Jan 12 and 13 - Accra to Amedzofe

For pictures - see this link: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151258121876961.436031.562066960&type=1&l=b1ce201ff8

We set off on Saturday morning on our first adventure. Otabil arrived in his Mitsubishi SUV around 8:30 a.m. I had arranged this from Canada but the owner, whom we met on our first night, said the driver would bring us to see him before setting off to sort out the journey. Regardless, we headed out of Accra on the road to Aburi Botanical Gardens. In the early '60s I spent a number of trips there with my parents and the avenue of palm trees was vivid in my mind.

Much of the road on this first part of our journey was paved, but as with all the paved roads we have been on, round pot holes from the size of well tiles to the size of man holes appear at regular intervals. These alternate with rumble strips, broken segments of the paving, when there is paving, and rocks, bumps, and more holes when there is not, as well as obstrucions such as people, bikes, kids, animals, and other cars. I do recall seeing some speed signs, but whether or not they were kilometers or miles, I am not sure yet as from my back seat in the car where I sat with fingers clenched tightly on the seat and eyes glued like radar beams on the road ahead, I didn't have the time to glance at the speedometer.The desperate part of this, is that all of the holes, bumps, and instructions have to be avoided.

On Saturday mornings the roads are quieter because not as many people are travelling to work. Could have fooled me!! The streets were crammed with people selling, buying, talking, walking, waiting for a bus or a trotro or just simply watching other people. The women's dresses are bright yellows, green, orange, red bold patterns. There is an abundance of red pepper, mangoe, banana, coconuts, plantain, and other nuts, and vegetables that I don't know the names of. There are goods of every description for sale in the roadside markets, and in the wooden booths that fill in spaces between the aluminium, block or cement shops. Black women in their swinging skirts or dresses balance trays of drinks, sweets, food, cloth and merchandise on their heads and swarm the cars when they have to stop at traffic lights, much like the squeegy men in the Toronto streets, but more numerous and more energetically. Trotros, which are like minibusses that should hold maybe 15 people and actually hold about 25+, line the road side at the various collecting points along the route.

So, through all of this excitement and energy we zoomed our way through the streets of Accra out into the country. Here the scene calmed down. The little villages we passed through had lots of activity but not the freneticness of the city. Tiny one or two room houses built from block, sometimes covered with cement and painted, or wood, or mud bricks lined the roads.

About an hour later we arrived in Aburi (http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/features/artikel.php?ID=82972. We took a guided tour (Sandy - we looked for Alfred, but noone seemed to know him so we ended up with another younger guide). The trees in Aburi are amazing, mostly planted by visiting dignitaries from all over the world. The picture of the palm tree lined avenue is it's signature and known all over Ghana.

Then it was back in the car and off on our chase once again. After about another hour we arrived at Akosombo. This is advertized as one of the cleanest towns in Ghana. It is where the famous Akosombo dam (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akosombo_Dam) is built. I was interested in going here because our friend Sandy lived there in the mid 1960s when her father worked with the Volta River Company to build the dam. We had lunch in the Afrikka Resort sitting on their outdoor deck by the side of the river Volta, then took a boat trip up the river to the dam. Although significant, the dam is much smaller than the Itaipo Dam in Brazil for example which produces about 14,000 kilowats of power or Churchill Falls which produces about 5,428 kw; in fact it is more comparable to the Manic 5 in Quecbec. The Volta Lake which resulted from the dam is the largest man made lake in the world. Pretty impressive.

After our little boat ride, we drove across the Adome Bridge and set off on some wild journey through the West African countryside to find Amedzofe. Our driver had never heard of the town and no idea of the route but fortunately, I had thrown a map into my knap sack, which we had bought in Vancouver, and that is what we relied on. Well, we went on some pretty rough roads, or maybe no roads, or tracks, and I don't quite know how we found the place or how we got there.....alive.....but we did. Imagine the space shuttle hurling through the sky and that will give you some idea of the speed we were driving - over ashphalted roads, dirt roads, and whatever, avoiding all of the conditions and obstructions in doing so. Then imagine the dodgems, only instead of avoiding other cars, imagine avoiding all the pot holes, people, animals, etc. mentioned before. The people walking along the side of the road must be used to it because they didn't flinch but elegantly swayed the hip and moved their arm across their bodies out of the way. How we didn't hit anything is a miracle. Oh, and I forgot to mention that at one stage we were flying along a sort of half ashphalted road with a large dirt area to one side when all of a sudden, we were in the middle of cars going the opposite direction on both our left and right. I guess they figured the ashpalt was too bumpy and the dirt was a better bet.

