Canadiana Backpackers Blog

A little over a year-and-a–half ago we met Evert, a young and ambitious lad from South Africa. At the time he worked two jobs (day and night) living on as little as three hours of sleep a night.

He’d likely still be doing it had a Doctor not insisted he give up one of the jobs. So he kept his day job and works part time in the evenings at the hostel’s reception.

He was joined here in Canada by his older brother Wouter (whom, by the way, now also works for us). That left the third younger brother (Hans) back n South Africa.

Hans arrived yesterday. All three brothers have now moved to Canada.

Wouter, Evert and Hans are Boers who are South Africans of (mostly) Dutch ancestry who can trace their African roots back as much as fifteen generations.

As a people the Boers (also called Afrikaners) are known to be industrious, self-reliant, tenacious and stubborn as hell!
Throughout their entire history they have had an almost mystical attachment to the land of Southern Africa.

So it is a bit odd to see the three of them uproot and move clear across the globe to a new land. It is appening a lot these days and it does not bode well for South Africa. In spite of past injustices (such as Apartheid) the Boers are true sons of Africa and seeing so any of them leaving their “home” is a harbinger of hard times ahead for Southern Africa.

Luckily the three brothers have the option of living in Canada as their mother had the good fortune of being born here although she moved to south Africa as an infant. By virtue of their mother’s birthplace, the brothers can claim Canadian citizenship.

We welcome Hans to Canada and we have no doubts that he will do as well here as his older siblings.

We call him Francois and he’s a bit of a bear. He hangs around our reception desk 24/7. He’s short, fat and very heavy! He is also misnamed.

He’s actually the hostel’s mascot. We found him up in the Muskoka area last year and brought him to the city. Francois is a carved wooden bear cut from a solid log and shaped with a chainsaw.

Some of the hostel’s residents felt he should have a name and identity so they christened him “Francois”. We even issued him with his own staff I.D. card.

When it came to his surname they called him Le Lapin, thinking it meant “Bear” in French. It actually means “Rabbit” but he was named by an Australian - so why bother arguing the point?

Anyhow, after a year of hanging around reception, some of the guests figured it was time for his first birthday party! They smuggled him out of the hostel to the local pubs where he was readily admitted - his lack of photo I.D. notwithstanding.

He had a great birthday bash at “Hooters Bar” and at our local pub “The Fox and Fiddle”.

Happy Birthday Francois!

Simon (the Maori from Oz) carrying Francois out to a pub crawl for his birthday.

The hostel gang with Francois at “Hooter’s” Bar.

Outside of the Fox and Fiddle, he hostel’s “local”.

This summer, we took some candid snapshots around the hostel to illustrate some of the guests and antics that take place in and around the city.

The photo above right are just two of the many lovely travelers that fill our hostel every day.
Above left, is Wouter from the Netherlands on an outing close to the city trying his hand at Kayaking.

Left: A typical evening gathering on our back patio.

Right: The always smiling Diana (from Germany) trying to convince others to do likewise!

Ingo, Jonas and Rene, from Germany.
Jo and from the U.K.

Diana, still trying to make everybody smile!

Blond haired Viking Chess Whiz, Per (from Norway) with a new friend from the U.K

Merle from Germany and Anna from Brazil.

A group from the Emerald Isles.

Ingo and Jodi make alovely couple!

As do Rene and Anna.

Left: A group of visitors from East and West.

Right: Our very own Ya Fan at reception.

Three blond beauties from England (left) and Scotland (right).

We go on and on about all the free events the city of Toronto holds each summer to encourage tourism. From Music Festivals in every genre to Food Fairs in ethnic neighborhoods.

One of the highlights of the season began today at the St Lawrence Market District. It is the annual Street Buskerfest that will attract about a half million visitors!

The market district s located along Front Street between Church and Jarvis Streets adjacent to the historic St. Lawrence Market.

This year, there will be over 40 acts from around the world performing on eight stages and admission is by donation to support Epilepsy Toronto.

The performances are an eclectic display of unique street performances the likes of which you likely have never seen before.

This year acts from Canada, the US., England, Netherlands, Australia, Hungary, Sweden, Argentina and Japan are in attendance.

Full information can be found at: www.torontobuskerfestcom. The festival continues until Sunday.

This is an add-on to the previous entry (MacGyver’s Birthday). As mentioned we usually retire to a local pub/eatery for drinks and food on staff birthdays.

Since Sandra (a.k.a. Ms MacGyver) is the hostel manager, we thought we’d do something a little different.

We’ve got a hostel resident named “Doughy” from the Emerald Island and he has with us for sometime on a working/holiday visa. Doughy is a professional chef in an upscale restaurant on King Street less tan two blocks from the hostel.

As I said, Doughy is a chef n a fine-dining establishment; however, he is no gourmet himself. He seems able to survive on street-vendor hotdogs and McDonald’s. Fortunately, this is not an indicator of his culinary abilities.

So we got Doughy to whip up a special dish for Sandra’s party. He made a (huge) traditional Steak and Mushroom Pie! It had a flakey crust and beef you could cut with a fork! Absolutely delicious as you might expect coming from a professional chef!

We don’t know what we’ve started because it’s going to be a tough act to follow for the next birthday!

Happy Birthday Sandra! And nicely done, Doughy!

