Coffee processing & NGOs

Got up, showered, did yoga, had breakfast then off to the local coffee cooperative.

The coffee is all locally grown and processed. The harvest starts around November and may go into January. The kids get their “summer” vacation from school during this time so that they can work in the fields.

We saw the processing room where the coffee is roasted, ground and bagged. First, Ricardo had to clean out the roaster. He said they do this every 2-3 batches because ‘basura’ collects and if they don’t clean it out, it can catch fire. It takes about 10 minutes to clean out the equipment and 40-45 minutes to roast and grind the coffee. They will roast and grind to customer specifications. He had Styrofoam coffee cups stacked around with samples of roasted beans so that customers can specify the darkness. He also had small jars of grind samples.

The raw beans are dumped into a hopper and then piped up to the top of the roaster by a flow of air. The roaster is gas powered and when it’s up to temperature, the beans (about 50 pounds) are dropped into the roaster where they are heated in the rotating drum. Ricardo uses a tester scoop thing to check the process. When the beans are the right color, they are dropped into the mesh-bottomed cooling vat where they are stirred by a rotating paddle. Air is drawn down over the beans and through the mesh to help the cooling process. When they are cool, they’re run through the grinder and bagged. They sell the coffee for $1.70/bag…either ground or beans.
Then we walked to the Cordeco office. The office is a sort of an umbrella organization of NGO organizations work through to provide human and social services for the people of the community. The organization started during the war when they had to work in secret. After the peace accords, they opened the office in Berlin. They have a board of 9 volunteers. Some of the groups they work with are:

Procomes – agriculture and community organization – They help people get loans to buy seed and fertilizer. Most of the people will plant crops on about 2 acres. The average family (that has land) will have 3-5 manzanas (about 6-10 acres), generally 1.5 or 2 of those manzanas will be farmable. They plant corn in May and harvest in November. They plant beans in mid-August and harvest in November. They have very little livestock. Almost no one has horses anymore…anthrax killed almost all of them in the past year.

Fundesa – focus on housing issues – help people with lining up the money and materials to build their houses.

The women’s paper coop is also there – they collect paper, plastic and aluminum for recycling. The focus of this group is on environmental issues but they also try to earn money through recycling the products. The paper they collect they make into piñatas (newspaper and some of the plastic) or reprocess into handmade papers that they use to make cards, boxes, bags, etc. They don’t make much money at this. Local people see it as “made from garbage” and don’t value it. They still do it because they believe it’s the environmentally responsible thing to do but the coop has dwindled to about 6 women because it just doesn’t make much money. They also do a lot of educational workshops in the schools about environmental issues.

We looked at their paper and products and thought some of the handmade papers that had leaves and flowers and the like in them were beautiful. We bought several sheets to sell at the Latino festival later this month. If we can demonstrate a market for it, they may actually have an appreciative outlet for their efforts, make more money and not spend the time making and decorating the cards if people just want the paper. We’ll see how it goes.

I bought a note pad and several bookmarks from them while we were there.

They took us on a tour of some of the Fundesa housing projects in the works in Berlin.
We walked back to Fundavita for lunch then went to San Francisco for the solar panel dedication.
They were very excited about the panel. We had a microphone and speakers for the celebration…not that they needed it, but they’d borrowed it from the mayor’s office, probably because they could. There was prayer, reading of the Word, sermon, singing, we sang and played our 2 songs, and had refreshments. Then most of the people left and we met with just the community council.

There are 82 families in the community and they would all like to have their own solar panels. They can’t have electricity run to the village because most of the people don’t own the land and all the projects require land ownership. They don’t have much money but are willing to provide all the labor they can. Bob is working with Miguel to get the project sponsored through our Session to the national level.

The advantages they see to the solar panel they have: they can have all-night vigils in the church, meetings after dark, the microphone/speakers (which they’d like to have of their own), and it allows students who have to work in the fields during the day to study somewhere after dark. Otherwise, they’d have to buy candles/oil or (more likely) not study at all. And there are no health issues with exposure to the lights as there can be with the soot/fumes from fuel oil, candles or fire as well as reducing the eyestrain. The panel project has served as an example for the people here and in other communities and has brought the community closer together in working on, learning about and sharing it. The panel is guarded every night by 2 people to make sure nothing happens to it.

