Une Canadienne Errante

Heading out East!

2008-05-15T23:17:00.003-05:00

Here I go on another impromptu adventure!

With my boss on vacation next week, I'm taking my "optional" vacation and have decided to do something off the beaten trail...I'm going Wwoofing in Quebec! Probably most of you haven't heard of the term, Wwoofing stands for "Willing Workers on Organic Farms" or "World Wide Orientation on Organic Farms", basically the idea is that you go, and in exchange for free room and board, you help out with farm stuff for about 6 hours per day.

I'm pretty darn excited, but nervous too - first off I've never done anything of this sort before, and second, it'll all be done in French! I've definitely set myself up for a challenge.

I'm leaving tomorrow, as usual though I'm not quite packed. I'm pretty sure I have a packing deficiency, where no matter what time I have, I always have to pack late at night on the day before I'm supposed to go. Still, I'm amazed at how much I've been able to fit into my backpack - a sleeping bag and a blanket on top of clothes for 10 days, and of course, quite a few books! I'm looking forward to getting away from the computer for a while, but I will be taking lots of pictures and I've got a paper journal with me so I'll be able to make a full report later. In the mean time, you could check out the blog of my hosts and look at all the pretty pictures of the farm in the archives!

I'll be hitching a ride with David and Adam to Ottawa tomorrow, and then tomorrow night I'll meet my host and he'll drive me the rest of the way. Then a week on the farm, and the weekend with Judy in Montreal before heading home.

A plus tot!

Mexico, check! ;)

2007-10-08T17:32:00.000-05:00

I'm rather sad that I have no cause to post real travel entries for the coming months, but nonetheless happy to have an excuse to post something here!

The money I loaned to a group of small business owners in the Dominican Republic was repayed on schedule, and since there weren't any posted businesses in need for the Dominican, I moved it into Mexico ;) It's now helping a group of women increase stock in their small grocery stores. $25 can sure get around!

I'm always plugging Kiva in real life, so here's a little more information on what is, in my humble opinion, the best thing on the web!

Kiva.org allows individuals to make $25 loans to low-income entrepreneurs in the developing world (microfinance). By doing so, individuals like you provide affordable working capital for the poor (money to buy a sewing machine, livestock, etc.), empowering them to earn their way out of poverty.

Photos!

2007-05-07T19:02:00.000-05:00

Here are some links to photos on the trip (as more people upload their photos, I'll update the list here)!

My Photos (complete)
Adam's Photos (100 of his favourite ones)
Greg's Photos (complete)
Suzanne & Neils (complete)

The video, including the Costa Rican Shower Game are in the works, I'll be sure to keep you posted.

From the top of a Mountain

2007-05-01T14:56:00.000-05:00

At on Sunday at 7:25am, Greg walked me down to the hotel reception to wait for the "bus" (van) only to find that it was also 20 minutes early, and that I was the only passenger on it! The driver, Wilbert, was thrilled that I spoke Spanish, I sat up in the front seat with him and we chatted the whole way about anything and everything, and even showed each other our drivers licenses (he had about 5 of them, they're very specific). We stopped about an hour in and I bought him breakfast as a crazy sounding idea popped into his head. He turned to me and asked "quieres conducir?"

Now me driving wouldn't ordinarily be a crazy idea except that (a) this is Costa Rica where there are pretty much no rules of the road, (b) I had never driven stick before in my life. In fact, even after asking repeatedly, my dad still won't teach me because he says I'll wreck his car, and (c) Wilbert would be teaching me in Spanish, so my frequent habit of smiling and nodding when I don't understand could quite possibly spell disaster. Oh dear. He kept insisting, so I convinced him to turn onto a dirt road devoid of anything, to decrease my chances of killing something. You know what? It wasn't that bad, especially after he moved my seat forward after I explained that the clutch was "muy lejos."

Eventually we got to a pitstop that all of the Interbuses use, and I switched into another bus. The second driver was amazing as well, and offered to call my friend Miles so that we'd know exactly where to meet. Lucky we did, because otherwise he would have dropped me off 7 km away from the right place which would have meant a looooong walk.

Spending the last couple of days with Miles and his parents was a really nice way to end the trip. Their farm is absolutely surreal...on top of a mountain with an amazing view of Gulf of Nicoya and the whole world. Gappers, you'll be glad to know that there are people out there who welcome stray dogs, they had three of them, along with two cats, three chickens, and one crazy rooster. It is an amazing way to live, and they grow most of what they eat - cucumbers, tomatoes, sugar cane (the juice is really sweet), mangoes, lemons, tangerines, peppers and many more fruits that I can't even recall the name of.

View from the house...imagine waking up to this every morning.

At night when it got dark, we went onto Google Earth and showed each other the aerial views of our mountain/suburb, turned on his keyboard and, and sang along to each other playing classical and pop music. It really hit home just then, how people living completely opposite lives can share so many similarities...I would never have believed it before.

The next morning before I took the bus back to San Jose and the plane ride home, we hopped onto his motorcycle and rode to to a mirador, a viewpoint, with a small structure housing a battered couch. We sat for a few minutes, kicked our feet, and stared out at the amazing view.

Miles on his motorcycle.

Waves in many senses

2007-04-28T20:30:00.000-05:00

I'm sitting comfortable on my bed at the Mono Azul Hotel, my back against a mesh window and a gentle breeze falling across my face from the ceiling fan. Outside, it is dark already and the rain is pouring down, it feels somewhat appropriate.

Today was the last day of the tour, most of the group leaving on either the noon or the 5pm bus back to San Jose. We made sure that we were at the hotel to see them off and it was really hard. Every time I say goodbye, I feel the weight of all of the other goodbyes in my life pressing down. This goodbye felt a lot like the goodbye in Trois-Pistoles where a big group of people get close in such a short time, and share something magical together. I can honestly say that I liked and spent time with every single person in the group. I really will miss them.

Adam films Laura and Anna talking about the trip before they leave for San José
Now we are just six, the "Fantasic Four" as we were dubbed by our tour leader, Ellis, and Neil and Suzanne, our fellow Torontonians and videographers extraordinare who we followed to this new hotel. Tomorrow I leave alone for Guanacaste on a early morning bus to visit my friend Miles; I will rejoin the guys in San Jose on Monday night.