Then we hit the mountains with their switch back bends and narrow 1 1/2 lane roads. The climbs were amazing and we had beautiful forest views looking out over the tops of the beautiful African trees. And finally, around 6:30 p.m. we found the hill village of Amedzofe. As we entered the Village we found a sign advertising the Abraerica Guest House which we went to investigate and discovered it was on the old EP mission grounds. The Guest House had been renovated recently and was immaculate with 24 x 24" white tiles on the floors, and tiles on all the walls, with a quite acceptable double room with a beautiful bathroom. The building was perched on the hill side about 700 meters high with a view of all of the village stretching down into the valley below. But.....of course we are in Africa. So, no running water, not a drop....well I think Ray may have had some drops, but when it came my turn to shower, not a drop. Oh well. After dinner we crawled into our mosquito nets perched precariously on the double bed and went to sleep safe in the knowledge that we didn't have to bother about snakes, or mosquitos, or other bugs joining us.

Sunday morning and we were up early, climbed the tiled steps up the mountain side to the main building and breakfast. Then we set off to investigate the town. What an amazing spot. I would have loved to spend more time there - so anyone coming to Africa - plan on spending a couple of days at least here. It is the sort of place you could stay for a while and just become one of the locals. There are no cars anywhere in the village and therefore the roads are composed of dried mud gullies and mountains. Goats, sheep and chickens roam the town. The people greeted us with big smiles, hand-shakes, and waves as we roamed around the village. Most people speak English . There are many tribes here all speaking their own language and of course they don't understand each other. English is therefore the common language, and Twi the most common African language. Amedzofe has a German link as in ---- the Germans established a mission, and as well there is a large EP college. We drove up the hill into the compound of the school and were confronted by a polite gentleman who pointedly enquired what we were doing there. When we explained we were travelling, he welcomed us to the school with a big smile. You can look out from Amedzofe to see Mount Gemli and Tingro Gemli, one of the highest mountains in Ghana which is just over 700 meters. On the top of Mnt Gemli you can see a metal cross which was planted there by the Germans. Unfortunately we didn't have time to climb the mountain but the view would be stunning. The only thing marring the view is the haze. Harmattan has started and we have been warned that this will be a problem everywhere. It is the same sort of conditions we experienced in India and China. The other photographic problem I have discovered is that the black faces are washed out. Apparently, I should have an HD Multi Coated Variable Range Neutral Density Camera Fileter (Polaroid). The alternative is to make sure I have the sun shining in their faces, but of course with the haze that is difficult!

We dragged ourselves away from Amedzofe with the promise of seeing the Mona Monkeys at Tafi Atome about a 45 minute drive through the hills. This is a community project which was started back in 1993. There was a lot of hunting of the monkeys for food and the population of Mona Monkeys was depleting. The area was granted a huge tract of forest and it was all organized by a Canadian chap called John Mason. Back in 1993 there were about 100 monkeys, now they reckon there are between 300 and 400. The monkeys play freely in the forest. They live in families and are very territorial. They are soooo sweet; they play constantly swinging from branch to branch and sometimes you are sure they are going to fall, but they manage somehow to grab the branch and hang on. The forest has been planted with fruits and berries to sustain them through different seasons, and water is provided during the dry season. We offered them bananas. They were very coy and took a little bit of cajoing, but eventually they would jump on your arm, hold onto your fingers and strip the skin of the banana and elegantly eat it. The "clutch" was gentle, and you had to keep very still and quiet so as not to frighten them; then as soon as they had come, they disappeared. It was an exciting morning. The village of Tafi Atome is set up with a simple guest house so it would be possible to stay there. Once again, wandering through the town people were friendly, and welcoming.

After Tafi Atome, we had a 2 hour drive, again through the mountains towards Toga, to the Wli Falls - the highest in West Africa - around 255 feet. We hiked for 45 minutes through the forest, over 9 bridges of various log, concrete and timber depending what hadn't been washed away by the rains. The lower falls were stunning and then we took a 20 minute hike straight up the mountain side to a view point for the Upper Falls. We badly wanted to do the whole hike up to the falls but once again time was short. It would have been quite a hike. Not sure how it would compare to the Grouse Grind but I suspect probably it would equal or exceed it. It is about an hour and a half's climb straight up, then around the bowl to the top of the falls. Stunning.

We left Wli around 4 p.m in our Mitsubishi race car and made it over the challenging roads to arrive back in Accra around 7:15.

We ate dinner at the hotel, met some of the people from our trip, and headed to bed around 1:00 p.m.

So.......the bad news is I can't figure out how to upload pictures - so I have uploaded them to FaceBook. Here is a URL you can access them at without a FB page.

The Journey

We are now in WA and I have managed to upload my initial blogs. The first part is a little "administrative"....and captures our trials and tribulations getting here, so you may find it a little boring. But promise more interesting stuff after ....!
January 7

On January 9 we head out to West Africa. My stomach is full of butterflies. Hopefully we have made all the appropriate preparations and won't have any "organizational" problems getting there. There are a myriad of things that can "hang you up" on a trip. First, is making sure your passport expires 6 months after the last day of the trip. Sadly, we learn this through one of our good friends' unfortunate circumstances. Secondly, we may be refused access to a specific country if we don't have the correct medical information, i.e. a yellow fever certificate, as well as insufficient pages in our passport. Allow 2 per country! Also passport photos -- again two per country. On top of that we require valid visas. No problem you say! But, when you get the visas you need to make sure they don't expire before you get to the country you are going to. Some countries issue 60 day visas, some 3 month visas, and yet again some 6 month visas. Depending when you will be in that country, you may have to go for the more expensive visa to ensure it does not expire before you enter and exit the specific country. Try fitting that in with a visit to the States before you go, and you realize why people resort to tranquilizers before they travel - it's not the flight that causes the sinking fear in your gut but getting your passports back from one country, in time to send it and receive it back from the next country.

