island in Canada.
Part of the exhibition in the Masaya restaurant.
He made this piece the morning before they asked him to show his work. I know, because I sat next to him and split a sandwich as he was painting it.
Some of his paintings.
And his drawings.
I am not sure the translation, but I like his use of color.
This is the drawing I decided to take for myself. It is named “The man in agony”
Sean Michael Hayes 
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