Category: Blog

Colombia’s Caribbean to Canadian Forests

by canadianhayes, posted in Blog

Each morning I would wake up with the sun and work on my writing until mid-day.  When I was staying in Bogota I would explore the the city on my skateboard when I was done writing.  I found a really great book store in the city but my time in the country living on a farm was the most productive and inspired of my whole trip.

My morning work station on a small farm outside Bogota

When I was in Medellin I rented an apartment right next to a skatepark and when I was done working each day I would go meet up with friends and skate.  Except for the times I was meeting up with cute Colombiana’s which was always fun.

Interview with the ColombianCuties
Interview with the ColombianCuties.

It was great fortune which led me to La Tortuga, a hostel in Taganga, a small fishing village on Colombia’s Caribbean coast.  The owner found something about my trip on social media and sent me a message asking if I wanted to stay for free and run the bar in her hostel.  I thought it sounded like a fun opportunity and I had heard interesting things about the town..

Bartending at La Tortuga hostel, in Taganga Colombia.

There were two things I wrote in my notebook on my way $40 flight from Medellin to Taganga.  One of them was I wanted to fish like Hemingway in the Caribbean, and the other was to bartend like Tom Cruise in Cocktail.  I loved Taganga so much that I stayed for the rest of my trip.  I made lifelong friends and without question can cross those goals off in my book.  I am grateful to everyone I met in that wild town and I hope to be back soon.

Fishing in the Caribbean a la Hemingway.
Fishing in the Caribbean a la Hemingway.

The worst part of my trip was having my computer stolen the day I arrived in Taganga.  It wasn’t anyone at the hostel, I think somehow the Taxi driver got it on my way from the airport.  How I will never know.  Needless to say, it brought the progress on my books to a halt.  The silver lining was the time it left me to practice my writing and create more original content.  I have many notebooks filled with short stories, poems, songs and all kinds of random observations but the main thing is that I truly think my writing improved.

La Tortuga bar during a World Cup game.
La Tortuga bar during a World Cup game.

Now I am back in my hometown of Vancouver, Canada.  I have a new computer and I am back to my books and working on them each morning.  It is a slow process but I am completing everything I set out to do.  Everything is pushed back a little bit, but I am closer to the end now than ever.

Flipping into waterfalls in Minca.
Flipping into waterfalls in Minca, a small town in the mountains an hour from the coast.

If you were one of the people that pledged for my Kickstarter campaign first I will say thank you again.  I want to reassure you that all rewards will be coming as soon as they are ready.  Please consider this just a normal artistic delay and know that I am forever grateful for all the support.

I will be publishing some of the short stories I wrote in Colombia on Canadianhayes.com   Click the follow button at the top of the screen to get an email alert when the first one comes out this Friday.

ColombianCuties

Meeting Cute Colombian Girls in the Streets of Medellin

by canadianhayes, posted in Blog
ColombianCuties
ColombianCuties

When I arrived in Medellin I connected online with three cute Colombian girls. ColombianCuties had started following my site CanadianHayes.com and asked me if I wanted to up for an interview. It was out of the ordinary, but I followed like a real journalist following a lead. We met in Parque Lleras, which I’ve been told is the place to meet beautiful girls in the posh Poblado neighborhood of Medellin. Every person in Bogota said the same thing when I asked them where I should go after I lived on a farm.  Medellin: The weather is beautiful and the woman are hot.  Or was it; The weather is hot and the woman are beautiful?

Interview with the ColombianCuties
Interview with the ColombianCuties

Despite all I’d heard, I wanted to see for myself if Medellin, the plastic surgery capital of the world, was truthfully filled with beautiful woman.  Were they phony, materialistic, fakes? Or were the rumors true, was Medellin filled with real beauties? I mostly spoke with Bella, she understood English the best of the group and I was still learning Spanish.  Sitting between Kandy and Angela the three girls presented a unified front, but Bella was clearly the leader.  She looked at me with a mischievous smile when I asked her how someone becomes a ColombianCutie.  

“To be honest, most Colombian girls are cuties, so pretty much any of them can be a ColombianCutie!  We just want to make sure we have good people surrounding us who not only want to receive, but also want to give back.”

Kandy and Anglea taking photo's in Parque Lleras
Kandy and Anglea taking photo’s in Parque Lleras

They plan to transition to a paid membership site once their audience is larger.  I point out the potential for their site to be quite lucrative and Bella is quick to tell me their plans to work with charities.  They plan to support orphanages around the city.  “To sum it up; ColombianCuties is fun, its charity, it’s growing up, it’s being who we are…That is ColombianCuties.” Beside being cute girls from Medellin I asked them what other goals they had.  I was impressed to learn that Bella and Kandy are both in College, studying math and communications, respectably.

