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Published: August 21st 2008
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Tim on manana
as in the spanish manana, but I can not work out how to put the little stroke ontop of the "n". I have left a few South American entries out in the desire to write in the present tense again. At first I was thinking I would put entries up on the last couple of weeks in south America, but I really do not think they warrant that much attention. Soon after Kate and Ruley left us, Jono and I came down with the worst flu come chest infection either of us had had in years. We cancelled the hike we had been planning with Laurence and Phillipe, headed North to Arequipa and planned to meet Laurence and Phillipe again there to do a hike in the Culca canyon (climbing Mount Mismi to see the source of the amazon river). This plan, too had to be aborted. So, the last few weeks featured us shifting hotels in search of somewhere comfortable, aborting plans, coughing, sleeping and having fever induced wacky dreams. I did write about the experience of being sick, but it was pretty self indulgent and I lost my notebook anyhow, probably for a reason. Just to give you a taste though, it went something like:
"I am sick of being seen as a money bag. I am sick of
saggy mattresses and hot showers that don't work, or of manic depressive hot showers that start out working only to turn icy on you mid way through, or of hot showers that are either fire hoses or trickles but nothing in between. I am sick of mouldy walls and dirty carpet. I am sick of being lied to just so that I open my wallet. I am sick of having massages offered to me in Spanglish. For that matter, just being offered all sorts of stuff that I do not want or need "Miss, Miss..." I am sick of having people ask me if I want a photo of them. If I want something I will ask for it, damn it. I am sick of being blatantly ripped off. I am sick of passive smoking. I am sick of suicidal bus rides. I am sick of unpacking our backpacks just to pack them again and then unpack them. I am sick of running out of underwear. I am sick of having the same old hostel small talk with all these people that we will never see again like we are all walking cliches repeating ourselves over and over again. "Where
are you from?" "where are you going?" , "How long have you been in South America?", "Is it your first time here?", "What do you do back home?"...
(etc etc, for about two pages) and then:
"Most of all, I am sick of being sick. I think it is time to go home."
So, anyhow... now for the present tense:
We are back in Squamish!!! And... it is raining! It feels just like we never left. Flying in to Vancouver over a week ago now felt like a coming home of sorts. It was a familiar place after so many new and unfamiliar places. I was a bit confused and kept saying gracias instead of thankyou to people, but it was great to be able to jump in a cab and just speak English again. We arrived at a cafe where we met our friend, Heather who was having a dinner with some work mates. We ate a halibut burger and drank maple cream beer, looked up at the blue evening summer sky and breathed in the smell of cypress. Did we just dream up the last five and a half months? They already felt so
far behind us...
We spent a few days at Barb and Brian's house getting sorted out: unpacking and uncrumpling clothes, collecting mail, sleeping (lots), having hot baths and watching TV in english then we headed out to Squamish to meet up with Heather and Evan (climbing pals from Canberra). We caught up with Cass (who actually drove us out to Squamish and climbed a little with us) and Tim came out for a day on the crag. It was all very strange to be surrounded by friends from both Canada and Australia again, after being among strangers for so long. It was great to talk about more than where we had been, where we were going and where we were from. We had a few hot days of sweaty climbing - well into the 30 degree celcius range - before the weather took a dive and went back to the familiar Vancouver rainy cold stuff that we were oh so used to. When it rains here, even in summer, it gets cold, hovering around 10 to 15 degrees at the most. But we have managed to keep our spirits up shopping at bargain stores, hanging out at the rec
fine dining
Jono, Heather, Evan center where you can pool, spa, shower and sauna your heart out for $4.50. Oh, and they have fun things in the pool like monkey bars over the water, diving boards and water volleyball nets, all of which, I think, are designed with kids in mind, but climbers are always kids, I think. It is funny to see all these adults (read climbers) lined up behind the kids waiting their turns on the monkey bars.
Last night four more of our friends from Canberra turned up so we are almost outnumbering the locals. The plans are wavering a little as the weather outlook is bleak. Hanging around in a damp soggy campground for ten days in not what any of us had in mind, but we will see what happens. They are predicting sun for the next couple of days at least, so hopefully that prediction sticks.
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Kass
non-member comment
:(
Awwe, I miss Canada :( What a great country.