The Road Less Traveled (aka Trans-Québec Trail 5)

Yeti watches as i 'give' a Reiki blessing to the car.

i mentioned at the end of my last post, that our neighbour had given us a car.  When i got in i kept telling Antoine that it felt like a 'big person's car' or 'adult car'.  This is in contrast to the one he'd been driving throughout winter.  "Success" (named after the tarot card i drew when asking her name) served faithfully throughout the snows.  The ignition was started with a screwdriver and well, i know there were many things wrong with her but i can't tell you what they were, because as far as i was concerned she worked perfectly.  It was a bonus, you see, being able to hear Antoine a couple of minutes before the car arrived at this Canadian yurt.
Well, Success is now in car heaven (most likely cha-cha-chaing with your car Lady Miss Emma) and we have a new car, Yeti.  Yeti was not named after a tarot card.  Yeti was named after her maiden voyage.  As we prepared to take her out for her first Antoine&JenniferAdventure(c) i grabbed the essentials, sage with which to bless & energetically clean the car, a feather to put somewhere inside & a small yeti doll, i bought in Nepal.  Blessings & Reiki complete, we set off just to 'drive around the block' the yeti swinging happily from the rear view mirror.


The thing with Canada

How the road looked as we started.

is, turns out that 'just around the block' can actually be rather far.  We took the first right and then could go right again to continue along the housed street (one house per 400m) or we could take "the road we've never been down before".  Well, duh!!!

i was reasonably sure i'd seen on Google Maps that this road rejoined the highway at Seal Cove, about a 10 min drive away.

Nope...it wasn't *that* road.  We bumped our way along, Antoine marveling at something called 'suspension' which i never notice a deficiency of after the thousands of kilometres travelled on Asian buses+roads.  But apparently the new car had it & it was good.

Apparently this 'suspension' was getting more and more useful, the more and more bumpy, rocky, muddy & pot-holey the track (no longer 'road') became.  After about 3km the trail was covered by one of those ominous bodies of water: impossible to guess the depth. Hmmm.  Antoine went to investigate with a stick.

The Brown Sea - as we approached.

"Hmmm" was his conclusion.  Followed by a rather optimistic "i think we can make it."

"50/50" i decided.

One of those 50s, could mean our car was stuck, submerged in deep mud, with Antoine and/or i standing calf deep in thick, watery mud, trying to push out the car whilst being sprayed with aforementioned mud.  Pre-empting this, i graciously announced,

"If we get stuck, i'm not pushing.  i'll drive & you push."  

We sat there, staring at the potential brown swimming pool before us.

"Let's do it."  announced Antoine.

"Alright."  i agreed, with a stomach flip.  We high-fived - the North American way of sealing an agreement.

i should point out that our new car is a car...not a 4WD, just a silver nissan, which our French teacher friend had most likely never taken off-road before.  Fortunately, she liked it.  We sped through the gargantuan mud-pool, spraying water higher than the car: feeling like Moses possibly did (except we were parting the brown sea).  Almost out of the pool, the wheels started spinning (arrrghhh) but regained their grip & we reached the other shore.

Jubilation!  Exhilaration!  We laughed and i congratulated & admired Antoine's can-do attitude.


5 mins later we

Celebrating not getting wet or muddy.  Photo-bombed by Yeti.

reached another brown sea.  It was smaller.  However, by this point, we'd been on the road for quite a while & weren't so sure where the road was going & had to consider the possibility of the road not actually going anywhere & having to return via the same obstacle course.

Antoine accelerated.  We made it through again but the trail worsened.  We saw signs that it we were on the Trans-Québec #5 - a skidoo trail crossing the whole of Gaspésie.  We reckoned it was probably headed to Percé about 40km from This Canadian Yurt -  although *surely* there would be a turn off to the main road sooner???  Occasionally we'd pass a small cabin in the woods & think that we must meet the highway soon - but we wouldn't.  

"Are you having fun?"  i asked Antoine.

"Hmmm, i don't want to wreck the car."  We should've stopped then.  But instead, we descended an especially steep, rocky segment of trail.  We were now in the 'constantly just wanting to see what's round the next corner' phase. 

After about 40 minutes of driving, we stopped the car & continued on foot. i'd specifically checked before we left the yurt, that we were "only going for a drive not a walk", so i didn't change out of the
short black cotton dress (it's summer now!) and cotton tai-chi shoes, like the soft plimsolls we wore in playgroup/kindergarten. 

