Headed to Tucson

In two days I’ll arrive for a month in Arizona to help elect Kristin Engels to Congress and Kamala Harris President! I’m bringing too much stuff but a month is a long time. Here weRead more
In two days I’ll arrive for a month in Arizona to help elect Kristin Engels to Congress and Kamala Harris President! I’m bringing too much stuff but a month is a long time. Here we go!
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Voy a Tucson
¡En dos días llegaré por un mes a Arizona para ayudar a elegir a Kristin Engels para el Congreso y a Kamala Harris como presidenta! Traigo demasiadas cosas, pero un mes es mucho tiempo. ¡Vamos!Read more
We had a long day of paddling ahead of us - about 20km. We packed up for a 7am hot breakfast. Packing up takes a long, long time. Especially the first time. While you have an enormous (comparatively) amount of space in a kayak, it all has to fit in these little skinny tubes in the front and back of the boat. The guides commanded all the center hatches in the two doubles for all the food including an incredible amount of fresh fruits and vegetables, a two-burner cook stove, and all our plates, bowls, cups, serving platters, etc. We were well taken care of. We were each given a 20 and 10 litre dry bag for our clothes and anything else. Since Sheryl and I did not bring any beer or alcohol, we also had another 10 litre dry bag for our stuff. Plus our tent, sleeping pads, sleeping bags, little folding chairs, and our tarp. We succeeded in getting it all in with only a small flesh wound on my knuckle as I tried to stuff in the last item. Ouch.
Paddling a fully packed double kayak is a lot more work too. We paddled south along the east side of Lyell Island past some exquisite landscape. We spied sea caves and surprising number of gorgeous and inviting beaches. We saw a rhinoceros auklet, ancient murrelets, marbled murrelets, pigeon guillemots, cormorants, and lots and lots of eagles. A game developed with all rules and points was made up by Jill - she is the tour company’s owners son. She was a hoot. We saw harbour seals and deer.
We did encounter scant other boats, but honestly, it was generally just hours and hours of soaking in this green, green land. It was wild and spiritual. I found myself overwhelmed by the beauty and that I get to be here. Here floating/working my core muscles pushing through the water. It felt satisfying.
We weren’t sure if we would be headed down into our campsite and backtracking to the Watchman site at Windy Bay or not. With the higher winds forecast for the afternoon, we (really our guides) decided we would just stop in on Windy Bay before setting up camp. I was thankful to be in our double. It has lots more power and even though I usually didn’t take breaks, Sheryl could.
Windy Bay is the site of a grand standoff between the Canadian government with a logging company and the Haida people and their allies during the late 70’s and 80’s. The company was given the go ahead to do what they had been doing all over the west - clear cutting every available tree from Lyell Island and also further south. . It was a fight for the soul of the place and involved protests, lawsuits, arrests and lots of media attention. In the end, the Canadian government and British Columbia signed an agreement (from my last post) that doesn’t agree on whose land it was but did create the Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve - hence this incredible wilderness was kept unlogged.
We got into Windy Bay before lunchtime and waited a bit for the previous small group of visitors to finish up. Gordon, the Watchman, was a bit, well, bored. He kinda let it slip that this was his day off and repeated himself a few times. That was ok. He showed us the Legacy totem pole erected on the site along with the Looking Around and Blinking House - a long house erected in 1987 to help house the protestors. Today the long house is not inhabitable - something about the structure and the ubiquitous rat population that frequent the place. Interesting.
We had our picnic lunch onsite and then did a short hike to a ginormous spruce tree. It was nice to stretch my legs after a few hours in the kayak. It was so pretty - moss always gets me, and there was just the thickest most luxurious layer all over the land. It felt devine under my soft paddling shoes.
Getting into Gate Creek was a quick paddle down Lyell Island to set up our camp for the night. Sheryl and I picked a soft pad of moss in the forest to set up our tent and I (as usual) laid out our pads and sleeping bags for our good night’s sleep.
