I realize this sounds funny, but sitting around for ten days is really hard!  The ten days of my recent course were some of the longest days of my life, proving to be one of the most challenging, but also most rewarding, experiences I’ve had.

At first glance a ten-day meditation retreat sounds like a nice and relaxing getaway from the hustle and bustle of life. After a few strictly scheduled days which consist of waking up at four in the morning, a total of eleven hours of meditation with just enough time in between sessions to eat, rest, and poop, and zero communication with the dozens of other students around you, you quickly realize that there’s a lot more to this than just sitting around.

As with any “spiritual” or “new age” process, with Vipassana you’ll encounter a wide variety of followers. This includes people who insist they feel the “vibrations of the universe” and swear by the healing frequencies of crystals and reiki. It also includes those who regularly commune with some form of a “creator” and are sure that, once their bodies cease to function, their “souls” will leave this “plane” and go … somewhere else. You’ll be surprised, though, that it also includes people who are scientifically minded, logical thinkers who “need to see it to believe it”. I consider myself to be in this last group, although I pass no judgment to all the other crazies. Although the core teachings of the technique are in line with those of old-school Buddhism, the beauty of Vipassana is that it’s compatible with any other belief system and doesn’t require things like blind faith or voodoo magic. Real people give it a try and real people find it beneficial, quite often even going back for more. 

My recent course near Merritt, B.C. was my second ten-day course, my first one being about six years ago near Oakville, Ontario. To be honest, I’d forgotten how difficult the course is, which is just as well since it made it easier to convince Chelsea to give it a try. There are Vipassana centers located all over the world, and although there are shorter one- or three-day courses offered to experienced students (as well as longer courses of 20, 30, 45, or even 60 days!), the only way to get introduced to the technique is to sit the full ten days – no shortcuts!

I can’t think of a single person in my life that wouldn’t benefit from attending a Vipassana course, assuming they’re able to sit still long enough to give it a fair chance. I’m not saying that everyone who takes a course will want to dive full-on into the Vipassana technique and dedicate the rest of their lives to meditation (I most certainly don’t), just that there are clear and concrete benefits to giving it a chance.

In this post I’ll go over some of the basic ideas of the technique and describe some of my personal experiences with it. If you’re already planning on sitting a ten-day course then I urge you to skip straight to the “things to know before your ten-day sit” section near the end – you’re probably better of going into it without too many preconceptions.

The official explanation:
“Vipassana, which means to see things as they really are, is one of India's most ancient techniques of meditation. It was rediscovered by Gotama Buddha more than 2500 years ago and was taught by him as a universal remedy for universal ills, i.e., an Art Of Living. This non-sectarian technique aims for the total eradication of mental impurities and the resultant highest happiness of full liberation.

Vipassana is a way of self-transformation through self-observation. It focuses on the deep interconnection between mind and body, which can be experienced directly by disciplined attention to the physical sensations that form the life of the body, and that continuously interconnect and condition the life of the mind. It is this observation-based, self-exploratory journey to the common root of mind and body that dissolves mental impurity, resulting in a balanced mind full of love and compassion.” 

What this means in practice is that for ten days you’ll spend most of your time sitting still, trying to focus your mind and remain aware of any sensations that crop up on your body. Anytime you notice a sensation, the goal is to observe it, acknowledge that it’s there, try not to react to it, and then move on. It all sounds really simple but it’s actually terribly difficult. With enough time and effort, though, over the course of the ten days you begin the process of retraining your mind and undoing all those years of over-reacting to things that, in the big picture, are really pretty trivial. You’re not going to be completely transformed after ten days but, if you make the effort, you will learn and understand the technique and, if you continue to practice it in your daily life, experience some real benefits. The real goal of Vipassana is just to be happy. Me likey happy!  =)

The basic mechanism of the technique is pretty simple, and even with my scientific, nitpicking mind I can’t seem to find a problem with it. In our daily lives, we interact with the world around us by receiving signals through our senses (things we see, hear, taste, smell and touch). These are the sensations we’re all familiar with because we experience them all the time. Before our mind and body react to these external stimuli, though, they’re first translated into sensations on a subconscious level; only then do we have the opportunity to react on an emotional level. Stay with me here.

Think of our mind/body pair like a computer: we can send a computer some instructions in the form of some written code, but before the computer can figure out what to do with this code it must first translate it into basic machine language (zero, zero, one, zero, one, …). The computer isn’t reacting directly to the written instructions, it’s reacting to the basic data that is a result of these instructions. Whether this makes any sense to you or not, don’t worry – the technique will work just the same.

I realize this all sounds a bit odd, but after the third or fourth day of working to calm and focus your mind, you begin to become aware of these sensations. You’d never know it without taking the time to listen, but every part of your body, inside and out, is constantly bombarded by a variety of basic sensations (heat, cold, pressure, tingles, tickles, itches, pulses, etc.). If you’re able to very carefully observe, for example, the pain in your butt from sitting on it for ten days straight, you’ll find that it’s not “pain” at all, it’s actually a bit of heat and a bit of an itchy, pulsing sensation. The “pain” you’re feeling is just a reaction to these basic sensations that you’re so used to labeling this way and reacting to with aversion or hatred. The same applies to something you find pleasant; let’s say having that end of the day cigarette. If you can observe closely, you’ll find that even just thinking about this smoke generates sensations on a certain part of your body – maybe it sends shivers down your spine or makes your right arm feel cool and tingly. It’s only after years of training that you’ve labeled these basic sensations as “pleasant” and react to them with craving. 