We walked another 30 minutes.  Antoine giving me a kiddy-back across the muddier sections (he, i noticed, was wearing hiking boots - which he had in the car).  We arrived at a broken piece of trail.  Broken in so much as it was like a giant step, with bolders & water running through it.

"We can't cross this" stated Antoine.  i became the optimistic one, pointing out where the car wheels could go, how we could move other bolders, stones & logs & make a ramp.  Once again, having spent so many hours on Asian mountain roads, i've learned a thing or two about what's possible on roads (everything!).  Antoine explained that those Nepali buses are much higher than our car & that our engine would just crash straight into the stepped road.  

Oh well!  We walked back to the car.  i was musing about how it's like that sometimes in life.  It seemed like there was some bigger philosophical point Life was possibly making, but honestly my mind was focusing on the brown seas we were going to have to re-cross.  i couldn't remember hearing that Moses had parted his sea twice.

Whilst i was focused on the potential mud-fest, Antoine was focused on the oh-so-steep, rocky hill.  We climbed the steep hill on foot, removing the larger stones from the centre of the path, so the engine wouldn't be shredded on the ascent.  

i stood at the top of the trail, as Antoine started the car.  It stalled about a third of the way up.  As he restarted the engine, the wheels spun & the car began to sink down into the soft ground.  He let the car roll back down the hill, hoping to gather more momentum for the incline.  His second attempt saw the car bump & groan & scrape its way up two-thirds of the trail.  Antoine (rather expertly, i'd say) directed the car into a patch of road which had less mud than the others. 

Now it was time to push.  Pushing cars is a part of life in Canada.  You push them through snow, when they're broken down, when the battery's died...when there's on a monstrous hill in the middle of nowhere.  Like chopping wood, it's not a Canadian tradition that i'm so into (maple syrup on the other hand...).  

i realized that if we couldn't get the car up the hill, we were going to have to walk back to the yurt (which would take at least 4 hours & it was already about 4pm).  This motivated me to push reeeeaaaally hard!  

We stalled on the first try & succeeded on the second!  Yeeha.  More high-fives (or 'eiffel towers', as we call them - if anyone's seen The IT Crowd?) what a team building exercise this afternoon was turning out to be.

This has gotten to be a much longer story than i'd expected, so i'm just going to whiz us straight back through those brown seas (we counted them down as the muddy waves arced behind the car - there was quite a bit of nerves around the last & biggest one, as we'd really had enough adventure for one day thankyouverymuch).

We noticed another turning in the road, one which we'd previously thought lead to a cabin.  We left the car & walked down to what was a massive wooden bridge.  This was most likely the trail i'd seen on Google Maps.  The massive wooden bridge looked rickety but like we may be able to cross it, thereby avoiding the final brown sea.  Antoine wasn't up for it.  Instead he bathed (read: did push ups) in the cold river running beneath.  We headed up towards the car & found the remains of a moose.  Nature had really gone to work on that one.  There were 2 white jaws left, complete with teeth & 2 small random bones & A LOT of hair spread out over a large area.  i collected the bones for a dream-catcher (moose is a powerful symbol of ancient feminine wisdom dontchaknow) & Antoine obliged at playing moose-dentist and removed one of the teeth (which will be a part of your creative-pay-it-forward, Sandy!).

How the yurt's looking without snow.

On our way back, i looked at the swinging yeti & announced to Antoine that i knew the name of our new car.  
We were so happy to hit tarmac that we went into town.  There was some reason for it, although all i can remember now is the poutine (chips, cheese & gravy - although just chips for veggie-me) with which we celebrated.

Thanks for getting through this story.  Especially with a lack of pictures.  I videoed Yeti passing through the initial brown sea, then the camera battery died, leaving this journey photo-less (except for a few screengrabs you see here).  Although writing this all out has been wonderful as the journey it's now more clearly etched in my mind.

Other Yurt Goings-on..
Dodo Rouge
As i was finishing writing up this story, sitting outside the yurt in the sunshine, i heard a squeak-barking close behind me.  i can't be sure, but i'm relatively certain our renegade squirrel was trying to say hi to you.

The view from the yurt.

Clearing the Appellation Trail
The day after our rally ride, Antoine took me to join a group "Clearing the Appellation Trail" (he enticed me to come, believing it was one of my favourite jobs - picking up trash in nature.  When it was actually one of my least favourite jobs - being involved in cutting down pieces of living nature).  Although i appeased myself by remembering that because this trail exists many people spend countless hours in nature.  i thanked the tree of each branch removed.


Photobooth

 Our vintage photobooth.