Our first full day out on the water paddling and setting up our campsite. It felt wonderful.Read more
Today we start. I’m a bit nervous and excited. I’m hoping I am up to the challenge of 6 days kayaking and 5 nights of wilderness camping. First leg, an hours-long van ride on a bumpy logging road - with lots of clear cuts in evidence. Then to the boat launch where we stuffed our dry bags and supplies onto a Zodiac. A Zodiac is how lots of the inter-island transportation happens here. They are fleet and efficient. They, however, are not the most comfortable mode. We were handed these heavy rubberized rain coats that went from the ankle to hood. In the “heat” it seemed entirely overkill. Our Captain then told us “It is highly advised.” So we put them on. And we are glad we did. Halfway in our one hour journey, we started to get sprayed in the face and everywhere else. And it was super cold out on the water with the wind.
We arrived at Kunga Beach where we emptied out the boat on the beach. We were in the middle of nowhere.
Our tent was already set up nestled in the forest on the softest bed of thick moss. We set up the cushy ExPed pads and cozy sleeping bags and headed out to the beach to meet our guides, Dan and Maia. Maia had been out with the last tour and we were told that after our tour, she would be doing another couple of tours back to back. Wow!
As part of the orientation, we learned that the itinerary was very fluid owing to the wind and conditions. We weren’t sure if we would get out on the water today. As luck would have it, conditions allowed us to paddle over the Tanu Island for our first Watchman site visit. I also think the guides used this first day to sus out how we paddled. The crossing was about an hour of open water. Sheryl and I were in one of the two doubles. Easy peasy.
Visiting a Watchman site is a privilege. Gwaii Haanas (Canadian National Park) has been home to the Haida peoples for about 14,000 years and encompasses the southern half of all of Haida Gwaii. We met Sean, a Watchman, who took his family down to Tanu Island each summer for his “vacation” and to tell the history and stories of the Haida and their environs. They are also there to guard the sites. Archeologists have harvested many, many artifacts including bones… from these sites.
They speak of the land and the water without any degree of separation. There is no marine reserve and then park/reserve land. They are the caretakers from the bottom of the ocean to the tops of the mountains - they are one system. To visit, our guides radioed ahead to ask if we could come by. It was truly an ask. I believe the answer is usually yes unless there is another group or it is before 10 and after 4.
Sean is an academic professor and deeply knowledgeable and a bit of a character. I was curious about the news that the Haida got “title” to all of Haida Gwaii in the last month after a long struggle/negotiation with British Columbia. I couldn’t quite square the news article with what it would mean for the people on Haida Gwaii. It looked like British Columbia would still run the schools, healthcare system, policing and other services. What did Haida gain from BC relinquishing title? Sean had a long answer.
The logging companies were planning on mowing down the southern half of what was then called the Queen Charlotte Islands. After a long battle, the Haida were able to establish these lands as park lands and not open to logging. (More on this in the next Watchmen site)
The agreement between “The Crown” or Great Britain and the Haida to establish this park starts with two paragraphs aligned side-by-side on the page:
“The Government of Canada views the Archipelago as Crown land, subject to certain private rights or interests, and subject to the sovereignty of her Majesty the Queen and the legislative jurisdiction of the Parliament of Canada and the Legislature of the Province of British Columbia.”
“The Haida Nation sees the Archipelago as Haida Lands, subject to the collective and individual rights of the Haida citizens, the sovereignty of the Hereditary Chiefs, and jurisdiction of the Council of the Haida Nation. The Haida Nation owns these lands and waters by virtue of heredity, subject to the laws of the Constitution of the Haida Nation, and the legislative jurisdiction of the Haida House of Assembly.”
Clearly the Haida were not ceding anything here. And that is how Sean portrayed the peoples of Haida - strong, confident in their role as caretakers and stewards of their lands and waters, and trucked nobodies crap. With this new title to their own land and sea, BC is still going to operate the services. However, decision making was up to the Haida Nation.
