Again, every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end.

Wow. what more can I say right now then that word that elicits the emotion of pure awe. Wow. I write this on my plane ride back home to Canada after four long amazing months. Let me first, before embarking on a very necessary rant about my current emotional state, tell you more about the wonderful Greek culture!

Firstly the food. A cuisine so fresh, flavourful and healthy that you sit down at every shared dish meal finding room in your belly you never thought existed! Eating olives tomatoes and cucumbers grown in a garden you walked by in the morning, consuming copious amounts of 'homemade wines' along with figs that were picked by myself or a relatives hands 10 minutes ago. Or eating veleeta greens doused in lemon so fresh it makes your mouth tingle for more of the sour fruit juice. Or a pepino, a melon, so flavourful bought from one of the weekly neighbourhood street markets, its puts a new idea in your head as to what natural sweetness really is!

And Secondly, the people. Alright, I'll give it to you, I had an in, travelling through Greece with my Greek uncle, visiting Theo Yani and Thia Ana's Glefada home and eating zesty cool dolmades. Or staying at "Hotel Canadiana" with friends that make our meals especially for us that fill our glasses full with that pungent homemade brew tinking glasses and chanting "yamas" to celebrate one another's presence. All the while sitting at a Taverna only meters away from the Sea off the coast of Evia, near the darling village of Vasillika, with four old Greek gentleman chanting old Greek songs loud over their card game.

The Landscape, Cyclades islands of volcanic origin barren and surrounded on one side by cliff where white washed villas, tavernas and homes teeter on the confusing cliff edge, forming an astonishing labyrinth of cobblestone walkways so fun to explore by day and even more alive and amazing by night. This island of Santorini is where two of my very favourite wanderers (achem Mom, Auntie Bonnie) and I scaled the cliff side starting far down into the abysmal Caldera waters, and walked 15km from Fira to Oia, this was a feat, we were proud of I tell ya. And oh, lets not forget the Greek Beaches. From the black sand volcanic rock beach on Santorini to the turquoise waters off the coast of the much greener island of Skaithos (North Eastern Greece) the beaches of Greece are quite stunning. And so, as my time in Greece has come to an end, I will remember many things; the food of course, the salty residue after swimming in the sea and counting to 100 in Greek, the welcoming people, the generous uncle, aunt and extended family, the laughs and the way it was a perfect end to my summer.

As I think right now, about heading back to Canada, tears well up in my eyes. My chest aches when you think about my Dad, my friends and family back home that I haven't connected with in just too long. Although I know I could carry on travelling I am looking forward to a small bit of consistency. I have been "instantly" thrown from Otesha, to Southeast Asia with Krista, to Greece with my Aunt, Uncle, cousins and mother. All three experiences have been so dramatically different from one another I learned so much from them all; skills and lessons and knowledge that is not necessarily tangible, but that will be brought forward with me whenever I end up. I have learned some things in bold: live life. play. communicate. be nice. say thank you. And on that note I owe thanks, to the universe for acting greatly in my favour, to my Otesha teammates, who I think about daily and who really changed my world. To my parents for being the absolute best; supporting me in all my crazy plans, and for keeping to big stuff in perspective. To Krista, whom is the best soul mate and travel mate a girl could ever wish for. To my Greek family for treating me, exposing me and welcoming me oh so well. To every person who came into contact with me over the past four months whether it was for four days in Vancouver BC when I house crashed, or for two minutes when I evoked a smile in the Vietnamese Mekong delta upon a long boat paddled between greenery or whether it was the person I just spoke to whose broken English didn't stop me from seeing her excitement in visiting her husband for the first time in Canada. Thank you all, you have taught me lessons no institution could ever teach. And to you, for caring enough to read my wordy blogs, I can't wait for our reunion in Canada!

Nosteimo Greece (how's that for Greek-lish?)

I am in yet another stunning country, experiencing another new culture. I arrived in Athens, Greece last week after transferring through Doha, Qatar, which was a very unique experience in itself (even though I didn't leave the airport, the landscape was stark dessert) to the welcoming arms of familiar faces, Mother, Uncle, Aunt, and cousins. Greece felt new, but at the same time somewhat familiar, having been surrounded my entire life with stories and language and Greek culture from my Uncle George, who is a Greek Canadian and whose family journey's back to holiday in his birth country every summer. As I entered yet another new culture, I did it with a new group of travel mates; new habits and people whom I had not been around in a long time. We spent a couple days in Athens exploring the ancient acropolis, an ancient structure that I am not sure I have total historical appreciation for, but was stunning in and of itself. We saw the new acropolis museum as well, a fabulous display of ancient artifacts and ruins from the acropolis. I felt a little under pressure, being back around these openly familiar people, naturally being questioned from a number of people about my summer and my lifestyle choices, but appreciated the challenge. During those first days in Athens, we visited my Uncles old suburb of Athens, saw the home where he grew up, complete with lemon and fig tree out front, the church he attended, and the dilapidated school that he learned in. It was only after the hardship of the second world war that his family decided to make the semi permanent move to Canada, which eventually turned into the permanent home for his family, a country which seemed to carry through on it's promises of a better life, but that lacked the same comforting culture of Greece, their true home. During these same first few days in Athens, I discovered the sheer pleasure of home style Greek food enjoyed in the warm outdoor air of one of the very many tavernas. After plotting our adventures for the next couple of weeks in this new country that was new to me, but so familiar to my Aunt, Uncle and cousins, we journeyed on our first out of Athens adventure to Hydra, a quaint little pedestrian and donkey only isle close to Athens, with crystal clear turquoise waters and cute ma and pop tavernas. And now, I write to you from Stoupa. A small beach town, located next to a small fishing village, on the coast of the warm Mediterranean waters in south western Greece, in the lovely Pelleponesse area of this European country. Here, an area that has been on my Aunt and Uncles agenda almost every time they venture 'home' we are with some of my uncles family, enjoying swimming in the brackish beaches that are constantly supplied with fresh mountain water, crisp and clean, an anomaly in this seemingly desert like landscape. Late night dinners at tavernas in fishing or mountain villages where everyone shares the typically wonderful and fresh dishes, where melons, oranges, lemons and figs are so wonderfully sweet and ripe, being picked and eaten so close. Where I have discovered yet another fresh, beautiful culture, and will continue to for two weeks more.

The land of the Thai...

