Nomadic Boys

It’s All About Gay Colombia – The Nomadic Boys

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gay Colombia - The Nomadic Boys

Most people will have heard about Colombia because of the Narcos Netflix series about the drug cartels that brought the country to a standstill in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s.

The country has since undergone a massive transformation to become an incredibly safe place to visit, especially for gay travellers. We spent 4 months here during our big trip in Latin America, visiting mainly Cartagena, Medellin and the big capital city, Bogota. We discovered a very diverse country, with some of the friendliest people you’ll ever meet.

These are our 10 interesting facts about Colombia, a country which completely fascinated and captivated us.

gay Colombia - The Nomadic Boys

The Heart and Soul of Latin America

All our friends across Latin America agreed that if you want to experience the true essence of the Latin soul, then you need to visit Colombia. The Colombians love to party. Music is at the heart of everything they do, and they are good at it. Some of the most famous Latino singers are Colombian, like Shakira, Maluma, Juanes, Carlos Vives, J Balvin and many more.

The Colombians also know how to move. Everyone, male and female, all ages, will know how to bust out a few salsa, champeta and cumbia moves. Each region has its own dance specialties, usually with a large festival to celebrate it. The most famous and talked about is the salsa festivals of Cali, which starts on Christmas day.

Other popular music and dance festivals that take place in Colombia, which are worth planning your visit around includes the big carnival in Barranquilla in February/March and the Flower Festival in Medellin in August. Watch our vlog about the Flower Festival to learn more about it.

By Stefan Arestis – Full Story at The Nomadic Boys

Gay Colombia Travel Resources

The South American Top Ten – The Nomadic Boys

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South America - The Nomadic Boys

South America is a destination that will make you fall in love with life. The Latino soul is addictive, with music and dance so deeply ingrained at the heart of everything.

After our big trip in Asia, we spent a further 15 months travelling in South America and absolutely loved it. We found it an enthralling destination, with something to capture everything we love when travelling. Most countries are extremely gay friendly, with places like Bogota in Colombia having the largest club we’ve ever been – Theatron, and Sao Paolo Pride attracting over 3 million people making it the largest pride event in the world.

As foodies, we loved the culinary scene of Argentina and in Lima, Peru. For culture, indigenous traditions can be seen everywhere, particularly from the Incas in Bolivia/Peru, as well as the Maipuche Indians in Chile. And finally, for trekking adventures, Patagonia is a must. These are our 10 favourite highlights from South America following our big trip there in 2016/2017.

#1 The Galapagos Islands (Ecuador)

The Galapagos are an archipelago of volcanic islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, around 600 miles (1,000km) from Ecuador’s coast. This is one of the few places in the world where you can get so close to wildlife. There’s also a rich underwater world to discover – we saw sharks, rays, turtles and many tropical fish each time we went snorkelling.

The islands here also have some very dramatic landscapes, which are crying out for a space in your Instagram gallery. We loved the Galapagos Islands so much, we visited twice during our big South America trip. Check out our video from our trip here:

#2 Trekking the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu (Peru)

For us our Inca Trail to Machu Picchu was a definite highlight of South America. It’s a tough 4 days trek through the Sacred Valley, reaching altitudes of up to 4,215m (13,828 ft).

The Inca Trail is one of the most famous treks in the world. It is 27 miles (44km) long, and was initially part of a highly advanced network of around 40,000 trails built by the Incas to connect the distant corners of their kingdom. It also had religious and ceremonial importance to the Incas as it was part of their route of pilgrimage to Machu Picchu.

The real highlight of course is on the final day when you finally reach Machu Picchu.

By Stefan Arestis – Full Story at the Nomadic Boys

South America Gay Travel Resources

Madame Tussauds London: Take a Selfie With These Gay Icons -Nomadic Boys

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Madame Tussauds London - The Nomadic Boys

“OH MY GOD Stefan are we really going to see BEYONCE and BRITNEY and MADONNA and LADY GAGA and RIHANNA..and and THE Queen?”

We were so excited to visit the Madame Tussauds waxwork museum in London, a place where some of the most famous gay icons in the world have been immortalised as wax sculptures.

Following our visit to this iconic museum in Baker Street, we’ve put together our top 10 gay icons at Madame Tussauds you need to get your selfie with.

TRAVELLER TIP: this is one of London’s top tourist attractions so it’s always super busy with huge queues. We therefore strongly recommend going early in the day on weekdays to avoid the crowds and to book your time slot in advance to minimise waiting time. We used PlacePass who also do a bunch of other super cool tours in and around London.