I've definitely felt a shift from active mode to recouperation mode. Our bodies have taken a lot of abuse between very active days, drinking, bites, and bruises, and burns. Today was relaxation at its best - Anna, Laura, Matt, Greg, Adam and I spent the day lazily at the public beach, and us girls got the massages by the ocean that we had been craving all week. The sensation of the ocean still lingers now.

A beautiful but cloudy day at the beach.

Bananas, Beaches & Beer!

2007-04-28T01:35:00.000-05:00

For our first full day in Manuel Antonio with no formal activities scheduled, a big group of us decided to explore the national park in the morning, and spend time on the beach in the afternoon. Although it is a pretty small park, we had heard that it was amazing, teaming with wildlife of all sorts. We paid the $7 for entry into the park, and decided against getting a guide because they were a bit pricey.

And teaming with wildlife it was. Most specifically, monkeys! We had already seen the three species, Howler, Spider, and the white faced Cappuchines (photo by Adam) from a distance at some of the other sites, but in Manuel they are everywhere, and definitely not afraid to come up close to tourists. In fact, one enterprising monkey even stole Neil's banana when he put it down on a bench for a second to tie his shoe! We were careful to tie our bags to branches after that when we weren't carrying them, for fear that they would take a fancy to something more valuable. We also saw more sloths, and thousands of bright red and blue crabs as we walked.

A picture of Adam taking a picture of Greg leaning on a palm tree.

We took one trail marked Punto Cathedral which ascended upward and had a view of the ocean, and then came upon a private beach where we decided to stop. Anna, Laura, Matt, Greg, Adam and I spent we have no idea how much time there, bobbing in the waves and talking about our past travels, and where else we wanted to go. We all envied Anna's job as a travel agent at that moment! It was gorgeous with the Pacific Ocean stretching out into the distance, and peace and quiet on our very own (though slightly rocky) beach.

It started to rain around 1 or 2pm as it always does during the rainy season in these parts, and we were getting hungry, so we left the beach for the hike back. We were in good spirits despite the fact that we were soaking wet and both sunscreen and bug spray had both proven completely ineffective.

At 7:00, the entire group met for our final night on the town; the next day was marked for heading back to San Jose. We went to a great restaurant called El Avion, which boats an abandoned Fairchild C-123 that was part of a crazy Iranian-Nicaraguan-American scandal in the 1980's. Again the power went out, which was beautiful since the place was full of candles. They had amazing drinks too, I had a "Pura Vida" - Vodka (I think) triple sec, and a whole bunch of different fruit juices. Quite delicious! And then we headed out for our hardest night of partying by far; first to a restaurant/pub with a live Latin band, and then to a full out disco club. Tiffany, Parveen, Laura and I were promptly grabbed by some guys who definitely knew what they were doing on the dance floor, and I discovered that I actually can dance to Latin music when I'm paired with someone who knows what they are doing (or when I'm drunk enough). 4:30am saw Tiffany and I who were both more or less completely drunk trying to drag Parveen into a taxi; she realllly didn't want to go home. We eventually got ourselves and her back to the hotel and fell into bed.

Greg, Anna, and Benno bring on the beer!

Dolphin Watch, but no Dolphins!

2007-04-27T12:34:00.000-05:00

After our arrival Manuel Antonio yesterday via vans, we quickly got our gear together in preparation for a sunset cruise and dolphin watch on the Pacific Ocean! To be honest, I wasn't too excited about it, $70 seemed like a lot to pay for a few hours on a rickety boat scanning the horizon for dolphins in the distance that weren't too likely to appear. When I heard that it including a whole lot of snorkeling though, I perked up instantly and went happily along. It was also the very last sunset cruise of the season, as the rainy season was starting and they don't go out in the afternoons then.

I think it actually turned out to be my very favourite night of the tour! We met up with another Gap group around 2pm, and together we sailed into the sunset, quite literally. The music was great, the drinks were free and flowing, and the pineapple was plentiful. We took turns sitting on the mesh nets in the middle of the boat getting hit by the waves (I guess it's a testament to how much my brain was trying to take in that I was genuinely surprised when I got splashed) chugging Imperials (beer) and some sort of rum and punch concoction and taking silly pictures.

Sarah, Jill, Matt, Laura having drinks on the edge of the boat.

Maybe an hour or two in, we stopped in a shallow bay to do some snorkeling. Again we were lucky, apparently there are usually two or three boats there but today we were the only ones, so we had lots of room to spread out. I can't say how much I love snorkeling. What a world down there. As soon as we put our heads under, we were surrounded by a school of hundreds of bright blue and yellow fish. It's proving to be a bit hard to match up what I remember to different species, but if I ever do I'll post up a separate entry. There were definitely angel fish though, and I also saw a starfish.

Greg and I stuck together most of the time, diving down to check out cool things on the bottom, making sounds and gestures to get each other's attention, and following some of the more unusual seeming fish around and around. We could have stayed there forever, no question about it. Definitely another one of those stepping out of yourself moments where nothing else matters because we're a part of this great planet. Or maybe just part of a school of fish. And then...to top it all off a rainbow appeared when we broke the surface. A full rainbow. I nearly started to cry. Instead I flippered myself off to the boat as fast as I could yelling for someone to take the camera out of my bag. Lee obliged, and thus, we have a rainbow shot!

When we got called back to the boat in about 40 minutes, Greg, Matt and I we were some of the last ones to get back on board. Adam had been back on the boat for a while, maybe through some combination of being slightly drunk, and not used to snorkeling, he couldn't quite get the hang of his snorkel.

The crew served us a great buffet dinner, put more drinks into our hands, and cranked up the music. We watched the sun set, and danced like crazy in a big groups, making the crew join in with us. Really as corny as it sounds, what it came down to was just being together, feeling all the good vibes, and feeling incredibly lucky and privileged to be where we were, sharing a once in a lifetime experience with the most amazing people. I guess words can't do it justice.

Back at the hotel around 6:00 (the sun sets really early, and really quickly in Costa Rica), we all jumped into the swimming pool before we remembered that we had to prepare for the scheduled power outage that was supposed to happen from 7-10. Manuel Antonio's in a bit of a power/water difficulty just now so they shut things down for a while. Before the lights went out though, Neil, Suzanne, Laura, Matt, Greg, Adam and I filmed what is going to be the most awesome bit of footage from the trip: the Costa Rican Shower Game!!!

