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Reports

During my travels, I received free accommodation for a night in exchange for writing a daily travel diary. This diary documented how I reached my next destination, the hosts who welcomed me, the food I was offered, and other experiences along the way. Below, you will find the archives of these extensive reports. Please note that English is not my native language, and most entries were written quickly, often around midnight. Enjoy!
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Tuesday, 27 May 2003
--> Glen Margaret, Nova Scotia, Canada (2nd day)

This morning I was awakened by Bob. "Breakfast is ready!" And in the downstairs kitchen Lorna was just finishing baking bacon and eggs.

After breakfast I joined Lorna on her daily morning dog walk down the street. Lorna loved to show me this million-dollar house that was just for sale. It is incredible how such a simple wooden dwelling can get such a price because it is built with a perfect lookout on the bay.

The dog Victor decided to go for a swim in the water. "Oh no!" Lorna almost cried out. "Oh well, I'll just have to clean the house again."

Bob wanted to show me the Swissair Memorial Site in Whalesback, or no: he gave it as an option. He gave me so much options for today, that I had to explain him that I rather want him to take me to where he want to take me, because I don't know many of these places around here anyway.

So we drove first to Peggy's Cove, a little community built around a rocky cove, right along the Highway 103 and the water. Founded in 1811, the hamlet, with a resident population of just sixty, surrounds a rocky slit of a harbour, with a spike timber church, a smattering of clapboard houses and wooden jetties on stilts. It's a beautiful spot with the solitary lighthouse set against the sea-smoothed granite of the shore.

This place attracts swarms of tourist from all over the world and the little harbour is according to Bob one of the most photographed spots in the entire country. I couldn't really figure out why…

From Peggy's Cove it is just a five minutes drive to the Swissair Flight 111 Memorial Site at Whalesback. And as I expected this was a very emotional spot, because it reminds everybody about those 230 people that died when Flight 111 hit the water.

This memorial site is built on a specific angle. Across the bay in Bayswater, is the other (bigger) Memorial Site. Together they form a triangle with the crash site at the horizon.

Bob kept quiet most of the time or lit up a cigarette and look the other way. At a small store in Bayswater he bought us a big ice cream cone for on the road back to Glen Margaret.

I wasn't halfway of my ice cream or [/b]Bob lit up a cigarette in the car. I asked if he could refrain from doing that until I was finished with my ice cream. [/b]
"Why?" he asked.
"Because that is polite," I politely said to him. "I don't really like to inhale smoke while eating this delicious ice cream."
"Oh. Okay. I didn't know that," and he put back his cigarette and launched another load of coughs from his throat.

"I tell you, you don't sound too healthy for a 57-year-old," I honestly had to say. "One day you will just die of coughing, just like this."
"Yeah-yeah, I know."
I guess nothing stops him from smoking anymore.

Back at the house I did some work, had a power nap in the afternoon and after a barbeque chicken dinner we went for a ride on the boat.

Well, first we all got into this small peddle boat. I showed my hosts that Dutch men can definitely peddle a boat and we got to the little motorboat in the middle of the small bay across their home.

And what a difference an engine makes! We were cruising through the bays, passing these multi-million dollar homes tucked away in the bush ("They are summer homes for the Americans," Lorna told me) and passed numerous inhabited little island. We actually tried to see some seals, but apparently there weren't many of them around yet.

When the sun decided to set we headed back to the house again. And we almost worried that the engine was going to die on us. It went slower and slower and we only had one peddle on board. "That has never happened!" Lorna apologized. There were a few scary moments that we thought we would be stuck on the water for a long time, when the engine would definitely die. But just when the house came into sight, the engine's operation went back to normal again and it looked like nothing was ever wrong with it. Strange things!

Back at the house Bob and Lorna watched television the rest of the night and I settled behind my laptop connected to their high speed cable to get some updates out again.

Tomorrow I am heading south again.

Good night Glen Margaret!

Ramon

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