Some general wants/needs/issues

• Water is still a critical issue here. The Swiss and El Salvador Red Cross is working on a project to get water collection barrels for each family. A communal water tank project is not possible because of the lack of land ownership (85% do not own their land). They would like a total of 35 barrels for the community…but at this point, they could get maybe 15. The negotiations right now are on how much money the community has to kick in.
• They are interested in solar ovens and dryers. They are interested in the health (not breathing cooking smoke) and cost (don’t have to buy or scavenge wood, doesn’t deplete the environment) benefits. Some have been made at Fundavita but they don’t have any yet. Need money for materials. The mayor of the municipality has said he would support 25% of the project (a solar oven for each family) if they can get the money for the rest of it.
• They need a latrine for the church…and others in the community. Currently most homes don’t have one. They are gathering info on who needs them, how many need to be build, etc and are working with organizations to get this done.
• They’d like to have land for a soccer field to be shared among the 4 casarios in the area as a way to help keep the youth from crime.
• They’d also like better musical instruments for their worship and celebrations. The guitars are very old and have been repaired by whatever materials they have on hand, the bass is strung with twine, the keys on some of the stringed instruments won’t stay etc.

Back at Fundavita we had supper then spent time with Bob talking about the day. I think we helped put into perspective some things that had been bothering him, gave him some ideas about how to maybe deal with future delegations, etc.

Went to bed at 8:30. It “feels” like rain and there is some thunder and lightning in the distance. The rainy season is overdue and the people are very concerned about whether they will get enough rain to support the crops. Right now there is no soil moisture so they can’t plant. It did rain a little after we went to bed but not much.

Pottery & Fundavita

I slept great until the roosters started crowing…2am. I put in earplugs and went back to sleep. Got up around 6, showered, yoga-ed and then went down for breakfast…huevos rancheros, pan, frijoles, platanos fritos, juego, café and té. Then we loaded up in Bob’s new pickup for the trip to Berlin.

One person could ride up front with Bob and the other 3 were in the back with the luggage. He had some plastic chairs we could sit in but we decided in fairly short order that it was better to sit on the bed directly where you were out of the wind. However, the main mode of transportation for Salvadorans is to stand shoulder-to-shoulder (and standing on the tailgate and/or sides) for however long it takes.

We stopped at Ilobosco (a ceramics artisan community) to shop a bit. I got a sun plate (~$4 I think), a round-bottomed, terra cotta vase with a ring to sit it on ($1.70), a Noah’s ark ($4), and a bead bracelet ($1.50).

After Ilobosco, I rode in the cab and Bob and I chatted about a lot of things related to Westminster’s work there, his work, the people and personalities, etc. I asked him about things we heard about the first time we were there and what the current status was…mainly if the geothermal plant had done what they talked about the last time (provide transportation for medical efforts to the remote villages), concerns about water quality and contamination, etc. He didn’t know anything about the geothermal thing and we talked a lot about the water issue. I told him about the water quality monitoring project I had done with the Sierra Club and that I’d check into the kits we used. There was a lot of interest in maybe getting some so that people could determine for themselves whether the water was good. They don’t trust the info they’re getting from either the geothermal plant or the government.

Arrived at Fundavita in time for lunch then relaxed in the backyard hammocks for a while. We practiced our songs for the San Francisco dedication. I did some yoga on the patio. Then we walked to mass at the local church.

I didn’t understand a word of it. Last time (when I hadn’t been studying Spanish for 6 months…) I at least got the gist of what the sermon was about. With this guy, I wasn’t getting anything. I was sitting next to Bob and asked him if the priest was talking “at” the parishioners or if he was actually trying to connect and be understood. Bob said it was a very academic presentation and that it was most likely way over the heads of most of the people there. He wasn’t getting a lot of it and, in fact, fell asleep for a while. This is the priest who despises poor people and has made it very difficult for the parish team to work in this municipality. They pretty much have to do their work in spite of him when he’s supposed to be their guide.