Neil had had this brilliant idea at breakfast a couple of days earlier, comparing the unpredictable temperatures of our Costa Ricans shower to some sort of gameshow of luck and randomness. So of course we had to film it, and the result is PURE AWESOME! Seriously. I'll definitely be linking to it once it's online.

The power went out on schedule, and most of the group went out to find a restaurant that was actually open. We ended the day by playing Pit in the candlelight and looking up at the gorgeous stars, clear in the darkness.

Into the Cloud Forest

2007-04-26T15:11:00.000-05:00

On our second day in Monteverde (day after horseback riding), we were ready to go at 6:30AM for our morning hike through the rain forest. Not just any rain forest though; Monteverde (Green Mountain) is so high that the forest touches the clouds!

We split ourselves into two groups and each group had a naturalist guide with them. My guide, Melvin, was awesome, a Costa Rica Steve Irwin if you will, shouldering his telescope and running excitedly down the path after the sound of the gorgeous Queztal bird that the forest is known for. He would call the bird, and then set up his telescope really quickly so we could all have a look, and then take each of our cameras in turn and take photos through it. That's one thing that has been amazing on the tour so far - the guides have been wonderful about helping us get pictures. They really have this tourist thing down to a tee.

Needless to say, the forest was absolutely fascinating, with everything growing and breathing and crawling over everything else. Taking science courses in school, I knew that ecology was complicated, but it is only now in such a dense environment where there is so much life, that I felt that full weight of its complication.

Another thing that I caught myself doing was thinking of the struggle to survive and thrive in the very humanistic terms of good and evil. An example, our guide was showing us a huge tree that was slowly being killed by a second tree growing off its brances, and I know that I wasn't the only one thinking this way, feeling bad for the first tree. I had to remind myself that nature isn't good or bad, for it would be impossible for growth to happen without destruction. Random musing for the day.

Greg poses on one of the canopy bridges. Photo by Adam.

In the afternoon, we walked a series of bridges high in the canopy and then moved onto....ZIP LINING! It's a long, long series of steel cables strung up between the trees, and you're harnessed in and use these special gloves to brake. It was absolutely incredible, flying over the canopy with the wind at your back, watching the clouds settle over the peaks and the forest. Braking didn't work too tell for me at first, and I slammed myself into the platforms more than once until I got the hang of it. I was way more relaxed after the first couple of lines though.

Hopefully the pictures will describe it a little better. Neil and Suzanne were the heros of the day because they wree the only ones who brought their camera (we understood that there would be someone else taking pictures that we could later buy), so they ended up taking pictures of all of us, and on low battery too!

As a zipline surprise, we all got to go on a huge tarzan swnig, which is exactly what it sounds like! It was a large and rather scary drop, but really crazy to be swinging through the trees screaming. At least, until the staff grabbed your legs to get you to stop.

Horseback Riding!

2007-04-26T13:38:00.000-05:00

On the road again, this time to Manuel Antonio-Quepos which is the last new place we are visiting on the tour. And...I´m happy to say that I´ve already finished the bookcrossing book I found a couple of days ago. On our right is the Pacific Ocean, we can finally say it...VAMOS A LA PLAYA!

I´m a couple of days behind now so I´m going to backtrack and talk about horseback riding that we did...two day ago I think. It was completely different from most of the riding I´ve done. First because we were actually riding ot get somewhere instead of around in a dinky small more or less circular trail, secondly because the countryside was gorgeous, and thirdly because...well...our guides had us bend the waiver a little bit. It was supposed to be a walking train, but those of us at the front started to trot and then full out cantered and galloped! All we could do was to hold on for dear life and try to move with the horse to minimize butt trauma. Pretty crazy for most of us who hadn´t done much riding!

They had us stand in a semicircle in order of experience. I was more on the experienced side since I´ve done walking trails 3 or 4 times before. My horse, Nello, seemed docile enough at first, but about an hour in (we were up at the front by that point), he started to get testy. Clearly not the pacifist of the group, he started nipping at some of the other horses, and then he actually bucked and nearly threw me off. I´m sure my staying power looked spectacular if you were watching, but it was definitely a heartwrenching moment. Poor Lee got kicked in the ankle yet again (ironically, the horse who did it the first time was ridden by Sarah, his wife) and I felt sooo bad! Suzanne, one of the most experienced riders definitely had the worst of it, her horse Tequila was crazy aggressive and insisted on leading the pack. She did absolutely brilliantly in controlling him though. We decided that all horses named Tequila were crazy, after Laura told us a similar story about another Tequila she rode in Cuba.

All in all, the horses (and especially galloping at really high speeds) were amazing, but I think I was a bit glad when it was over and I didn´t have to worry about keeping Nello away from all the horses he seemed to dislike.

Happy, and now sore all over, we were glad that the rest of the day would be more laid back. We arrived in Monteverde around 3:30, booked tours for tomorrow, and explored the town for a few hours before dinner and then, thankfully, bed.

On the road to Monteverde.

I Found a Wild Bookcrossing Book...

2007-04-24T21:53:00.000-05:00

...in the reception of the hotel we are staying at here in Monteverde, and I was so excited that I knocked on the hotel room of practically every person in the group to tell them. They were all just as thrilled as I was, proving again how much they rock!! I am trying to read it really fast so I can give it to Benno who said he would take it to Switzerland and release it. Check out the book´s journey here!

Handing the book off to Benno on the last day of the tour.

Water Craziness

2007-04-24T18:49:00.000-05:00

Yahoo! Another bus ride! This one's going to be about 2 hours, taking us the rest of the way to Monteverde (after a boat and horseback riding). The view is stunning, miles and miles of rolling green hills in every direction with dirt paths winding their way into the distance. Everyone is feeling pretty sore after yesterday's amazing madness, except Anna and Parveen who spent all afternoon in the hot springs...mmm!

Rappelling yesterday was one of those incredible life experiences that amaze you simply because of the fact that you got to do them. Greg describes it as "can't" which is definitely accurate, but I'll try anyway.

You're strapped into a leg harness (like for climbing, I'd imagine) and a rope is fed through a link. Then you turn yourself around with your back toward a drop of a couple hundred feet, lower yourself so that the only point of contact with the world is your feet on the edge of the platform, and then you launch yourself downward on the rope, using one hand as a brake behind you and the other hand as a guide in front. Then the Rappel Masters at the top and bottom start yanking the rope around getting you drenched in the waterfall. Definitely a nervewracking experience at the beginning especially since I was the first to rappel the first huge drop and the ground looked incredibly far away!