The idea behind the Vipassana meditation technique is that, since all of these emotional reactions are actually based on these subconscious sensations (and not on the physical stimuli themselves), with enough practice we can train ourselves to observe and acknowledge these sensations but not react. This is the part that makes the meditation challenging. If you’re not careful it’s easy to let yourself become attached to a pleasant sensation (“wow, this feels SOOOOO GOOD!!!”) and then, once it goes away, react with craving (“why did that awesome feeling stop, I WANT IT BACK NOW!!!!!!”). At one point during my recent course I experienced something like a cool tingle over the surface of my entire body, resulting in what I can only describe as pure ecstasy. After these sensations went away, I reacted with so much craving that I became frustrated, completely lost focus and felt like crap for the rest of the day. Conversely, it’s also easy to develop hatred toward an unpleasant sensation (“ouch, my back hurts”) and then react with aversion, causing that pain to multiply (“holy crap my back is KILLING ME, I WANT TO DIE!!!”). Years of sitting at a desk and slouching on the couch have left me with some minor but persistent back pain; there were many times during the course that I caught myself reacting strongly to this pain and could literally feel the surrounding muscles tensing up, making the pain worse and worse. I could then observe myself becoming miserable and wanting to run into the woods and have a good, hard cry.

For every point during the course that was a struggle, though, there were a number of times where things were going really well and I was able to really apply the technique. I knew going into every group session (during which a goal is to not move a muscle for the entire hour) that my back pain would pop up at some point. Although I let it get the better of me a number of times, there were times where I observed these “unpleasant sensations” in my back but was able to remain impartial to these sensations and by not reacting, observed them simply dissolve and go away. Neat-o!  I should note here that, although my personal experience with the course was pretty centered on this kind of pain, there were many other people whose battle was instead with pleasant sensations. Although hearing about their experience makes me extremely jealous (though I’m trying not to be, I swear!), the basic struggle is the same: pleasant sensations feel really good but if you react to them then when they eventually disappear you’ll feel really bad. 

One of the key concepts that the teaching really drives home is that everything in nature is constantly changing. We encounter this in our daily lives: it’s raining but later the sun will come out; I’m sick with the flu but in a few days I’ll feel better; I’m really angry at my friend now but in a few days we’ll be best buds again; or even, I’m alive now but at some point I’m going to die. After learning Vipassana this impermanence becomes clear on a much more subtle level: I’m experiencing a sensation of heat in my right ear, but this heat won’t last forever; I’m experiencing an intense itching sensation in my left armpit, but this itch won’t last forever.

This concept of impermanence is a very useful tool in the not reacting part of the meditation, and one of the most important lessons I’ve taken from the course. Nothing lasts forever. This doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy it when you’re having an awesome time making whoopee with your wife or that you can’t be upset and cry when you lose a loved one; it just helps keep things in perspective. The goal is not to just detach yourself from and ignore the unpleasant things that inevitably occur in life, but to be fully aware and mindful of them, with the understanding that “this, too, shall pass”. It’s good in life to be optimistic; it’s even better to be realistic.

There were a couple moments during this last course where I found myself evaluating my surroundings and realizing that the whole thing is pretty darn ridiculous. As distracting as these moments were, they reminded me that things don’t always have to be so serious.

One such moment was on day eight: I was sitting on my bed with my eyes closed, struggling hard to keep my mind focused on my sensations when I heard my roommate enter the room, shuffle around in his bag, blast out one of the loudest farts I’ve heard (and I’ve heard some LOUD farts in my time) and then immediately leave the room. After eight days without uttering even the tiniest peep, I giggled like a schoolgirl, totally derailing my concentration for the rest of the afternoon. To limit distractions during the course, men and women are segregated at all times except for in the main meditation hall. Combine a men-only dormitory with a high-fibre vegetarian diet and you end up with the least-silent group of silent meditators possible. =P

One of the trickier parts of maintaining noble silence (no communication whatsoever) with the rest of the meditators is trying to perform your basic daily routine. You’ve got a bunch of people who all want to get to the same place at the same time, but can’t simply say, “after you, good sir”. Instead, what you do is stand in the hallway outside the washroom and stare at each other’s feet, either stepping aside and letting the others go first or choosing to make the first move and beat everyone else to the urinal. You thought it was awkward dancing to get around strangers on the sidewalk?  Try it while pretending they’re not even there.

Every group meditation session starts off with an audio clip of the technique’s main teacher, Mr. Goenka. These clips include some basic instruction, explaining what you should be working on for the coming session, but almost always begin with some repetitive and song-like chanting in the Pali language. Out of boredom, your brain will likely start to form familiar English words from the foreign-sounding phrases. One of the phrases that almost made me break down numerous times sounds a heck of a lot like “blah blah blah birdy dirty, blah blah blah gay protection”. Thanks, Goenka, for the gay protection, I wouldn’t want to get my birdy dirty. Yup, I’m a child.