As if that wasn't enough. Have you considered the struggle to find appropriate emergency medical insurance?Have you read the Insurance Policy and understand the terms and conditions of your coverage. For example: one wrong answer and your whole insurance is null and void. Drastic!! I think we are lulled into a sense of false security when we complete a medical form and pay extortionate amounts for our health insurance. Don't be. Check around. Read the policy. Read the questions carefully - very carefully. Don't accept them at face value. Go to someone who is knowledgeable about travel insurance. The CAA representatives are not. Speak out when you find something unfair. I had the CAA annual plan which I got at the beginning of October. I was told all I had to do before I left for Africa was come into the CAA offices and pay the top-up fee for the appropriate number of days over 30, i.e. 23. No problem. I arrived there on Saturday afternoon only to find out that they have initiated a questionnaire to be completed for the top-up, and the questions are very different. Result - I didn't appear to be eligible for the extra insurance coverage. Panic slowly crept into every muscle in my body as the realization sunk in. I wouldn't be able to go to Africa. The representative was very helpful and said she would phone first thing on Monday morning and get back to me by 11:00 a.m. By the time I reached the car, I knew I couldn't wait until Monday morning. I needed to buy some last minute toileteries, and pack. I needed to know right away whether or not I was going. As we ran some other errands my mind grew darker and darker and by the time I got home my body was loaded with worry and it felt as if I was in the middle of a very dark storm. Ray came to the rescue. He called his buddy who is in the insurance business and by Saturday evening I had insurance. I have to admit to only a very quiet contentment when I was able to go back to the CAA on Monday morning and thank them for their help but I would not need their coverage. Of course they came back and said it would be no problem, I could get coverage but at an extra cost. There are times when a market economy means many extra burdens placed on citizens.

But, I think we are ready. Everything is in place, and we are ready to leave.

Tuesday Jan 8 - p.m.

Check-in.......The on-line check in does not recognize our reference number! Step one - call CheapOAir the booking agent. They put Ray on hold - he holds for 40 minutes and hangs up and calls back. He holds for another 20 minutes to get an agent. Discovers the flights have been changed. Agent needs to 'investigate". Ray frantically searches the web for other flights and finds an appropriate one through Expedia. Agent comes back and says the return flight has been cancelled but he can give us a flight on Mar 2 - one day later - so we accept, but still can't check in. CheapOAir says they can't help we will have to call United. By now we are wondering if CheapOAir is reputable. Could we have been so stupid to be scammed??? Call United. It is an automated line. Give them our details. They recognize the reference number, confirm all flights, but now we are swimming across the Atlantic from Brussels to get to Newark to get our flight to Toronto. Nothing more we can do. Need to get to the Airport early to sort it all out. So, the night before we are due to go, we think we have a flight, but are not sure. Nice!!!

Wednesday Jan 9

We are up early and ready for Cathie when she arrives to drive to the airport. House all wrapped up, and off we go. Get to the airport 3 hours ahead of the flight. Go to the United Desk. Some snitty lady tells us we need to go to Air Canada to check in. I said why would we not have been told that. She says, very snittily, it's on the itinerary. It's definitely not. Air Canada is surprised, but they attempt to help. One hour later, the Air Canada Sherlock Homes discovers the clue - one of the ticket numbers is wrong, bingo, finds the new ticket number and we are checked in! So, then back to United to see if they can provide hiking boots to get us from Brussles to the Atlantic and maybe a small boat or a wet suit to help us with our Atlantic Crossing. First lady tells us it's not their problem and she can't do anything because she is usually in operations. Maybe Ravi can help. We go to Ravi. He looks at us as if we have landed from Mars and gives us a United Airlines Number to call. Ray says: "It's not an automated line is it{?"

"No" the UA rep answers.

We go to find a public telephone. I didnt know they still made them, but we find one and call the 1`.800 number. An automated telephone service. Finally we get to a real person. Ray says he has a problem. The rep hangs up! Ray calls back. After holding the line with sweat creeping slowly down our backs, the rep comes back and says he has sorted it out. I think what happened is that when the return flight was changed, the UA personnell didn't process the change correctly and therefore the information wasn't attached to the new ticket number. Hence the confusion at the Air Canada desk. And of course we couldn't check into United becuase we were supposed to check in with Air Canada. The flight attendant told us they were partners. I said well if you are partners you don't communicate very well. He made some smart comment about it being something like a marriage. Sometimes you talk, sometimes you don't.!! So, now we have an hour to get to the Gate for check in. I guess we were frazzled or something but we walked the length of Terminal 1 once then had to walk all the way back to the other end to find the US customs. Fortunately, they were efficient and we were through. Security, the same. We arrived with time to go to the loo and then line up to board. The flight to Newark was in a small plane and was quick and efficient.

