#13 - "Perfection. Sucess. Mission Accomplished."

Kalamalka Lake beach, 1 hour walk from Vernon

Friday, the 15th May 09

Day 22

Perfection. Sucess. Mission Accomplished.

What lies before me is so perfect it almost seems unreal. The waters are perfectly blue, jeans' blue, and so calm, I could fall asleep by just listening to the waves. The sun is so bright it almost blinds me and there are perfectly set clouds around the edges of the sky, just like I like it. It is warm, but not too warm. Good for jeans and T-shirt. (...) And the mountains, so perfectly designed, crossed only by small roads here and there. And there are so little people around. [ an ink sketch of the scene follows]

A little bird just passed by. This was the beauty I was looking for, what people talked about. That's the thing with Vernon. As it is smaller than Kelowna, it is easier to get out. Also, in the hotel, the nice couple in the reception was extremely helpful expalining me how to get here.

I must say, yesterday I was very disappointed with Vernon. (...) Things were getting better in the last day in Kelowna. I discovered the beach and despite the loneliness, the wind, and even some rain, I enjoyed seeing the Okanagan and those dramatic hills. There was still some snow on one. When I came back to the hostel I soon found myself with 3 roomates, which was exactly what I needed. One was Australian and planned to travel in Canada for a year or so. She would stay in Kelowna for a week. Good luck with that! The other was a child-like German she had met on the bus from Vancouver. Played guitar, lent me her laptop to check my email, had a weird book that seemed to have Fátima's Virgin on the cover and had thaught kids in Mexico for a year before coming to Canada (not supposed to make sense here). The third was called Mélanie and was from Montreal. And so the french conversation started. I was surprised with myself because of the fluent (although with many grammar mistakes) conversation I was able to have with her. She had been doing some volunteer work with horses (her passion) in the South of the Okanagan and she was now supposed to meet someone.

The next morning she decided to head down to Vancouver, unable to reach her contact. We shared a taxi to the bus station, exchanged contacts. It was kind of great. And the bus trip was absolutley amazing. It was much greener than the arid hills around Penticton, and the lakes seemed to keep on going. Orchards around the road were in full bloom and even though it was rainy it all looked gloriously springuish. I absolutely loved it and got very uplifted. (...) I had learned my little lesson. (...) Vernon would be better.

When I got to the bus station, one thing at least was good: the hotel was only 2 blocks away. (...) The internet was free, the coffee was free in my room (and tea too!), it was right next to the city center and had cable TV!! If I'm gonna pay, I might as well enjoy it to the fullest. (...) [follows half a page of calculatiosn estimating how much I would save with all these complimentary stuff and a result making me feel a little better about the sudden slicing of my bank account] So I got myself all settled down (...) and headed for downtown Vernon.

If Kelowna looked like a Western, this felt like one. Vernon is not only tiny, but also ugly and uninteresting. They have a lot of murals, all about pioneers and stuff of that sort (ah! This is why it feels like being in a Western - this was what Wsterns were all about!!). The main street could be walked in just 5 min. To my surprise, Vernon had quite some homeless. (...) It seemed that, most likely out of boreddom, the young people of Vernon spent hours in front of the mirror putting on "ganster" or "skatter" clothes and practicing their walking style. It looked odd. And so did the many "piercing & tatoo" shops. (...)

And so I walked around and didn't find nothing of interest. Even the local cinema had nothing too good on. (...) I was thinking: why I am stuck in this god forsaken place? So I called home from the least damaged phone I could find - they like to kick them here - (...) I felt better after I talked to them.

Then I went into a very disorganised antique bookstore. They had records from the 60's/70's. So I looked around and wish I could buy them and carry them back. 10$ a Door's original: not bad at all. I would need a record player first though.

I walked back to the motel [which was actually what it was]. I noticed it was a very American motel. Like the ones people go to in the movies to have affairs or hide from the police. It had the balcony and stairs, just like those. As my mom said: an experience. (...)

Well, I watched a lot of TV last night and I headed out today with a smile on my face. I am starting to like Vernon. Well, I am leaving tomorrow. But as theysday in the song. "today is a good day".

Filipa