In my honest opinion, Vipassana meditation is a useful tool that can help bring more balance and happiness to one’s life. It’s applicable to anyone, regardless of his or her background or current life situation. If you’re at all intrigued by what you’ve heard, then I urge you to sign up and give it a try; all you’ve got to lose are ten short days…

Here’s to bein’ chili,
Mandrew

Here are some other people’s take on the technique, both good and bad (though I insist you try it for yourself so you can form your own opinion): 

Lunasea Life – Vipassana – What I found in 10 days of silence

Thirty Two Thousand Days – How to reach enlightenment for free in less than two week (or your money back)

More Spiritual Matters – The 10-Day Vipassana Retreat – A Warning 

Atheist Foundation Online Forums, post by “Wadaye” – Goenka Vipassana Cult    

Đạo Phật nguyên thủy – A Critique of Vipassana Medidation as Taught by Mr. S. N. Goenka 

So off we went to Nelson BC to start a new adventure.  We spent the first night camped out at Cottonwood Lake since we hadn't been very good at keeping in touch with the farms or couchsurfer hosts that we had contacted prior to arriving - normally they like to have a few days notice but our plans changed too often to stick to one.  It was nice though, a peaceful little lake with some picnic tables.  There were a few groups of people enjoying the sunny day who were all very interested in chatting with us.  The next day we found a place with internet and noticed that we got a response from someone who could host us that night in her spare bedroom.  We were so happy to meet Gabrielle who cooked us up a delicious dinner and told us about the many hiking trails around Nelson.  We were expecting to stay for only a day or two before heading out to Chuckleberry Farm to volunteer for a week or two before my yoga course started, but in the morning Gabrielle informed us that there was a family emergency and she had to take off for a few days.  Unfortunate news, but we were very happy to stick around and look after her beautiful little place while she was away.

Before Gabrielle left she put us in contact with her daughter, Vida, and a friend who couch sat with her a year earlier, Peter, who is also a mechanical engineer and now lives in Nelson.  After meeting Peter a few times Peter mentioned that he had just bought a house and would be moving in soon.  He hinted that it had two extra bedrooms and we took the bait, agreeing that after our time at Chuckleberry Farm we would stay in Nelson with him during the yoga course.  It was so funny because we had been getting a little worried that we hadn't planned enough for this trip but suddenly, things were falling into place.  Gabrielle's neighbours even invited us over for a very lovely potlach Thanksgiving dinner.  Nelson was slowly but surely taking us in. 

Our week at Chuckleberry Farm, located on Awesome View Road (yup, quite a name!) went by so fast, and yet we experienced so much.  While Andrew spent most of the time working on installing a cooling system for the cold cellar, I helped out in the yard harvesting tomatoes, sprouts and peppers, planting garlic, digging and de-weeding a drainage trench behind the building, and a few other random tasks.  At first it seemed like it was going to be a very tiring and difficult week, but on the second day of trench work, Jenna, an intern who'd arrived just a week before, was assigned to work with me for some time.  She brought a lot of fun to the task and made me realize that I didn't have to be straining myself so much.  She reminded me that the farm was named "Chuckleberry" for a reason.  And so, for the rest of the week we continued to get a lot of work done, and have a lot of chuckles. 

The rest of the volunteers were awesome as well. There was James, a young guy from Australia who had just finished hiking part of the Pacific Crest Trail (awesome!!!!!); Alex from Tasmania who always has something philosophical to discuss and who shares many of my world views and concerns; there were Braydon and Martika, a very cool couple who had just finished some tree planting work over the summer; Alexander and Lisa, basically a mirror of Andrew and I a year ago having just quit their full time careers in search of a new way of life; Robin and Ghislain, interns who have been living at the farm for over a year, focusing on the sprout business as well as trying to find a deeper purpose in their lives after having gone through some very tough times; and Maciej, a free-spirited aspiring photographer and videographer who has been at the farm for something like six months.  I haven't been able to get to know Jon, the owner of the farm (though he wouldn't take the credit) as much as I would have liked to, but Andrew has been working with him a lot.  Based on the brief encounters that I've had with him and the things I have seen at the farm I have been so inspired by him.  Jon has had an incredibly interesting life and has come from some dark places to find where he is now.  The farm and the community that he is building really is amazing.  He creates an atmosphere of absolute openness and acceptance.  We only stayed at Chuckleberry for one week (regretfully) but have been going back to visit regularly, and Andrew has been going back a couple days week to lend his engineering hands while I've been doing yoga.  We're thinking about spending more time out there if we have it.  Don't worry, moms, it's not a cult.  =P

The 200 hour yoga teacher's training was so good!  At first I was a little concerned that I might get tired of doing so much yoga every singe day (yep, even weekends) for a month, but the more we got into it, the more I wanted.  Joy, the director of the Shanti Yoga studio here in Nelson is a very inspiring person, as well as all of the other instructors at the studio that we all got to know so well.  We focused a lot on anatomy and safe alignment in the poses, considering accessibility for different yoga students (prenatal, injured, curious, new), discussed some of the history and mysteries of yoga, philosophy and meditation and even learned a few Sanskrit words.  Of course in spending so much time together all of us students got to know and appreciate each other so well.  My body feels different, with a new strength and flexibility, and I just feel so darn good!  I can definitely see teaching yoga in my future, even just as a hobby.  In fact, I have signed up for an extra 50hr add on training this week, as well as a mentorship with the studio for a couple of weeks into December.  After that, if we are still in Nelson, I might have to start doing some teaching!  Fun fun!

So as of now, we don't have a set plan but we've got ideas.  The things we know for sure are that I will continue doing lots of yoga until Shawn arrives in Vernon in mid December (!!!) to spend a couple of weeks with us.  Other than that, no idea.  We might stay at Pete's for a while since it is awesome here, and I think he likes us, hehe, or maybe we'll head back out to Chuckleberry for a while.  For now, we'll keep the details a bit of a mystery, but there's something brewing for our future that might allow us to keep our happy hobo lifestyle going, and yet give us a meaningful project to work on and some security for the future...  Will let you know how things play out!