Get to Newark with about 3 hours to wait. Time for lunch at about 3:30. Well, I guess it wasn't our day or something and maybe I should fast forward to German time to get out of it quicker. We ate a lousy meal in a lousy airport restaurant. Walked around the airport and then loaded for our flight to Frankfurt. Everything on time and efficient. Get on the plane and to pay for wine with dinner - no credit card. I guess it is still sittling in the credit card holder in the lousy restaurant in the Newark Airport. There is not much you can do when you are sitting in the middle seat of three on a plane with 400 people in the middle of the sky. I felt trapped. Nowhere to go. Nowhere to deal with my internal chatter. Nowhere to escape the inert body sitting beside me rigid with frustration. It was opportune that that was the moment the skies decided to take their revenge on the human race and hammer the airplane with winds. The plane started to cavort around the airspace, and the captain turned on the "seat belt" sign and revved up the engines making it hard to hear to take us up to the next level to avoid the turbulence. I guess there are forces stronger than us around!! It has been a very long timne since I have experience anything as dramatic in the air. Dinner arrived, and the wine thank goodness; I don't know whether it was the rolicking airplane or the loss of the credit card or the miffed husband sitting beside me, but my hands shook so badly, and all of a sudden my hunger faded as the plane settled down and I didn't do much justice to another rather dried out, sawdust tasting meal.

The saga of the lost credit card continued in Frankfurt when the 24/7 collect call line to Scotiabank had "technical problems". I think we exposed all the cracks in our very organized and controlled Canadian systems". Didn't make it so bad leaving to visit Africa. Sort of prepared us.....I guess!!

When we got to Frankfurt we had the same "check in" problems as in Toronto (we had to check in for the final stage of the journey). But once again an ingenious rep Lufthansa rep sorted it out. The flight rom Frankfurt was about 6 1/2 hours. The crew were fantastic but the flight itself was one of the bumpiest we have had in a long time. It reminded me of one of my earlier journeys to Ghana when we were in a Stratocruiser and went through the biggest storm over the desert. One of the communication cables broke, and there was some other damage done to the plane. We had to land in the middle of the Sahara to repair the plane. We weren't allowed out of the structure, until finally it got so hot, the crew were able to get permission for us to go outside, where of course it was almost as hot but not so claustrtophobic. We were well guarded by soldiers with guns. I think we had landed at an Arabic air base. Fortunately, we didn't have such an adventure this time,

One of the reasons I enjoy travelling is the personal stories you hear. For example. I sat beside a Nigerian woman on the flight into Frankfurt. She had moved to the States 3 years ago to be with her brother. She was a teacher in Nigeria but feels that because she hit the US at the worst time imaginable, she has been unable to find permanent work. She is supply teaching but sometimes wonders where her next few pennies are going to come from. Another brother had died in Nigeria and she was making the long trek back to Nigeria for his funeral. She was lovely. Then on the flight to Accra we met a German mother travelling with two small children to join her husband for a two year contract in Accra. I momentarily sat with the older girl while the mother took the younger girl to the bathroom. She was excited about fulfilling one of her life long dreams.

January 10

We walked out the back end of the 737 on to the tarmac in Accra about 7:30 on Jan 10, 28 hours after we had left home. A shield of heat and humidity hit us in the face when we took our first step down the gangway. We got into a bus which took us the very short distance to the unsophisticated terminal. The walk down the building to the customs hall was decorated with an archway of red ribbon making us feel like royalty when we arrived. Customs and baggage pick up went smoothly. We had our pictures taken and our fingers printed - correction we both had our pictures taken but I alone had my finger prints taken. We couldn't get an answer why but I suspect it may be in an effort against trading women. My biggest fear was that the driver i had arranged to pick us up from the airport wouldn't be there. He was!!! I should have more faith!!

We drove a short distance, maybe 10 or 15 minutes to the hotel. What the infrastructure lacks, the people make up for. We were welcomed warmly at the hotel, and soon had our jeans stripped off and dressed in something cooler. We went out to compound for dinner - because it was late we had a chicken and a beef sandwich which was really a wrap with a crepe. It was delicious. And.....of course a cold beer....or two.

The dining/lounge area is quite eclectic. The owner is Lebanese. His brother has a "special spot" where he sits with his group of friends smoking their water pipes. We are told they are smoking but with flavours added so that it doesn't taste like cigarette - a cooler smoke, we are told. There was another couple there from Holland. Tonight, the Libyan Ambassador came over with a Libyan friend, and the Lebanese crowd was there too. Fortunately, they seemed quite friendly, to each other, and to us, and we had a nice chat with one of the Libyan guys. The dining room manager, whose name is Mali, is lovely - very mannerly with the typical Ghanaian smile. He told us his life story and how he ended up here. Very high principles. Showed us his three beautiful kids. Very lovely.

