Luis Calle still remembers the excitement of his first pigeon.
He was seven years old, living in Matanzas, Cuba, a city where thousands of racing pigeons fly through the sky. “So beautiful,” Calle remembers. He had to save up until he had the three pesos he needed to buy a bird.
It was a transformational moment.
“This is my life,” he recalls thinking. “This is my passion — my bird.”
Now 56, Calle is one of the youngest members of Ottawa’s pigeon racing community. His birds compete internationally, winning him thousands. He holds up a diagram of his finest avian athlete, Victory Andy.
“This is my champion,” he said.
Luis Calle