Chilli,
Chels

To open slideshow in a new window clickhere

To open slideshow in a new window click here

Since being back in Canada our adventures have not ended.  Admittedly, we haven't been taking as many photos or writing as many blog posts, but there are still a few things we want to share.  It has been amazing to spend so much time with family while we continue to explore new corners of the world - the ones right next door from home.

After our Yukon time we bought a Nissan Cube (long story) and drove down to Vancouver to meet up with Kim, Nate and Harrison!  The drive down was quiet and lovely.  We stopped at the Liard Hot Springs for a night to soak up the volcanic waters.  The fall colours were intense and we were lucky enough to spot a moose in the swamp beside the board walk to the hot spring.  Please enjoy a few photos from the rest of our drive.

To open slideshow in a new window clickhere

We arrived in Vancouver just a few hours before Kim, Nate and Harrison's plane landed.  Somehow we packed in our things to live off of for the next 6 months, all of Kim, Nate and Harrison's stuff, and all 5 of us in the car, including Harrison's car seat, and headed off in the Cube to Mount Baker, Washington for a week of fun.  We spent most days hiking around and seeing the sights in the area, and one day we drove down to the coast, Bellingham, to see the Pacific Ocean.  

For our second week together, we headed back to Vancouver. While we were somewhat limited in our activity choices, it actually turned out that most places are equally fun for adults as they are for two-year-olds!  The Science Center was interactive and interesting, the Aquarium was mesmerizing (and ok, maybe a little difficult for me to comprehend) and Stanley Park was awesome.  

To open slideshow in a new window click here

After the Auch family flew away Andrew and I hopped back in our now very spacious Cube and headed east to Vernon to see my Grandparents, Gerri and Garry Hamilton.  We were excited to bet greeted also by Pat and Russ (Grandma Gerri's brother), who's place we stayed at when we passed through Prince George a few weeks earlier.  In fact, the next day we found out that Leslie, a great cousin who we had met at our wedding a year earlier in Ontario was in town visiting her dad, my Great Uncle Jack, who I haven't seen in years!  It was quite the reunion.  What was initially intended to be a few days visit turned into a week before we felt the pressure to move on and get to Nelson BC before the start of my Yoga teacher training.

We're feeling pretty lucky to have been able to spend so much time with family these last few months.  We have missed you all and had been looking forward to this for a long time!  

It has been quite a shift from the backpacking lifestyle that we've so readily adopted over the last year.  The comforts of familiar faces, comfortable mattresses, delicious home cooking, and having our own wheels has been such a refreshing contrast (not that backpacking is that difficult, but certain comforts are just not there).  But the journey is far from over.  Maybe its just begun...

Beans,
-Chelsea

Bringing you the latest from CHAM Studios Productions - "Wildlife of Haines Alaska". 

This footage was taken over a few days while fishing for Pink and Sockeye Salmon in the Chilkoot River in Haines, Alaska. The salmon run brings all kinds of wildlife to the riverbank to feed on the delicious and nutritious tough guys - grizzly's, eagles, ravens, seals and of course humans. Sharing the river with wildlife, a balance of respect and sustainability is important, especially when it comes to the grizzly's!

One bear, the lone bear seen eating fish in the river toward the second half of the video, is an old friend of mine.  BMJ is 29 years old now (born the same year as me) and I remember seeing her over several years, sometimes with a cub or three.  She has had over 9 cubs in her lifetime but I don't think many have survived due to tourists claiming them to be a "nuisance" when they have gotten into fish coolers. Sadly the solution was to kill them because they had gotten used to feeding themselves this way and weren't able to fish for themselves.  Apparently the last couple of cubs did survive due to rangers efforts to minimize contact between bears and humans. Typically grizzly's live to be between 20-30 years old in the wild.  I hope she lives out the last few years in peace after losing so many of her babies. 

We hope you enjoy the show and let us know what you think!

-Chelsea and Mandrew

To check out the album in Flickr, click here.

Since it’s taken me such a long time to put together this post (I’ve been busy, get off my back!), I’ll skip the nitty gritty details and stick to some of the more memorable moments.  If you’re interested in the practical details on the trip, I stuck those at the end.  So, with no further doo-doo, I present to you "Stories from the River".  Enjoy!
~ Mandrew

Who needs bear spray when you’ve got Mandrew Musk™?
One morning before we’d all gotten up, Doug was lying awake in his tent when he heard something moving around beside him.  He peeked out and saw a black bear sniffing about.  Not wanting to alarm anyone (or the bear) he quietly watched as it made its way around our camp and over to our tent.  Just as it reached us I happened to rip out a nice loud fart, startling the bear and causing it to flee for its life.  Yup, I've got skills.

A Sow and Two Calves
On the third day of our trip we spotted some meese on the nearest riverbank.  We stayed quiet as we passed and were able to get a nice, close look as they munched on some fresh leafy greens.  An awesome encounter, especially for my dad’s very first moose sighting!