We didn't do much at all today. We got to bed last night around midnight, just after and flaked out till about midday. Ray was up at 9 and had a shower. I slept like a log. We got up and made a 5 minute walk down the street to the supermarket. What an amazing array of foods. So well stocked with food from every part of the world. The shelves were packed with goods. We watched a particular white woman doing her shopping with her "maid". An interesting relationship where both women looked bored with each other, themselves, and their life. Shoppers were mixed - white - black - and probably Middle Eastern. Ghana has always had ties wtih people from North Africa. As a kid I remember all the "traders" being Syrian who were also the shop owners at that time. Interestingly, we haven't seen any hint of Chinese money at this point. We are told the Libyans are investing heavily in Ghana and the Lebanese have been here for years.

Later we went for a walk around Osu the district we are staying in. The best way to describe the scene is that of a market walking down the side of the busy main street. We were accosted by all sorts of people, hoping I am sure to make a sale, but able to say "welcome to Ghana" when we didn't buy!! The Ghanaians are truly lovely people. If you can catch the smile, it is big, and warm, with lots of sparkling white teeth and warm, friendly eyes. They have a special handshake which is readily offered.

Anyway, I must go to bed and will try and upload this epistle. Tomorrow at 8 we are off to Aburi Gardens and the Volta Region.

Where to Next?

When I saw the Overlanding West Africa site (http://www.overlandingwestafrica.com/), I knew that our next trip would be through West Africa. Eureka!! We're off on January 9. We'll be overlanding through Ghana, Burkina Faso, Cote d'Ivoire, Guinea, and Sierra Leone. I've added a couple of maps so you know where we're going.

Many have asked us: "Why West Africa". Our travel doctor told us it was the most dangerous place on earth!! Bugs, disease, and personal safety, I think he was referring to. The simple answer is it's beautiful...and once you have been to Africa it has a habit of grabbing your soul and never letting go. The longer answer is that I lived there when I was a kid. My Dad was a construction engineer on a diamond mine in Ghana and Sierra Leone. Unfortunately, the mines are either destroyed or not operating, and there is no infrastructure that I could tap into to go back for a visit. Besides, you can never "go back"! We were looking for something interesting to do for January and February and had decided on renting a house in Oaxaca in Mexico with a possible couple of weeks in Puerto Escondido. Sounds like fun? It did to me....until I told my daughter. "What", she exclaimed, "Go to Mexico? You guys can't do that. Everyone goes to Mexico on holiday." So, it was back to the drawing board. Sitting in my armchair I toured the world. Finally I landed on Bali. Everyone wants to go to Bali, right? So I thought. But Ray said no. I think it was more the isolation of the writer's retreat that I was looking at that didn't appeal to him rather than Bali itself!! So, recovering from the rebuff of the Bali suggestion, I was cruising my FaceBook site when I saw the link for Overlanding West Africa posted by Tony Embling (our driver from our Oasis trip to South America). I opened it up! The picture in the banner that day was one of a palm-tree lined, brick-red dirt, avenue along the edge of the ocean. My heart pulled me through the pictures on  the web site of mud logged roads, baobab trees, children's glowing, black, faces, and colourful kente cloths worn by the local people. The trip description talked about wildlife, music, hiking and trekking, bike riding, beaches, getting stuck in the mud, and of course the unique and scintillating African culture.I was hooked. Fortunately, it didn't take Ray long to get on the bandwagon! And so....David, Jimmy, and Aminah.......here we come!!  Stay posted!! But a word of warning. I will try my hardest to keep this blog current, but I do know that there may be periods of time, up to or over 17 days, when we will not have access to the Internet. So, please be patient!!
 

The Defence (Feb 22 – Mar 13)

The most exciting event in this period is that Alanna has “passed” her Capstone. This was a 100 page research paper she did on the public interest in decisions made by regulatory tribunals. She successfully defended her paper in front of a small audience on Friday (March 11) morning. It was very exciting to see her present….but also extremely nerve racking and emotional. I was only “watching” so, I can’t imagine how nervous she must have been! We are very proud of what she has achieved and I am sure she is extremely relieved to have this completed.

She still has some minor revisions to make before she can close the door on it. She only has one more course to finish, and then she will be working full time (she is currently working 2 days a week) with the BCUC (British Columbia Utilities Commission) – first as Acting Commission Secretary for 14 months, then as a regulatory analyst. A very exciting time in her life. In the evening the three of us had a lovely “celebratory” dinner at Cardero’s in Coal Harbour.

