I took a walk yesterday, into the sprawl. An exercise in clearing my head. A chance to relish autumn’s fleeting colours, and feel the crunch of leaves under my shoes. A recent assessment of what I like to do when I travel left me realizing that I don’t take enough day hikes when I’m at home, and it’s something I’m trying to change. A few years ago in Montreal, I hung out a bit with the Montreal Psychogeographic Society and had a lot of fun.
To describe the Langanes peninsula in north western Iceland as remote would be the understatement of the year. In a country where hikers regularly vanish into the highlands, never to be seen again, understanding the vast emptiness of this country takes some getting used to. You can easily stand beside the thundering waterfalls that line the country side, scream at the top of your lungs until your frustrations vanish, and will not encounter a sole in the process. Continue reading
It is a rainy Saturday morning in early June, and I am catching up on weeks of unlistened to CBC Radio 3 podcasts, backing up a few thousand images from my recent travels. My coffee is now lukewarm, and the raging thunderstorm outside is threatening my electrical collection. The shutters are trembling from the latest clap of thunder, and despite having a perfectly good laptop at my disposal to write this, I’ve decided to boot up my dying iMac to compose my thoughts. Continue reading
Perhaps tomorrow I will upload some pics, if I can find the cord for my camera.
Mucho traffico on the route from Otavalo to Quito today. In broken Spanish (read – lots of hand gestures) I was able to deduce that there was a double whammy of traffic today. Ecuador had their general elections on Saturday, and the cities emptied into the countryside as everyone returned to their villages to vote. Apparently I missed the bulk of the election traffic on Saturday morning by opting to take the bus to Otavalo on Friday afternoon. Secondly, it was dias de la madres (I am sure I misspelled that) which is a very big deal in this country. Streets were overflowing with roses and sweet fruits for mothers. Incidentally, my mother’s day gift was NOT delivered, so I look like a giant douchebag right now. Thanks a lot, 1-800-FLOWERS. (Hi Mom!) Continue reading
It’s really not a huge secret. I’m not a huge fan of Christmas. To say that the holiday spirit is lost on me is kind of an understatement. I tolerate the holidays, I go through some awkward outsider’s version of the motions, but I don’t really carry with me the same kind of sentimental attachment most people have with this time of year. Continue reading
I had the best of intentions when I bought a plane ticket to Reykjavík. Ten days to visit a good friend, see some sights, eat some Hákarl, sit in the Blue Lagoon, and come back fully refreshed with a nasty hangover from the Brennivín.
Sometimes the plans you lay out don’t work out for reasons beyond your control. Continue reading
On August 1, I officially became a “resident” of Ontario. This simply means that my good old Carte d’assurances maladie from Québec was no longer a valid thing, and I received a very ugly OHIP card in the mail. (Man. I look like crap on my Ontario ID. I had such a good photo on my old driver’s license and health card, but that’s a whole other story.) Continue reading
And that means in October, I’m going to take a leak in the continental divide.
The Silfra Crevasse
(Note: not my photo. I did not take this photo. I do not know who did.)
So I guess this means I’ll have stuff to write about for the next little while, right?