We headed back to Fundavita for supper and an early bedtime. I sent an email to Del & Robyn to ask them to let me know how mom’s surgery went (tomorrow) and that they could send the info to Bob’s address.

Arrival in El Salvador

It was raining fairly heavily as I arrived at the airport. The unstable weather made for an extremely rough flight to St Louis…pretty close to the roughest I’ve ever been on. St Louis to Miami was much better and Miami to San Sal was perfectly smooth.

Arrival at San Sal was pretty uneventful. There was a slight altercation with immigration. Lynn and Jane were charged $10 for the tourist card and Julie and I weren’t. Lynn was questioning why they had to pay and we didn’t. But none of the officials there spoke English and my Spanish wasn’t up to dealing with it. Eventually they had about 5 immigration officers there, all of them speaking Spanish and us not. Eventually we gave up and just wrote off her $10.

Met Bob and Giovani outside the airport. We drove to the International Hotel and checked in. We settled in for a bit then walked to La Ventana for supper…a place Bob described as a “yuppie place” but it fit the bill as it had a variety of food options and wasn’t expensive.

The music was too loud (typical of the culture) and the place had a LOT of art work on the wall. Most of the ones in the room where we were eating were huge paintings by the same person who did the ones we saw at the Jesuit college chapel the last time we were here. I thought they were an odd choice for both locations. They were mostly stark, sketched images of nude, dead bodies riddled with bullet holes…men and women piled haphazardly, sometimes bound hand and foot with barbed wire. Images to dine and pray by… But I guess it shows how deeply the war colors their world still.

We walked back to the hotel and called it a night.

Trip home

I'm up and out. Basically an uneventful trip home. Well, except for one thing...

I got a tad confused in the Toronto airport. I needed to retrieve my luggage for going through customs (same as in Montreal) but it wasn't at all clear where/how I was supposed to manage that. I ended up in the main baggage claim area with no return access to the airport proper. I tried. A guard stopped me. However, he did get me pointed to another (cleverly concealed behind an unmarked, opaque door) way to where I needed to be.

This whole luggage/customs thing is a royal pain... I don't know why we have to claim and recheck luggage when they don't even look at it. Besides, if it was ok when we checked it and no one but the airline has handled it, why go through all this rigmarole?? Hmph! Tirade mode off...

Peggy's Cove - Citadel - Knitting

I got up and got K to the airport around 7. Then I came back to the hotel to shower and organize my day. I ate the last butter tart and a banana. (I've been sampling butter tarts all across Nova Scotia and haven't found one better than the ones Jean served us.)

I decided to head to Peggy's Cove. It was still early but I figured that by the time I got there, things would start to be open.

I had no trouble getting there. After I got on 333, the road became narrow and windy. It was slow going but a pleasant drive. I was sort of puzzled by signs I kept seeing though..."Caution: Sanding only next __ kilometers" The only thing I could figure out was that it meant the shoulder wasn't paved for a bit. However the spots were all nice granite gravel rock rather than sand so it must just be an expression.

At Peggy's Cove I had breakfast at the Sou'wester by the lighthouse. Only a couple tables were occupied and I had a seat by one of the big picture windows looking out over the rocky point, lighthouse and cove. By the time I finished and perused the items in the gift shop, the drippy mist that I drove to Peggy's Cove in had given way to full-fledged fog. I wandered out to the lighthouse (now a post office...the only PO in a lighthouse in Canada). I saw a mink scooting around in the seaweed and surf down below where I'd parked myself to watch the wave crash through the fog. I also saw a fissure in the rock that had lots of dew-jeweled spider webs sparkling in the morning light.

I walked up the road to the other end of PC, checking out the shops and studios along the way. There weren't a lot of them. The whole town has, according to the sign at the entrance, a population of 60.