Our stay in our “home away from home” ended on March 7. Then we spent 5 days with our friends Cindy and Murray in North Van, and are now spending our final few days with Alanna in the West End. Our life has been spent just living. We entertained our few friends in Vancouver, went over to their place for dinner, ran, shopped, and generally had a lovely time. I went to a Corporations Canada presentation on the new Not for Profit Corporations Act and connected with many people that I used to work with but some of whom I had never actually met in person. Ray and I also explored Furry Creek some more and an area just outside West Van called Seascape, both gorgeous areas built up the side of the mountainous cliffs and overlooking the Salish Sea. Our most recent excursion was to an area in East Vancouver called Strathcona or Mount Pleasant. This is an area of eclectic, brightly coloured homes, a Buddhist temple, a Ukranian Church, and other interesting cultural buildings on the edge of China Town.

Ray and I joined a bootcamp, with the compliments of our daughter! This is a “first-time experience” for Ray and we were both pretty “sore” after the first couple of times. However, we did manage to run 16 km this morning. I don’t imagine tomorrow at bootcamp will be very pretty!!

Along with the rest of the world we have watched the events unroll in Egypt and now in Libya, and the devastating earthquakes in New Zealand and Japan plus the effects of the sunami in Japan. The world seems like a very turbulent place these days. During our visit to Torres del Paine in Chile, I remember saying to Ray that it was such an inhospitable place because it didn’t want humans to go there and destroy its beauty. It’s almost as if that is what the whole world is telling us right now. Sort of like its saying to man: “you have had your opportunity on this planet and you have screwed it up with your human excesses – now its pay back time!” Somewhere along the line I think we have missed the point of the battle between good and evil when the world can stand by and watch someone like Gaddafi committing mass murder, and taking his revenge on his country’s people and their resources. It feels as if we are watching the “unravelling” of the world as we know it. Anyway, that’s my view of the world today!!

Meanwhile, life rolls along. Our cat Chloe is on holiday in Toronto and has a Jack Russell for a house mate. We’re waiting to hear the latest episode from Sherry. Hopefully no flying fur, scraped noses, or tails between the leg!!! Relationship counselling as its wildest!!!

From beautiful Vancouver…..see you again soon!

Vancouver - Jan 22 to Feb 21 2011

Ray and I continue to enjoy ourselves here in Vancouver. I got my exam over with on Jan 31 and am still waiting for the results. I got my essay in a week before the exam and according to the mark I got, did OK. Now I am free to plan outings without the guilt of feeling I should be studying. On the other hand, what do I do in those moments when we are not out exploring the BC lower mainland….beginning to sound like a regular Vancouverite!! Alanna has submitted the first draft of her Capstone project, has received feed back from her advisor, and is closing in on the second draft which gets sent to the reviewers in preparation for her defence on March 11. She is looking forward to starting full time work in May. Ray and I have done an edit of the first draft of the paper (100 pages) and one of the Appendices (40 pages). Ray has been golfing several times on various public courses, has re-connected with the gang of people he worked with here in BC, and has generally been plotting and planning the economies of reality living in BC.



Overlooking Fraser River from Marine Drive




We have continued our visits to different parts in and close to Vancouver. One day we drove down to Crescent Beach and White Rock then all around Lower Surrey and back through Richmond, Westminster, and Burnaby. Crescent Beach is a small seaside town which must be a tourist trap in summer. White Rock is bigger, has an interesting main street with the railway separating the restaurants from the Ocean. We also checked out a few town house complexes on the way. White Rock is not far from the American border, and certainly the weather is much warmer down there. It is about an hour’s drive from the City of Vancouver. Apart from the White Rock and Crescent Beach area, the other parts we travelled through were mainly residential burbs. We also took a drive south on Granville, and west along Marine Drive to UBC. Marine Drive is like the Post Road Area of Toronto with the added feature of the large homes on extensive properties having ocean views.





Sunset on the Fraser River from Marine Drice

  Another day we drove across the Lion’s Gate Bridge and along Marine Drive to Horseshoe Bay, then on to the Sea to Sky Highway and up to Squamish. Now this was a much more interesting trip. The scenery was absolutely stunning as you can see from some of the photos. The cove at Horseshoe Bay was delightful, and the communities along the way at Lion’s Bay, and Furry Creek just gorgeous. This is an area where the mountains drop steeply into the ocean, and the mountain faces are overgrown with fir trees. Turning up a fiord like fingerling in the Salish Sea to Squamish, continued to offer magnificent scenery. Squamish itself was a bit of a mixture; a nice-enough town controlled by the Chief – ( Sawamus Chieftain) a massive rock face that is popular with climbers. We experienced local life in a small café which provided Ray with insight into “just every day life” and me to a determination never to be in the position of saying to my friends: “So, what did you do today to pass your time?”

The Chief, from Squamish

Horseshoe Bay

Salish Sea from Sea to Sky Highway

Both Alanna and Ray have celebrated birthdays. Alanna (Jan 26) held a small get together at her place with her SFU friends….and her parents. This was our first glass of wine in about a month, and it slid down very nicely!! Have to admit I enjoyed the weight loss as much as the not drinking. Alas, I can’t say that has continued!! Alanna and I then took Ray out for dinner in a small restaurant here in Kerrisdale (Feb 12). We had a lovely evening together and after dinner, and wine, we rolled back down the street, enjoying the walk in the fresh air. I think it is in SuperFreakanomics where someone says it is more dangerous to walk drunk then drive drunk!! We managed to make it safely!! Alanna, Ray and I also had a lovely dinner out last Thursday night with Christine and Tom who are moving to West Van in May.