One of the ways that BC and Canada has sought to keep Crown land for the Crown is to pit the Indigenous people against settlers. Here, the Haida established a Council that included both Indigenous and settlers working together. No divide and conquer here.
He showed us around the site and described the long houses visible and now covered with moss. The houses were constructed with these impossibly large trees as beams and planks. Half of the house was below grade with three layers on the perimeter where people slept. The center was large enough to accommodate about 50 people. Pretty cool looking. I’m not sure how they raised with roof beams, but we got a lesson on how they raised the totems that fronted each of the long houses.
The sad truth of it is that 95% of the population was wiped out by small pox. Haida believe this was intentional. Sean spoke of the many consequences of this near annihilation. I’ll share my favourite. Deer have been introduced in Haida Gwaii on two separate occasions. With no predators, they have overrun the land and munched the forest understory making it tough for new cedar trees to grow. First bait stations were set to lure them to waiting gunman. In 2017 to complete the task, Canada rounded up a posee of camouflage-wearing hunters from New Zealand to cull deer from several of the islands - 400 alone from Ramsey Island.
So, as Sean tells it, the scientific community led by Haida researchers have found deer bones that establish that deer have lived on the archipelago for millennia. With the one predator nearly eliminated from the landscape (humans) deer have proliferated. Haida’s solution is to let people hunt the deer. Shoot them in the head so that the meat is edible (adrenaline coursing through the deer spoils the meat) and eventually, the islands would be restored to a better balance - a modestly controlled understory, nutritious food for the people, and not marauding camo-wearing commandos tromping through the forest. Basically, let to people in Haida Gwaii manage it.
He outlined the philosophy as one of fierce loyalty to the land/sea and a cooperative and practical approach to the inevitable changes that this group of islands has experienced over eons. Sounds about right.
We paddled back across the waters and were greeted by a humpback whale or two throwing up spouts of sea spray. They came even closer when we reached our campsite. I didn’t get a photo but I could clearly make out the fins and tails. The sun doesn’t go down until after 10pm - not that I would know. We crawled into our sleeping bags, put on our eye masks and fell fast asleep. What a spectacular first day!
You can read about the deer wars here: https://hakaimagazine.com/features/deer-wars-th…Read more
There’s this show I started watching when I first moved to Canada called “Still Standing”. A comedian/actor, Jonny Harris travels all around Canada visiting small, struggling towns to see how the have revitalized. Today we visited one of those towns, Skidegate.
To get to Skidegate from our Bnb without a car required some finagling. The ferry is about 20km. Sheryl had arranged to join the van heading out on a tour to drop us off at the ferry terminal after our 6:45am breakfast. The 20-minute ferry was just beautiful. Lots of pigeon guillemots, oyster catchers, and the ubiquitous bald eagles. And lazy seals too.
After landing at 8:20, we were way too early to visit the main attraction in Skidegate, the Haida Heritage Center and museum. It opened at 10am. We made our way on foot to town. We found a lovely hiking trail through the woods. I find the trail system in Canada is pretty nicely done: graveled paths, lots of bridges and boardwalks in good order (Peace, Order, and Good Government - Canada’s equivalent to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness). It fits.
Too tired to walk all the way back to the museum, we did what everyone advised, we hitched. The first car that came by, picked us up. Through our short ride together we found out he was a hereditary chief of the Tanu Nation. His son carved totem poles and was going to take his place (in a good long time) as chief. He was very proud of his people and land/sea. We bid him a fond farewell.
The museum was amazing. The Haida Heritage Center was built to house Haida ceremonial items and other property much of which was taken/stolen right from the long houses. Knowing these items were Haida and stolen, the museums would not return them until they had a certified place to put them. Adds insult to injury. While we were there a class of all First Nations women were getting a tour of the pieces by one of the museum curators. Just fascinating. He had opened a drawer containing a thick goat wool shawl. It was one of the oldest pieces in the gallery. The interesting part about it was that goats don’t live here. This highly prized item was made of goat hair traded from the mainland. Seeing as how the ferry from Prince Rupert to here is seven hours, that’s a long way to go for some goat fur.