Hello all. Krista and I have entered the fourth and final country in our jaunt around Southeast Asia. We chose to spend the last week of our journey together in the tropical paradise - the islands of southern Thailand. After a unique night on an overcrowded truly westernized beach on the larger, more popular island of Phuket, Krista and I took a ferry ride over to Co Phi Phi. A tropical paradise indeed. I don't recall ever seeing water so clear and blue, with hints of green, and sand so white and brilliant. The island is well developed for tourism, most of the buildings are beautiful newly constructed bamboo huts, bungalows and small restaurants, bars and guesthouses, Phi Phi was decimated during the tsunami of 2004, but, as I have seen time and time again in Southeast Asian countries, the people have beautifully rebounded, ready to make a dollar from the tourists. Here, Thai massage, buckets of alcohol, sumptuous Thai food, tattoo parlours, and trendy beach bars with flame throwers reign high to entice the very young crowd to indulge during their beach holidays. The developed portion of the isle is small, and (refreshingly) there are no cars or motorbikes allowed on the island! Just carts to lug around goods in, bicycles and feet are at work transporting things here, down the narrow alleys lined with shops and restaurants. Today Krista and I were out on the water by hired boat to snorkel and see some more of the stunning beaches surrounding this group of 6 magnificent limestone cliffed, blue watered islands. (one of the beaches we visited was the set for the film 'The Beach'). They were all beautiful, the water clear, the swimming great, and the fish beautiful. Really a decadent way to end mine and Krista's time together (ahhh! I hate that I have to write end!) It's amazing again how nice the Thai people are that we have encountered (and how well they cook pad Thai, panang curry, and oh, of course you can't forget the sweet sticky rice with mango, maybe with a fruit shake on the side). That seems to be one commonality to the people of Southeast Asia: although they (constantly) want to sell you a sarong, scarf, tuk tuk ride, boat ride, or hotel room, they are generally very welcoming of tourists, quite honest, and very willing to show you their culture.

Tonight, as Krista and I rambled our way along the beach, with the tide a long way out, we saw plenty of people with headlights staring down into the shallow water, we wandered down to see what they were in search of. When we asked the man what he was doing, he proudly held up a small bag of lightly coloured prawns, and let us tag along for a minute or two, as he placed a simple bamboo cylinder around a prawn when he spotted one, and let Krista (attempt) to scoop it up with her fingers and place it in his trusty bag. "Cop coon" we hummed as we slipped away back up to the dry sand "cop coon lai" he loudly replied, happy that we spoke that simple word aloud to him. Sometimes, little words, little actions, can really mean a lot.

Tragedy and beauty

Really, I could think of many words to describe Cambodia, but the first one that comes to my mind from what I have seen and learned from being in this country for 4 days is Tragic. Krista and I started in Phnom Penh where we visited a jail and killing fields where thousands of people were brutally (and I mean brutally) tortured and killed during the Khmer Rouge Rule between 1975-1979. It was horrific, learning the senseless ways that such horror was inflicted on such innocent people. It made me disappointed and confused that my fellow race could be so brutal, but more unknown about how the rest of us could sit back and watch it all. We saw some startling photos, walked over the communal burial sites of thousands of people and it was just all confusing to me. And you can still see what many Khmers (ie Cambodians) call the aftermath of this genocide - poverty in a way that I have not seen in other SE Asian countries yet. Although this country has quite a history, that does certainly not stop with the genocide (there have been endless battles with the Thais and Vietnamese, unexploded landmines all over the countryside, starvation and famine, endless socio economic issues) the people seem very resilient. I have yet to meet a mean or rude Cambodian, and like Laos and Vietnam, they seem utterly proud in a shy way of their culture, and want to show you how a Khmer lives. It's beautiful to see that even after such unexplainable tragedy (the tour guide we have right now has actually done an amazing job of telling us some horrific stories of his past - and he's one of the lucky ones) the people here are coming back.

Now enter Angkor. A stunning, intruding, amazing, artistic, engineering masterpiece. Temple after temple, surrounded by majestic moats and floating lily pads, these ancient (and I mean ancient) ruins are full of awe. Today we saw the sun rise over Angkor Wat, and tomorrow we will venture into some more of the temples that have been slightly taken back by mother nature. They are truely a marvel, and they make me want to read more and more about them when I return home in September. Sending you my hellos!

Stay another day Laos

Luang Prabang is tonic for the soul. From the moment we got to this quiet UNESCO heritage listed town I knew that it would be wildly different then the vibes I got in Vietnam. The meek and curious nature of the beautiful Lao people means that they don't push at the market, they don't ask you a ridiculous amount of times if you'd like a tuk tuk ride. Instead, these shy friendly people want to show you their culture, to share their passion for "sticky" with you and to giggle cutely at the long nosed "falang" that us white Westerners are. Luang Prabang seems to have more money, they have a glorious number of ancient temples that throb with Buddhist chants at both 4 am and pm. They have a really great set of local talents; weaving silk, creating handicrafts and creating culinary delights reign high here. The World Bank (sometimes of questionable intentions) here seems to have picked up on these special talents and has put together an intriguing sustainable tourism campaign to market such local beauties to tourists. The town is surrounded by water, the Mekong River to the west and the Nam Kahn to the East which means that local guesthouses have set up some beautiful riverside patios dishing out local delights.

And then you easily forget the seemingly clean wealth of Luang Prabang when you trek out into the Khmu and H'mong hill tribe villages as Krista and I did. We stayed in one such village where everyone shares a communal water tap, and where 50 bodies gather around the bamboo home that has a television and an accompanying generator to create electricity to have it one. But somehow, these people seem happy. It's hard to know if they desire to escape the lifestyle they live (one we would immediately see as poverty) or if they know no different and value their traditional way of life. Krista and I have enjoyed Laos alot. The night market is beautiful, the fresh exotic fruit smoothies delich, the kayaking on (insane) rapids in rainstorms was invigorating, and the cuisine is most delightful. But mostly it is the kind people in this place. They have such personality, and such pride.

Unfortunately though, my dear travelling buddie Krista has come down with a case of the common traveller's ailment (even though the food we ate was all so delicious, and the exact same that I ate...) So send her some of your good healthy energy, cause she's bummed about feeling rotten.

Oh Oh and guess what! I have a home to live in come September in Toronto! Peace for the day!

Sights, Emotions, Smells, and Noise.

I have been in Vietnam now for 10 days, and this has been long enough for me to gather some of my feelings together about this culture, this country, this world that seems so different from our North American one.

First of all, I try hard not to feel it, but my guilt about my (what I thought was simple and sustainable) lifestyle at home and my reliance on fossil fuels during this leg of my summer experience is strong. The next strongest emotion is hopelessness. It seems, after completeing Otesha, where my world was so very full of hope and positivity for the health of the natural world, that I am now seeing and experiencing a culture that seems to have a lack of knowledge, or maybe just a different socio-economic situation that leads them to pollute, dispose, and destroy the beauty that is our world. There are just so many people here. Too many for our planet to handle. All of the time I was with Otesha, we were trying to openly and positively present choices to people in Canada, and there was always an option for that choice in the locations that we visited. Here on the other side of the world, it seems that even if the people had the choice, they would not be able to take it, because, they can't afford to, because, they may not be versed in the topics. I do feel that the western world has a big impact on the condition of the environment, and we Westerners have ample opportunity to live more simply, it's hard to see such a large portion of the world's population living with no idea of the future, rather they can look just to tomorrow.