A Low-Speed Canoe Chase
As we made our way around one of the many islands along the river, I looked to the right and noticed a black bear near the shore.  Wanting to get a closer look, dad and I turned the canoe around and paddled against the current, slowly approaching the bear.  Once we got within about 15 feet, the bear made a short charge toward us, tripping over a root and cartwheeling into the river.  We quickly put on the brakes, whipped the canoe around and began to flee downstream.  After surfacing, the bear swam after us for over ten minutes, until finally it changed course and landed at the end of the island.  It proudly stood there watching us for another few minutes, as if telling us “… and don’t come back!!”

Don't just take our word for it, see how it happened in this short video:

Why did the bear cross the river?
After a delicious spaghetti dinner, Chelsea had gathered together the dishes and made her way over a small ridge toward the riverbank. Just as she crested the ridge, she looked out and spotted a big black bear in the middle of the river, swimming toward our camp. Chelsea shouted and the bear looked up in surprise, quickly turning around to make its way back to the other side.

Finding Fish at Selwyn Creek
Wanting to take advantage of the rare opportunity to fish in some clear, fresh water, we decided to stop and try our luck at Selwyn Creek, one of the few places we managed to catch something during last year’s trip.  After ten minutes without having any luck at the mouth of the creek, we braved the frigid, balls-deep wade upstream and discovered a couple slower-moving, deeper pools packed with grayling.  Yay for meat!! (I guess fish counts as meat...)

Two leaky weeks or Doug the Bushman
To Doug’s disappointment, about halfway through the first night he woke up on the hard ground and realized his air mattress had a slow leak. Fortunately, he’d brought along an extra air mattress, just in case. Unfortunately, halfway through the second night he again woke up on the hard ground – the extra mattress also had a leak.  I’ve never seen someone so happy to find fresh spruce boughs, his bed for the remainder of the trip.

ANOTHER Yahtzee?!?!
After consistently rolling three or more Yahtzees per game, Sarah has officially ruined the game for me forever.  Anyone want some dice?

The Italian Wonders
Fancy tents, neoprene pants, cameras coming out the wazoo, epic plans to canoe to Gnome, Alaska in under 14 days … but accidentally burning their sleeping bags over the fire while attempting to dry them off. They gave us some delicious stinky Italian cheese, though, which was nice – we gave them some canned salmon and a doobie as our Canadian thanks.  =)

Service With a Glare
After a rainy and miserable morning of paddling, our spirits were lifted when we saw an out of place sign nailed to a tree advertising a bakery a few kilometres ahead at Kirkman Creek.  We pulled up to what looked like a hoarder’s haven and were greeted by three friendly dogs.  After spending a couple minutes petting the dogs and wondering where this bakery was, a mean woman emerged from one of the shacks and tersely shouted, “DON’T PET THE DOGS!!”  Apparently she didn’t want to be responsible for someone being bitten (as if those dogs could scare a mouse away).  After enjoying some pie, coffee and a few brief and unpleasant exchanges with the grumpy woman, we hopped back into our canoes and agreed we were more worried about being bitten by the host than her poor dogs.

Goin' With the Flow
After paddling until our arms were numb for the first few days on the slower-moving Teslin River, we were content to take a bit of a break and let the current take over.  We even had the wind at our backs for a good part of a day on the Yukon River, something we took full advantage of.  =)

Doug the Pyro
Even on the wettest of days, within an hour of making camp Doug managed to get a fire going (whether we needed it or not  =P). 

Five Finger Rapids
We weren’t sure how big a deal the rapids would be, and were a bit nervous heading into them.  Luckily, they were just the right amount of big – in fact, if they were any bigger we might have tipped!  Doug & I went through first and hit the main wave train just left of centre.  At one point, a wave popped up from the side and nearly took us out.  Shawn & Sarah went through next and seemed to find the bumpiest possible route, completely soaking Sarah and leaving their canoe half-full of water.  Chels & Jim went last and, probably learning from their predecessors, avoided the worst of it.  Check out the video!

Visitors in the Night
Only revealed to us by the tracks all over our camp the next morning, one night we'd apparently been visited by a very curious moose.  Its tracks passed inches from Doug's tent and took it directly through our cooking area. It even knocked over our dishes which we'd left out to try, somehow cracking the best one (the one that was a frisbee).  Nothing a little duct tape can't fix!

Rapids – What Rapids?
After navigating the Five Finger Rapids, we rafted up our canoes and shared our survival stories while Shawn bailed out his boat.  As we casually floated down the river, we glanced downstream and noticed we were quickly being pulled toward an even bigger set of rapids.  Luckily, we noticed with enough time to power our way to the side and safely around them.  Apparently, our navigator for the day (who will remain nameless due to respect for Jim, er, him) was on the wrong page of the map! (but I thought there was another Carmacks?!)

To view photos in a new window click here.

• Starting at Johnson’s Crossing, we paddled & floated 368 km along the Teslin River to Hootalinqua, followed by another 416 km through Carmacks along the Yukon River to Dawson City.
  
• Starting on the Teslin River let us avoid the long paddle down Lake Laberge, also quickly gets you into some pretty pristine wilderness.
  
• We had hoped to see more wildlife (and fewer people) on the Teslin River, though our luck had us in the middle of a few other groups.
  
• Current on the Teslin was much slower than we were used to (especially in the beginning), meaning a couple really long & hard days to start us off. 
  
• Campsites along the Teslin are excellent & frequent.  Lots of bigger group sites with tables, firepits, etc.
  
• We used the Teslin River Guidebook by Len Webster, pretty easy to follow (once you figure out the wacky page numbering) & shows lots of options for camping.
  