We know beforehand that there would be 5 rappels and 3 climbs, but what we didn't know was that we'd be going through forest so beautiful that it's indescribable. After we rappeled down the biggest waterfall and stared up into the green, just green everywhere, Greg voiced the exact phrase I was saying to myself: this is why we have to protect it. I like to keep things light while I'm away, but I really think that if we could all experience nature in its prime this way, we would all be much kinder towards it. Climbing, crouching, and flying with no fear, I felt maybe for the first time that i was truly part of the Earth instead of just walking on it.

Matt, Greg and I post rappel.

Matt, Greg, Laura and I were picked up afterwards and we went on to an afternoon of rafting. The rapids were Class II and III so they weren't too bad. The 4 of us were on the boat with an older lady, and our guide Juan kept having us high five our paddles, then slap them onto the water and shout what we later understood to be PURA VIDA which seems to be Costa Rica's official slogan. There will be rafting pictures eventually, but not right away, there was a photographer as part of the tour and he will send us a CD. Our guides at both places were great and they fed us a ton, including the most delicious pineapples ever!

The day ended in magic tricks and flaming cow for many of our group. In fact, there were many random cows that day, including one that waited until the raft was right on top of it to back out of the river. At dinner, there were also airplanes because that was the only way that Adam would eat his vegetables. As well, there there was a race to consume the aforementioned flaming cow, Greg bet on Tiffany and won, Ellis our tour leader bet on Adam and was highly disappointed when he came in last. Lee kicked ass before the race even started.

Even after the long day, there had to be some alcohol consumption. We all sat and chilled on the rocking chairs and drank beer until we remembered that we had an early morning. I love this group! Bring on another day!

(Sorry if this is all a little disjointed. I am just trying to get down everything we've been doing and I'm typing as fast as possible. Also, if the dates seem off, it´s because I´m trying to backdate when I actually wrote the entry, rather than when I posted it).

Volcano!

2007-04-23T19:27:00.000-05:00

Greg and I are sitting in the rocking chairs outside our hotel room relaxing after a very full day (and it's only 4PM!). In the distance, the clouds are heavy over Arenal volcano, which we can see from our window.

On our arrival in La Fortuna yesterday, the first thing we did after checking into the hotel was to head over to a tour company to plan our next two days. There is a ton of stuff to do here, but very little time to do it in. Last night, the whole group opted to do what I am sure every single tourist coming through here does: a volcano hike and an evening at the hot springs.

Group Shot in front of Arenal Volcano. From left to right: Greg, Suzanne (Toronto), Neil (Toronto), Deb, Ellis (tour leader, from Belize), Laura (Toronto), Tiffany (Saskatoon), Matt, Adam, Lee (UK), Anna (UK), Sarah (UK), Imelda (Houston), Benno (Switzerland), Parveen (Toronto), Jill (UK)

Since Arenal is an active volcano (over 80 eruptions per day), we didn't technically hike on it, but through a rain forest on the south side. If I had to describe the forest, I would have to use the word "thick". It wasn't quite like I expected; bright colours were few and far between, but it felt humid, though it was apparently unusually dry. We saw monkeys ~~swimming~~ swinging from the trees (I actually wrote "swimming" in my notebook by accident so decided to leave it in) and a tiny baby hummingbird in a nest on a leaf near the ground. And a ton of funky insects.

Back in the van after the hike, we were treated to pizza and "liquid lava" (fruit juice, blackbery juice for colour, and guaro which is an alcoholic drink made from a tree that is common in Costa Rica). Then we drove around to the west side of the volcano to watch for eruptions.

Arenal's eruptions aren't the kind that you would usually think of with continuous streams of molten lava running down the sides. Instead, the lava is mixed with sand which requires higher temperatures to melt, so it looks different. What we actually saw in the distance were bright orange chunks of lava tumbling down, maybe once every 10 minutes. It was impossible to get a picture but it was very cool!

We watched for about half an hour and then we went to the HOT SPRINGS! Needless to say, it was a glorious few hours, and I never wanted to move again. There were even waterfalls with steaming hot water, which made a great massage. This was when my camera decided to conk out, but the good part of being in a big group is that there will always be someone with a working camera! We reluctantly left the hot springs at 9:30 and headed back into town for a quick beer before going to bed so we could get an early start today.

Today was absolutely amazing day, but this entry is pretty long already and the group is meeting for dinner in a few minutes, so I'll have to write that up in my notebook on the next bus ride. In the mean time, if you're reading this, drop a comment and say hello!

We're Here!

2007-04-22T13:00:00.000-05:00

We're currently on a bus heading into La Fortuna for some volcanic, hotspringing action! It's going to be another 4 hours or so, loads of time for taking a ton of silly random pictures. Our favourite subject so far has been our official mascot, the 1 inch tall rubber chicken!

Our flight into Charlotte, North Carolina was actually pretty eventful. We were most of the way there when an announcement came over the PA system..."if there is a Doctor or medical professional on board, would you please hit the call button immediately!" A panicked flight attendant ran us carrying a huge canister of oxygen, as the quiet elderly man sitting beside Matt looked up from his book, looked around the plane, and, resigned, pushed the call button and stood up to grab his equipment. Turns out it was a cardiac arrest, and we zoomed into Charlotte for the fastest landing I've ever experienced. The lady (in her 30's) looked to be fine, so the net result was that we got into Charlotte just 10 minutes late after leaving Pearson half an hour late because of a backup in customs. Plenty of time to grab a bite, plant a bookcrossing book, and check on t before we left (it was gone) on the next flight.

As we arrived in San Jose, we were hoping we'd get to go down the cool emergency slides when they told us that we had parked in the wrong spot, but sadly we didn't get to, we just got towed to the gate.

As I write this, we're driving through some absolutely gorgeous hills with tons of green. We're trying to take pictures, but alas all we've managed is the roof of a house and a tree.

Back to yesterday, enter Jose the crazy cab driver who took us to the hotel and announced (as he swerved wildly from side to side to avoid a woman and her baby) that Americans thought that Ticos were crazy drivers. His Spanish was actually quite easy to understand and as we passed the hospital right by the hotel he said that there had been a fire there last year and 20 people had died when they jumped out of the windows to escape. Adam called it "Hospital Muerte" from then on.