But then, I visit and stay in the homes of the Northern Vietnamese H'mong tribe people, where they have farmed their stunningly gorgeous rice terraces for hundreds of years, and I see them working the land with water buffalo, and walking their short legs everywhere, and my hope is renewed. These people still live simply, even though they are eager to see things like electricity come to thier villages. They grow sweet potatoes and corn and squash and beans, for themseleves and for the Sapa market (and may I add sauteed sweet potatoe greens are sooooo delicious). They have beautiful gardens, simple homes, and a great abundance of clean water that is smartly channeled through bamboo eavestroughs and narrow aquaducts, ensuring that every rice terrace is saturated for growth. They even use the power of water to feul their rice mills, and they use hemp to weave material and they grow indigo to dye thier clothes. It is an area of vietnam that specializes in handicrafts, where the local's speak thier language and english, but they have never been taught to read or write, and have never been outside of the nothern mountain area. It's hard to know whether these people are truly happy with their one room homes, their squat toilets, and arranged mariages. From the tour guides that I had three solid days with, I would say they are fiercely proud of thier culture, and are excited to share it with the tourism industry, which fuels thier local economy.

I would say I still have alot to process and think about. After seeing the extraordinarily busy Ho Chi Minh City, visiting a Catholic convent and orphange, seeing the way the peole live in the Mekong River delta; then journeying North, seeing the stunningly beautiful Halong Bay, and noticing it's over exploitation and dirty waters, and visiting and staying the in homes of the H'mong peoples of Northern Vietnam, I have already seen and experienced so much. It has happened so fast, and I still need to think about what I have seen and gather my thoughts to communicate them with you all. I have tried here to do that a little....Tomorrow a new country: Loas! All and all I am so glad I am on this journey in Southeast Asia, and could not appreciate spending it with anyone else except my amazing buddie and sister Krista. I am endlessly glad to be here with her, and I am excited to keep experienceing all these crazy new things, and really learning more and more with her by my side.

Hope all is well wherever you are :)

P.S. This computer will not check my English spelling, so, forgive my errors!! and man, I could write for days about the way senses are in overdrive here in vietnam...the smells, good and horrible, the infinite city noise and the quiet hill tribe villages, the delicious tastes of fresh viet food, but the sights of some scary foods in the market and in street stalls, the feelings of appreciating my safe home space more then ever before...

British Columbia continues to be Beautiful...

I completed my last bicycle touring day into Whistler the other day. It was an interesting feeling, rising in Squamish after a previously harrowing day of flat tires and construction, to set out with Catherine on our last official touring day! It was a hard one - constant low grade uphill, hot hot hot, and full of Olympic road and infrastructure construction, but it was also an amazing sense of satisfaction.

First lets rewind a bit to the Sunshine Coast. Catherine and I cycled north through Vancouver in the dreary cold rain, and took a ferry across to Gibsons on the sunshine coast, a cute marine town that had character. As we were frigidly trying to make our wet way towards our campground for the night, we bumped into a cyclist who offered up his shack. Desperately wanting somewhere dry that we could warm up, Catherine and I gave this friendly man a chance and checked out his 'hippy haven' shack on the waters of the Strait of Georgia, that you had to descend makeshift steps through an enclosed canopy of greens to arrive at. When we saw the cozy shack, we accepted his wonderful offer, and felt so very lucky to be in the beautiful space that we were! We decided to stay there in that shack two nights, and explored Gibsons and the neighbouring Roberts Creek the next day. I really enjoyed the sunshine coast.

Like all other fabulous places I have visited on my journey thus far, we departed one fabulous spot in search of another one equally as beautiful. We cycled into Squamish, discovered the wildly rampant rock climbing culture there, and met up with Catherine's friend who let us pitch our tent in her backyard, in between the running chickens of course. They took us for a swim at a briskly cold nearby lake, but Catherine and I were all too excited to dive in, and get some of the bike grease off our bodies after changing three flats that day, on the side of the Sea to Sky highway (which I might add, has some stunning scenery, but is all too developed). And then, we cycled the next 55km to Whistler, where I am now. Oh what a place this Whistler is.

I feel like I am in a manicured futuristic world, where all the buildings and landscaping looks the same, and everyone walking around is perfectly groomed and carrying some sort of disposable something. There are beautiful lakes to swim in and awesome cycling trails and uh, lets not forget the mountains in the backdrop, but it just seems like a backwards community, where people love their outdoor sports - skiing, snowboarding, mountain biking - but they don't think twice about their daily actions that might have an impact on their beautiful mountain landscape. It's very interesting to be here, and so far I have had a ton of fun. I know that I have my head on straight when I interact with some of the people here, and it feels great. It is wonderful to be staying in a beautiful cozy little apartment with my good friends, cooking and eating and swimming and catching up with one another. All in all, it is a relaxing end to my journey on the coast. Oh, and Samantha, my roommate from Erb St. who we are staying with, works for a zip lining ecotourism company, and we get a great discount so were going to go zipping tomorrow through the Whistler rain forest. It really will be fun I'm sure.

Well, like I have sought in every other town I have been in during my journey, I am going to the Whistler farmers market, to pick up some veggies for dinner making tonight.

And another thing - you can be sure that at random moments during my days, and weeks, I have thought about you. Mhmm. You.

The Beautiful Islands

I have now journeyed, by borrowed bicycle (affectionately named by my teammate Big Booty, cause she consistently had the largest load on the back of her bike) to Vancouver Island, and to Salt Spring Island. I really enjoyed both of these places. Victoria is much slower (and smaller) then Vancouver, and is absolutely surrounded by some beautiful beaches and waterfront area. The Island has some great bicycle trails on it, and it was fun to camp out in Rozzy's friend's backyard and cook some meals together in his house. I spent Canada day cycling around the Seaside Bike touring route, and cycling up Mount Doug to get a view over the city and across to some of the San Juan Islands and for a clear crisp view of Mount Baker in Washington. It was a beautiful solo day, finished off with a delicious meal with old and new friends at the communal house that my teammate Seth started up; a beautifully individual and artsy house with windows thrown wide open, screen less, with picture perfect views of the ocean from the bathroom and bedroom windows.

Next we cycled and ferried our way to one of the largest Gulf Islands, Salt Spring, one that is famous for it's unique artisans and organic farming. It is a very slow island, everyone seems to be on vacation even if they are not. I appreciated this vibe so much after having been in Vancouver for a long while. We explored the popular (and delicious) Saturday market in the town of Ganges, hung out on the doc of one of the many freshwater lakes on the island and made some eccentric new friends. We cycled our ways around this island, through roads that are ever so steep, and ever so curvy, between kilometers of undeveloped forest, with the odd cleared section for an organic cheese or vegetable farm. It was a fabulous place, I only wish we could have remained longer.

