My friend David from business school told me that I should come to visit his hometown, St. John’s Newfoundland at the height of the summer season during the six-day George Street festival. George Street is in the central part of St. John’s and houses around fifty bars, restaurants, and pubs. During the summer festival, all the venues are open, without the regular cover charges, and attendees can roam freely between them and the outside live music shows throughout the night.
Before I met David, I couldn’t even point to Newfoundland on a map, let alone have an expectation of what it was like. So of course I came for a visit — unknown destinations are my favorite, and those with a local friend who wants to show you around, are the best. David’s high school friend Glen (who now lives in Toronto) was visiting David during the George Street festival too, and the three of us made a good team for bar-hopping at night. I must admit that I was the first one to bow out each night – being unable to match their partying energy until 4 am each morning.
The history of St. John’s and Newfoundland is fascinating. From a colonial perspective, Vikings arrived there before Columbus. Battles between the settlers, French, and even Nazi submarines occurred. Newfoundland (pronounced “New Found Land,” rhyming with “understand new-found-land”) has a unique culture, distinct from surrounding regions of Canada. Owing to Irish ancestry, the local, cultural music is Irish in origin, and in some regards more authentic than contemporary, Irish music; I was told that artists from Ireland come to Newfoundland to study contemporary Irish music.
And the music is pretty cool! St. John’s was bustling during the outdoor live music concerts — everyone knew the songs being played by the local bands. It was interesting to me to see so many white people in one place. Most of the places that I visit are cities because they are easier to navigate without a car and more accessible to explore on foot or by taxi, and cities always have accessible wifi for work. Cities are also typically very diverse, with different ethnicities of people owing to the demands of different skills and professions in a centralized place. St. John’smay is a city and it is probably diverse in a lot of different ways, but I thought it was kind of cool too to see so many white people, born and raised in Newfoundland, congregated in one place. It felt like distilled culture, history, and tradition in one place. It was additionally interesting having come from Bogoá, Colombia beforehand, where I rarely saw white people day-to-day (which has never bothered me). It’s a blessing to be able to separate your identity from your ethnicity and place of origin if you please; it’s also a blessing to have an ethnicity and place of origin that augments your identity.
David was an excellent host to me while I slept in his basement bedroom. Apparently, Newfoundland hospitality is a cultural thing. I had a busy work project the second week of my visit that made me a boring houseguest. I think he was somewhat relieved though as he caught a very bad cold that had him laid out for an entire week. Nevertheless, he chauffeured me around in his really cool Ford Raptor truck (I’ve always wanted to ride in one) and even handed me the keys to take it to the gym each morning (I’ve always wanted to drive one) on other, various errands.
David, Glen, and I spent two days at David’s mother’s cabin outside of St. John’s; unfortunately, I was stuck in all-day meetings while they were riding ATVs picking blueberries, raspberries, and cloudberries (aka bakeapples in Newfoundland). By the time I was finished, so were they — but they rallied for another trip to take me along. After Glen and I got stuck a few times in the boggy mud, and we had shared many Coors Lights overlooking scenic terrain and the sun setting over the water, we headed home.
Glen continued on to Halifax, Nova Scotia, a destination that has been on my radar for four years now and was waylaid by the pandemic. Both David and Glen have assured me that it’s my type of place. I already have it penciled onto my travel itinerary. This is how I like to travel.