At the far end (near the entrance to the town...I drove through the whole town to the Sou'wester where I started) is the Fisherman's Memorial. There was an artist (painter, photographer, sculptor) who lived in PC and started this memorial sculpture in the granite face near his house. The project was expected to take 10 years to complete but he died after 6. His ashes are interred in the sculpture itself, behind a small plaque. There is one character in the memorial that is the Peggy the place is named after. The rest are supposedly other members of the community.

The story goes that Peggy was rescued from a shipwreck in the bay. She fell in love with a resident and stayed. I'm not sure how the place ended up being named after her...

By 10:30, the place was crawling with tourists...tour buses loaded with loud-talking old people in Bermuda shorts and southern accents. Bleah... I headed back.

I noticed another puzzling sign on the way back. A number of places (usually little restaurants or bars) advertised "donairs". I have no idea what a donair is but they're 3 for $6 in town.
I stopped at a gas station and got $5 gas, a bottle of pop and my bumper fixed. Last night when K and I pulled out of the parking spot I heard a nasty noise. We got out to check and discovered that when I backed into the spot, I backed over a short piece of PVC pipe sticking up out of the ground. It was just tall enough so that it didn't catch on the car when I was backing it (K wasn't in the car at the time) but when we both got in the car to pull out, the extra weight dropped the edge of the bumper below the top of the pipe. It was one of those plastic bumpers so it just pulled the little pins out that hold it in place. I tried to pop the pins back in while the car was being gassed up but wasn't strong enough. The gas station attendant (full service stations still exist here!) did it for me. Yay!!!

Back in Halifax, I pulled into a shopping center 'cause I saw a Wal-Mart sign and I needed some packing tape to finish taping up my package to ship home. I also seem to have lost my little suitcase locks somewhere along the way so I picked up another one of those.

'course, while I was there, I had to wander through the yarn section... and Lo! they had the same yarn I didn't get quite enough of when I was in York, NE last month. I picked up another blue ball and an olive while I was at it.

At the front door, I asked someone about a PO so I could mail off my packages and she directed me to a Mailboxes Etc. I got everything shipped of for $38 CA and discovered that I probably wouldn't have been charged duty on the stuff the 1st time if I'd filled out the customs form a little differently. Live and learn...

I continued on to the Citadel -- only taking about 6-7 wrong turns. Navigating and driving at the same time doesn't always work so well... Between the rotaries and angled and/or one-way streets, nothing went where I expected it to.

I finally got to the Citadel and spent a couple hours walking around. It's extremely well done. There are lots of people "in character" to answer your questions and provide a backdrop to the whole experience.

I left the Citadel and decided to head to Dartmouth to see if I could find the knitting place. Couldn't. I tried to call from a Starbucks/bookshop and left a message. I got some completely unintelligible directions from one of the Starbucks employees who had more facial piercings than I've seen on about any one person before. (I tried not to get distracted by the way the stud in her tongue clicked against her teeth when she talked...) I tried to follow her directions and somehow ended up on the freeway. I decided "Phooey!" and went back to the hotel. I emptied out the car and repacked all my stuff for the trip home.

I called Lucy (the knit contact) and got the details (including hopefully better directions...) to the knit gathering scheduled for 7:00. I had a little time to kill so I decided to head out that way and stop for supper and gas somewhere along the way.

I left a little before 6. The directions were good, I'm sure, but the problem I've had all along in Halifax is that the main roads aren't marked. All the little cross streets will have street signs but the main roads rarely do so I can never figure out whether or not I'm on the road I think (or hope!) I am. I mentioned it to Lucy when I got there and she admitted that it is a real problem and it's not just me...

In my blunderings around, I stopped and got $5 in gas and there was a little shipping mall with a Subway. I figured that would do for supper. Right next to the Subway, however was a pizza place that had donairs so I decided to see what those were .

I went in to ask and the guy said, "You've never had one?!?" As if I'd said I've never had air before. He started to describe one and said, "You want to try a small one?" I said sure. He asked if I like onion and tomato (sounds ok so far!). I got a can of soda out of the cooler and sat down to wait for it.