Alas, after an epic journey yesterday from the island, completed at 10:30pm in Van, realizing we were locked out of our friends house, pitching our tents in the cool summer air, hungry and needing a bathroom, there are only three of the original ten teammates who are still traveling together, soon to be two, and I feel funny. I feel somewhat uneasy in this city now, after having my bike stolen, and after experiencing the bliss of the Gulf Islands. I am ready to journey onward. If all goes as planned, after a much needed day of rest today, tomorrow, Catherine and I will embark on yet another mini-bike trip toward the Sunshine Coast, and then continue onward to visit my roommate in Whistler.

The wheels keep on rolling.

RIP Bluey Q

Stolen.

After all the kilometers it took me, meeting wondrous people and have amazing adventures, my partner in crime, fondly known as Bluey Q, is all gone. It makes me really sad, and I fear that negative memories will be what is remembered from this time. Over the past two months, my trust and faith in the kindness of human beings, strangers and friends alike, has grown so much. I feel like in one night my trust came crashing down. But, stronger then before, friends, teammates, and strangers are rallying around me to help me finish my adventures well. I will journey to Victoria tomorrow, then Salt Spring Island, still on bicycle wheels, just on borrowed ones. My mind has to power to think what it desires about my bicycle being stolen, so I will continue to try to reflect on the wonderful times that I have had, and be thankful for all that I have been

Given.

Another chapter completed

I am in Vancouver, only two days away from the conclusion of this 'Otesha' chapter. It was a very interesting feeling, cycling from the agriculturally lush Fraser Valley slowly creeping into the suburban sprawl that is Vancouver. As our group cycled nearer and nearer to the city, I began feeling more and more overwhelmed with the traffic, the people, the big box stores that we have been far removed from for the past two months. It's interesting how a little bit of time away from these things can make you so much more aware of their presence.

We stayed for an evening at the Yarrow Ecovillage as well as a co-housing project called Windsong in Langley, and I really enjoyed learning a great deal about both of these places. We got to see, yet another way that people are living their lives together, and not separately. They share gardens and meals and they peacefully co-exist with one another on very positive grassroots levels. It is a lifestyle that I think is so greatly beneficial to the soul and spirit and development of every person who dwells within these communities.

Enter Vancouver. Still lush. Always with a chance of rain. The city impressed me instantly as we cycled in on designated bicycle routes; roads that essentially prohibit car traffic unless you are a resident (and even then can often only physically access it from one direction). The roads were beautifully covered in old trees that shine in the sun with their lush green chlorophyll-rich leaves. When you approach an intersection, there are conveniently located buttons for cyclists to push to change the light so that they can cross. And then we cycled into the University of British Columbia, where we are staying currently on their farm, which is a beautiful organic farm with a number of different projects ongoing on the site. We were in time for the farm's wonderful weekend market where we bought the fresh ingredients to take along to our potluck party. We celebrated the summer solstice on Saturday night with an Otesha O-lumni at his home in Vancouver (which is yet another eco-conscious communal house). People were amazingly friendly as we used their stove to make a dark greens/tofu stir fry, and sauteed onions and Jerusalem artichokes. We shared in laughter, enjoyed their alternative media zine wall, and even learned how to make tempeh (fermented soybean curd - a delicious less processed version of tofu, that I now know how to make!) It was a wonderful introduction into this subset of the culture in Vancouver, and was refreshing to spend some time with people in our own generation, who are all into the same things as we are.

We finished off our last performance yesterday to a very attentive grade 6 and 7 audience in Richmond after doing three hard performances to difficult and sometimes small audiences at Vancouver's Science World on the weekend. It was a sad, but really cool feeling to preform the play one last time, to do our well practiced, adapted and rehearsed lines with one more burst of energy to maybe inspire just one more person to truly take charge of their lives and treat every 24 hours like another opportunity to foster the world that they all wish to see. I am slowly getting reacquainted with a city; the busy life of some, but recognizing the slow life of others. I am easing my way back into the 'real' world, and although it will be challenging to get used to being without my 9 family members, I am excited to add all that I have learned from these beautiful people, and use the skills in my own lifestyle. Vancouver is a beautiful place to be right now.

Otesha has been a wild journey for me. One where I have learned a lot about myself through interacting with others. One where I have tried every day to be positive about society's situation and realize that we all have choices that we make every day. It has been a journey where I learned to live in an intense group situation, and where I learned about spirituality, new cooking methods, gardening methods, sustainability practices, educational tactics, and Alberta and British Columbia. It has been an adventure, upon the seat of my bicycle, living this wonderful life, playing, and sharing with others. I have planted many seeds across these two provinces, within our audiences, our hosts, the communities, my team mates, myself, and you, my readers. You have the tools to grow into whatever you so chose to; use those tools however you chose to create the beautiful world that you wish to live in.

Hope you enjoyed this Otesha chapter, the next chapter is a coming up right away! (My adventures on the coast, Southeast Asia, and beyond!)

Excitingly overwhelmed

Again the landscape has changed, and again thoughts of the end of this magical bicycle journey are coming into my mind. We will be arriving in Vancouver in 5 days, and spending our last five days there together as a group preforming in the city and staying at UBC farms.

We have continued to cycle out of the hot Okanagon Valley, and have now ended up in the lush Fraser Valley. On my Convocation day, I cycled 65km from Summerland to Keremeos, and had a hot beautiful ride, thinking all day of my classmates back home, walking accross that stage. I cycled across my own stage as I rode into another hot fruit valley of BC. We did a preformance in Keremeos the next morning, and then it was my turn for a day in the hybrid support vehicle. Catherine and I took our time, got some vegetables donated that were about to be thrown away, and we visited a quirky old mining community called Hedley along our way into Princeton. The next day proved to be a toughy. After preforming in Princeton, we journeyed up and over our last mountain pass of our journey, and down into the moist, lush, beautifully stunning Manning Provincial Park. Here we stayed for two nights and preformed to the camper crowd in between isolated thunder storms - it was funny to have so much rain, as we had not seen any in a looong while! It was also quite great to see mule deer at dusk, and a black bear at the side of the road as we were cycling! It was so close to the side of the road, we were lucky to have been warned by drivers going in the opposite direction of it's presence. After looking on for a few moments, we continued our journey to our present location in Hope, British Columbia. What a name for a town indeed. One of the slogans for Otesha is "Riding on Hope" so it is fun to be in this quaint town for two nights.

And so our group began to speak today about our post - Otesha plans, blues, hopes and fears, and it is strange to think about the conclusion of this journey, but certainly exciting as well, as I plan out my weeks on the coast, and solidify plans for travel with Krista in SE Asia (WOOOT). I am fully enjoying the experience of living sustainably in this wonderful community of people, and I hope to find a similar lifestyle back in Ontario. For now though, it's time to eat some sweet potato fries, and climb to the top of Mount Hope (Can anybody tell me the difference between sweet potatoes and yams? A few of us discuss it alllllll the time in the group, so much so that it spontaneously turned into a full length guitar accompanied song, which I am sure to enlighten you all with my voice some day).

Tomorrow I will keep on ridin' on hope all the way to Yarrow to stay in an Eco-village. Thinking of you all.