• Yukon River Guidebook (by Mike Rourke) is great.  Simple, clear hand-drawn maps with plenty of easy to follow detail.  We would have bought Mike Rourke’s Teslin River Guide, too, if it hadn’t been sold out!  Both books available at Mac’s Fireweed Books and Kanoe People in Whitehorse

If you liked this story, be sure to check out:

One of the best things about this year has been having the flexibility to do the things that we want to do, whenever we want to do them.  Neither of us is ready to give that up just yet.  We've spent a lot of time re-evaluating what we want to do with the rest of our lives and considering what we want to accomplish (something I never really gave myself time to do before). We've come up with a few priorities, some are inspired by things we've learned this year, but I feel that this is probably going to be an ever-evolving list.  So for now, at least, happiness is the first priority (over money, as it used to be for me - we want to make money doing something that we enjoy and believe in), sustainability (we want to reduce the garbage and plastic waste that we create, live with only what we need, eat organic and possibly home-grown foods, conserve water, etc), nature (we want to have access to forests, rivers, lakes, mountains, and be around other people that appreciate it), community (want to be around people with similar values), and travel (we want to continue to learn about the world and all of its crazy surprises).  Yes, grandpa, we're becoming hippies (but don't worry, the good kind!).

We haven't done very much yet to realize these goals other than think and brainstorm a bunch.  When we got back to Whitehorse just over six weeks ago we spent the first four weeks with family and friends (including a 14-day canoe trip down the Teslin and Yukon Rivers with our dads, my brother and his friend, future blog post to come).  The last few weeks have been a bit more dedicated to planning and researching places to buy land, info on building a small home, laws and regulations regarding starting a business and other work opportunities that we might enjoy.  We are being very picky since we want to consider as many options as possible (we have at least 21098901293 ideas but don't know where to start) and have no real deadline yet.  We're taking everything one small step at a time so it won't be so overwhelming.

Right now we are looking for a car to buy.  We've been very picky with this as well, focusing on fuel economy, reliability and cost.  We were hoping to find something very fuel efficient (Volkswagen TDI perhaps), something with roof racks and interior space because we'll be living out of it for awhile. After many kijiji searches, emails and test drives, we have finally, I think, decided on one.  It's a 2010 Nissan Cube - manual transmission, almost on par with Honda Civic for fuel economy, comes with roof rack, trailer hitch and is coming from a family friend who maintains it very well!  We're getting a very good deal for it.  At first I hated the idea (since it's such an UGLY vehicle), but I've let the idea brew and am getting excited about it now.  We haven't seen it yet since it is currently in Edmonton (parents dropped their kid off at University) but will be in Whitehorse on Wednesday (and hopefully in our driveway!).  It is not a car I would have EVER thought I would drive, let alone own, but I think it's going to be pretty awesome.

This weekend we are going to run in the Klondike Road Relay, a 175km relay run (10 legs) from Skagway Alaska to Whitehorse.  So in our busy days (hehe) we are also working on training for the run.  I have leg 4 which will be 21km flattish and in the middle of the night (starting at 1 or 2:00am), and Andrew has the first leg starting at 7pm which will be 5km of flat running at sea level followed by 9km of straight uphill to an elevation of 450m.  We haven't had very long to train but are feeling optimistic.

The other thing that we've got going on is searching for land in the Yukon and B.C. and planning out how to afford it.  After the Klondike Road Relay we will be driving down to BC to continue our search, but not after spending 10 days with Andrew's sister Kim, her husband Nathan and our nephew Harrison!  We think they'll like our new Cube.  

We don't yet know what we will be doing for work or where we will end up. But we are going to try not to rush and see what opportunities are available before jumping into anything.  So far we've thought about things like starting a hostel or B&B, opening a restaurant or small bakery or food truck, doing engineering consulting work (probably small "green home" projects but open to anything), becoming involved in the tourism industry in Northern Canada, living in a co-operative community, etc.  But so far the only thing that we know for certain is that we both want to end up finding a way to live simply, mortgage free, and build a home and way of life that gives us everything we need and want including lots of free time, that might inspire others to do the same - this is how we see ourselves making a difference in the world. Andrew likes the idea (and I as well) of eventually using our property as a show case or training area for others to learn about lower impact living, how you can reuse materials for building, how growing your own food can be rewarding, how you can live without waste, etc.

It is certainly an adjustment.  Being back in Canada and facing the reality of not having enough money to travel forever or continue doing whatever we want, when we want, is daunting.  After seeing some of the things we've seen this year we both know that we don't want to go back to life the way it was before we left and we both want to do something that will improve the world somehow.  We have some options right now with the money we have left.  The fun part is deciding what to do with it   :)

Not having any plans for some people is very stressful, but for us, it's all about Bein' Chili.
-Chelsea

One of the first things that we noticed about Cartagena was its history: completely surrounded by walls, the old city's narrow streets and scattered plazas are packed with colonial buildings and statues.  Most of the attractions are within these walls, though some incredible views can be found if you're willing to brave the direct sunlight (and the hat vendors) and walk around atop the cannon-lined walls.  

