Last Otesha Days

Ooooooh Otesha. You once again have captured my heart and soul.

One last performance, one last cycle ride. As we completed our finale performance the the UVic Campus, we were flying high in the sky with the delightful energy that last performance brought us, that riding the hills of the sunshine coast, and Vancouver island has brought us. And it wasn't only the hills that were challenging; it was the early mornings, it was the flu, it was the rain, it was the challenge of living in a large group, it was the simple life, it was living in close quarters. It was going outside of our comfort zone, and putting ourselves out there in a way that many of us had never imagined we'd ever do. But we sure did do it, and quite successfully too. On our last evening together, we giggled our way together to our dinner spot post performance, with blinking lights in the setting fall sun, and high vis vests galore, we dinged our bells and sang down the streets of Victoria, shouting words of bicycle love to other cyclists along the way. It was a joyous ride, because as a group of strong female individuals, we had come together as one solid team, to take on this challenging two month adventure. Each of us will always remember the delicious food, the early mornings, the feeling of breathing out with excitement when you see all your other teammates arriving at a destination after a long cycling day. We will always remember the folks that we met who are doing amazing work in their communities, the activist swimmers, the keen inspiring environmental clubs, the farmer students, our sacred circle dancing friends, the open farmers, the stores who were generous, and the students who told us the play captured their attention and inspired them to act.

Forever we have forged friendships with one another that we will never forget, and forever we will remember these days as fun and challenging ones, and forever we will bring this inspiration that Otesha has brought us into our lives and our communities. As a whole slew of sustainability projects are being proposed, schemed and committed to, one other tour member and I are going to challenge ourselves more: to buy NOTHING NEW FOR A YEAR. We've yet to work out the details - figuring out what all will be included or not in our buying nothing new, but either way, we'll be getting real creative over the next year to shop second hand, make our own, or barter things with others. Here goes!

It is with great fairy ferry sparkle dust that I write this message - to everyone that my team and I have come across. We have great hope that we have planted a seed in many, so that positive action, positive projects continue to evolve in communities across Canada...

Stay tuned for many more posts as Tricia, Hannah and I continue our adventures southbound, leaving Victoria for Port Angeles, WA on Saturday!