Tomorrow I will go back home to Sweden. See you there!

Go Hawks!

Realized that I have not mentioned Lívia in the blog before. We met in Lima volunteering and now it is all about LOVE. She worked for the same organization in a school close to mine but lives in São Paulo and works as an architect. All kids love her, today a boy came and hug her when we were at the airport.. don’t blame him because it is kind of hard to resist hugging her :) Miss her…

This weekend we had a nother visitor in the house. Natasha, the German girl I met in Vancouver made a stop in Chicago on her way from N.Y. to California. My dad was an awesome host for both her and Lívia. Go dad!

Will be back in Sweden on Wednesday! I really enjoy traveling but it is now time to go back home… to work.

All together I stayed 8 days and 7 nights in Vancouver at the house of some friends of Connie, the girl I met for burgers in Toronto. The people were very friendly and awesome hosts! It felt like home from the first day. Normally there are four people living in the house; Gordon, Mike, Matt and Shalee. Matt was gone planting trees so I stayed in his room. Also staying at the house was Natasha, a girl from Germany that left for USA the same day as I did. She will be coming by Chicago later this month.

I will miss this quirky little house near Main Street in the SOMA district.  I will miss the French opera radio playing in the bathroom when you turn the lights, the living room with a TV-bar but no TV, Gordon’s high pitched WHAT!? and specially the drinking from jars..

As usual I did a lot of walking.. probably doing close to 100k during my 8 days.. I saw downtown Vancouver; Gastown, Chinatown, Yaletown, West End including the amazing Stanley Park. I saw Grenville Island, UBC and The Museum of anthropology. I did a road trip to Hope and Mission with Mike, Gordon and Natasha to try out some local beer and hike through some really cool old rail road tunnels. I attended Natasha’s goodbye party and met some fellow Couch Surfers. I had a great time. Will return to Vancouver for sure.

Now I am back in Chicago where I will be until June 29 and my return to Sweden.

A six-hour bus ride took me up north-west to Ucluelet and the Long Beach part of Pasific Rim National Park. There I met up with Claudia, a German girl I had met in Lake Louise and that I knew was staying att a hostel in the town. Together we did a lot of hitch hiking between Ucluelet and Tofino and explored the area. We did a lot of walking along the beaches and in the rain forest, kayaking near Tofino and ate some great seafood.

Tomorrow morning we both leave for Vancouver. There I will stay until Wednesday before heading back for Toronto and Chicago.

Monday, my last day in Banff was spent with a group of Australians that I met at the hostel. We rented canoes for two hours and paddled up the local river and after that we walked up the Tunnel Mountain just outside the town. In the evening we enjoyed some burgers and beer.

The day after I hitch hiked to Lake Louise. Took me just 2 minutes to get a ride for the 58km between the two towns. At Lake Louise a took an afternoon hike to the lake with the same name. Next day I joined a tour through the Icefields Parkway and out on the Columbia Icefields. The views where really nice but I don’t enjoy tours… prefer to explore new places on my own.

The two last days were spent here in Jasper and the surroundings, including an overnight hike on the Saturday Night Lake Loop.

My first stop in the Rockies is Banff, the capital of Canadian Rockies. During the winter season and the summer season this town is filled with skiers, bikers and hikers but I have arrived here just between the two and it is calm and nice. I started my adventure in the Rockies with a two night and three-day hike along Lake Minnewanka. Will stay in Banff two more nights and then head up for Lake Louise and some more snow-covered mountains.

My first impression of Canada was just as I had heard, that the country is personalized by a mix of things found in Sweden and USA. So far I like it!

During my stay in Toronto I had time to see the City Center both from the ground and the CN Tower, the Harbour front, Ontario Science Centre, Lake Simco, Bruce Peninsula National Park and eat  Lamb burgers with Couch Surfing friend Connie.

Yesterday morning I left for Calgary from where I am writing now. Tomorrow I will leave for Banff and som hiking in the Rockies.

There are almost no trails in this enormous wasteland and if you want to explore you have to find your own way down trough and out of the gorge. This is not always an easy task. The weather can be harsh, the stones are sharp, the water sparse and there is a lot of cliff walls to fall down from.

This Friday me and my dad returned from a two-week trip to Grand Canyon. Here is our story.

Getting there

With a rented Jeep Wrangler we set of on a 1700 mile (2700 km) long journey out west. It was a two and a half day long drive through six different states. The expectations were high. We arrived to the North rim just as it was getting dark and went straight to madras (after some tent construction).