We went out for dinner with our tour group around 7; 15 people from England, Switzerland, the States, and Canada. And...the Torontonians outnumber everyone - 8 of us! Although it had been a really long day, some of us his a few clubs with Ellis, our tour leader. What that meant was that we tried in vain to imitate the salsa dancers and then gave up and did weird and horribly embarrassing disco moves. And yes, there are pictures :P

The weather is humid but gorgeous. Thankfully it cools down somewhat at night because it's been really hot! It's supposed to be rainy this week - keep your fingers crossed for us! Tonight we're going on a hike by the volcano and then the hotsprings. Since we are only staying here for two days, it was really hard to decide between a whole lot of activities for tomorrow; I'll be going rappeling, and then white water rafting.

Hasta luego for now, Amigos!

Up and away!

2007-04-21T05:44:00.000-05:00

I was sleeping on the basement couch here at Greg's, but I got paranoid and logged on here to check the time (the nearest clock was a computer, how convenient!) When I came down here to sleep the guys were drinking beer in front of the TV but I'm pretty sure they're all sleeping now. We're leaving for the airport in about an hour for our 6:30AM flight!

Today was very, very loooooooong - there was a ton of stuff to do, and not all of it involved packing. My to do list this morning looked something like this:

In the House
Finish Linda's plane letter
Make my mom give me B12
Bury dead bird in the backyard (a budgie I found on the street)
Charge camera & MP3 player
Wipe camera cards
Get choir music onto MP3 player
Notify credit card company so they don't shut down my card 1/2 way through the trip
Do laundry
Turn grey sweatpants into shorts
Print out maps and bus station information
Clean the bathroom
Pack!

Out of the House
Go out for brunch with Linda
Mail two letters including one to Denmark
Buy food from No Frills
Deposit GST Cheque
Get more American Money from the Bank
Photocopy passport, insurance, etc.
Grab any other things I need from the mall
Have dinner at Dad's
Submit taxes

I'm tired just thinking about it all, but the bulk of it did get done. Taxes are filed, the bird had a nice musical funeral with my mom in attendance, and my pack is quite heavy (though mostly with bookcrossing books and food, so it will get lighter as I go). I had to do some serious mental wrestling to stop myself from bringing everything I wanted to. The hardest thing to take back out of the pack was a dress (you know the one that you put on and it makes you feel great no matter what else is going on), but bringing it didn't really make much sense. My straw hat also got culled because I would have had to attach it to the outside of my pack and it seemed like more trouble than its worth.

Here is a picture of brunch with Linda this morning! We went to Cora's at Dufferin & Steeles - so good! It has been at least a year since we've last seen each other and I'm so glad we did, especially since she's soon going on a travel adventure of her own! It had definitely been far too long!

It's 3:42 and Adam and Greg just came down the stairs. Adam also appears to be taping me and now we're going to start loading the car. And so, my dear friends, I shall depart and leave you with a picture of fruit from this morning!

The Purchase of Stuff!

2007-04-16T21:35:00.000-05:00

This past weekend was a great one in terms of getting (for lack of a better word)...STUFF! And pretty important stuff at that! I wanted to get a good backpack for this trip not only because we'll be switching hotels every couple of days, but also because I want to get used to lugging it around on short trips before I take it on longer ones so I can work any issues out at the gym.

I know absolutely nothing about backpacks but luckily for me, Dana was more than happy to come along and shove pounds and pounds of sandbags into pockets while I stumbled around awkwardly under the weight and attempted to climb stairs. It took us about 2.5 hours and three stores to find it.

And here it is, and it even matches the blog perfectly (the trim inside is yellow)!

It's a panel loader with a detachable daypack, 70 L + 15 L capacity. That's space for a lot of juice. I sort of wish I could understand the website, though I'm sure "Deuter" means something along the lines of "Awesome." As I have an ongoing trend of naming important things, for now I'm calling the backpack Cassiopeia after the turtle in one of my favourite books. I think it has to relate to turtles somehow because of the whole carry everything on their backs thing.

The second purchase was a universal adapter that works "from Australia to Zimbabawe" (I liked the sound of that, though I feel a bit bad for Algeria and most other A countries). Apparently, the product is designed for "Overseas use only." Does Costa Rica technically count as an overseas country? I didn't really think so.

After spending a few hours today looking at Judy's amazing New Zealand / Australia pictures, it's finally starting to dawn on me that I'm going somewhere, so I'm getting a bit excited ;)

Costa Rica

2007-04-07T00:15:00.000-05:00

Adam, Greg, Matt and I are going on a Gap Tour to Costa Rica in just about two weeks! We'll be gone from April 21 to May 1, 2007 and we'll be witnessing firsthand Costa Rica's breathtaking biodiversity. We plan to relax in delicious Hot Springs by Arenal, an active volcano, go zip-gliding through Monteverde's cloud rain forest, and kiss monkeys by the Pacific Ocean in Manuel Antonio, one of Costa Rica's National Parks. Well, maybe we won't kiss monkeys. We're staying a couple of extra days - the boys will probably spend some extra time in San Jose while I take a five hour bus ride to visit my friend Miles who lives on a sugarcane farm in Guanacaste. Here's hoping I remember some Spanish!

Since this is the first trip this blog is operational for, there will definitely be updates and pictures!

England the Second!

2007-04-06T01:57:00.000-05:00

England, England, England, Mushroom, Mushroom!

As my long anticipated and long awaited graduation gift, my dad took us on a two week trip to England on beginning July 11th, 2006. As we hugged my uncle Benny at the airport, it felt as though I had been given a drink of water after going thirsty for years. Second home again, finally!

This trip to England was a little more active than my last one; being with my dad, we could do some major sightseeing! Of course, this was a little more difficult than you might expect since England was in the middle of the hottest summer on record (and they are not fans of airconditioning)! Still, we managed to take in Surrey (my dad's old university town), Cambridge and Bath. I went to see my friend Michael in Winchester/Southampton where it was much cooler, and also went to Belgium for the weekend. To end the trip, we stayed with my dad's younger brother Mosie for a couple of days (and I met my awesome aunt Diana for the very first time) after the big party.

Photos from the trip can be found here.