Lucky thing I got a "small"... It was huge! A whole plateful. It was kind of like a gyros except the seasoning in the sauce was different. The bread-y stuff underneath was thinner than a pita and pretty oily. I ate the top...meat, onion, tomato and sauce but passed on the bread part. It was ok. Not something I'd order a lot but at least now I know what they are. Donairs, butter tarts and poutine...my new food experiences for this trip.

I found the Neatby household and met the family. Husband John (a tugboat ... captain? I'm a little unclear about exactly what he does but he occasionally gets calls in the wee hours to pull some ship that was silly enough to ground itself free) and their 3 kids (2 girls and a boy). They're originally from England...moved here about 8 years ago.

The rest of the knitters (4) arrived later. Until then I looked through all the wonderful knit stuff Lucy had designed and was completely wowed. She showed me her studio and we talked about where the designs came from and how she goes about getting them from her head/needles into a computer program that can print out the patterns that other people can follow. It's an amazing process.

We all knit and chatted and sipped tea and nibbled white chocolate sheep until almost 10 when I just had to leave. I got a picture of the gang modeling Lucy's creations. I left a quote book for Lucy and signed her guest book (she collects knitters from around the world practically...) then toddled on.

I dropped the car at the airport and shuttled back to the hotel. It's 11:30 now and I gotta go to bed...

Heading to Halifax

I got up before 6 (had to pee really bad...) and started our last morning in the woods.

I made my whole wheat pancakes for breakfast and chopped up some bing cherries I'd dehydrated to mix in the batter. Very tasty! We also ate the last of the plums and had tea/coffee.

We started breaking camp and I tried to give the rest of our camp fuel (more than 3/4 of a gallon, I expect) to the people next to us (opposite side from the radio jerks) but they use propane.

I poured all the fuel out of the stove and back into the can then lit the stove to burn it dry (that sucker burned for a good 20 minutes after that..) while we finished breaking camp.

I went to the washroom before hitting the road and ran into Cathy and Mary also on their way. I asked them if they wanted the fuel but they didn't want to take on any more "stuff"...I can relate. The were still planning to meet us at SoHo though. That should be fun!

For some reason, from the very first meeting, they (especially Cathy) remind me of someone I know...I can't think who but there's a sort of comfort and sense of familiarity with them, even though we hardly know them.

We finished breaking camp and hit the road just before 9. Later than we intended but we keep having conversations with fellow travelers about travels and homes.

Somewhere on highway 105, we passed this absolutely incredible rock face reflected in a small pool. The water was an almost perfect mirror and the sunlight, green and water made such a magical combo that I stopped, pulled a u-ey and went back.

We snapped some pictures and were headed back to the car when Keenan called me over to where he was standing. The side of the road dropped away to a steep ditch that had small scrubby trees growing in it. The tops of the trees didn't come much above the roadbed. In any case, draped over one of the branches of one of the trees in a small patch of sun was a small brown snake. Dunno what kind it was...it was brown of various shades with a lengthwise striping pattern. We didn't bother it and it didn't bother us. If it weren't for Keenan's eagle-eyes, though, I'd have never seen it.

We got back in the car and continued toward Halifax with no further adventures.

We stopped for lunch at Mother Webb's somewhere along the way and I can't say I'd ever go back. The AC was going full blast which was both noisy and freezing. I had to go back out to the car to get a jacket. And the music playing reminded me (rather painfully) of the radio jerks.

I had a burger (ok, but nothing to rave about). K had a hot chicken sandwich without the gravy and was really not happy with the whole experience. The waitress (a middle-aged woman who has probably been waitressing her whole life) seemed completely confused by his order and the concept of making changes/substitutions to what was on the menu. Luckily, it will be easy to never go back...

We arrived at the hotel in Halifax mid-afternoonish, checked in and showered. I called David at work while K had a beer at the bar in the hotel. Then we headed into Halifax proper to do some sightseeing.

We found the Fairview Cemetery and the Titanic gravesite. It wasn't at all what I expected. The stones all looked brand new, shiny surfaced with bright white paint in the incised letters. (I think they've been touched up since the movie came out...)