The next day we packed our bags, ate some fresh food and then set of down to the canyon. The plan was to do the Tuckup Canyon/Stairway Canyon Loop, a six-day loop down and up from the canyon. We had planned an extra day at the Colorado river to be rested for the steep exit and in the end we had to spend an extra day to get out which totals it to eight days in the wilderness without contact with the outside world.

Day 1-2, Going Down

First following an old trail and then making our own way down with help of maps we started our way down to Colorado through the Tuckup Canyon. In the beginning this was a fairly easy task with just some parts where we had to lower our packs by rope. We had the time to take a lot of pictures and enjoy the views.

The last bit got a little more tricky with some rock climbing and route finding. The second day ended with us just by the Colorado river but about 100 meters to high.. we had taken the wrong route and it was getting dark so we had to make camp on a cliff ledge and turn back in the morning.

Day 3-4, Following Colorado

Next morning we found our way down with some lowering of backpacks and easier rock climbing. After a long lunch and a short talk with some Rafters we started our way along the river. This was a lot harder than we had expected. There were rocks and bushes everywhere! After almost five hours we had only moved about 2 miles down the river and our clothes where wet from the rain (it does not rain that often in Grand Canyon but today it did..) and our hands and legs were filled with cuts and thorns from the bushes. This sucked and we decided to make an early night.

The next day the rain had stopped and we had new powers and managed to make the last 4.5 miles down the river to Stairway Canyon. These to days where not all that fun and the best moment was when I found an unopened can of Mexican Beer which was shared the second night.

Day 5-8, Getting Out

We had read about the difficult route out of Stairway Canyon and had planed a whole day for this. It took us two.

After some steep climbing the first day we only had about 50 vertical meters left of the canyon but we were not sure where exactly it was possible to exit the canyon and it was getting dark so we decided to stay in the canyon for the night. Only having 500 ml of water left to share between us was kind of worrying and we wanted to get out as fast as we could the next day. That was not the case. We took the wrong route twice and ran out of water. In the middle of all bad luck in finding the way out my dad found water dripping down the cliffs. We managed to grab about 4 liters of it for drinking and cooking. We started this day earlier then the ones before. As soon as the sun hit the cliff the water dripped slower and slower until it finely stopped. If we would have arrived two hours later, then there would not be any water. The only option would have been to turn back down the canyon to get water..

With new water in our bottles we gave the exit a new try, this time in the far end of the canyon. With me in the lead we managed to get out late afternoon. But now my dad had no water left and I had to give him some of mine and we still had 2 miles left to the nearest water source.

Just 15 minutes to Willow Spring where there was good drinking water my dad found a couple of small pockets of rainwater in the stones and started boiling it… not the best water to drink… (it took his stomach three days to recover from it). I was in better shape and kept on going to the spring. I found the water, drank, rested and went back for my father with some fresh water. We had made it to Willow Spring.

Next day was exhausting in its own way. We had a lot of water with us now so this was not the problem. The sun and the zigzagging trail was. It took us 10 hours to manage 8 miles of the “trail” to Cottonwood Spring.

The distance remaining for the last day was only about 4.5 miles. It was still difficult. It ended with me leaving my dad behind again to grab some more energetic food and better water then we had with us. With about 5 extra kilo of gear from my dads backpack I set of uphill to the car. Step by step I made it to the car and trew myself over the food and water in the car. When I set of down the canyon again to get my dad I did not have to go far. On his last powers he had made it almost all the way to the car. Together we exited the canyon. What an adventure. Extreme as my dad would say.

The way back

Before leaving for Chicago we went to a viewpoint on the North rim to see Grand Canyon from above and in a safe distance. On the way back we drove through sandstorms, thunderstorms and even some snowfall.

These are the kids in class 2B. I miss them already.

• Brigitte Jackelin
• Marlon
• Victor
• Carlos Eduardo
• Paula Lucero
• Zarai
• Marisol Lucy
• Veronica
• Andres Marlon
• Angie Yamelina
• Jesus
• Naisha Leidy
• Mitchell
• Marco Antonio
• Yamelin
• Jair Jaimy
• Samir Kenjy
• Maribel Pilar
• Katherine Elizabeth
• Johan
• Sthefanny Julieta
• Ana Cristina
• Guisela
• Guisela Anyet