Hello my friends!

Finally I managed to get in front of a computer to write a first report of my first 3 days in on the other side of the big ocean. I won’t make it very long because I’m still jet lagged a bit and I’m also suffering from a lack of sleep.

I just got back from a short trip to a lake in the Gatineau Park with my second host Younes in Ottawa. He is a (very good) hobbyist photographer and we decided to get some nice shots of the Canadian sunset in the Gatineau Park. Too bad the lighting wasn’t really good. I don’t think my pictures turned out good but anyway, let me tell about my first 3 days in this country I have already fallen in love with.

After an exhausting flight of a little more than 9 hours, one transfer in Zurich (Switzerland) and a 2 hour bus ride from Montreal to Ottawa, I met Christine, my first host. She came to pick me up at the Ottawa station and we drove to the Lac D’Argile, a lake 40 minutes from Gatineau. She arranged a camping night there with some of her friends and Dean, a Australian guy who now lives in Vancouver and who was also staying at her place. By the time we arrived there, the camp fire was already burning, so the fun could start. Well, what a night was that! I had roasted marshmallows for the first time in my life (they are soooooo good!), we had some good drinks, danced on the shore of the lake and finally crashed in our tents (3 people in the tent I was sleeping in, and this tent was meant for two…). The only bad thing was that it was so cold during the night and in the morning! My sleeping bag was designed for 15 degrees centigrade or more, but it must have been below 10 that night. Man that was cold! Anyway, that first night was a blast (and beware, because I’m about to use this word a dozen times more!). By the time we went to sleep, I was awake for 27 hours, but I got into the Canadian rhythm right away. How cool is that?!? Byebye jet-lag (or not…?)

After getting up too early (8AM or something), we cleaned up the tents, said goodbye to the friends and drove to Christine’s apartment in Gatineau. We each took a shower, had some coffee and got ready for a wild day in Ottawa. Right! It’s Canada’s birthday on July 1st. By the time we got in Ottawa, the city was already packed with people, all dressed in red or at least waving with anything that has a red maple leaf on it. Wauw these people love their country! And I completely understand because I do so too! I wont go in too much details on the day because we just did too much to mention, but it was awesome. The whole city was full of red and white, parties everywhere, everyone cheerful! I just couldn’t get enough. Or at least until around 2AM when I kind of crashed (my Belgian clock kept saying me that it was already 8AM). One thing to mention in detail though was the fact that we decided to start randomly hugging people in the streets and it ended in a competition between Dean and Christine for giving the most hugs! Hilarious! Anyway, we got home at 3AM or something after having eaten a beaver tail (that is so darn delicious!) and a final beer. A blast for me – again (I told youm didn’t I?). Canada Day is about the coolest party I have ever attended! Oh and yes, I have seen the biggest and most beautiful fireworks ever.

That night I slept really well on Christine’s pull-out couch and we got up at around 11 or something. After some coffee, shower and some cleaning up (yep, having two couchsurfers at your place is a real mess!), we dropped Dean off at the Greyhound bus station in Ottawa (he wanted to go to Montreal next), we had a delicious lunch with a cousin of Christine and then it was time to say goodbye to Christine. She is leaving for Europe on Wednesday and didn’t pack anything yet… She dropped me off in downtown Ottawa and at first I was planning to walk around there for a while, but it started raining so hard that I decided to call Younes, my Ottawa host. He is originally from Morocco, but he’s been living in Canada for 11 years now. Lucky him! I took the bus to his place and discovered again how hospitable people can be. We (or for most of the time I…) started talking right away and it looks like we will get along very well for the next one and a half day. He’s a photographer, so after a delicious pizza dinner, we took off to the Gatineau Park, did a beautiful walk there and went back home. We are both actually pretty exhausted, so it’s about time to go to bed.

Tomorrow I am planning a hike to the Ottawa river which is about 5 minutes away from where I stay now and in the afternoon I’m going to explore Ottawa City, this time without the Canada Day frenzy…

Before I close this post I want to thank everyone for the good times so far! Chrisine for the super warm welcome, her friends for the great night at the camping, Dean for the good times and everyone I hugged on Canada day for all the love. You all made me feel so welcome here!

C A N A D A R O C K S ! ! !

That’s all for now. I really need to get some sleep.

Tune in later for more!

Steven (as happy as can be!)

Oh by the way, I uploaded some pictures on my photo website: http://stevenplatteeuw.myphotoalbum.com (check the Travel section)