There are 4 arced rows of stones. The placard displayed there said that someone was hired to design the whole thing to fit into that particular spot of the cemetery. Most of the stones are all identical in size and shape...maybe knee-high, black granite rectangles polished smooth. The top of the rectangle is angled down and that's where all the writing is. Many don't have names, just "Died April 15, 1912" and a number...the number assigned to the body as it was found. A few places had larger, more elaborate stones. The shipping line bought the generic stones and any family/survivors that wanted something more paid for it themselves.

There was one obelisk-shaped stone that was dedicated to the memory of the "unknown child". According to the placard, the body of a 2-year old child was among the first found. The rescue crew was so touched by this small body that they arranged for the stone and held a memorial service. About 2 years ago, the body was identified as being the youngest of the Paulsen children. There is a family stone for the Paulsens...mother and 4 children...directly behind the Unknown Child stone. The Paulsen stone is much like the generic stones except that it says "Paulsen" on the diagonal face and the mother's name and children's names/ages are written on the front face.

There was also a J Dawson stone that wouldn't have meant anything to me except I'd read somewhere that the Leonardo DiCaprio role in the movie Titanic was a character named Jack Dawson. Supposedly, there is almost always at least one bunch of flowers in front of this stone, left by some teenage girl. Today, there were glads. Some of the other stones had flowers too, including the Unknown Child stone.

On the way back to the car, we wandered among the other stones and wondered at the stories they told. There were a number of stones originating from the 1917 explosion that destroyed a big chunk of Halifax. A munitions ship was in the harbor and for some reason blew up.

I saw one family stone that had a father and mother and 2 children. I was intrigued because "Nell" was listed as having been born in 1976 and there was no death date. If she still is actually alive, she'd be 124.
Another stone listed a father, mother and their 2 sons. The father and sons all died at sea in separate instances within 3 years. The loss that woman endured in such a short time...

We got back in the car and started heading more or less in the direction of the SoHo Kitchen. On the way, we found The Citadel and drove around it. It costs $6 to get it and was about to close in 45 minutes or so, so we passed. But I think I may have to check it out tomorrow.

With K to navigate and read the map (I don't think I could have done it without him...), we managed to find our way to downtown Halifax. The hills and houses reminded me of a cross between San Francisco and Seattle. It was actually kind of pretty until we got closer to downtown. As we were rolling into the downtown area, I was looking at all the people, traffic, bars, lights, etc and thinking, "This is horrible! I want to be back on the island, paddling in the bay, walking through trees and dunes with not another soul in sight. Bleah!!!"

Just as I was thinking all this, Keenan said, "Wow! Look at all the people and bars and life! What a great little downtown area. Isn't this fun?!?" with more animation and excitement than I'd seen all week.

Hmmmm....

We found SoHo and a great parking spot right across the street. We popped into the restaurant to say "Hi!" to Chalmers and meet the other people in his group. We reserved a table for 4 and then walked to the waterfront area to check out the buskers festival that was going on. The whole boardwalk area was covered with buskers hawking their wares, whether they were music, sword swallowing or trinkets of various sorts.

There was a big sailing ship moored along the dock called the Blue Nose. Apparently, it's available for 2-hour cruises that sounded really cool but we didn't have time right then and I doubt I'll have time tomorrow. We boarded it and wandered through, though.

We didn't have time to check out much of it but I did hear an Ecuadorian group playing their native music and liked it so much that I bought one of their CDs. I seem to be collecting music this trip...

On the way back to SoHo, we ran into Cathy and Mary and walked the rest of the way to the restaurant together.

SoHo Kitchen is a kitschy-cool place. Gregor told us it was fast becoming "the" cool (fashionable and trendy) place to be. I normally hate "trendy" but I loved the atmosphere at SoHo. And the food was to die for!

The Chalmers Doane Trio is (and I gather always has been) 4 people: Chalmers (on uke, clarinet, trombone, xylophone and whatever else needs to be played), Sue (bass cello), Steve (guitar and banjo) and another guy we didn't meet who played drums.

It was great music and the food was extremely good (have I mentioned that??). K and Cathy had the salmon special. I tasted it and we all agreed that it was far and away the best salmon we'd ever tasted. I had the Greek Shrimp that was also wonderful. Mary had the lamb chop special and said it was very good too.

