Osoyoos: Hot and Sunny!

Hello!

After a week, I am finally back at the blog and writing to you from Osoyoos, BC - a place that claims to be the hottest location in Canada! I believe it too - it is the only natural desert we have in this country, and I can tell that they get some pretty ridiculous heat spells, as it's only the beginning of June and the temperature has already climbed well above the 30 celcius mark!

After our fantastic stay in Nelson, we were all really sad to be leaving, but the ride from Nelson to Castlegar was an easy one, which made the situation a little better! There was one large hill we had to climb at the end, but other than that, we had a great ride on a gradual downhill slope all the way there. I was partnered up with Lucy, and we managed to stop at two roadside waterfalls to cool off along the way! At the second waterfall stop, we became surrounded by millions of litle white fluffs, presumably from a cottonwood tree, and it almost looked like there was snow falling out of a 35 degree, perfectly sunny sky! I tried to capture the phenomenon on camera - hopefully the pics will be able to convey how amazing it looked!

We only stayed one night in Castlegar at a local church/community centre before setting out the next day on a 100 km arduous trek through the Bonanza Pass, with a climb up and over Paulson Summit along the way (in my last blog I said we would be doing Anarchist Summit - I got my days mixed up! We went over that summit a few days later). We spent a good chunk of the day just grinding slowly up a gradual hill - after 5 hours, we made it to the top! We were so excited we all stopped and hugged and snapped some great pictures of us under the summit sign. We couldn't believe we'd biked up a summit more than 5000 ft high! The ride back down the other side was a cinch after that - we got up to speeds of 55 km per hour, and we hit the bottom after about 40 minutes! We had only gotten as far as Christina Lake, however, and still had another 20 km to go before our final destination. We decided a good swim in the lake was in order, and some ice cream too!

Finally we made it to Grand Forks, where we all collapsed in exhaustion for the night at the wildlife centre. We had some deer visit with us while we were there - the wildlife in the area were very comfortable with humans (due to hunting restrictions) so they walked right up to us without a second thought! We only spent one night at the centre before heading out to Mihaela Yeung's organic farm for our Mid-Tour Retreat - 2 days where we were given the opportunity to work on our group dynamics, our play, and to get the chance to take part in a work-share on the farm. I was a little homesick at first, mostly due to the fact that the farm was based on very simple living conditions (obviously something I'm not used to!) but I quickly got comfortable and was able to enjoy my time there learning from Mihaela and my teammates.

After that, it was back to Grand Forks for one more night at the wildlife centre, and a performance at the local high school. This was our chance to test out the changes we made on the play while on our Mid-Tour Retreat. We had developed a great introduction for our play that took the form of a game show that got a few audience members involved! We were nervous about how the game show idea would pan out, but we had a great audience for our first test performance, and it seemed to go off without a hitch!

From Grand Forks it was on to Johnstone Creek Provincial Park, which involved a few hill climbs and a small summit (only about 1000 ft - pfft), but other than that it was a pretty great ride! We didn't have any presentations to do upon our arrival so we just set up camp and got comfy. Rozzy and I were on dinner duty that night, but other than that it was a no-work evening. The next day, Catherine and I were in the car for the ride day where we would finally be heading up and over Anarchist Summit.

We were both pretty sad about not getting the chance to conquer this one on our bikes, so we decided to make the most of it while we were in the car! While the rest of the team was biking gradually up to the steep and winding way down the summit, we were dancing up a storm listening to a great DJ called Girl Talk. I highly recommend people check this guy out - he remixes tons of songs together and it ends up sounding fantastic! We also stopped at a local winery half-way down the summit (which was incredibly steep and full of switchbacks - a really scary drive down, let alone taking it on a bike!). The winery was called Twisted Tree, and after we talked to the girl at the entrance, we were given a great walk through their entire wine list! What a great way to spend the morning (yep - it was only 11:30 when we stopped!) - all the different types were delicious, and it was really interesting to hear how each one was made. Catherine even picked up a bottle of their Chardonnay for her parents. I grabbed their card, but unfortunately they don't sell in Ontario! However, I can write to them to ask if they can send out some bottles, as long as I let them know that I visited the winery and prove that I'm not out to sell their products illegally.

Here in Osoyoos we are staying at the Sonora Community Centre, where we finally got to take showers! Yes, up until this morning, I hadn't showered for a full week. Urgh. Yesterday afternoon and this morning were free time for the group, so I spent a good chunk of time at the beach (trying to even out my ridiculous bicycle shorts tan) and a couple of us grabbed some pizza at a local restaurant this afternoon. So good!

I must go now though - my 60 minute session here at the library is running out! I'll try and update again as soon as I can, and maybe even post a few pics if I get the time!

Take care everyone!

Sarah