By Stefan Arestis – Full Story at The Nomadic Boys

London Gay Travel Resources

Famous Colombian Foods – The Nomadic Boys

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Famous Colombian Foods

Colombia has a rich and diverse cuisine with a strong influence from the highlands as well as the Caribbean.

During our trip in Colombia, we spent the majority of our time split between the tropical coast in Cartagena, the Eternal Spring city of Medellin, and in the cooler highlands climate of Bogota. Each serves up its own unique dish, from the coconut inspired dishes from the coast, to the rich homely soups from the cooler regions.

These are our 10 favourite drinks and foods from Colombia you need to try.

Bandeja Paisa: the Colombian heart attack

The bandeja paisa is the signature dish of Medellin and the surrounding Antioquia region. People from this area are referred to as paisas, and bandeja means a tray in Spanish. The bandeja paisa is a large plate with a hearty mix of rice, ground beef, red beans, chicharron (pork rinds), chorizo, morcilla (blood sausage), fried egg, avocado, arepas and plantains.

Phew!

And all that’s just 1 person! The origins of this highly calorific meal comes from the days when the peasant field workers would consume it to provide them with a full day’s worth of energy and nourishment to keep them going throughout the entire day. One thing’s for sure, after devouring an entire bandeja paisa, you won’t feel like eating else for the rest of the day.

Gay Colombia: Interview With Jesus From Barranquilla – Nomadic Boys

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Gay Colombia

Despite its sordid history with the drugs cartels, Colombia has undergone a huge transformation to not only become one of the most gay friendly countries in Latin America, but in the world.

Catholicism is still strong here and society largely conservative, but despite this, same sex marriage was legalised in April 2016, with the first gay wedding taking place in Cali on 24 May 2016. In addition, Congress passed a law banning discrimination on sexual orientation in 2011, adoption was legalised in 2012 and the right to change legal gender has been in place since 1993.

Bogota and Medellin each have a thriving fun gay neighbourhood, especially Chapinero in Bogota where you can find the mega-club Theatron – the largest gay club in Latin America. As a gay couple travelling in Colombia, we were so pleasantly surprised by how gay friendly Colombia is. We felt extremely welcome and never had any problems anywhere.

In Cartagena, we met Jesus, who is an artist and a guide, who told us more about his gay life in Colombia and what it’s like growing up by the coast in Barranquilla.

By Stefan Arestis – Full Story at the Nomadic Boys

Colombia Gay Travel Resources

Five Things About Gay Montreal – The Nomadic Boys

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Gay Montreal - Nomadic Boys

“Diversity is the engine of invention. It generates creativity that enriches the world”

…spoken by one of Montreal’s most famous (straight) residents, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who led the gay parade when the city was hosting Canada’s first nationwide Fierte Pride.

Canada has always been at the forefront of LGBT rights, being one of the first countries to legalise gay marriages and with one of the most progressive transgender laws in the world. Gay Montreal, in particular, has always been a bedrock of acceptance and cultural diversity, to the point where it has developed the largest gay village in North America, and hosts many gay events throughout the year. Here are our 5 interesting gay facts about Montreal, celebrating its evolution as a haven for the LGBTQ community in North America.

Le Village Gai: Montreal’s huge gaybourhood

Montreal’s gaybourhood, otherwise known as Le Village Gai or just The Village is famous for being the largest gay neighbourhood in North America. It’s literally an entire district of the city, officially recognised in tourist city maps and searchable in social media location tags.

This is the heart of the city’s LGBTQ community, based along the mile long Saint Catherine street, bordered by St Hubert Street to the west, De Lorimier Avenue to the east, Sherbrooke Street to the north and René Lévesque Boulevard to the south.

The Gay Village dates back to the 1980s when it used to be a poor working-class neighbourhood. It was first occupied by gay and lesbian businesses after they were forced out from downtown Montreal. Over the years, the area gentrified massively to become the pink bubble of fun it is today.

During May-September, St Catherine Street is closed to cars, allowing the cafes, bars and restaurants to spill out onto the pavements to create outdoor terraces, giving the village the exciting buzzy atmosphere we love about it. It also has a rainbow crossing to mark its starting point. You can read more in our gay guide to Montreal.

By Stefan Arestis – Full Story at the Nomadic Boys

Gay Montreal Travel Resources

The TraveLibro App – Nomadic Boys

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TraveLibro App - Nomadic Boys

Montreal gay Pride was simply incredible! We had such an amazing time and it was definitely one of the best gay pride festivals we’ve ever been to. We met Nelly Furtado, hung out with a few of the Ru Paul drag queen superstars and saw the handsome Canadian Disney Prince, Justin Trudeau, as he led the parade.