Belgium

2007-04-06T01:23:00.000-05:00

The best thing about Europe is that other amazing countries are so accessible from wherever you are! During my trip to England in Summer 2006, I hopped the Chunnel train to spend the weekend (July 15-July 17) with Ana-Maria and Yves. For those keeping score, Ana-Maria used to live at my mom's place, and we attended her wedding in Peru in 2005. I observed in glee as the monolingual English erupted into Dutch, French, and German (there are three official languages in Belgium) and found my way to Antwerp amid train transfers with ease in French. We spent Saturday in the picturesque and romantic Bruges, hopping over to Ghent for dinner and raspberry beer. Sunday was spent in Antwerp, and on Monday I spent the day in Brussels. Although my careful itinerary fell apart when I discovered that practically everything in Brussels is closed on Monday, I did see the "Mannequin Piss" and a beer and chocolate museum! The photos from that weekend can be found here, or in the full trip set if you'd like to see them in order.

Mexico!

2007-04-06T01:17:00.000-05:00

My dad and I went to Mexico for a week in early 2001 (I think, it could have been 2000)! We stayed at a gorgeous all inclusive, the Reef Club Yucatan. The primary aim of course was to relax, but seeing as I was taking high school Spanish at the time and was so interested in the Mayan ruins, we went on visits to Uxmal and Chichen-Itza. I'm pretty glad we did, because I hear that you can't climb Chichen-Itza's great pyramid anymore. I had my Spanish projects done for that semester! My dad took some gorgeous photos, but these were the days before digital cameras. Hopefully I'll get a few up on here one day!

Hola Peru!

2007-04-06T01:02:00.001-05:00

My mom and I traveled to Peru for 10 days in June 2005 for the wedding of our friend, Ana-Maria. Ana-Maria had been renting a room in my mother's house for a few months - that is, until her boyfriend Yves proposed and the plans changed! Getting everyone together in Peru for the wedding created a complete cultural and linguistic mix. You had Ana-Maria's parents who speak no English. Then Yves family (Belgian), they don't speak Spanish, but they do speak Dutch, English and I think some French. Then add in Ana-Maria's brother-in-law (English, but no Spanish) and my mom and I (English, French, and Spanish, though mine was limited). In retrospect, I have absolutely no idea how we managed but I do remember that Ana-Maria said her vows in Dutch, Yves said his in Spanish, and I read something in Spanish. Phew!

The wedding was in Lima, but we I also spent time in Cusco and toured Inca ruins Machu Picchu which were spectacular. Photos can be found here.

Trois-Pistoles, Je t'adore!

2007-04-06T00:38:00.000-05:00

Oh Trois-Pistoles. I studied French there for five glorious weeks in the summer of 2005, departing Toronto by Viarail on Canada Day, July 1st. I had applied and had been awarded a bursury from the Canadian government to facilitate bilingualism in Canada. Of course the catch was that I had to sign a contract promising that I would only speak French. ;P

Picture a tiny town of about 2000 friendly, loving people on the edge of the St. Lawrence River in the midst of forests and gorgeous waterfalls. Now picture about 300 bicycles belonging to 300 anglophone students jockeying for space outside of a nondescript brown building perpetually under construction.

Trois-Pistoles, or 3P as we affectionately know it, gave me refuge and comfort and hope in what was a very troubling time in my life - 'cuz you know, sometimes La vie frappe hardcore, encore, dans la coeur! I can't describe how it felt to lie on the grass, looking up into a sea of bright stars, making up new words with my housemates. Or the pure joy of an all night campfire vigil that in lasted song and laughter until after the sun rose. Fortunately, the Canadian government got their money's worth too. The French of high school that I had completely forgotten post-Spain came right back. Even today my spirit revels in the sound of French rolling off my tongue (it really is a gorgeous language).

There are many, many pictures from 3P posted on my yahoo page. Week: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

Dominican Republic

2007-04-06T00:27:00.000-05:00

In August 2004, Shoshy, Shawn, Adam W, Jon, Jen and I boarded a plane for Puerto Plata in the Dominican Republic for some all inclusive action! We definitely took full advantage of the luxury of an all inclusive, but we got up and did stuff too! I celebrated my birthday by hanging upside down on a trapeze at the exact minute I was born. I also sang at the piano bar (and flirted in Spanish with the totally cute pianist) and died a terrible death at the hands of Jen (the black queen) when Jon proved to be a better player than Adam. Or maybe it was all that free alcohol? The highlight of the trip for me was the day we went to a tiny island and snorkeled for hours. The underwater world is absolutely gorgeous, not to mention fascinating. Not to end on a superficial note, but we were so tanned by the end of the trip that I felt like a sexy, bronzed goddess. Adam's photos are here.

Israel

2007-04-05T23:58:00.000-05:00

On February 23 2004, Jon K and I began our free 10 day trip to Israel through Oranim. Rich philanthropists somewhere decided that it would be good to show youngish Jews of the Diaspora (aka not living in Israel) what we were missing, which meant that a heck of a lot was packed into 10 days. This pretty much meant an insane schedule and lots of zooming around the country. I did some digging and found some pictures from the tour here.

Spain

2007-04-05T23:36:00.000-05:00

In the summer of 2002, I spent four weeks studying Spanish at the Centro de Lenguas Modernas in Granada, Spain for university credit back home. After the course ended, I "backpacked" (or as close as you can come to backpacking lugging around a huge suitcase) through Spain for two weeks with friends, hitting a total of nine cities including Granada: Malaga, Sevilla, Cordoba, Jaen, Madrid, Toledo, Pamplona (in the middle of the Running of the Bulls festival), Barcelona. After six weeks total in Spain, I took a train from Barcelona to Nimes, France, and there I hopped on a plane for two weeks in London, England with my father's family.

My first real solo adventure, which will always be dear to my heart. This was all back in the days before I had a digital camera, so there are very few pictures online. I may just have to scan some highlights!

Giving Back

2007-02-27T23:28:00.000-05:00

I've recently decided that I would like to give something back to every country that I've had the pleasure of spending time in. Through Kiva.Org, I became a microloaner to a group of small business owners led by Iselsa Lara Ramirez. These small loans allow these women to become independent and support their dreams and families. When this loan is paid back, I will reloan the money to another business in the Dominican Republic.