Since it's so in-your-face, it's worth talking about some of Cartagena's history. Discovered by the Spanish in 1533, Cartagena quickly grew, in part due to the fact that gold could be found in many of the tombs once belonging to the indigenous groups who had inhabited the area as early as 4000 BC.  Even long after all the tombs were plundered, the city remained a target to pirates and Corsairs (basically English and French pirates who looted in the King's name) due to its golden fame.  In 1586 Sir Francis Drake arrived and easily took the city for England, later ransoming it back to its governor.  Spain took the lesson to heart and began to invest millions yearly in the city's protection - for the next two hundred years contruction continued on city walls and forts.  During this time the city was a major trading port, specializing in precious metals and slaves - a one stop shop for growing empires.  Cartagena declared independence from Spain in 1811, only to be re-taken by the Spanish in 1815 after a siege lasting five months (thanks to the new fortifications). Finally, Cartagena was freed of Spanish rule in 1821 when Spain surrendered to the troops led by Simón Bolívar.

The highlight of our visit for me was a tour of the largest of the city's forts, Castillo San Felipe de Barajas.  An easy walk from our hostel, the fort literally loomed over the city, with its batteries of cannons offering protection of the whole bay surrounding Cartagena (but none ever built facing the city just in case an enemy ever got control of the fort). Originally triangular in shape, the fort was expanded a couple different times and now includes a complex series of walls, bunkers and an underground maze of tunnels.  If it weren't for the guide showing us around, I could have easily found myself lost and wandering around for days (though this really doesn't mean much coming from me).

Another interesting site was the market area of Las Bovedas (the vaults), in which a series of colourful shops sell their wares from large vaults with heavy grate doors.  Originally designed to store munitions and provisions for the fortification of the city, the vaults were later used to house prisoners during civil wars in the 19th century. Quite an interesting back-story to shops that can boast such meaningful wares as this penis-shaped flute.

The Modern Art Gallery was also worth a visit, if only for the excuse to hide from the sun for an hour.  Just a couple bucks to enter, the best part was that we had the place completely to ourselves, letting us experience the art in our own, special way.  

Our final act before boarding our flight home was to catch a taxi over to the big, crazy market (Mercado Bazurto) to stock up on cacao beans for the trip home.  Pretty much the typical insane market, it was busy, stinky, and packed with potentially unsavoury characters.  Because the taxi driver advised us that the market was "peligrissimo" (very dangerous) we kept our heads down and stuck to business.  Although our search for cacao failed miserably (I guess it's not really grown near the coast) we did come back with some fresh, juicy pineapple which we quickly devoured.

It's hard to believe, but after eleven months of traveling our adventures in Central and South America are now at an end!  Sure, it'll be nice to get back to Canada, catch up with family and friends, overdose on Timmyho's extra-large double-doubles (or have they up-sized them again already?), and move on to the next stage of our adventurous lives, but I'm sure it won't be long before we're both searching for excuses (and money) to head back down.  Whitehorse here we come (via Panama, Los Angeles, and Vancouver...).  Catch you all on the flip-side!

~ Mandrew

Click here to open Cartagena photos in another window.

Minca is an up-and-coming eco-tourist destination, a great place to relax in the cooler mountain air while taking a break from the hours of hiking accessible from town.  A great place for bird-watching, taking a dip in the local swimming holes, touring the nearby coffee plantation, or just walking for hours on the tiny dirt road that leads further up into the mountains from Minca.  Minca's also a possible starting point for treks to the Lost City (La Ciudad Perdida) - I wish we'd known this before spending time in nasty Santa Marta (though we wouldn't have saved Charles, the dumpster kitten if we hadn't gone there). 

We decided to rest our heads at Casa Loma, a small hostel about a ten minute walk uphill from the church (the main landmark in Minca). Yeah, the last thing you'll want to do after hours of hiking is to make the uphill trek to your hostel, but trust me, the spectacular sunsets alone will make it worthwhile.  Casa Loma also offers awesome home-cooked vegetarian meals, daily yoga classes (Chelsea never missed any!), relaxing Reiki massages (all for a fee), and a good variety of sleeping options - we spent the first couple nights in an awesome private hut, then chose to pitch our tent and camp to save some money.  Although we'd originally planned on spending only a few days in Minca, we got stuck in Minca time and found ourselves hesitating to leave even after a week.

After a couple days of relaxing in hammocks and catching up on our reading (what a tough life we have...), we ambitiously decided to hike the complete loop up along the main mountain road, taking us up past a set of waterfalls, through a scenic lookout area called "Los Pinos" (the pines) and then back down past La Victoria Coffee Plantation and Pozo Azul.  After a few hours of walking uphill (at what should have been the half-way point of our six-hour journey), however, we realized we'd somehow missed a turn and had no idea how to get around and find our way back down.  After stopping a couple passing motos and getting some confusing and contradictory directions, we resigned to making our way back down the same way we'd come.  Although it's a cool place to hike, with the small dirt road winding its way through dense bamboo-filled jungle, by this point we were tired, sweaty, hungry, and frustrated at not being able to find our way (I guess I should be used to it by now, eh?).  Luckily, we managed to hitch a ride with a nice older gentleman on his monthly trip down from a tiny town way up near the top of Cerro Kennedy (the one and only time we broke Oma's "no hitchhiking" rule).  

Not wanting to spend money on any of the offered tour packages, we instead wandered around the little mountain road, finding our own way to secluded waterfalls, tiny homes surrounded by lush jungle, and breathtaking mountain scenery.  On one of the hotter days we hiked over to "Pozo Azul" (blue well) for a dip in the series of secluded swimming holes along a nearby stream.  Another afternoon we hiked up to La Victoria Coffee Plantation and paid the $4 for a tour and a fresh cup.  A neat little farm, it's been around since 1850 and is completely self-sufficient, making use of the surrounding mountain streams to transport the coffee as well as generate hydro-electricity to run their processing equipment.  Although the tour was offered in Spanish, the guide spoke clearly and was easy to understand, a completely opposite experience from fast-talking Chilean tour guide at the distillery in Pisco.