We had a whole bunch of selfies, video clips, recommendations, reviews and more, which we uploaded and recorded all in one place in the TraveLibro app and can now re-live it all again whenever we want. This is one of the reasons we love TraveLibro and highly recommend it as a way to document all your favourite travel memories.

A complete timeline of your trip

If like us you’re of the generation that recalls those old fashioned film cameras, you’ll no doubt have experienced the excitement of developing your travel photos, then collating and organising them into a photo album for future admiration.

Things have evolved a lot since, and today we do this all online via Facebook and Instagram, but after several hours, most of your social media posts are lost within the newsfeed. There is no place where you can put everything in one place to re-live all the different online memories in a way which we did over 10 years ago.

By Stefan Arestis – Full Story at the Nomadic Boys

Five Hilights of the Yangon in Myanmar – Nomadic Boys

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Yangon in Myanmar

Yangon Myanmar is a very cool city. Whilst it has a modern face with trendy bars and fancy restaurants, it has also retained its colonial charm with some of the best preserved buildings from the days of the British Empire. The tea house culture has held strong and let’s of course not forget the standout highlight, the stunning Shwedagon Pagoda.

Yangon used to be the official capital city of Myanmar until 2006 when the government officially proclaimed the newly built city of Nay Pyi Daw as the new capital. Yangon nonetheless remains the cultural and commercial heart of the country as Nay Pyi Daw struggles to attract a similar atmosphere.

These are our 5 favourite not-to-miss highlights in Yangon, which we think every traveller should have at the top of their Myanmar bucket list.

Connecting with Buddha at the Shwedagon Pagoda

The Shwedagon Pagoda is a marvel to behold. It is the main iconic site in Yangon you can’t miss. The main gold-plated dome is so impressive, it will take your breath away. It is topped by a stupa containing over 7,000 diamonds, rubies, emeralds and sapphires.

At 99m (325ft) tall, the Shwedagon Pagoda is Myanmar’s largest temple, and as such, it dominates the Yangon city skyline. It also considered the most sacred temple of the country because it is believed to contain relics of the 4 previous Buddhas.

We visited in the evening around sunset and loved the ambience. It attracts a large number of visitors, both tourists and locals who come to worship. But despite the large numbers, there is a strong feeling of peace and tranquility here, which we did not feel in other temples we visited in our travels across Southeast Asia.

By Stefan Arestis – Full Story at the Nomadic Boys

Myanmar Gay Travel Resources

RECIPE: Colombian Limonada di Coco – Nomadic Boys

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Limonada di Coco

Colombian limonada de coco is a popular drink throughout Colombia which we loved and ordered with every meal when eating out.

It’s a lime/coconut smoothie, which is particularly popular by the coastal Caribbean region in places like Cartagena and Barranquilla. Our recipe for Colombian limonada de coco is extremely simple to make, using only 4 ingredients and a blender. This serves around 3-4 people.

Ingredients for Colombian limonada de coco

400ml (1 can) of coconut milk
3 limes, squeezed for the juice
4 tablespoons of sugar
14 ice cubes

By Stefan Arestis – Full Story at the Nomadic Boys

Colombia Gay Travel Resources

Montreal Gay Bars & Hotels – Nomadic Boys

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Montreal gay bars

Montreal has one of the biggest gay villages in the world. It’s literally an entire neighbourhood, officially recognised in city maps and social media tags.

And it’s got balls. Lots and lots of balls!

Seriously – each year, between May-September, Le Village Gai has a large display of around 200,000 pink balls hanging down across the main street, the mile long Rue Sainte-Catherine.

This is also the heart of the gay scene of Montreal, with plenty of bars, clubs, after hours clubs, saunas, strip bars, cafes and more, to suit everyone. This is our gay guide to Montreal featuring the best bars, clubs, hotels and things to do, following our visit during the Fierte Canada Pride in August 2017.

Gay bars and clubs in Montreal (open till 3am)

There are many gay bars in the Gay Village of Montreal. We recommend to just head there and see where the night takes you – there’s always something happening every single night of the week.

Note that in Montreal, there’s a blur between what is a bar/club. Most are both and are open until 3am due to the licensing laws. After 3am, people head to “after hours” clubs. These are a few of our favourite gay bars/clubs in Montreal, which close by 3am, unless otherwise stated:

By Stefan Arestis – Full Story at the Nomadic Boys

Montreal Gay Travel Resources