Last night we set up a vintage themed photobooth for an event of the local music festival Bout Du Monde (the festival itself happens in August).  It was really great fun & i met one of the organisers who'd taken a group of 16 year old Québec kids on their first non-Canada outing to Varanasi, India.  i guess if you can organise that, you can organise anything!


This blog is dedicated to Emma Williamson, for being such a belter & so vulnerable, honest & funny in her radio show - good luck for doing the breakfast show on Heartland FM next week! 

It's also dedicated to Martin Champ Roux, who was Success' personal mechanic & who Antoine said would have also gone straight through every single muddy lake too!  

Grass replaces snow at this time of year.

The Return of Dodo Rouge & Maiden Canoe Voyage

Clatter Bang

Gaspé is currently doing a good 'Scottish-weather' impersonation

Last night we were awoken from a deep sleep by a HUGE CLATTER BANG inside the yurt.  "Ça va," said the ever optimistic Antoine.  We turned on the light & discovered that our 20 litre container of water had jumped off its self into the sink/bowl beneath.  Why it decided to do so at 3am i have no idea.  If the shelf had suddenly collapsed under the weight of the container, i would understand.  But everything - except the handle of my favourite mug - was as it should be.  Any experts in physics (or ghosts!) are welcome to donate theories.

The Return of Dodo-Rouge
My favourite moment from last week was The Return of Dodo-Rouge.  i was lying in the long spring grass, absorbing the sun after a nice lunch.  Antoine was doing his college work, by the open door (where the wi-fi is strongest).

Stock photo of Dodo Rouge

"Dodo Rouge!" Antoine exclaimed.  i sat up & saw a streak of red charging towards the trees.  "Dodo Rouge!" i called exuberantly.  "He was right here, with his paws on the doorstep" Antoine told me. 

Dodo had placed himself on top of Antoine's bike.  Right on the bag which sits on the handlebars.  He was staring at me.  He commenced to squeak-bark.  "i'm happy to see you too!"  i told him.  He continued to squeak-bark & stare at me.  i know he was telling me all of the adventures he'd been having in the last weeks since we'd seen him.  all the trees he'd climbed, beavers he'd seen, pine cones & female squirrels he'd nibbled!  It's a shame that my Squirrel is even lamer than my French & i couldn't really capture the essence of his journey.

He continued to squeak-bark & eye-ball me for a good 5 minutes before running up into the tree.  i chatted back to him, telling him how he was missed by all the blog's readers.  in my delight of seeing him i quite forgot to take his photo, but rest assured that he's looking healthy and getting bigger.  i imagine his diet now consists of something more nutritious than toast crumbs.


Maiden Canoe Voyage

As part of his course, Antoine's been going to a walking group.  i haven't been able to join in because of my knee (and hearing his stories of wind, snowshoes & freezing temperatures during the winter were less than enticing).  But last Sunday i joined in.  i'm also reluctant to walk in a group (having been spoiled by frequently walking alone in the Himalaya) i like to take time to connect with the nature, rather than race around the paths with a gym/fitness mentality.  it's cool if that's what you're into, but it's usually not my preferred way to be in the woods.  However, as Antoine's been so busy the past 6 weeks, it was a rare opportunity for us to hang out together.

Of course i had an awesome time.  Because it's Canada.  Because it's nature.  Because Canadians are just so darned nice.  When we arrived at our destination lake, we bumped into friends from the college, who offered us a trip across the lake in their canoes (who found it funny that i'd never been in a canoe before!).  And thus was my maiden voyage...

Canada, i love you THIS MUCH...

Antoine also discovered today that he got a summer job for Parc Canada (at Forilion, making videos & photography) which is awesome news & means that he'll be staying in Gaspé for the summer, whereas i'll most likely be returning to Scotland in July.  It's gonna be tough to leave This Canadian Yurt.

& remember, we are welcoming theories as to why our water container threw itself off the shelf at 3am this morning....

Spring! & 'Things i Hear'

snow is melting

Last week was wonderful.  Spring started showing up more regularly.  There were less -10C moments & only 3cm of snow.  The last night it snowed i went outside & respectfully told winter to "GET OVER IT".  Like some drawn-out romantic crush, winter now seems gotten over. 