The had bent boxes, totem poles, giant one-tree canoes and lots of cedar and other tree products like baskets and clothes. I learned a bunch.
We walked back to the ferry and just missed it by 8 minutes. With a two hour wait, we decided to hitch a ride to the other town nearby, Daajing Giids. We got a ride immediately from this Ojibway woman who told us about how she tried to connect with her Ojibway people, and she felt rejected. So when she came here, she said the Haida people took her in and made her one of their own. She was also very proud of her Haida people and this place she called home.
Daajing Giid wasn’t much either. The did have soft-serve vanilla ice cream though. A giant cup of it was shared. The gift shop was nice and that was kinda it.
We hitched back to the ferry and this ride was with a white women who told use that everyone in Haida Gwaii immediately got a family doctor and wait times for tests and appointments were minimal if at all. A huge difference in other parts of Canada and BC where one in five don’t have a family doctor and it’s tough to get in for tests. She was a retired big company CEO and decided to settle in here to run a couple AirBnBs out of her nice home.
After dinner we headed three doors down to get out dry bags and orientation for our kayak trip. Can’t wait!Read more
You know that feeling you get when the plane approaches the runway but all you see is water? Thrilling and a little like snorkeling from the plane. I love it.
Sandspit is a little spit of a town. Not much here except the airport, and two grocery stores: one that opens from 9am to 6pm and the other from (you guessed it) 6pm to 9am.
The water is not as cold as I thought it would be, in fact, the weather is down right hot here. I’m not wearing socks. Very unexpected.
Sheryl is cooking us up some steak and asparagus for dinner! Vacation!Read more
SISKA (South Island Sea Kayaking Association) posted on Facebook ½ off for a kayak trip to Haida Gwaii (formerly known as the Queen Charlotte Islands). It’s a bucket list trip! And the discount and frequent flyer tickets make it doable. Wahoo!
We could have taken two ferries, but time and schedule didn’t fit, so we’re headed to Sandspit by air.
BC has just recently strengthened the Haida peoples’ rights and sovereignty here. In addition to 5 days on the water, we will be introduced to The Watchmen, indigenous caretakers.
I will have no to spotty cell and WiFi service so… I will write and post when I can.Read more
They say you need to be at the Mexico City airport 3 hours before your flight. I got picked up at 3:15am and was through security and at the gate before the hour was up. Ug. I could have used another hour of sleep - but you never know with international airports.
Looking back on my trip, I’m pretty happy. I drowned myself in art, good food, rich culture and history, and excellent company. I got to see my family and spend some quality vacation time with Sheryl, Sheryl and Gail together, and then Gail alone. Reviewing my photos and narrative, I am just so grateful that I am able to do this. And thanks for coming along with me.
Upon coming home, I pledged to myself to partake in the rich culture here in Victoria. I find it is necessary and something easy to fall by the wayside. To that end, since I have been back this week, I went to a cello concert and then a play with an art exhibit in the lobby, took a walk with a friend, had dinners with two other couples, and settled back home. Feeling lucky.Read more
For my birthday in March, Sheryl got me to most fantastic new pair of binoculars. It is a completely different experience. I can see EVERYTHING! The birds magically appear in my binoculars and the colours are clear and vibrant. It makes birding so much easier and a real pleasure.
I scheduled a six-hour birding trip to see birds of the forest and lakes with this organization IHUITL (pronunciation: EE-weetl) a word of Náhuatl origin meaning "feather." The organization combines science, art and culture - including birding tours. I do love the idea of supporting this kind of group. Here is the link if you are interested - it can be in English or Spanish. https://www.ihuitl.com
Rafael picked me up at 6am just as Gail’s taxi arrived to take her to the airport for her next adventure in Guatemala. I will miss her. As I was in Spanish mode, I just started talking with Rafa in Spanish and continued for the whole of the tour. With a few vocabulary words, constant mis-gendering, and probably some stumbling verb conjugations, it was easy to communicate. This is why I have spent so much time studying. There is a sense of freedom and connection that I feel I have speaking Spanish here.
