Saturday 11 May 2013

We had a Couch Surfer

Should be plural...Cat(s)

















Couchsurfing


https://www.couchsurfing.org




  • Travel the world

    Find local hosts to stay with in over 100,000 cities.
  • Rediscover your city

    Meet visiting travelers & locals at events in your area.
  • Become a host

    Give back by opening your home to travelers.

I joined this website 3 or 4 years ago and have had only two respondents. The first was a guy moving here and was looking for a place to live while he found an apartment. uhmmm...no, thanks. The second contact was established while I was motoring about 6 weeks ago. A young German woman, leaving Vancouver, having worked for a year on a visa and was now off to the north..Alaska, in fact..and could we Host her for a night or two?  I had mentioned the contact to Sharon while I was away but we hadn't discussed it further, until we were camping last week.."oh, by the way, we are having a guest next week, for a couple nights".





She was here for three nights. Nice lady and all that one would want in a guest you don't know. Kept to herself pretty much. We have a spare bedroom, so she wasn't on our couch while we watched the tube.




I like to meet people and have a pretty open heart to inviting people in. I don't know if this appeals to you not, but if you have a sleeping spot and want to throw your name into the hat...why not check it out. You could use it to travel yourself, crash for a night, or perhaps open your door to another. There's a small amount of vetting..not really very much..you have to do your own work to ensure that the person is what they say. Phone numbers, a chat, etc.


I took Jenny our for a walk in the Haisla Cemetery.


First Nation Cemeteries..graveyards..are not always what we whites think that they should look like..much like reserves. We whities have a pretty strong view of how a neighborhood should look..or a cemetery, for that matter. I do not, for minute have even the smallest inkling of why the the places are the way they are, but I accept it. Up here..there are many FN villages and in the case of some things, like totems and graveyards, I am told that allowing the the site to return to Mother Earth is The Way. There are many totems in the area, that once they have fallen, they are left like that...to rot back into Mother Earth.

These are fallen totems in a village along highway 16.






And so...the old Haisla Cemetery appears to white eyes to be falling into disrepair. A lack of respect for the dead. Nothing could be further from the truth.











































Sammy Roberston, a Haisla Elder and Leader gave us permission to enter the grave area, then he showed Jenny around his studio.











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