To hell and back, rainy edition

In the last episode our two main characters were on a way to wake up and decide what hike should they do following day. Decision was a hard to make, tears were shed, lot of beautiful trails, snow was already 20+ cm deep and our heroes were on a edge of breaking down. More after this messages from our sponsors.

Lake Minnewanka, Banff, AB

We decided to go for a long hike of 20 km along one side of a beautiful Minnewanka Lake. Huge lake with steep cliffs rising on the one side of a lake and marble sandy beaches on the other. Banff offers many things to see and visit, long trails with some beautiful sights that are not so well know but for a 2 day visit this was more than enough. 

Lake Minnewanka, Banff, AB

Banff, AB

Friday morning was a time to take a 60 km ride north to Lake Louise along beautiful Bow Valley Parkway. There are two almost parallel roads leading from Banff to Lake Louse. They are separated by the Bow river. Western one is the highway and eastern one is a road with speed limit of only 60 km/h. Eastern one is highly recommended for the astonishing views and possibility of encountering a wild life. We've been warned to drive according to the speed limit because of a big chance wild life crossing the road.

Bow Valley Parkway, AB

Castle Mountain, AB

When we arrived to a small village of Lake Louise, I decided to call one employee and recall him that I'll be arriving in Vancouver shortly, sometime around next Tuesday or Wednesday. He said that it would be ideal to come for a interview as soon as possible, ideally Monday morning.  

Lake Louise, AB

Lake Louise, AB

Our plan was to do few days of Lake Louise, few days of Jasper and then he goes back to Calgary and I catch a bus from Banff to Vancouver. It wasn't a must but I decided to cut the mountain trip short and depart for Vancouver on a late Saturday evening. Same day I decided to rest a little bit and due to new circumstances do a little research of hostels, metro transit, address of the company etc. Oliver did a short hike alone.

Hidden Lake, Lake Louise, AB

On Saturday we did last hike close to a ski resort all the way to the Boulder Pass and a little detour for a Hidden Lake. Too bad there are not any people for the comparison on the picture above to feel the vastness of this lake and the mountain above it. There was a lot of snow and my light trekking shoes where not adequate but hell with it, it was a last day in the Canadian Rockies and 6,7 hour hike was well worth it. 

On the midnight of a same day, my bus was departing from Banff. Oliver and I said our goodbyes and I was on my 13 hour trip to Vancouver. Good thing was that I slept most of the trip. Remaining time I was on a WiFi roaming in the void of the world wide web.

Vancouver City, BC

Vancouver welcomed me on the October 16th with its usual face, grey sky with a lot of rain. For the first two days I was annoyed but I already got used to it. People here are usually ignoring the rain, riding bikes, no umbrellas...only thing that works here is a combination of bolikurcine (state of mind, hard to translate it in English), good shoes and good mountain jacket. As one radio guy put it on a sunny morning: 'We can expect a light rain in the afternoon. Good thing is that it will last only for 5 days'

From this few days I'm here I can tell that Vancouver Greater Area (VGA) is huge. It counts approx 2,5 million people. Arriving from the East, VGA starts approx 100 km before Vancouver City itself. There are numerous restaurants  and each and every one of them I tried food was above decent (and I tried many cheap ones). Everything is green, a lot of parks, ocean surrounding the city, mountains in the background, ski resort on a half hour drive, lively streets, friendly atmosphere...almost everything sounds like a dream place to live except for the f*****g rain :D

While searching for a room to rent I was staying in the hostel in the Downtown for a couple of days. Places here are I would say 20%,30% more expensive than in Calgary. While searching for rooms to rent I sent dozen of emails and few mailed me back. Every day I had few arranged views of the rooms usually scattered all around. On my 5th room I checked I found a suitable one. 655$ a month, everything included, three minutes walking to Joyce skytrain station. Owner of the house is a very nice older Canadian lady and she lives in the house. That was a decisive factor. Every other place I checked was pretty dirty and not taken care of because owners just visited a place once a month to take a rent. I moved in on October 20th in a spacious room to live in a house with a nice Canadian lady, her little dog Kimmi (Raikkonen) and a engineer from Chile. So far I'm super satisfied.

Metrotown, Vancouver, BC

I attended a job interview on Monday 17th. It was pretty relaxed one, especially for me because I had one secure job offer. We parted our ways with agreement to talk the next day after both sides think about it and then come to a final conclusion. Result is I started working on Wednesday 19th of October for I would say very good hourly pay. Telecom rigger / tower climber position. We are working mostly on rooftops of the buildings for now, usually 10 hours a day, rain or no rain. I need little time to get used once again to a job where I would use my muscles (no need for crossfit :P) more often. 

Company employs I would say 20ish people, from all around the world. Morocco, China, Australia, Ireland, Lithuania, Czech Republic, Canada... I signed a three month contract but it can be terminated without a reason, meaning you can get fired at any time or you can work for next x years. I suppose for some people that is something hard to grasp but I think that is the only proper way in the long run. My foreman is a Lithuanian guy that just got his PR few months ago and he moved from New Brunswick to Vancouver. I hope he doesn't read this but he is really a very nice guy who has been in my situation a couple of years ago. And as a foreman I think he does a pretty good job. Like my name will become Frank after some time, his name (Reginiovus, something like that) became Reggie :D.

Random trivia: While walking home from a grocery shop one of my bags broke and one of my apples was on the loose. Random Canadian tried to pick it up and while doing so he spilled some of his coffee on the floor and one drop felled on my apple. He was apologizing for 2 minutes. Moral of the story, beware of the Canadian standoff. 

Yesterday I met with Peter, a local caver / cave diver. As it happens on weekend of November 5th general annual meeting of the local caving organisation is taking place somewhere on a Vancouver Island. I need to count the costs but I think I'm not gonna to miss that chance to meet caving community and share a ride with Peter.

I was with a Morgane (a French friend) and her two friends in the amusement park. It was pretty fun but I still don't have balls (like she does) to do all the scary shit. Also I bought a ticket for a Opeth concert for this Wednesday in a beautiful venue from the picture below. Once again like a proper emigrant, spending 40 $ on a band I saw 4 times. 

Orpheum Theatre, Vancouver, BC

Considering everything it was a much smoother beginning than expected. In few days I got a nice place, I got a job 20 minutes from home, meet a few people... Maybe in a few days, weeks, months thing will go downhill and shit will hit the fan but for now I can say I'm pretty satisfied. I bought everything I need (laptop, new cellphone, trimmer...), did some grocery shopping and from next week things should be a little more routinely.

Post title is just a click bait, luckily for me :)