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The hostel’s manager Sandra ust had another birthday. I won’t tell you how many but you might recall ’60s Yippie jerry Rubin’s famous quote ‘…never trust anybody over…etc., etc.

We call her Ms. MacGyver because she can fix almost anything n the sot and actually has a neat little Swiss Army Knife to effect minor (and sometimes major) repairs.

When a staff member at the hostel has a birthday, we usually celebrate it with a dinner and drinks at a local eatery. The entire staff retired to the Fox and Fiddle (a.k.a “The Pox and Piddle”) Pub and monopolized their front patio for pitchers of beer.

Sandra keeps the hostel running smoothly and a lot f tat is due to her impeccable timing. She even managed to arrange that her birthday fell on a Monday when the “Pox” has a $10 per pitcher (3 pints) special on beer and half-priced chicken wings!

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Sandra (middle right) et al at the Fox and Fiddle

Toronto has opened the 129th edition of the Canadian National Exhibition or the “The Ex” for short.

The 18-day fair is one of the biggest events of or summer and ranks as one of the largest annual exhibition grounds in the world with eight permanent buildings designated ‘Heritage Sites” on 192 acres of land right in downtown Toronto on the city’s waterfront.

It begins in mid-August and runs until Labour Day Weekend (the first weekend in September). To most Toronto of school-aged children, the ‘Ex” marks the end of summer because it coincides with the start of the school year.

On the grounds are exhibits of Canadian products from manufacturing to agriculture. There are also two ‘midways’ featuring over 50 amusement rides and 80 game booths.

There are also nightly shows which over the years have featured world-class performers such as Bob Hope, Red Skelton, Bill Cosby, Liza Minneli, Frank Sinatra etc. etc.

To me, the real highlight of the show is the Air Show that takes place over the Labour Day Weekend and I encourage every hostel guest to check it out. The air show is the the world’s largest ‘over water” air display. it features precision aerobatics with the latest generation of jets as well as vintage aircraft.

The CANADIAN NATIONAL EXHIBITION. Don’t miss it!

The Princess Gates of the C.N.E.

The “EX” at night along the Lakeshore Blvd.

As we ave often mentioned, we ave daily/nightly “events” for backpackers at our Toronto hostel.

We organize a “pub crawl” every Saturday night and try to it as many interesting pubs in the neighborhood as possible.

We have developed a new twist on this idea and from time-to-time we hold a “Pub Crawl Nine-Hole Golf Tournament”.

Most (if not all) Pubs today have a games section. These range from Pool Tables to Punching Bags; include Dart and Shuffle Boards and Even the old standby pin-ball machines.

Our latest tournament was last Saturday when we had about 20 guests sign up for the games. There is, however, a request that participants dress up as “duffers” before going out on the crawl.

One of the newer and very popular pub games is ‘virtual golf” where you can drive, chip and putt the ball on a simulated screen until you sink it in the hole. almost every big pub in our neighborhood has one of these games. So the group plays one hole in each of nine pubs1 That’s, at least nine drinks, in nine different pubs!

How does a golfer dress you might ask? Well just check the photo below of last Saturdays participants. And join us on our next “hostel event”.

Lovely Maria is back at the hostel! Every season we have the singular pleasure of welcoming back old friends to the hostel.

This week Maria as returned to Toronto for only a few days on vacation with her parents. She was so excited to show them the city she got to know so well las year while on an extended working-holiday.

She became such a presence at the hostel that we can no longer go past the restaurant on Queen Street where they make crepes in the window without thinking of her. She used to work there and she’s quite an expert at it!

Her parents are staying at the Royal York Hotel. It’s a Toronto institution built in the early days of the 20th century and is one of the few hotels in the city that aspires to Five-Star status!

But loyal Maria would not have any art of it! She’s a Canadiana girl! Wanting no part of the pretentious Royal York she booked into our humble backpackers and was thrilled to get her old room #10 and her old bed too!

Well done Maria. But, after all, when you visit your old home, where else would you stay except at home!

I’ve been asked the same question many times by so many backpackers. “What is there to do in Ontario that is uniquely Canadian?”

Glad you asked. Now listen up here is the answer!

To begin with, this “experience” is absolutely uniquely Canadian! But it is reserved for those who have a sense of adventure.

Canada is a vast nation stretching six-and-a-half time zones east to west. It is also a giant waterway connected by a series of rivers and lakes that cover the entire country.

The precise number of lakes in Canada is not known but it is well in excess of 3 million! In some areas there are more than 30 lakes for every 100 square kilometers!

The result of such a wondrous gift of nature is an enormous network of navigable waterways that made it possible to explore this vast land centuries ago, using traditional native Canoes.

Pow Wow Wilderness Trips arranges for our backpacking guests the opportunity to canoe some pristine lakes in Ontario’s Algonquin Park and experience the “portage” from lake to lake in a real adventure quest! This is exactly how our great nation was explored!

Six brave souls from Ireland just returned from a Pow Wow Algonquin Wilderness Trip and have thoughtfully shared a few photos and their comments with us.

You can book a Pow Wow Tour through our front desk. There are a lot of sightseeing adventures available in Canada. And from past guests, a Pow Wow Trip is most often described as “Unforgettable!”

(see: www.powwowwildernesstrips.com for more information then contact our front desk for bookings.)