The Okanagon valley

Hello dear readers. I hope you are having a wonderful day. I am. I awoke this morning in a 'low-spray' cherry orchard in Summerland, British Columbia. After enjoying a huge breakfast (oats and stewed rhubarb from our hostesses garden) Seth, Natalie and I went for a hike down into a gorge. From above it looked like the Grand Canyon, surrounded on every side by vineyards and orchards. From below, it was another river that flows into the beautifully large Okanagon lake.

This area of British Columbia is very special. I am in the Canadian desert. As we rode down into Osoyoos down Anarchist's summing (which was so steep and full of intense switchbacks!) I knew I was entering a very different ecotone of our ever diverse country. The raid shadow effect makes this area very arid, lending to the unique flora and fauna which occupy the area. Because it is a dessert with such huge lakes in the middle, orchards and vineyards flourish from intense irrigation. We visited the desert centre on our way out of the very HOT Osoyoos, and saw the preserved desert ecology: the Sage Brush, Prickly pear cactus, Antelope Brush, Yellow bellied racer snakes, and black widow spiders. It was interesting to feel like I was in a different country, but within Canada.

We cycled along the Okanagon lakes up to a provincial park, completing another 97km day, and this one was sure a toughy. We left late, had a huge headwind in our faces, and had to battle it out with a ton of hills. I may have given up had it not been for my teammates. We were so relieved to arrive at the BEAUTIFUL park, with high arid cliffs, and a beautiful body of water. We preformed to the campers at the park the next morning, only to be very inspired by their sincerest support! The audience was fun, and wonderfully responsive to our questions. One couple was so excited to tell us of their endeavours to live responsibly. Their RV was made by a company that uses 100% post consumer products to build the vehicles! It was nice to have some positive reinforcement from adults. Our regular high school venues can often be trying. But not this afternoon's performance.

Coming downhill, my bike buddie and I whizzed back into Penticton for a 2 o'clock performance at the high school. Here our audience really seemed to enjoy our punny jokes and goofy human made toasters, sinks, fans and computers. We got some more of that precious positive feedback from the youth of Canada. It was another successful performance to 300+ grade 9's.

Have I told you of the blissful feeling of riding 100km in a day, into the wind, and uphill? Well, it's phenomenal. What makes it most special though I think, is to cycle down into a beautiful campground, welcomed by hugs from your teammates, and warm beet-veg-quinoa stir fry, made with care; to pitch my beautiful tent, and walk down to the doc, sharing with my friends the joys and emotions of the difficult day in my saddle. It is so blissful to sit on the doc, and sing quiet songs with your friends, watching the moon rise over the mountains, and just consider for a moment, how lucky I am. How my body feels totally spent, but my soul just wants to keep on rising like that moon.

I hope you will rise to your limits too.

an epic ride, and a calming experience

My time in Nelson was all too short, as I knew it would be. I spent my day off in Nelson, playing, climbing a mountain, going to a free meditation class, sitting by a waterfall, sharing a meal with my friends, and attending a street party complete with dancing and xylophone band. The aura of Nelson was superb. As my teammates and I were expressing how sad we would be to go, we realized that it was the community appeal that Nelson had, and that similar activities and community aura could be created anywhere, regardless of geographical location (though I do think the mountains and lake had some effect...)

As we left Nelson on a scorcher of a day, we cycled into Castlegar, and were feeling hot hot hot, and low low low...until we found a public sprinkler park to refresh ourselves in. It's funny though, how I felt guilty. I felt guilty for using an obscene amount of water to 'refresh' myself. Though, it did constitute as my once every 5 day shower, so I felt okay about it then...We stayed one short evening in this town, at a neat middle - school - turned community church and centre. The next morning, we mentally prepared ourselves for what we knew would be one heck of a ride. We cycled from Castlegar to Grand Forks: 96.79km in 6.5 hours (not including rests!!) according to my trusty bike computer gadget. And what en epic ride it was. The weather was upwards of 30 degrees, and we started our day with a 40 km climb. and I mean constant climb. We got up so high, to Paulson's summit, that the trees got shorter, and there was heaps of snow on the earth! We cycled so slowly up the Monashee mountain range, stopping midway up for a homemade granolie bar snack, and for a (very cool) skinny dip at a beautiful subalpine lake. As we boarded our two wheels once again we wondered how far it would be before we were 'up'. As we passed the stark and startling clear cut swaths, and as trucks crept up beside us, being restricted to almost our speed because of the gradient, we thought this climb might never end. As we turned a corner, it suddenly felt as though we were going to fall off the edge of the earth if we kept going, for we saw only white on the horizon, and not more mountain or trees beyond that. Rozzy and I continued up and up on our bikes, to see the rest of our team cheering and jumping and pointing at the sign "Paulson's summit, 5093 feet" we had reached it, and it was time to celebrate!

And then...we went down. And down. And down. The sights were fantastic, free of development and low in traffic, the speed was almost dangerous, and the feeling was euphoric. As we cycled onward, we stopped for another swim in a beautiful lake, entering what is known as Boundary Country, which is the area between the Kootenays from which we have come, and the Okanagan Valley which we are venturing onwards into. As we cycled our last 20km very lethargically, we noticed the markedly different landscape. What used to be mountains covered in conifers had changed into scrubby grasslands, reminiscent of dessert like areas, with wild mountain goats and white tailed deer being spotted, and rock outcrops seen everywhere. It was phenomenal to see such a landscape change in just one day of cycling. As we ate a warm meal that night outside, we considered our weary and sun burned bodies, gazed out at our view across the rushing river to the hill on the other side and once again gave thanks for our privilege to be on such an amazing adventure, with such an amazing group of people, and such an amazing world to explore.

The next day, we departed for the short 15km ride out of this 5000 person town to the location of our mid-tour retreat. (Please Time, slow down). We stayed with a 55 year old women on her organic sustainable homestead. It was one of the most fantastic places, I have ever been in my life.

This wonderful women welcomed us onto her land, into her home, and shared her asparagus and rhubarb with us, her passion for Sacred Dance, her wisdom and education in living in sustainable housing, living in community, and living off the land. She had such a welcoming, calm, beautiful spirit, and I was so invigorated and extremely inspired by our stay. The days were hot as we work-shopped our theater performance, explored our successes and failures and discussed some group dynamic issues. We cooked our meals in our new friends 'outdoor kitchen' and used her crisp well water, and clean outhouses. We used her fruit cellar, because she does not have a fridge, and we camped in our tents on her beautiful land, never hearing a car, and gazing up at the stars through the tent roof (no fly required...it was that warm). I can't begin to express all the emotion I felt on these past two days, as I learned it was possible to live an alternative lifestyle, to live off the land, in community. We finished our retreat last night with an affirmation walk. Each member of the group takes a turn walking down a channel of your peers, with eyes closed, and they whisper positive qualities about you into your ear. An amazing experience, that lifted the spirits and love in all of our hearts. This morning, it was back to the reality of a town, and a chance to put our hard work into action - we tried out a number of new things at our performance this morning, hoping that our impact on the young people we preform to would be even greater because of our improvements.