Alanna on her Birthday

Alanna's Birthday Party

Ray's Birthday - Ray, Alanna and Liz

I selected a Taiwanese hair salon to have a cut and colour on my hair, with even better results than in China; spent an afternoon shopping with Alanna for “office” clothes downtown Vancouver; spent a day “window shopping” with my friend Cindy, and lunch out - it is a treat to spend time “chatting” with good friends, don’t you think?; and another day I went for coffee with my co-author and poured over the latest volume of federal corporate legal procedures that is just being published. Thursday evening we had some friends over for dinner; and Saturday evening we went out for dinner to Cindy and Murray’s in North Vancouver.

Ray and I also run: Tuesday evenings, Wednesday evenings, Friday mornings, and Sunday mornings. This weekend (we did Saturday not Sunday because we were out Saturday night) we ran 11.5 km. And, we love to go on walks and explore.

We are living in one of the most beautiful cities in Canada. So, how much do you know about Vancouver? Situated with the Burrard Inlet to the North, the mouth of the Fraser River to the South, the Strait of Georgia to the west shielded from the Pacific Ocean by Vancouver Island. Travelling up the north coast with islands and fjords, and the high North Shore Mountains flanking the coast, the views are magnificent. The economy is supported by the lumber industry, tourism, and the film industry. It has a compact urban core that has gained international recognition for its "high amenity and 'livable' development." Not only is Vancouver aesthetically attractive, but Canada provides a safety net of security from both a personal security aspect, a health aspect, and security from wars and to a degree terrorism. The population is about 642,843 (2010) in Vancouver itself and 2,328,000 (2009) in Greater Vancouver. Immigration occurs from around the world and the city has a rich multi-cultural population from all over the globe. A love affair with Vancouver, and BC may break down when it comes to crime. Listening to the News,it seems that there are many more gun shot deaths than in Toronto, and when I check out the statistics, this is correct. It has the highest rate of gun related violent crime in any major metropolitan region in Canada and its property crime rates are among the highest in North America.

So, I think I have contributed a little to all the questions I get asked: (i) how do you pass your time on a daily basis; (ii) what are the social problems Vancouver faces; and (iii) are you enjoying yourselves. If you have any other questions, just leave me a comment on the blog. But seriously, who wouldn’t want to live here?

PS - Sorry for the mis-placement of the photos - I can't seem to get them in the right place!!

Small Things Make You Happy

We are always looking for the “big” things in life; the big moments that will make an impact, but this morning when the book that I ordered through AbeBooks.com arrived from The Book Brothers in Chatham, ON, in the mail, I realized that it is the small things that can make you the most happy. I am excited. I can’t wait to read it. This is my treat to myself after my exam is over. The book is called “The Gypsies”, by Jan Yoors. http://www.janyoors.com/life.html and for the front cover of the book http://www.amazon.com/Gypsies-Jan-Yoors/dp/0881333050#reader_0881333050

It is the story of the author who, at the age of 12, ran away from his privileged home in Belgium to live with the Gypsies. I have chosen the book as one of our book-club reads. This is the reason I gave my fellow book-club members: “Maybe those of you have ties with Europe will know more than others about the Gypsies. Coming from Britain, we saw the “Tinkers” and “Gypsies” regularly, but they were always described negatively…..naturally, as a child, to me they were “mysterious” and “fascinating” and although we would try to get close to see who they were, we didn’t want to get too close because there was that “fear” about them spread by the “adults” in our life. I am looking forward to reading the book and to learning a little more of the true facts about the Gypsies.” I think we have a choice about the way we live our lives. We can live in isolation of the realities around us, or we can embrace life and the many diversities that make up our “community”. Neither way is right or wrong, but  I choose to do the latter. It gives me deeper “perspective”, and “compassion”, and “tolerance” which gives my life more meaning.….I think!

Pole Dancing in Vancouver (Dec 30 - Jan 16, 2011)

