But it started so well...

My day started so well...

I was invited to go camping in some little aboriginal village this weekend and there was some special ceremony going on. Well, that sounds nice, but I'm not making any plans for anything. I borrowed Paul's tent just in case. Jam wanted to come also. So, Friday night, I called my friend who invited me and he said it didn't start till 6pm, so, I could leave catching (my home) at 5pm Saturday. Sounds great, we'd even go have a BBQ at a waterfall on the way to this village.

I woke up late, so good... 12:00, I decided to go pick up my busted computer, the screen hinge broke and they fixed it for free. Well, at 1:15 my friend calls me and says it starts at 3:00, uh-oh. I book it to the computer place, pick up my computer, phone in an order at Smokey Joe's for two BBQ Pork buns and go to Smokey Joe's for pre ordered dine in... what a scam! Well, my scooter starts acting up as we get close, it's hesitating and it's pissing me off. It's running really choppy... oh, the needles on E. The cute foreign girl behind me had turned off a block before and so I guess I'm out of luck getting someone to push me to the next station. I push it to a mechanic who gives me 75cents of gas for $2 but whatever, I don't have to push. We go to Smokey Joe's and it was nice, sit down and the food comes right away, sweet! We ran home and picked up some stuff, I grabbed some shorts and my camera equipment and dropped off my computer. Oh... I also grabbed my map. I had no idea where I was going, so I asked my security guard to show me on the map, he couldn't find it but I knew the train went there, so I pointed to each station till he found the town. We made good time and met up with my friend.

We arrived as everything was starting, it was like a Cree circle dance. People were wearing feathers in their headresses and wearing traditional clothing that jingled. Actually, if there was a hoop dancer and a tipee, it wouldn't have been much different. Anyways, my friend (Joe) and I got dragged into this dance, it was kind of relaxing, everyone stepped, kind of like a box-step, but the circle rotated, everyone was kind of swaying. They came and offered us some sort of drink, it was served in a tree trunk thingy? It was carved and painted absolutely beautifully and it had two cups carved into it. There was a catch to this offering. Someone had to drink from the second cup... our nice hostess? No. Someone young and beautiful. Joe was offered first, but our host wouldn't share it, she dragged a very beautiful young (20?) girl up to drink with him. He was a little embarrassed and was unsure of this greenish liquid. To be polite, he decided that he would just drink it down and smile for everyone, if he drank it fast enough and it wasn't that good, then he would not taste it much. Unfortunately, my friend Joe overlooked one thing. The beautiful damsel was drinking 14" to his left from the same carving, as he tipped his cup to gulp it all down in one shot, she was wearing her half. Oops! He smiled after he finished, only to become engulfed in fire shooting from her eyes, he said sorry and felt bad. She was a little annoyed. I was the next chosen one... they just don't learn do they. I thought the first girl was pretty, the girl chosen to drink with me was even better (I love mountain women). I did it nice and slowly and then we danced some more. It was some kind of home made green screech, but it was pretty good. Probably the smoothest eight thousand proof I have ever had. I saw the girl that Joe dumped the juice on and told her that he didn't know and that he was sorry, she smiled and said it was ok, I think she realized that his intentions were noble and that he was a little new to this. Pretty cool, but it was bloody hot and was being held under a tin roof and the breeze was a little choked so we left for the waterfall.

Just a short 5 minute drive away was a beautiful waterfall. Can't really describe it except that it looked like a set form waterworld. There were steel and bamboo ladders HANGING from the rocks going up the waterfall. There was a post and a makeshift platform to sit on and enjoy the falls. The chairs had one leg on the support and some chains on the backs to a pole so they didn't fall. I like to try new things, but not this. Joe's girlfriend (Taiwanese) didn't want him to swim in his undies as he forgot a suit so Joe told her that I had forgotten mine and was going to swim in my undies. So, my underwear is wet and my swimsuit is still dry but Joe got to swim.

We finished up and Jam was having a headache. We went to Joe's students "restaurant"(shack in the mountains) and ate some moon cakes.

One the way home, Jam got sick and I had to pull over. As soon as I stopped, she whipped off her helmet and as it got to her nose this torrent came from her mouth. Then again, and again. Anyways, as she was finishing up, she bumped my bike and it fell over into an irrigation ditch. The helmets, previously on the side view mirrors, made their way into the water part of the irrigation ditch. The helmets splashed and the bike quit, so I managed to right the bike and then it was a journey into the ditch. One question, how to you climb into a cement ditch that is 4 feet deep and 4 feet wide and has slime on the sides? Very carefully. My helmet was ok, but Jam's got soaked. I wiped mine off and strapped hers to the back of the bike... her choice, it was soaked. She wiped her leg, foot and shoes from the previous escapade and we went home. I bent the front brake handle on my handlebars, so I'll have to get that fixed but the bike seems ok. Did I mention that we got lost on the way home.

Tomorrow, I will go for another road trip, alone. I just don't know where.

P.S. I know the pic is sideways, give me a break, trying new things.