The more I live out this amazing journey, the more I am learning. About myself, about alternatives, about my spirit, about communities, about communicating my passions, and about environmental sustainability. I can't believe what an amazing month it has been, and I can't wait for the next moment in time.

Peace and love.

Nelson is calling...

So after quite a challenging ride from Crawford Bay, I have been in Nelson now for a day. It is the town that I have heard such a great deal about - from the hippie eco culture to the weather and geographical surroundings, it has met all it's anticipated qualities. It's an extremely hilly town, on the side of a mountainous hill that dives into the west arm of Lake Kootenay. Focused largely on cooperative lifestyles there are a ton of co-operative business structures. From the Kootenay Co-op radio station (that three of my fellow tour members were interviewed with earlier today!) to the Co-op health food store, to the Community Forestry Management Co-operative that we learned about yesterday, the area seems to pick up on the community lifestyle, where all members have an equally important say in operations and proceedings. The group of ten of us are staying in the Katimavik house here in Nelson, (for those of you who haven't heard of this uber cool program, check out the website www.gokatimavik.com - it's basically a year long volunteering experience for young Canadians in Canada). They have been ever so welcoming and generous.

Today we had the pleasure of preforming three times. Two at the local high school and one to the Katimavik group and friends that we are staying with. We were soo well received in the school presentations, and could not get over how much energy and fun we had preforming. The students were so receptive, and although they were already aware of many of the issues we put forth to them, when we challenged them to suggest changes that they could make outside of those we suggested, they rose to that challenge suggesting innovative ways that they could make their school community more liveable (but to me - Nelson doesn't have a problem with this - it seems amazingly liveable in my thoughts, there's always room for improvement though right?!).

I wish I could more easily describe the vibe of this city to you. It's just amazing, fresh, progressive, yet totally down to earth. Every cafe is locally owned, and provides sustainable coffee options, they have two year round markets, they label everything as to it's whereabouts, and has some stellar hemp clothing shops, used clothes shops, and unique restaurants, spots to hear live music, and places to browse and buy art. They have a beach, a mountain, and a waterfall. The community of Nelson has normal people who have chose to live a little differently, and everyone just seems so, so very happy. It's so nice to know that cities like this exist. It's just too bad the rest of Canada knows it exists as well, and there are no jobs to be had...but lot's of volunteering opportunities.

After another performance tomorrow at a different school we have some time off - we are a talking about climbing a mountain, and exploring the town, maybe going farther afield to some hot springs. It's sounding like tonight we will go to take in some local talent at an open mic night at a pub around the corner, and tomorrow, there is a bloc party - where streets are filled with people who just dance! I'm excited to dance - like no one's watchin'!

Can you smell Creston?

Creston was filled with beautiful blooming fruit trees, a wonderful sense of community, beautiful mountains as a back drop, and lusciously sweet smelling lilacs around every corner. As we biked from Yahk into Creston we stopped at the very first "local asparagus and rhubarb" sign we saw, up until this point I had been missing these early season Ontario veggies and fruits. My bike buddie and I stocked up for the group knowing that likely every other group mate had done the same thing. As we continued out ride into the valley town of creston, we saw sign after sign advertising fruit stands, waiting to be filled, at the front of blooming orchards. We saw many more signs for rhubarb and asparagus and got a free taste of some of last years apples.

Creston gave us all the feeling that we had been suddenly catapulted into summer - the weather was beautifully summer like, and the town of 5000 had a main strip that was reminiscent of a beach town, only instead of seeing flat water on the horizon, you saw tall mountains in all directions flanking the lush valley town. The United Church in Creston welcomed us into their awesome facility, made us delicious vegetarian dinner, and then we were welcomed into the homes of some of the parishioners for the use of thier running water. A number of us took the opportunity to get clean after a sweaty day of riding, and no showers in a number of days...It was nice enough in Creston to sit outside of the church on the cushy grass, listening to my fellow group members play songs on the guitar that we purchased last week, used, from the cafe we preformed at. On Sunday, the United Church made a pancake breakfast for the group of us, and we preformed our theatre performance for the congregation while they ate their breaky's. We went to their service and two of our members shared their stories of how they came to be on the Otesha journey. I was amazed, absolutely refreshed by this United Church service - almost everyone had a chance to speak out to the group, for announcements, celebrations,or otherwise. People clapped to the songs, and giggled when people goofed up. It was nice. Really nice. After this, the United Church continued their fellowship by after service tea and coffee. Next, our group had the afternoon free, so I rode my bike 15km to the Idaho border, and relaxed with my buddies at the top of a hill in a blossoming apple orchard. We ate a relaxed dinner and went on a loooong walk around Creston after dinner, saw their eco garden, grain towers, and smelled the lilacs once more. When we came back from our walk, Lucy and I experimented in the kitchen - I prepared the crisp for the rhubarb crisp breakfast (made with quinoa flakes, hemp hearts, oats, cane sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and canola oil) and we made delicious gluten free - vegan cookies while we were at it! They were a delicious treat at the end of the day.

Today was just as beautiful as the last. We cycled about 70 km from Creston along the eastern side of Kootenay lake. The scenery was absolutely stunning, again, and I counted 46 springs/creeks/and rivers that were flowing into the Lake. We stopped at a beach and hiked out a rocky point to eat our lunch. The scenery actually reminded me of the freshwater lakes of Algonquin in Ontario, though the small hills of Algonquin are shrimped by the mountains we were eating beside. The highway was not busy with traffic, which we were all thankful for because it had a narrow shoulder and twisted and turned, moved up and down, all the way to the small town of Crawford Bay. And this is where I write you from now. A beautiful school in a small town, on the east side of Kootenay lake, after a tiring, fulfilling and extremely amazing day of cycling. I am grateful, and I could not imagine any better way to have spent this 25th day of May, 2009.

Peace.

An old Oteshite had a farm, and a Yahk too.

Wow, British Columbia is a taking my heart by storm. We spent two short nights in Fernie, B.C. and it was fabulous. People were astonishingly friendly, saying hello always and striking up a conversation usually. Everyone seemed to be cycling. They have an eco-community garden in town and it seems to be a rather progressive community in terms of environmental movements. Though it seemed to be quite a touristy centre, it certainly felt like we were there in the off season, and that those people that were around were the real Fernie folk. B.C. has continued to impress me with the beautiful generosity of the people on this planet; from kind Otesha-alumni bringing us treats after a long cycling day, to generous health food store owners who let you go shopping in their aisles for free because you have a 'beautiful mission'. The scenery was stunning on our journey from Fernie to Cranbrook, might I add. We are in the Kootenay's now, and I am impressed by the wooded mountains, hills, rock outcrops, lush river valleys, and natural springs from the mountains.