London

2006-07-18T01:21:00.000-05:00

Public service announcement: if you have one day to spend in Brussels, don't make it Monday because pretty much all the major attractions are closed. Deb was sad. Also...plane letter people, I swear I'll write postcards, I even bought the stamps, but I'm too darn tired. So you'll probably get them all after I get home (because I don't have any more time alone until Wed morning).

If you're wondering, here's the schedule:

Wed July 12 - Gants Hill (London)
Thurs July 13 - Guilford (Surrey)
Fri July 14 - Golders Green (London)
Sat July 15 - Bruges/Ghent (Belgium)
Sun July 16 - Antwrepen (Belgium)
Mon July 17 - Brussels (Belgium)
Tues July 18 - Cambridge (UK)
Wed July 19 - Southampton/Winchester (UK)
Thurs July 20 - Bath? (it'll happen on one or both of these days
Fri July 21 - Bath?
Sat July 22 - Gants Hill (London; uncle's party)
Sun July 23 - somewhere out in the country (with other uncle)
Mon July 24 - Golders Green (London)
Tues July 25 - London (ya this is the one day to actually do stuff there)
Wed July 26 - fly out

So back in London now...keyboard has returned to normal (except that the @ sign is in a really weird place). And before I spiral myself into bed...

HOLAOYOAOWS!!!! CHOCOLATE CHOCOLATE WAFFLES CHOCOLATE BIG STATUES OF CHOCOLATE GIMME SOME MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE STATUES AS BIG AS ME ALMOST. IT COMES IN TONS. TONS OF CHOCOLATE. WAFFLEY WAFFLES....MMMM....BEER...WHITE CHERRY RASPBERRY MORE MORE MORE MORE!!! THE CHOCOLATE REALLY IS THAT GOOD....THERE WAS A MUSEUM!

Ahem. The average Belgian eats between 9-9.5 kg/year. I'd be obese because I just can't resist..but I'd be so happy. Again, Belgian chocolate IS THAT GOOD. Without it we'd live in a horrible world. Goodnight.

Belgium

2006-07-16T00:36:00.000-05:00

Hi Everyone,

First of all, here in Belgium, the As are Qs on the keyboard and the Ws are Zs. So Im not going to bother to chqnge them. Just zqnted to drop a line qnd sqy hi - Im hqving q lovely but hectic time becquse it is qnother city every dqy pretty much. Things qre moving reqlly fqst, qnd I dont hqve the energy to tqke reqlly fqbulous photos especiqlly knozing thqt my mom qlreqdy took qll the same ones a month qgo. I zill do zhqt i cqn though. I do hqve internet qccess here qnd in London, so drop me comment to sqy hi. Hope you are all doing well. Here qre q couple of photos from todqy - the first is me in front of the trqin stqtion in London qbout to embqrk for Brussels; the second is q photo tqken in Bruges; hqd to get up qt 430 am to mqke the trqin so if I look tired thqt is zhy But I am keeping q dqy to dqy diqry so I zill hqve lots to post zhen i get bqck:

Across the Ocean

2006-07-13T23:04:00.000-05:00

We left home early Tuesday evening, with a somewhat chagrined cabdriver who had mistakenly thought we wanted to be picked at at 5:45AM and had called from our driveway that morning. I had woken up when the phone rang, and my first and only thought before I fell back into sleep was "well, at least if something bad happened in England, we'll be there in the morning." Packing that day had involved less running around than usual as the bulk of it had been done the night before since I had to spend half of Tuesday at work training my replacement.

We decided to Fly Zoom because it was quite a bit cheaper than the major airlines. We got to Pearson in plenty of time for the 8:30 boarding call, and Dad spent quite a bit of that time trying to figure out how to get his Swiss Army Knife onto the plane (he had forgotten it was in his camera case from his camping trip the previous weekend). After security caught it the first time we tried to get through to the gate, he tried to disguise it as a tripod (don't ask; I don't get it either), but they caught him and confiscated it. Ironically, my mom lost her knife the same way on our Peru trip. Being the seasoned traveler that I am, I waltzed right through without a problem. Ah well, it's nice to know that those detectors are doing their job, but too bad they couldn't stop the snakes...

AAAAAAAAA
RRRRRRRRR
GGGGGGGGG
HHHHHHHH!
THEY WERE
ON THE
PLANE!
Ahem.

Although we left late (and were regaled with such classics as "She's the Man" and "Ice Age II: The Meltdown") we managed to arrive early (before noon, English time).

This time, it was my dad's turn to waltz through Stanstead security with his British Passport (literally, his line just flashed their passports and got a smile and a wave through), while I stood in the agonizingly slow "Visitors" line. (Mental note: get off butt and get British citizenship already!) While waiting, I also put my hitchhiking towel to good use, mopping up the can of Fruitopia that busted in my bag. By the time I got through customs, Dad had procured our one suitcase and was waiting on the other side.

We emerged into the hot (what the hell was England doing being so hot?) English day just in time to see my uncle drive by in his car so my dad went and stood in the middle of the road to wave him down when he drove 'round again. This is where I remembered that they drive on the wrong side of the road, and being horribly jetlagged, I decided to stick to the sidewalk for the time being.

Hugging my uncle Benny (my dad's in the middle of three brothers; Ben's the oldest) and being enfolded back into my "second home" with a cup of tea was sigh of contentment lovely. I insisted on adopting the room I slept in four years ago, which used to be Gemma's (my cousin who's a few months older than me) room, and pretty much napped all day. Gem came home around 8, tired from a day of teaching, but we hit the pub with the two dads, and formulated ThePlan (TM). This would have been my first taste of European Beer while in Europe, since I didn't like beer the last time I came. More beer to come!

Since I was too tired to take more pictures that day, I'll leave you now with more pictures of SNAKES on the M*F*ing PLANE!

So long and thanks for all the music/plane letters :)

2006-07-10T22:37:00.000-05:00

July 10, 8:18PM
Deb: Dad? I'm doing a load of darks, do you have any?
Dad: Ya, just a towel!
Deb: A towel! I should bring a towel.
Dad: Why? They'll have towels!
Deb: One must always have a towel when one is hitchhiking across the galaxy...didn't you know? It's the one essential -
Dad: But you're not hitchhiking across the galaxy...(pause)...okay, I'll give you my tiny one.

My dad and I will be landing at Heathrow in about 30 hours from now, and will promptly fling ourselves into the arms of my uncle and cousin who will be waiting for us there...four years older than the last time I saw them. I've been wanting this trip for a long time since all the changes, I found England a haven four years ago, which was something I didn't expect, and I guess I need that now more than ever. We both do. I'll be back in two weeks. In the meantime...