Bella & Kandy
Bella & Kandy

But Angela?  Well she’s still in High school! That’s jailbait for anyone who’s paying attention.

Angela
Angela

What kind of people follow the ColombianCuties?  Bella explained; “Our followers are from all over the world, especially the United States, there are a lot of strange guys, there are a lot of good guys. There are all kinds of people.  Even though there are some strange people,  it is not a problem, we are ok.” Bella looked to both girls to confirm this last statement.  I decided to see what she meant by “Strange guys.” First I came across Marvin Simpkins Sr, an ordained minister from Tennessee.  He thought  “Whee fun time!” was an appropriate comment to leave on this picture of a bikini-clad Bella.

Nice Bikini eh!
Nice Bikini eh!
Creepy old man - And he's a minister!
Creepy old man – And he’s a minister!

I wouldn’t necessarily argue with Marvin, She does wear it well but come on buddy, you’re a minister for God’s sake! Then there’s Comedian Bernard Smith IV of Grand Rapids, Michigan.  When I clicked on his Facebook page the first thing I saw was a picture of him and his young nephew.  Set a good example Bernard, I doubt your family would think it’s funny when you say things like;

“Candy, I would like you to come over so I can get a better look!”

Kandy
Kandy
Creeper!
Creeper!

  Bella had the following advice for aspiring ColombianCuties.  “She needs to be prepared.  She needs to study hard, she needs to learn English because that is very important.  She needs to be very healthy, and also go to the gym.  She needs to be ready.”  Ready for what I ask…?

“Ready for opportunity.”

Three cute Colombian girls trying out my skateboard.
Three cute Colombian girls trying out my skateboard.

I like Bella.  She’s got a great attitude, she’s intelligent, she talks passionately about what she is doing and that made her even prettier in person.  In the end, what I learned from our conversation is that it doesn’t matter how hot the women are in Medellin. There are hot woman all over the world.  A woman like Bella is Beautiful for many reasons, her looks were just one of them.

CLICK HERE TO GET AN EXCLUSIVE UPDATE

Oh wait, there was one question I forgot to ask… “Bella, te gustaría ir a cenar conmigo?”

SIGN UP NOW

Where the Finca you been?

by canadianhayes, posted in Blog

My first 3 weeks in Colombia I was in the capital city of Bogota.  I needed some peace and a break from the city life.

The view from my office.
The view from my office.

A close friend I’ve made gave me the opportunity to go to her farm, or “finca” as they call them here.  I stayed for a week on my own, spending my days working on my writing and exploring the countryside by horseback and on foot with my canine friend Lucho.

A special thank you to my amazing neighbors; Luis, Mary Yibe, Alejandro, Lorena, and of course Lezlie and Brenda for the opportunity.  Your generous invitation was hugely helpful in my creative process and an experience I won’t soon forget.  Click the images below to see more.

In every real man a child is hidden that wants to play
Friedrich Nietzsche

Goooooooood Morning Colombia!
Goooooooood Morning Colombia!
My morning work station on a small farm outside Bogota
Getting the horses ready for a ride.
Getting the horses ready for a ride.
A majestic afternoon ride in the hills of San George, Colombia
A majestic afternoon ride in the hills of San George, Colombia
What an ass! Just taking a sunday stroll.
What an ass! Just taking a sunday stroll.
Colombia's National Sport, Tejo!
Colombia’s National Sport, Tejo!
Buena Vista
Buena Vista
"A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than you love yourself." Josh Billings
“A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than you love yourself.” Josh Billings
"The average dog is a nicer person than the average person." Andy Rooney
“The average dog is a nicer person than the average person.” Andy Rooney
The little bug just wanted to come cuddle with us.
The little bug just wanted to come cuddle with us.
One afternoon I went and sat under this tree and read "The Apology" by Plato...It was a more satisfying few hours of entertainment than any cinema has ever provided me thats for sure!
One afternoon I went and sat under this tree and read “The Apology” by Plato…It was a more satisfying few hours of entertainment than any cinema has ever provided me thats for sure!