Our group continues to have a good deal of performances. In Cranbrook yesterday, we preformed for three different schools in three one hour slots. Just yesterday alone, we reached about 900 Grade 7-10 students with our message. Though all of these students might not start making tangible changes, if even one of those 900 students makes a commitment to change, we have made a difference. Judging by feedback, I imagine we have impacted and inspired many students already to be aware of issues, and know that they have the power to change things if they desire! Our performances usually include an introduction of what Otesha is all about, a seriously impactful sideshow demonstrating some issues that we wish to bring forth, our play about a young high school student who is trying to figure out what he wants to do with his life, and in the process is made aware of a number of injustices in our society, an open floor for discussion, and a concluding empowering slide show. As a group, we spend a great deal of time discussing how performances went, and how we can improve our whole show to make it as powerful as we possibly can. Aside from our performances, we recently had a meeting regarding group dynamics. It gave each of us a chance to express how we felt the group was melding, and point out any things that were bothering us or that we think could be improved. I'm learning such a great deal about community living, about communicating effectively and being an open listener and acceptor. It's totally empowering when the group sits down to a meeting, and each person is given the undivided attention of the rest of the group. Long ago we established polite hand signals that we use to indicate when we wish to speak, when we want to propose something, or when we agree or disagree with a group proposal. I'm really enjoying learning so much about consensus based decision making and living without any sort of 'leader'. It's a shame really, how so many 'communities' in North America lack just that: community. There is often no connection, no sharing, just the odd whisper about how ugly Bob's grass is or a gossip about how a cop car was at number 88 last night. I am thoroughly enjoying the communal experience I am having now, the intricate consensus meetings, and the family that I am growing to rely on here, when I am away from my family at home. I certainly feel the community in this group, and I'm loving it.

So today we are in the verrrry small town of Yahk. It has a population of about 350, and we are sleeping and cooking and interneting at their little elementary school, which houses their 13 students. It is between Cranbrook and Creston, and the town is on a beautiful river which we cycled along for the majority of the day today. The river is moving quickly and is briskly cold as the mountains clear themselves of their winter snow during this beautiful spring day. After biking just under 70 kilometers today, we will cycle about that distance again tomorrow to make our way to Creston. I will share some photos with you as soon as I am technologically able!

I'm thinking about you all back home, hoping you are all doing well. I am also smelling dinner cooking, as one of the other cooking squads prepares our vegan stir fry in the other room.

I am alive! Very, very alive.

Dear Readers, my apologies. It is stunning how I can go from my lifestyle at school in front of a computer for 10 hours at a time surrounded by materials, surrounded by stuff, to having extremely sporadic Internet access and living my life with things only filling up just two panniers. It's a reality check really; it's reminding me the joys of simple living. But alas, I love my dear friends and family and I am sorry for the disconnection.

I would love to share with you all how my journey is so nicely progressing. It's been a real joy thus far to cycle, cook, eat, preform, clean, learn and live with these 9 unique individuals. Since we set out after our training week, it seems we haven't had much free time. Our first stop was Okotoks, where my bike buddie and I got miserably lost on route in the cold, pouring, busy, Calgary. Luckily, the warm hospitality of community members rose our looming core temperatures after this 95km wet cold day. We billeted with families in the community preforming our play during the United Church Service. We got a tour in town of a beautiful sustainable house and the Okotoks recycling depot. I began to be amazed by the utter beauty of the mountainous backdrop which never ceases to be stunning. After bidding farewell to our first amazing hosts, we continued ton to Nanton where we camped in the backyard of two young writers. Sharing with them the vegetarian chili we had cooked, they shared with us, their interesting pasts and how they ended up living in this quiet Alberta prairie town. I think my very favourite part of meeting new people is learning from them. Listening to their unique stories, and taking it all in.

The next morning we cycled southward to Fort Macleod, another small Alberta town, where we stayed in the United Church hall (thankfully in from the pouring rain). We did a performance at the local high school. After that we began our westward haunt - DIRECTLY into the westerly winds. Oh what a challenge. As the Alberta prairies faded away, ranch land began, complete with rolling hills. A mentally difficult ride, we felt a great sense of accomplishment when we arrived in Pincher Creek; we were stoked to see the drivers of the day had cooked us a hot meal, in a beautiful strangers home. Another generous, interesting individual. We did two performances in this town, at the foothills of the Kootenies, and in Ranch land Alberta. We all wanted to learn more about the area we were now living in for a couple days: conservative cattle raising Alberta. This made us rethink a scene in our play that deals with factory farming and steroid use. Se, to ensure accuracy, we asked around, and set up a tour of a typical ranch in the area for the very next morning. It confirmed a great deal of what I had learned about the industry and where my worries lie. It helped us to develop our scene more accurately: emphasizing the huge land use that cattle take up, land that is used to grow crops for the cattle that we could be eating. We speak now of the growth hormones, and small feed lots that are common to the area (where in my opinion, cows are fed to death). We learned of the stark culling methods, breeding methods of the cattle, and learned that since BSC has affected Alberta (read: Mad cow) the farmers are now burying the heads, hoofs, guts and hides of the cattle on their property. Sick. What about our groundwater I ask? Furthermore, there is absolutely no requirement in Alberta for riparian buffers, so cattle are allowed to wander in creeks, and poop where they may. It was stark, and it was reality, and it confirmed my commitment to vegetarianism. In the afternoon, we got a tour of a different farm: a wind farm! Certainly a much different use of land, and a quickly growing industry in the area.

Yesterday we cycled a windy 55km, into the collective area of Crowsnest pass. The day was beautiful, bike ride stunning as we entered the Mountains for real. We cycled through Frank Slide, a famous spot where the side of Turtle mountain experienced a drastic rock fall, killing 70 people in the early 1900's. We explored the extremely windy town of Blairmore, and then did a performance one town over in Coleman. It was in a uber funky cafe called the blackbird; the crowd was great. The building is an old catholic church turned trendy cozy hangout. Today, another performance at the Frank Slide Interpretive centre, a shopping trip to make some veggie pasta. Oh, and I climbed allllllllll the way up Turtle Mountain. It's all in a day's experiences on this journey, and it was stunning, amazing, invigorating.

This journey so far has opened my eyes to the extreme generosity that exists in some peoples hearts. It's something I have not been overly exposed to in my life and it is extraordinarily inspiring . I have been touched already, in these short weeks that we have been en route for, by the strangers who have donated food, time, or homes to making our Otesha group oh so welcome. I'm so grateful. And I will pay this forward some day soon, and share my privilege with others the same way. It is these people along the way who are making it easy for us as a dedicated group to spread the word of sustainability and social justice through out performance, and I bid them all thanks.

Life is beautiful. Sending my love your way, family and friends.

Brainstorming...

I have met my new family! I have learned the technicalities of group living and consensus based decision making and am looking forward to putting these equal opportunity living styles into action. It's an interesting and new realm of living to me, but one that I already have come to appreciate, it is so extraordinarily respectful and considerate, and I think group living will really educate me and add greatly to my experience bank.

