Cathedral Lakes Lodge cont.

My stay at Cathedral Lakes Lodge is coming to a close. I've been here for almost three weeks now making beds, stripping beds, cleaning surfaces, cleaning toilets, cleaning sinks, sweeping floors, mopping floors, hoovering floors, sorting washing, washing dishes and baking a few muffins, along with various other volunteers from France, Canada, Argentina, Holland and England. We're meant to work five hours a day with a day off every twenty hours. That for most of us has however has not really been the reality. Lucille and Florian from France have been acting as bakers in the kitchen and working up to thirteen hours a day.

Most days I try to go on a hike around the area although I often have to fight off the tiredness. Alternatively I go and pika watch or just up from our cabin is where they dump the food waste on the ground and the marmots, chipmunks, ground squirrels, ravens and other beasts gather.

I've been hiking on most of the trails, apart from up to Lakeview Mountain where you can view all of the lakes of the park. I've hiked up to the rim a few times where you can see for hundreds of miles and all the way to Mount Baker in the States (you can see it from Grouse Mountain too). And now I've been to all the lakes- Goat Lake, Glacier Lake, Lake of the Woods, Pyramid Lake and Quiniscoe Lake (that's right outside the lodge!).

Along with the other volunteers I've been having campfires, playing pictionary (when we didn't get told off by the lodge's owner for making too much noise...), reading the national geographic, gazing for shooting stars, canoeing, full moon canoeing and playing the piano. There are many canoes outside the lodge and we can just go paddling when we feel like it.

Deja vu

Throughout my travels places remind me of places I've been before. Although there are of course places that are nothing like anywhere I've been before (most of those in Asia, but there is more often than not something that seems familiar.

The tundra was quite unique, although I did think parts of it looked like the savannah (not that I've ever been there) and I could just imagine a giraffe walking in the vast plain on the ride into town. The rocks also reminded me of my visit to Tadoussac, Quebec, because that's where I first saw the trees and rocks of the Canadian shield. California reminded me of Mongolia, similar looking rocks. The highrises of Vancouver remind me of China and Korea, just like the highrises of Seoul reminded me of Vancouver...

White Spruce Farm reminded me of a lot of places. Living in the A-frame with a wood fire and candles burning while surrounded by gardens that were and buildings that have seen better days was very similar to where we spent our childhood Easter holidays. The garden of Carabas in Rockanje, Holland was one of the first stops on the journey to Canada.

Little things in Fernie reminded me of Churchill. The cafe in town where Kylie likes to buy a green soup like drink was called Mugshots bistro, her email address relates to wombles and she and Wacaiwa dance around the kitchen to Raffi tracks (he also sings Baby beluga, a Churchill favourite).

The scenes I saw out the window of the greyhound on my way to Osoyoos reminded me of both California (which therefore also reminded me of Mongolia) and the hills of Appenzellerland.

Cathedral Provincial Park reminds me in some areas of the lake district, but up on the rim is an area called Stone City I might be inclined to think I was back in Terelij, the national park we visited in Mongolia. And the work here, the certain element of disorganisation, and the bad treatment of the staff and volunteers well that reminds me of River Cottage.