What do Tom Clancy, a Nobel prize winner and a bookstore in Bogota have in common?

by canadianhayes, posted in Blog

Authors BookstoreDeciding which books to bring is a difficult decision for every backpacker.  Knowing there will be times they’re your only source of entertainment means literally weighing the pro’s and cons of each book you pack.  Ebooks do make it easier, but nothing beats a real book.  That’s how I connected online with Steve Bieber,  the owner of Authors Bookstore in Bogota, Colombia.  I asked him the question; Which book would you bring on a backpacking adventure? His answer was Tom Clancy’s first novel “The Hunt for Red October.”  It was published by the Naval Institute Press, a tiny publisher in Annapolis, Maryland where Steve is from.  He loves the tight editing style, length, and of course the suspenseful story.  After a few more 140-character exchanges on Twitter I told him I would stop by when I arrived in Bogota.

My first week here I went to find Steve at Authors but unfortunately he wasn’t there.  However I did learn that the entire staff speaks english, and they recommended I go to the Gabriel García Márquezso exhibit at the “Biblioteca García Márquez.”  Not only is he an iconic Colombian author, but he’s also the only Colombian to ever win the Nobel prize.

Steve Bieber

A couple weeks later I went back and Steve gladly accepted my invitation to talk about his English language bookstore in the heart of this Spanish-speaking metropolis.  Before sitting dow he invited me to diletto, the small cafe next door, for an amazing cup of Colombian coffee.  Back in the bookstore he started by telling me how 8 years ago, when he opened the store, his business plan was to have 80 percent of his customers be foreigners and 20 percent Colombian.  Instead the opposite has happened,  80 percent of his business comes from local Colombians while foreigners make up the small remainder.  The state department has also been putting more money into bilingual programs and that means more children are learning English.  In many cases parents come to buy books even though they don’t speak English themselves but want to support their children’s education.

Another reason people are buying so many English books here in Bogota is because the country is much safer now.  People feel more protected and secure than they did in the past and because of that many Colombians that were living abroad are now returning to the country.  They usually have more disposable income and a higher level of education, now that they have returned to Bogota they want to read the classics in English, or they want to read the new Dan Brown novel in it’s original language, or they just want to buy the latest magazine from America.

IMG_0213

Bieber says he wants Authors to be a gathering place, a community centre for foreigners who are also looking for a bookstore.  They often host events at the store but the next big thing the Authors team is looking forward to is the Colombian Book Fair.  It is held from April 30th to May 12th each year in Bogota and is the largest book fair in South America.  It brings publishers, distributors, booksellers, writers, and other related professionals from all over the world.  There will be thousands of unique exhibits, so if you’re a reading/writing enthusiast like myself be sure to check it out, and if you are in Bogota drop in and say hello to Steve Bieber at the Authors Bookstore.

Adult section, Children's section

Address: Calle 70 # 5-23 Bogotá

Store Hours:
Monday thru Saturday
10:00 a.m. — 8:00 p.m.

Sunday & Holidays
10:00 a.m. — 6:00 p.m.

Contact: info@authors.com.co

My Last Look at Bogota

by canadianhayes, posted in Blog

Click on any image below to see my photo journal from my third week in Bogota.

I banged my knee the day before and couldn’t really skate this day. So I practiced making my board levitate with my mind…
One of the best parts about sunday’s here is when they close the main streets to cars. The entire place is quiet, and you can hear people speaking and laughing. If only every day was Domingo!
This was just one of those moments where I am walking through the city and it is an automatic reaction to just take a picture. The juxtaposition between the bum passed out from Saturday night and the nuns walking at midday on Sunday made me chuckle.
At calle 23 y 15 there is a pretty awesome plaza where all the skaters meet up on Sunday. I met the OnBoard team there and went skating with them. This time we stayed downtown and it was awesome just be in a big city and skate around without any hassles for cops or security guards.
This has always been one of my favorite tricks. Especially when you pop out in the middle.
If your memories from when you grew up skating don’t include shoes like this, then you just don’t get it. This is Skateboarding, this is Bogota.
Just warming up at the spot. The street art continues to impress me.
John has a pretty bad heel bruise so he couldn’t really skate too hard, but it’s hard not to just want to throw down some sort of trick when the session is heated!
Sitting with the crew watching the film session go down. As a Canadian skater the rough ground doesn’t really bother me at all, but I could see how some of the softer California skate pro’s might have a hard time here.
This was the best place to wake up to, get a coffee, and write. That was until the construction next door began 12 hour shifts using a jackhammer. Unfortunately, this is part of the reason I must move on. I really did love it here.
And we are laughing because describing how you want your haircut in a foreign language is pretty damn funny. She did a great job for $4 though!