After seeing nothing but snow for months now, it's so exciting to go for a walk and see THINGS.  Grass, whole bushes, furry buds on the trees, seaweed & driftwood on the beach.  i discovered that you can polish driftwood with a stone & yesterday i made myself a hair stick.  and i taught our friends, who are the owners & chefs of the local Asian restaurant how to cook scrumptious Indian food (but forgot to take a photo for the blog, d'oh!)

the hair stick i made from driftwood

Also, i danced for the first time since i dislocated my knee :)  we went to the local film festival & met an amazing animator (Martine Chartrand who paints on glass: http://www.nfb.ca/film/black_soul/).  i've been spending a lot of time with crystals.  (that's maybe a whole other part of me that some of you don't know.  can see my work here:  http://crystal-light-web.blogspot.com).  i've been preparing to launch an etsy shop, taking photos, writing blurbs about the pieces i have made, & of course the actual of the crystal necklaces.

breakfast w/Dodo Rouge (who got camera shy)

i am now going to hang out the washing. outside.  it is a big moment in This Canadian Yurt!

For those interested, i'd also like to share some of the writing is did the first day i sat outside the yurt (which i mentioned in the last post).

 

9 Things i Hear [& a story concerning squirrels]

1. It gets so silent here that the flapping of crows’ wings counts as an Event.

2. Droning of fridge and flies disrupts the silence.

3. Do i hear electricity marching through the wires, or crickets chirp-croakin’ in the dogwood?  Which has more stamina?

4. The surround-sound of nature’s amphitheatre makes the cries of even the crass seagulls an auditory feast.

5. Unseen geese honks, coyotes’ howls & wood peckers’ drills gives an eerie sense of irrelative space in the valley.  I can’t tell the distances between these things:  i don’t know how or where i fit in.

6. The line “a peace that passeth understanding” could’ve been written for the silent space i feel inside here.

7. Buddha-still i contemplate a list of words, concentration buried beneath layers of syntax.  The Jay lands suddenly at my feet, our squealed shocks ricocheting off one another: like opposing magnets of sound, we are both pushed physically backward.  Sometimes i am unsure to whom the fright belongs, but my heart thuds as though it were all mine.

8.  The rare times a car passes, i curse “bloody highway”.  i do it just to hear Antoine’s laugh.

9.  i can’t decide if i prefer the French word ‘brouhaha’ or its English counterpart ‘hubbub’. i whisper them aloud.

Memories of a morning i awoke to a scratching scramble coming from above.  Squeezing open an eye, i reluctantly brought into focus the transparent circle in the centre of the yurt’s roof.  A sprawled, grey shadow appeared, accompanying the grating thumps.  The petit mass threw itself uncertainly across the roof.  It bounced & belly-flopped in semi-circles around the chimney, as though performing some kind of pagan theatre piece to a smoky (volcanic-esq) god. My eyes and mind finally co-ordinated to conjure the word: squirrel.  And as if the label broke the spell, he was gone.  Sliding down the ropes with the air of a circus-performer exiting from a magnificent show.

Anyone else see the halo?

 And yes, Dodo-Rouge is still dining with us!

Cowboy Photo Studio & Dog Sledding

Cowboy Photo Studio
i mentioned before that we were setting up a photo studio for a cowboy themed party (with about 300 people attending). We created a great studio, using things we found along the way.  Like the saloon doors, which we stumbled upon at a talent show a few days before the cowboy party (synchronicity & manifestation in abundance!)

We took photos of the revelers all dressed-up, together with their friends, then printed them instantly using technology unimaginable in those bygone days!  Smiles all around!

At the end of the party, we remembered to take a couple snaps of ourselves, which looked like this:

our bad ass cowboy faces

Dog Sledding
i also went dog sledding...for free: a perk of being the girlfriend of an adventure tourism student!  i'd heard that it was lots of fun, but was reluctant to hurt dogs in any way.  From what i experienced, the huskies absolutely LOVE it - they can't wait to get out and start their 'walk', and whenever we stopped they would just stare at me, wanting to start running again.

It was both cool and scary having the responsibility of driving the sled...

This ain't no Xmas deco!  Real icicles on the tree.

This week the reality of living in such a small space with another human also truly hit me.  (Imagine taking all your essential personal belongings into your kitchen & camping out there with someone else...except the toilet, for that you have to put on snowshoes & go outside!)  My introverted tendencies dancing with Antoine's extrovert-nature.  But it's okay, everything can be treated as a lesson in love.  And we're learning all the time :)

As i read an earlier version of this post to Antoine (which kicked off with a more detailed account of the week's challenges), he listened and encouraged me to post whatever i liked.  But he also thought it strange, because he said he'd had some of the best ever yurt moments this past week & had already forgotten the brief chats about the need for time alone.  So, once again i'm reminded it's all about what we put our focus on in the present.  Thanks, Antoine, je t'aime!

