On Friday, Alyssa and I wandered around Gastown, a more historic part of Vancouver with lots of cute little shops and plenty of restaurants; there’s also a famous steam clock tower that sounds every 15 minutes or so. After perusing the various offerings in Gastown we grabbed an interesting supper at a Jamaican restaurant called Calavash. Since spicy food isn’t really my thing, I ordered the blandest thing I could find: a tasty stew chock-full of potatoes, leeks and carrots mixed with rice and coconut biscuits. It was actually really delicious! After our feast, we went over to Chinatown for the weekend night market. It was a lot smaller than I was expecting, and there weren’t too many exciting booths like I was hoping for. However, I did try my first bubble tea, and it was quite an experience! Bubble tea is simply tea (either a creamy tea, or regular tea – I had a peach black tea) with little balls of flavored jelly at the bottom of the cup. You get a large straw and eat the jelly bubbles while sipping your tea – very extraordinary! Since the evening was still young and Alyssa and I were still full of energy, we wandered over to our favorite meet-new-people-place: the Cambie Gastown bar. It was here that we met Simon and K (short for Khalid), both of whom were studying in Vancouver. Simon was from Taiwan and K was from Dubai. They introduced us to a bunch of their other friends from school (two girls from Germany and three boys from Brazil). Since the bar was closing up for the night, we all decided to walk to Eagle Cove beach. It was a fun walk down Granville Street and hanging out on the beach at night was also lots of fun. I have to admit though, being in the sand wearing normal clothes without a beach towel is not as great as it sounds…I ended up with sand everywhere!! After staying to watch the sun rise over the mountain range and over the ocean skyline, Alyssa and I took a cab back to our hostel and decided that since we had stayed out so late, we would treat ourselves a nice morning of sleeping in!
Once we were caffeinated and somewhat awake again, we took the bus over to Granville Island. Granville Island is a quaint, eclectic little island sandwiched between the heart of Downtown Vancouver and the outer suburban skirts of the city. We watched an eccentric street performer juggle and put his balance to the test while hobbling around on a ladder, browsed through an incredible fresh, colorful and busy farmer’s market, and poked out heads into various local shops. Granville Island was simply buzzing with locals and tourists, all coming to explore this mecca of everything local, sustainable, and just plain fun! By the time Alyssa and I caught our bus back to the hostel, we needed a moment to rest from all of the day’s excitement. Soon, however, we were back on our feet readying ourselves for our last night in Vancouver! After much primping and priming, we cruised over to our much-beloved haunt, Doolin’s Pub on Granville Street. Despite it being a Saturday night, not much was going on at the pub, so we ambled farther down Granville Street to a nice sports bar where we talked FIFA World Cup with the bartender and took advantage of the nice beer special. Once we had all the details about what time the final match started on Sunday morning, we worked our way over to The Cambie Gastown Bar and met up with Simon and K from the previous evening. We continued to meet several new, interesting people at the bar, and soon we were getting to know a really friendly group of Irishmen who served in the Irish Army, but had taken the year off to travel and work in the U.S. Alyssa and I had such a great night talking to our new friends (another Simon, Dylan and Kevin), and we couldn’t think of a better way to end our last night in the amazing city of Vancouver, British Columbia!
Sunday morning was a blur of packing, checking out of the hostel and getting all of our luggage in the truck. We crossed the street to Granville one last time to join the throng of mega-fans watch the final game of the FIFA World Cup on the jumbo screen situated in the middle of the road. Everyone was dressed up to support their team, people were yelling and chanting, and the roar of approval or disapproval when the ball got near either Spain or the Netherland’s net was overwhelming. It was truly a one-of-a-kind experience!!!
Sadly, I began to feel quite ill during the last bit of the game, and excused myself to go sleep in the parked truck. When Alyssa returned from the game (Spain victorious over the Netherlands!), I was feeling like death and was exceedingly loopy. Needless to say, Alyssa did the 236 mile drive from Vancouver, B.C. to our next residency in Vernon, B.C. Our week in Vernon was not a terribly enjoyable one for me, only because I spent the majority of it trying to bring down a 103 degree fever that simply would not break. My throat was raw, invaded by puss, and despite wanting very badly to lock myself in my Best Western hotel suite and sleep the week away, I still went in and taught my sessions with the kids. I now have a whole new appreciation for the term “The Show Must Go On!” Luckily, by the very end of the week I was in better spirits and better health due to some miracle antibiotics sent from home (Mom and Dad are LIFESAVERS!) By the way, I highly don’t recommend getting sick and going to the hospital in Canada…it is simply no fun at all! However, Alyssa and I were happy to be able to get through our two shows successfully, spend a night out on the town Saturday after our shows, and even check out Planet Bee, a local bee-keeping farm. Vernon is apparently famous for their tasty honey selection!
Once we had amused ourselves with all of the bee products and information, we jumped in our truck and made our way back to the United States and over to Des Moines, W.A. Des Moines was a fun week because it afforded us several opportunities to check out Seattle and see some urban civilization since leaving Vancouver. And don’t worry folks – more on Des Moines, WA and the rest of my travels to come soon!
