La Ventana November 10 and 11, 2022

 I made a friend today.  Mom always told me to go ahead and go somewhere on my own, and “I’ll meet somebody”.  I’ll tell you more about that later.

Yesterday I wanted to go refill my video on what it’s like in the south trails, but I got side tracked going to the farmer’s market, the pharmacy, and the farther grocery store towards the north. 

First we did our last Pilates class with our teacher, and then went out to paddle on the SUPS because that’s when the water is the calmest. By the time I got back, I tried to rush out to the Farmer’s Market, but everyone was packing up.  I got to see a couple of pieces of jewelry I’d like to think about for the future.

At the pharmacy I went looking for nail hardener and electrolytes.  Instead

I found some face tattoos and earrings for my grand niece, but I need to check with her on whether she likes any of them before I buy them.

 I’m really fond of the Dias de los Meurtos face paintings and patterns. The Day of the Dead celebrations are here the day after our Halloween — families visit gravesites and remember family members who have passed on that day, and they decorate their faces. 

At the grocery store, I picked up some grape juice and sparkling water, some candy for the grand nieces and nephews, cookies banana, TP, yogurt, fresh tortillas, some ground beef, garlic salt, tomato sauce, locally produced cheese sold in bulk, and packages of “tang” — coconut and pineapple — something to mix up the water — we drink a lot of water!  Graham had to replace the electrolyte powder he brought but has run out of, and the plain flavoured packages tasted like ENO - the stomach settler my father used to drink in the 70s.  The aspartame in the water flavouring is concerning, but everything in moderation!

The Kleenex has a Dias de la Meurtos pattern on it, so I’m (spoiler) going to bring it as a souvenir for my sister as it’s pretty cool and fun and something that can be used.

I stopped by the beach on the way back because Graham was going to go kiteboarding, but I ran into my Chemanius friend, Tom, who passed along an action shot he took of me last Sunday when we went out with the group.

He showed me some t-shirts that are being sold to support the trail builders of the south trails.  He gave me the name, and coincidentally, Graham knows the people from Whistler, so after we made some dinner: some hamburger blended into the last of the Mole sauce and almost the remainder of the cream sauce we used in week 1 and a simple salad with cucumbers, tomatoes, red onion, cilantro and lime juice (and some of the Mexican cheese),

we walked over to Graham’s friends’ place about 20 minutes away to pick up the shirts.  I loved them as you can imagine because of the graphic:  Dias de los Meurtos!

 And the shirts are a fundraiser for these guys:

Feels good to support locals.  I took that picture today with my new friend.

The plan this morning was to go to the south trails with Graham, and just do a small loop that I could manage.  As we arrived, a woman, Angela, asked if were were from the group she was trying to meet.  We said no, but I suggested she and I ride the trails together since Graham is so much better on them and I’m happy when he gets a great workout. So instead of a little circuit, she and I peddled for two hours! I learned all about her farming life in “northern” Saskatchewan.

A couple of days ago when we were here, I wanted to take two more pictures, but since I had “bonked,” meaning ran out of gas, I couldn’t get the photos from the end of the trails.  The first I want to share is one of the labeled plants, “Mesquite.”  

I had no idea that the BBQ sauces I buy with “mesquite” on the labels come from a kind of cactus!  Angela said that when the locals have BBQs, they pick some mesquite to flavour their food.  Pretty neat!  The second picture I wanted to get was the cactus that needed a cane.  Last blog I kind of shared the life cycle of the cactus, but this picture shows the intermediary stage of aging:  using a cane!

See how this cactus is propped up? Finally another picture I didn’t get last time was the evidence of how the edge of the trails used to be part of the seabed, and where we were up high overlooking the valley, the seashells are still visible in the rock:

This location was where I shared the sound of the mockingbirds in the last blog.

So after the unexpected ride with Angela, I was SUPER hungry because I had had very little to eat for breakfast thinking I was going out for only a short while.  As I rode by a burrito stand I had seen a few times before, I decided to take the leap and eat at their roadside stand!

I got to meet Carolina, her mom, dad and cousin.

 I had a long choice of food I recognized — no prices, but we figured out a burrito together — it felt like a fast food stand!  I got the burrito I figure for about $2, and she threw in a couple little pieces of local cheese.  I’m definitely going back!

The little burrito tied me over as I went back to Graham’s friend to pay them for the shirt, and back to the grocery store — always bananas because I don’t want to squish them in my back pack.  We also needed milk as it came out of the jug in chunks this morning when I tried to add some to my tea!  Ew!

And I was quite fond of yesterday’s salad, so got another cuke for tomorrow. I think they’re starting to recognize me in that store.  

I dropped by the scuba shop on the way home and signed up for a dive when they get enough people.  I like to dive in any place I travel to that has a dive available.  We’ll see what happens.

Quickly back home to get a drink of tea without sour globs, and over to the beach with G to support his kite surfing.  No pictures, but he did pretty well, and we’ll try again soon.  I had planned to swim, but on these windy days, I don’t dare go into the water with all the foils, kites, windsurfers, rescue jet skis and fishing boats dropping périple off a the boat launch.

 I threw together the last of week 1’s leftovers with some lentils, and Graham fried some yesterday and the day before leftovers efficiently in one pan!

Time to relax and enjoy a movie on my ipad tonight.  That’s enough for one day!

I’m going to leave you with these cool metal fences I saw on my ride today. I hope you all had time to reflect on Remembrance Day. I wore my poppy as a proud Canadian.