This Canadian Yurt

Photos from This Canadian Yurt

i realised that living in this canadian yurt is a bit like camping in a circus big top...at burning man.  Except without any other people around.  

We take the best of both worlds: a wood burning fire, peeing outdoors (hey, i LOVE it!), the feeling of satisfaction from the 'honest hard work' of living close to nature, like fetching water...

Antoine invented a system to pull the 25 kilos of water on a sledge.

And our big-top-camping-life is mixed together with western luxuries:  wi-fi (which last week i discovered is weather dependent!), electricity (admittedly the lights dim when we use the oven - but compared to the 17 hours EVERY day without power i got accustomed to in Nepal...) and we have a fully equipped kitchen - this week i made veggie sushi, 

veg sushi

bean burriots

mexican bean burritos, veg lasagne, marinated tofu stirfry with pak-choi & shitake 'shrooms.  We baked bread & made a spiced apple crumble.  Plus... blueberry-raspberry-banana-chocolate-chip-vegan muffins (yeh you read that right!  i got slightly overexcited & added extra ingredients!). 


 THIS CANADIAN YURT PHOTOS....
The yurt finally looks homely enough to share photos...

We melt snow (in a pan on top of the stove) to prevent the yurt getting too dry.

The wi-fi connection is strongest by the door.

i'm making notes about props for a cowboy themed studio we're going to take photos at in a couple of weeks. (Antoine's experimenting with b&w for the shoot.)

i love the design of the yurt...it's like living in sunrays!

On the left is our (single) bed, beneath a HUGE yin yang hanging.  Antoine won that 'discussion' and it's still there...giving me trippy dreams!

Taaa-daaa!  The kitchen!  Behind the curtains is all our dry food & veg.  We have a proper italian espresso machine, oven/grill, kettle, 2 gas hobs (gas cylinder under the yurt), blue jerry can full of water above the silver bowl (which sits on nails in a hole cut into the counter) - it's not a sink & all water must be emptied outside but the birdies pick the food scraps from where we pour it!  Mugs hang on nails (top left).  There's compost, recycling & a bin.  Our fridge is on the right with one of the best views in the world - the Annapurna range!

Welcome to my office.  I love working with Le Petit Prince looking on.

The heat from the chimney melts the snow from the transparent plastic, so we can see the blue/stary sky.  Sometimes the difference from indoor/outdoor temperature means there's ice on the inside of the roof.

A WALK IN THE GARDEN 

Surrounding the yurt are miles of gorgeous, quiet forest.

baby christmas trees!

Yesterday it was warm & i took a walk...

sun-bathing is essential even in subzero temperatures

Antoine likes looking at pictures of himself on the big screen!

...and one night we borrowed a projector and so the yurt was converted into our very own circular circus cinema:
Thanks for sharing in and caring about our adventure! All comments & 'likes' appreciated...fuels my motivation to update each week :)

week one

Weather & Washing

Québec has been messing with me.  The first week in Montréal, the temperature dropped to -38C/-36F (with windchill).  Then the following week in Gaspé (1,000km north of Montréal) The temperatures reached +10C.  One day i brushed the snow from the pegs and hung out the washing...


...it kind of froze!  We thawed it out over the fire later.  

Wood
This Canadian yurt is heated with a wood burning stove.  It's a great feeling walking in from a freezing snow storm, to a warm-woody-fire-smelling-cozy place.  We made the most of the rare absence of snow to do some wood-piling.

Kitchen Organization

After finally getting washing-up equipment, the next stage was organising the kitchen.  Antoine's method of deciding where different items are located in the kitchen area, is solely dependent upon the order which he takes them from the shopping bag.  Thus, pasta, spices, saucepan lid, cereal, soya sauce, screwdrivers & random veggies could be found in one box.  after finding a bag of 4 month old onions, which had been frozen for a month, then defrosted and were now smushy and smelly...i was at times scared to put my hands into boxes.  

Antoine also discovered this...

which, once upon a time, is believed to have been a turnip.

Wintery Walk
On Friday we woke up with the sunshine & went to the beach.  We didn't go swimming because it looked like this...

Douglastown Beach - 20 mins walk from our yurt

Ice slabs on the beach

ice along the beach

that under-rated combo of sand n snow

just to prove we do 'wrap up warm'

A normal week, in this Canadian Yurt!

our snowy window this morning

Thank you all so much for your lovely comments (Nicola, Simon & Katrien) & support.  It motivates me to write more! If anyone has any questions about the yurt life - i'd be delighted to answer them!