We have learned the Otesha play, we have established group mandates: we decided that we will be eating Vegan for the two months of the trip, have regular meetings, and set out roles and tasks that each community member will be responsible for completing during our journey. We discussed our fears, and our life states, often having rather intense listening and speaking sessions that I never knew could occur between people who were strangers less than a week ago. We have ate deliciously vegan and gluten free - with completely donated food that would have otherwise been trashed by the Calgary grocery stores (Freeganism at it's best). We have all had an enormous amount of fun already - getting to know one another enjoying songs, games and laughs together already.

Our first performance will be at a highschool on Friday, and we are excited and nervous all at once. I am currently in Bragg Creek, gateway to Kananaskis Country, and 15km down the road from the camp where we are staying for our training week. I hope you are all doing well - I will hopefully be able to tell you much more when I have more adequate Internet time. Peace and bicycle grease!

The wheels are on the brink of a roll

My time in Stephanie's cozy apartment is ticking to it's end. I had a great time here in Calgary, just yesterday I was reunited with my spirited ERS classmate, as she was nice enough to have Catherine and I along to Canmore to get our first glimpse of the Alberta Rockie Mountains. As expected they were majestically ever present - as Catherine, myself, Kristy and her friendly down to earth Mom walked through the streets of the trendy resort-esk town, and hiked along the Bow river at the base of the mountains. We ate some hot soup then at a small local cafe-bistro reminiscent of the Kitchener Vincenzo's. It was a day finished in fellowship as well, as Catherine, Stephanie and I shared a meal out at a nice Calgary restaurant. Today, I laid the groundwork for the rest of my summer by visiting a travel agent and booking my flights! More details on these later... I paid a visit to the 'Green Monster' and got my self some tire tubes and a tire patch kit as well. Catherine and I shopped at the Community Market grocery store - a delicious natural foods grocer and buffet lunch spot (I was in food heaven) and made the three of us a yummy last supper in Stephanie's apartment.

A highlight of the day was when Catherine and I spotted the Otesha hybrid car outside the Community Market. We yelped when we saw the car - this being the second time we have seen it in the city over the past few days, and we left the unknowing drivers and training week planners a friendly note under the wiper, that we were excited to meet them, and eat the food they were purchasing from the organic locally based grocer!

Although I am slightly anxious and nervous and excited for tomorrow, to meet my new 'family' members for the next two months, and start our training week, I am content being here, now, with my long time friends, with a sense of warmth all around me.

building bikes in bus terminals.

I'm in the province of Alberta, with my trusty panniers full of my things for the next two months, and my beautiful bicycle well put together (by moi dans le Greyhound terminal!) So now let me tell you about the trip on the Greyhound.

Ontario is a huge province, so much of it's beauty is well undiscovered by the populations of Southern Ontario. The minerals making up the Canadian shield of Ontario are stunning, the abrupt end to the shield and beginning of the prairies to the East of Winnipeg is just as stunning. The prairies of Manitoba and Saskatchewan seem rather dull. I hate to subject these areas to the typical stereotype they so often receive, but the prairies seem yellow, empty and lifeless. Perhaps this has much to do with the time of year, the early spring that has not yet yielded green to the fields or seed for wildlife. Perhaps I am not experiencing the area; instead I am drawing conclusions from visual interpretations made from the confines of a container that is the bus. Regardless, I'm sure the prairie lands of our country offer their own unique fruits and pleasures, I just didn't get the change to live them. I will get to live Alberta and BC, from Calgary to Vancouver, as I will dwell within my surroundings from the seat of my bike, rather then by the extended television that vehicle windows are.

I'm not sure I would want to extend the bus ride much beyond the two and a half day length that it already was, but in all, the ride was not so bad at all. People cringed when I reported I was hopping on this long bus ride, but now I can confirm now, it's not horrible. You meet some interesting characters, young tree planters, middle aged adventure seekers, senile old men venturing all the way across the country for a political convention. And unlike the sterile, stuffy regulations that are normal on airplane flights, here, on the bus, the group is smaller, and the 'captain' someone you can actually speak with. Ultimately, I would encourage others who have the time to travel by bus, to do so to look out the window at our beautiful (and huge) country, to save some money and to save some energy, as the efficiency of road travel compared to air travel deserves recognition.

Now is a time for some last minute preparations, some visiting with old friends prior to meeting my new friends. Until next time, Namaste!

Reason to Dream

So, here we are. Another chapter begins, and I am hoping that you will venture down the pathway that this chapter represents.

As I wrote during my time in Inuvik, it is very difficult to close a chapter of your life that is progressing so nicely, but at the same time, it is thrilling in the best sense of the word. Back then, I was leaving the unique Inuvik to come back to Waterloo, and finish my last year of University. Now, I have completed that chapter as well, and I am entering a new and very different one. I have completed my formal university education! Throughout university I learned about myself, and the intricate environment in which humans dwell. My eyes were opened, wide, to the extraordinary variety of life as I experienced new things. Now, my passion for the natural world that has been simmering throughout my life is at a rolling boil. I am so excited to exude this passion during the coming months. "Every new beginning comes from some other beginnings end" and the end to university that I am experiencing now, pushes me to look into the future: the unpredictable, the scary, the thrilling, the intriguing. Although it only might exist, the world has told me I should have a plan, and a plan I do have.

In just one short week I will be hopping on a Greyhound, with my panniers packed, and my beautiful touring bike in a sad confined box. When I arrive in Calgary, I will put this beauty back together (a process I have yet to learn...) and I will meet the 13 other people that I will be spending all of my time with over the following two months, on an Otesha Cycling and Preforming Tour. And during these two months as I bicycle from Calgary to Vancouver, I will spread a message about how to live more sustainably: How to reflect on your needs; How to respect your fellow human brothers and sisters by selecting socially just options to consumerism; How to conserve energy and water, a luxury that so many go without; How to avoid the influence that our label-ridden society so negatively forces upon us; How to eat food with awareness and knowledge of it's source; How to save our planet, one very small action at a time.

Every single one of us has the ability to remove our blinders, showing the world the many problems that are afflicting the world as a result of our over consumptive society. You can also hold up the mirror, and recognize the role that YOU play in creating many of these problems. You, and I, can empower others, showing that just as our actions have the potential to do harm, they also have the potential to do incredible good. And we will ACT. There are innumerable ideas for fun, easy, world changing actions that anyone can take, to work towards a healthful world. [Thank you Otesha, for the well thought out words in this paragraph].

So come along with me this summer, and learn with me as I experience the difficulties and joys of long distance cycling, the excitement of empowering others, and the thrill of travelling abroad. I leave from Toronto on April 25. I will cycle and preform from May 1 until June 25. I will explore the west coast, and meet up with my sister to broaden my worldview and experience new cultures in Southeast Asia. All the while, I will dream, reflect, inspire, and realize that I can be the change...