Our Run this Morning around the Sea Wall at False Creek

Our life in Vancouver is not dull! Yesterday afternoon I went to a shower for a young friend of mine who is getting married in March. Apart from seeing the beautiful gifts she received, eating the delicious food her mother provided, and envying the pink, green, and white martini’s that the tall, dark and handsome young man made (he was the only man present), we also pole danced…and had a lesson in lap dancing! It was so much fun!! I managed the pole dancing reasonably well (so I’m told)but I am not sure I managed the sultry, sexy attitude that the PT demonstrated; and when it came to lap dancing, I knew I was beat. My body just didn’t seem to arch as arrogantly, or bend as flexibly, or look as enticing as the younger guests!! I couldn’t quite manage to undo my bra while executing a backward bend over my silently-absent, seated partner! But, nonetheless, it was a terrific afternoon and Nicola received a lot of tips for a romantic evening with her new husband!!! Ladies, if you want to “rekindle” the eroticism of your marriage I strongly recommend trying it…..along with the martini’s!! The young barman was a great sport and did try the pole dancing, but was nowhere to be seen when the lap dancing started!! And....the reason I was "envying" the martinis...well first of all I was driving, but secondly and more importantly, we are all on an alcohol-free month - Jan 2 to Jan 26. It's actually doable, and quite nice....restaurant bills are cheaper, general cost of "stuff" is less, and you feel great....don't miss it one little bit. But, no doubt we will all go back to our pre-2011 habits once Alanna's birthday hits on the 26th.
On a more serious note, I joined the half-marathon clinic at the Running Room on West Broadway. First class was January 4. We have started out with a slow 7 km on Sunday mornings and today just completed an 8 km run. The only hook is the hills. There are hills everywhere. So our “easy” runs are usually done half up hill and half down hill. Still managed a respectable 6.4 mins/km; but I don’t think I can keep that up for 21.1 km and certainly not over a hilly course. It’s a fun group of people, “Kitsilano” people, I’m told, as if that gives them some immediate identity….which of course is totally lost on me! Ray is joining me at the run club on Wednesday evenings and Sunday mornings. Then we try and fit in a fourth morning on Fridays. So that is certainly giving us some “schedule” to our life. Otherwise there is not much!

I am trying to do my reading and REMEMBER IT for my course. I thought someone said that running was good for the memory. I remember to go running….but not much else!! I have done a first draft of my essay and am now waiting to do a telephone interview with a charity that I am going to use as a cases study. Can’t wait for Jan 31 when it will all be over, and I shall be a free women again!!

Alanna joins us on Wednesdays and stays till Sunday when we drive her back to the West End (about 15minutes). The kilometre scale here is liberating. Instead of having to drive for half an hour to get anywhere, in 15 minutes we are practically at the other side of town….well, that is if the traffic is co-operating! We’ve had a few journeys over the Lion’s Gate Bridge that have taken a little longer than one would like. And we study (that's Alanna and I)………. Last night one of her class mates came for dinner and that was nice. I have also spent a couple of days with Alanna studying in the library at the Simon Fraser campus downtown. The atmosphere there is very congenial to studying for blocks of time without interruption. Bliss!

When Ray and I are on our own, I study (are you getting the picture???); Ray busies himself with listing our Collingwood Condo and the house for sale. We like to walk; so in between our runs, we try to fit in a walk, and of course we can walk to the “high street” in Kerrisdale to do our produce shopping. We walked "up" (note, yet another hill) there last Friday evening and had dinner in a neat little family owned restaurant called Suvai which was recommended to us by the owners’ of the house we are staying in. During the week, Ray had an outing to visit some business associates in Burnaby. Last Tuesday night it snowed, quite a bit actually, so Ray had to clear the front steps and the pavement in front of the house, and did the same for our neighbour. But by late afternoon the snow had turned to slush in the warm temperatures. We didn’t run that night because none of the side streets Otherwise, temperatures have been up and down - low was -4 or -5C at the beginning of the month; today it was 12C; and it has been up to 13/14C. By the end of Thursday, you would hardly have known there was snow. On Friday, I took the bus downtown to go “lingerie” shopping and spent a fun hour or so in Scarlet’s choosing some sexy lingerie for a shower gift.

Ray has also been checking out the real-estate in Vancouver. Most of it is totally out of anything that makes sense. I haven’t a clue how young people will ever buy a house here and since travel into the city is so restricted, I can’t imagine what the future for Vancouver looks like. The price of houses is just not in line with salaries. If your mortgage is $100,000 per annum, that means $200,000 earnings before tax; and if that is 50% of your salary, that means a salary of around $400,000. Unrealistic for the many. Of course figures for “affordability” are much higher and the average in Vancouver is more like 65% of salary.

We had a quiet hogmanay, and then on New Year’s Day our friends Cindy and Murray came for drinks. For those of you who don’t know Cindy, we lived together in a house on Davisville Avenue in Toronto “pre-marriage” together with Suzie, who lives in Sydney in Australia. These were my two cohorts on my August visit to Vancouver.

We made a trip today over the Second Narrow’s Bridge to Deep Cove on the north shore of the Indian Arm of the Burrard Inlet. It was a spectacular setting. The forested mountain slopes came right down to the shore line and there was a beautiful little hamlet right in the cove with a yacht club and piers for kayaking and other water sports. We had a tasty lunch in the Arms Reach Bistro looking over the water to the mountains on the other side of the Arm. It wasn’t raining but the skies were very gray and a white mist hung sulkily in between the mountain peaks so that the whole effect was very dramatic and very stunning. We ran out of road just past the houses in Deep Cove and so turned around and headed back to Vancouver over the Lion’s Gate Bridge. A really beautiful afternoon’s drive.

These have been our “highlights” to date, and sorry for not having more pictures…will try and remember to take my camera with me... stay tuned for more….