We went south to the Bosque de Tlalpan (Tlalpan Forest). The park was busy with runners and folks out enjoying some exercise to start their Mother’s Day. The parkland, like everything south, is made up of volcanic rock. It makes for some interesting tree and shrub cover as well as nice birding habitat. The altitude and hilly terrain made for some huffing and puffing - but I was able to keep up.
Next, we went to Xochimilco Ecological Park. Here we saw all kinds of water birds, herons, egrets, ducks and even some pelicans. They also had a nice demonstration garden showing how the indigenous peoples farmed the land back in the day. I like water birds - they don’t flit from branch to branch, and they are generally pretty big. IDing them is much easier.
Rafa got me back to my apartment just after noon. He was off to go to his brother’s house to celebrate Mother’s Day with his family. Rafa let me know how wonderful it was for him to be able to do the tour in Spanish. Usually he does them in English - being able to speak in his own language, gave him (and me) the opportunity to converse beyond just pointing, identifying and talking “bird” the whole time. It was a wonderful way to enjoy my last day in Mexico City.
I added 25 new birds to my “life list” - birds that I hadn’t IDed before. Here are the birds we saw (and heard):
American Coot
American Robin
American White Pelican
Barn Swallow
Berylline Hummingbird
Bewick's Wren (mexicanus Group)
Black-and-white Warbler
Black-backed Oriole
Black-crowned Night Heron (American)
Black-headed Grosbeak
Blue Grosbeak
Blue Mockingbird
Broad-billed Hummingbird
Bronzed Cowbird
Bushtit (melanotis Group)
Canyon Towhee
Canyon Wren
Cassin's Kingbird
Chipping Sparrow
Cinnamon-bellied Flowerpiercer
Common Gallinule
Common Yellowthroat
Curve-billed Thrasher
Elegant Euphonia
Great Egret
Great-tailed Grackle
Green Heron
Hepatic Tanager
Hooded Yellowthroat
House Finch
House Sparrow
Inca Dove
Killdeer
Ladder-backed Woodpecker
Laughing Gull
Lesser Goldfinch
Mexican Duck
Monk Parakeet
Mourning Dove
Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet
Olive Warbler
Orange-billed Nightingale-Thrush
Pied-billed Grebe
Red-winged Blackbird
Rivoli's Hummingbird
Rose-throated Becard
Ruddy Duck
Rufous-backed Robin
Rufous-capped Warbler
Rufous-crowned Sparrow
Rusty-crowned Ground-Sparrow
Snowy Egret
Song Sparrow (mexicana Group)
Tricolored Heron
Vermilion Flycatcher
Violet-crowned Hummingbird
Warbling Vireo
Western Flycatcher (Cordilleran)
Western Wood-Pewee
White-eared Hummingbird
White-faced Ibis
White-winged Dove
Wilson's Warbler
Yellow WarblerRead more
This is my last day with Gail… She is a fantastic travelling companion. She has a real commitment to joy that is a must for exploring. We decided to spend much of the day in Chapultepec Park before Gail went to visit with family later in the afternoon. Sheryl and I had done lots in the park but not the castle and the Anthropology Museum.
Chapultepec Castile was built atop important Aztec ceremonial grounds (of course). It is the top of the hill. We slogged our way up and up and up. We were rewarded with a spectacular view of the park and city as well as another history lesson. You got your murals, your paintings, your statues of heroes and villains. What is clear is that Mexican history is full of wars. Fighting the French, British, and each faction, and factions of factions. Pancho Villa and Zapata were allies at one point and then enemies. I, frankly, can’t keep it all straight. I’m kind of ok with that. I will need another visit to try to get a better understanding of what happened and why and who were the revolutionary figures that actually helped the people and who were not. Next trip.