SNAKES ON MY MOTHAFUCKIN' PASSPORT!

*ahem, coughs...shifty eyes..*...it's going to be an interesting flight.*

England the First!

2006-07-02T01:42:00.000-05:00

Although I had been to England to see family several times as a child, the first time that I went under my own volition was during my Europe trip in 2002. After spending six weeks in Spain, I was a little nervous as I flew into Stansted because I didn't really remember my dad's family very well (it had been 7 years since I had last seen my uncles, and 4 since I had seen my paternal grandparents). There was always the worry that maybe they were crazy nutballs and I wouldn't even recognize them at the airport! My dad's older brother Benny and my cousin Jason met me at the airport, and all the worry vanished in an instant. I was completely enfolded into this warm, wonderful family life, which was even better because I travel worn. The two weeks of getting to know my cousins, uncles, aunt and grandparents better were heavenly and truly belonging somewhere made leaving hard. I'll always regard England as my second home and I'm sure I'll be back, hopefully for even longer!

Procrastination is the same in any language!

2005-07-28T21:39:00.000-05:00

Ya...so I should be doing my work...I have a debate in class tomorrow that is worth 30% of my mark. It is on the boreal forest situation here in Quebec, and I am supposed to be for cutting it all down...fun fun!

Anyway, instead of doing that, I came here instead to use the internet for a bit because I needed to look up something unrelated on it anyway. Now that I am here, here is a story.

So...my wallet got stolen. Last Thursday, at the Laundromat. I suppose that it was inevitable, given the fact that I constantly lose things. I was sitting on the bench with a couple of friends and some random icecream eating kids (the bench is outside the laundromat and beside an icecream store) when a creepy looking guy sat down and started smoking. I guess the one thing that I hate about Quebec is the smoking - there are a lot of people who do it, and they don't even have the bylaw yet...I think it will be next year. Anyway, I got up because the smoking stank, and about 30 seconds later I realized that my wallet was not in my pocket anymore. Upon my return to the bench, it was deserted and void of any wallet like looking substances. So I spent the next while looking around everywhere, and even looked in the drier with my clothes (don't laugh...I am really absent minded and actually the time before when I did laundry I put a whole bunch of pens with it by mistake, I got lucky and nothing got on the clothes). Then the next hour was spent walking around the neighbourhood with my friend writing letters (in French) to the bank and the post office in case anyone tried to use one of my cards, and then frantically getting in touch with my parents to get them to cancel all my cards. We also saw what who we think was the smoking guy nearby, he claimed not to have been there at all though, but we took pictures of him from across the street anyway.

Funnily enough, I was not as perturbed as I thought I would be in that situation, though it was definitely a blow, as everything was in there, including my birth certificate. But I still had cheques with me so I could write them to people and get them to give me the cash. I was bitterly laughing at the irony of (a) having one's wallet stolen in a small sunny town like Trois-Pistoles, but successfully evading crime in Europe and Peru, and (b) having my wallet stolen the one time I was actually organized enough to have everything in it that should be.

Anyway, I went to the school office in a bit of a bind the next morning, because we were leaving for Quebec that day. I spent most of that morning out of class giving a declaration to the police (in French of course, and I did quite well with only minimal comprehension issues), and then left for Quebec after borrowing some cash from a friend, and having the school cash a cheque for me for a little money.

Upon my return home on Sunday night, the first thing my host parents did was to hand me my wallet. Now you are thinking that I am really stupid and did not bring it to the Laundromat in the first place; not so! A friend found it (I met him on the street the night it got lost and bitched about it) on Friday hidden underneath the stairs by the Laundromat (where I know I looked). Everything was there except the cash ($80). That the money is gone does not really bug me...phew! Also, the fact that I cannot independently take out money on my own because all my cards are cancelled is quite a small price to pay. I think I was pretty lucky! :) I guess the lesson from this one is to not keep all your ID in your wallet, photocopy everything, and think twice about taking your wallet to a Laundromat when you probably will not need it anyway.

Voila...my wallet story. Drop me a line...I miss you guys :) I get back on the evening of August 8th.

'Net

2005-07-13T18:41:00.000-05:00

Hi All,

Well, there is no way around paying for internet anymore, and unlike in Peru, it does not cost 33 cents an hour...suckage! So I am really not going to be on much now, but I guess that is probably the best thing for my french.

Tonight is laundry night...blah! I have to lug it down the main street. I will not complain though because it is still easier than lugging it on and off buses in London!

Other than that, I am excited for Friday's big cabaret and talent show thing! I am singing with a friend who is an absolutely incredible singer (she has taught me a few things) so it should be really fun!

Miss you guys, stay in touch!

Quick Update Between Classes

2005-07-11T15:06:00.000-05:00

I am now into my second week of classes, and really busy. Unfortunately, like quite a few people here, I am kind of sick. I am hoping that it clears up soon because I will probably be singing a French song with a friend on Friday night for a Cabaret. Actually it is not a French song, but it is one that has been translated into many languages :) Besame Mucho - a love song - how ironic oO.

Stuff in class is beginning to get more intense, and it is hard to believe that I have a final exam next week - (I have two half courses during the 5 weeks). I have a project worth 15% of my mark for my first course due tomorrow, and still a lot of work to do - it involves giving a presentation and handing in what I said, so it requires a lot of dictionary use (thank you, Adam!). I am looking forward to having it done. Generally though, the work is not bad, because it is stuff that I really want to learn.

The people I am living with are really nice and there are two other girls living with me. We each have our own rooms, and of course I brought 1/2 a million pictures with me that are now up all over my mirror. The three of us eat in another house with 7 other students. It is a vegetarian house which I love because I don't have to ask what is in the food all the time.

There are about 250 students here and the age range is pretty broad, from 17 to 40's, but there are a lot of young'ins around (17-18). And the bell just rang...

For everyone who is in London, or have people that they love in London, you are in my thoughts. Trois-Pistoles is quite remote, and listening/watching the news in French takes a little more than the usual effort, but I am trying to find out everything I can, and news eventually trickles through. Thankfully, my family there are all okay.

Hope that everyone is well; drop me a line here or by email or snailmail and say hi :)

Love you all,
Debs