Alex Cuba's small town hideaway offers 'good coffee, good talks and good laughs'
Juno-award winning singer visits Mountain Eagle Books daily when home from touring
This week's edition of My B.C. Hideaway comes with a warning: readers contemplating visiting this location may not ever want to make their way back home.
That's according to Juno award-winning singer Alex Cuba, who has been living in the small community of Smithers, B.C., since 2003.
The town of about 6,000 people is often a stop for travellers returning from a visit to Alaska.
"But they see the valley, and they fall in love with it," said Cuba, whose real name is Alex Puentes.
He is originally from a town near Havana, Cuba. He moved to Smithers after his wife, Sarah, gave birth to their second child so they could be closer to her family for support while he's out on tour.
It was around that time he started to visit what he calls his favourite spot in B.C.: Mountain Eagle Books.
"It's like a hippy store.... They have great coffee, and great people go there," he said.
"I find myself going back there more and more every time I'm back in Smithers from the road."
In fact, Cuba says he enjoys it so much he sometimes goes there every day when he's home from touring.
The small business sells used books and various handmade goods, and boasts a small café offering what Cuba calls "good coffee, good talks and good laughs."
"I would describe it as a time capsule — somehow time stops when you go there, and you just talk."
"That's the cool thing about that place, it's not about the view — it's about people talking and telling their stories."
Cuba says the bookstore attracts a ragtag group of artists from diverse backgrounds that sometimes leave him feeling like his own afro is a little too clean-cut.
"And we all seem to like that place somehow," he said.
He first started going there after meeting Janet Walford, who runs the store, at a festival he was playing in Smithers.
"She really likes music. She's a huge supporter of music in town," Cuba said.
Walford offered to sell his CDs and told Cuba about her store.
"This town has hugged me and opened its arms to me, so I'm comfortable everywhere here in Smithers, it's a beautiful place," he said.