It was a lovely, wonderful evening. The perfect cap to our trip. We said goodbye to Chalmers and "the girls" as Keenan kept calling them, then we headed for our hotel.

K heads out early tomorrow and I will play the day by feel. Cathy and Mary mentioned going to Peggy's Cove. A co-worker of mine recommended going there, but I thought it was too far away. Cathy said it's only about 1/2 an hour or so. I'd like to do the Citadel. I definitely want to do the knitterly gathering in the evening. I also need to mail my packages home and at the tail end of the day, return the rental car and make sure I'm all ready to fly home the next day. It'll be a full day!

Paddling on Queen Ann's Bay

Up at 7. I made that orange/cranberry/bulgar stuff for breakfast. We had to take a ferry (75 cents) to get to the other side of the bay. I'm not sure what the story is with this ferry... they built a causeway for the road most of the way across the bay but the last 3 car lengths or so is a cable ferry. Maybe it's for boat access to the bay??

We found the kayak place, North River Kayaking and met Gregor (our guide) and the Gillims. We're dropping the Gillims at our lunch stop (where they will camp for the night). The rest of the day will be just Gregor and K and me.

Just after putting boat to water, I saw an eel in the shallows around the dock. There were lots of jellies. Gregor says the purple ones are Lion's Mane and the clear ones are Moon Jellies.

We paddled down the North River to the ruins of an abandoned lumber mill at the mouth. Just out from the ruins were old dock pilings with a cormorant perched on the top of each one.

We paddled past several-hundred-foot cliffs until we came to rocky, narrow beach where we stopped for lunch. There's a fresh stream waterfall running down the rock back and into the salt bay.

We had lunch then left the Gillims to paddle back the way we came.

Since we were ahead of schedule and making good time, Gregor took us over to a lighthouse on the other side of the river. It's not functioning...now people stay there on a sort of B & B arrangement. Gregor said that the woman currently staying there, paddled with him yesterday. We waved and exchanged shouted greetings.

On the way back to the dock, we met Angelo and some other kayakers. We also discovered that Gregor knows the Doanes. Chalmers taught his mother Jeannie to play uke and she's been teaching others. He grew up in Truro and knew the Doane kids...Melanie anyway. Small world! [ ps ... Later, when I told Jean about this, she said that Gregor's last name is Wilson and Jeannie was Chalmers first girlfriend (which she suspects Gregor never knew).]

When we got back, we chatted with Gregor a bit and talked barter. K and I wanted NRK caps and were wanting to trade one of my quote books and an Arizona t-shirt for them. We had to wait for Angelo to get back and say yea or nay. He was enthusiastic. I also bought one of his CDs ($15) too.

We listened to the CD on the way back to Englishtown. I like it but wouldn't listen to it all the time. We had to wait for the second ferry. The ferry holds 12 cars...we were the 11th car on the second ferry.

When we got back to camp, the radio-jerks next door were still there...dammit.

We took showers and did a load of laundry. I had a nasty headache (dehydration, I expect) so I took some ibuprofen and lots of water.
We were going to go to Baddeck for a lobster supper but when we called, found that they would have closed by the time we got there and the suppers were more than we really wanted to pay anyway so I made tortellini instead.
The radio-jerks left (briefly) then came back and loaded even more obnoxious music than they had been playing. At least my headache has dimmed or I'd be really grumpy.

After supper, we decided to take a walk and see if the radio jerks were as loud as we think or if it's just because we're right next to them. We walked all the way past the back of the campground and you could still hear it plainly. We'd decided to go speak to the manager about it and were discussing it when we passed another campsite with 2 women headed toward the road we were on. One apparently heard our discussion and made a comment about the music so we stopped to chat.

We really hit it off and, while chatting, the music stopped and stayed off!!! Hallelujah! But we stayed chatting with Cathy and Mary until full dark. We invited them to the SoHo Kitchen to hear Chalmers tomorrow night...sounds like they may make it.

We headed back to our (blissfully!) quiet campsite and slept soundly all night.