One story about a painting below. The colonists understood hierarchy and “royalty”, so they commissioned a painting depicting the chiefs from the various communities that were cooperative/useful to the colonialists. They look like stately gentlemen in their traditional garb and headdresses. To be sure, as soon as their usefulness was no longer needed, I’m sure they were disposed of like the rest of the indigenous peoples.
In the afternoon, I went on my own to the Anthropology Museum. I soothed my aching feet with a tasty lunch and mental break. While it seems that we are doing a ton of stuff, I do feel like we have had the time to also wander and wonder. I’m physically tired but mentally and emotionally recharged.
I started at the beginning and zipped right through the rudimentary evolutionary lesson of man and the planet. From there, the museum was organized in chronological order by civilizations. It wasn’t until I reached maybe the 4th or 5th room where there were any artifacts depicting women. These were from the Veracruz area and were remarkable. Again, description after description spoke of the constant war that pervaded - it seems pre- and post-colonialism were marked by unending violent conflict. Can we imagine what our world would be like without armed enemies always present?
I couldn’t possibly make it through the entire museum. It is ginormous. I took an Uber back to the apartment and ate some tasty leftovers. Gail arrived back with her belly full of homemade pozole (jealous) and some stories. She finished packing for her flight tomorrow. So, we were both leaving the house at 6am. Time to sleep.Read more
Today we went south to ancient ruins a bus ride away. Called Cuicuilco, https://lugares.inah.gob.mx/es/zonas-arqueologi…; it was different than any of the other ruins we have seen. The pyramid was actually round. And it was surrounded by some volcanic tubes and flows and forest. I stupidly didn’t bring my binoculars with me (and I bet Gail was glad as I would have spent way too much time figuring out the birds I was looking at - that will be for my last day.) I believe we were the only people visiting this spot on a Friday morning. They had a little museum (of course) to help us understand what we were looking at.
The history of the place is that the nearby Xitle volcano erupted in about 250 AD, covering much of the area with lava. Many of the inhabitants made their way over to Teotihuacán to live. It wasn’t very picturesque with tall buildings and busy streets/highways all around the site, but the significance of their resilience was evident.
Next up was a bus ride up to the National University of Mexico or UNAM. First stop was the Museum of Contemporary Art https://muac.unam.mx/. Gail isn’t much of a fan of contemporary art, so I went through on my own while Gail suffered through with a tall, chocolate milk shake. Pobrecita! There were about five or six different artist retrospectives including Beatriz González. Her work was so moving. She had a fairly unique outlook on her work and what she was trying to convey. A real treat.
We headed up to the area just north of UNAM to get some (delicious) tacos. And then walked down to the main campus. There we spied the newly erected encampment supporting Gaza and just a huge amount of graffiti covering the buildings. The protest/encampment seemed peaceful although pretty small. The graffiti was shameful. It covered some of the art and architectural features.
We decided to head into the library because there was supposed to be an origami exhibit! I was not disappointed. These were some very intricate and exquisite specimens of paper craft. During my first time in Portland Oregon back in the early 80s, I worked late into the evening canvassing. I was staying at a woman’s home (I’m sorry I can’t remember her name), but she had a normal 9 to 5 job. So, by the time I got home, I had a couple/few hours at the end of the day to wind down. Quietly. I took up origami. Mine were complicated but nothing like these. Made me happy to see such artistry from one single, uncut piece of paper.
After a couple of bus mishaps, we decided to visit the Frida Kahlo Park which was not more than a two-minute walk from our apartment. It was small and pretty. We tried to have a conversation with Diego and Frida who were hanging out in the garden. They were congenial if a little stiff.Read more
TravelerBon voyage! love that you blog these adventures and appreciate your service to basically the whole world in trying to nudge the USA to a better path <3