Although we would have happily spent more time in Minca (perhaps even volunteering at Casa Loma to save some money), we found ourselves running short on time - only four more days until our flight out of Cartagena. I can't believe the South America portion of our adventure is coming to an end so soon - we'll be sure to soak in as much sun as we can for the next few days while exploring Cartagena.

Thanks for taking the time to be chili with us!
~ Mandrew

To open photos from Minca in another window, click here.

Well, after our amazing and educational 5-day trek to La Ciudad Perdida (the Lost City), we decided it was time to do some intense relaxing.  We didn't know where we were going to go next, but a quick look at my notebook (where I keep all my notes about places to stay from other travelers we meet along the way) gave us some ideas. 

A friend named Shawn who we met in Ecuador in January had recommended a hostel called Rancho Relaxo, located just outside Tayrona National Park, an area that sounded amazing. We couldn't remember why he recommended it, but I had drawn two big stars beside the note so it must have been something good.

We sent an email seeing if they had room, packed our bags, and headed to a small street intersection in Santa Marta (right in the middle of an insanely busy outdoor market!) to catch a colectivo heading in the right direction.  When we arrived we immediately noticed a big Canadian flag at the entrance and we started to remember Shawn talking about some funny Canadian guys...  We walked in and toward what looked like a reception area, past a few people who were passed out in hammocks, and were greeted by a friendly, red-eyed happy-go-lucky Canadian guy who welcomed us with a hit from a gigantic bamboo bong before getting down to business. After chatting for a few minutes, we realized that the day before had been Canada Day, which explained all of the passed out people.  Of course the Canadian-owned hostel/retreat is known for its massive Canada Day bashes that attract people from all over, and we'd missed it all by only a day.  Oops!

We took a tour of the place and relaxed a bit before deciding which accommodation to take (private room, dorm, hammock, cabana or camp).  Only after walking around a bit did we notice that there were pot plants growing wild all over the place! Now we remembered, THIS is why we had the stars in the notebook!  

We decided to camp out in our tent on top of a lookout hill on the property.  It was an incredible view and nice breezy spot to keep us cool during the hot nights. We spent a few days at Rancho Relaxo, reading our books, hitting the bong (there was sooooo soooooo much weed) a couple of times and just basically being Canadians in Colombia, as you do.  The place had more to offer as well such as amazing fresh organic food (most of it grown on site), good people to chat with, closeness to some hiking, the beach and other fun activities.  But after a couple of days we started to feel a bit unproductive (a nasty side effect of such Canadian behaviour) and decided to move on to Costeño Beach Surf Camp and Eco Lodge, owned by the one of the same guys but located right on the beach!

After packing up our tent and gear we called a couple moto-taxi's (guys on dirt bikes that will take you anywhere for a couple dollars) for a long-ish and exciting ride to Costeño Beach. It was very very nice! There were many more people there, music playing all day long, a slack line(!!), awesome food, gorgeous sand and palm trees, daily volleyball matches (sometimes twice a day), etc.  However, the surfing wasn't great - the waves were VERY big and violent such that even swimming was kind of terrifying (there was a better surfing area a half-hour walk down the beach, though still not the greatest place to surf). 

On the day that we arrived, just after unpacking, we sat down to some fresh fruit smoothies when someone came up behind us and shouted "hey, its you!".  Our friend Stefan from the 5-day trek (La Ciudad Perdida) had just arrived as well!  It was funny meeting him there because just as we had parted after the trek I had written his email on my hand.  Without thinking about it, though, I'd taken a shower and washed the email address off!  I was really upset because we wanted to keep in touch, and when I emailed the trekking company they said that they didn't have his email address either.  It had seemed like we weren't going to find him, but then, voila!  There he was!  Awesome!

We had only planned to stay at Costeño Beach for a few days but ended up staying for almost a week (this seems to happen more and more often as our trip winds down).  We were just having such a great time hanging out with Stefan and a bunch of other awesome people, and I was getting the hang of the slack line.  We thought we might check out one other place in Colombia before our final stop, Cartagena, where we would fly out of to go back to Canada... booooo.  A lot of people were recommending that we spend some time in Minca, a nearby mountain village before we leave for Cartagena, so we allotted ourselves some good quality beach time, several days for Minca and just a few days for Cartagena  to finish up our South America travel year.

It was during our stay at Costeño Beach that the reality of our limited time left in Colombia began to set in.  It has been truly the most incredible year of our lives to the point that words don't come close to expressing.  While we were getting excited about seeing family and friends at home again, we couldn't help but start to feel a bit sad.  We've learned so much about different cultures, learned to speak Spanish!!, seen so much ridiculously breathtaking beauty, fallen in love with so many places, and really delved deep learning about ourselves.  What we've been through this year has really changed us forever.  It is scary to think about going back to life before the trip, we really can't go back to that now.  What lies ahead? We have no idea...  The beach was the perfect place to start this reflection but Minca would turn out to be a good, peaceful place to let it sink in.  

Chilly beans,
Chelsea

To open photos from Rancho Relaxo and Costeño Beach, Colombia in a new window, click here.