It was a work based trek. Easy. All we had to do was bask in the dirt and sand that belonged to Tofino. Promises of bear watching, whale watching and sand. Well, the sand part was a sure thing.No one said anything about the roller coaster ride .........
Whoosh! Whoosh! Zing! That was us, roaring down a road so twisty, I felt like a cruller at the end. Wasn't that fun? That was the question . Fun is such an odd little word. It was kind of cool counting the motor homes swooshing down the steep turns, wondering if any of them would make it. How far was Tofino, again?
When we arrived, nothing was ready. No parking spaces either at the end of a dead end street, resembling a black hole. Had to wait three hours till the room was ready. Do you kow how many motor homes we counted, coming down that street, only to do U turns. It got to be a game. The "resort" (and I use that term loosely) was in a time warp. Not sure what kind of time warp, but they weren't going to beam us up, at any time soon. Tofino seems to be in a constant state of "Hey, man....groovy, far out". This "resort" had been advertized as a memorable stay. Memorable is a good way to look at it.
I wasn't expecting the Empress, but I wasn't thinking there would be a smell.....such a smell....sniff, sniff...... musty mold. Mold along the windows, stuffed into the tile floors, cracks and gauges in the walls, pink slime in the tub and sinks. Moldy rust stuck in the crevasses of sliding doors, leading out to the rotting, mossy deck. Don't jump on the deck....it wobbles up and down. Dishes in kitchen cupboards still encrusted with someone else's food. And then there were the couches........ever been swallowed up by metal and thinning fabric? Hideabeds, they were labelled......unchanged; old , crunchy Nacho chips crackling their way to the floor. Ugh. Small bugs ( I didn't look that closely) marching their way to the outside world, until we smash them in a glorious combat.
And still that smell.....I knew I should have brought cleaning supplies...
Best way to get away from the stench, was to wander around and meet the locals. Interesting bunch.Seem to live on their own plane of existence. Went to the local art gallery, and talked to a local sales lady who was expecting a baby, any moment, it looked like. She said she was going to Comox to have the baby, as the local hospital in Tofino had lost babies in the past. Quite a few, in fact. Sometimes the air lift hadn't come in time. She did tell me there were a number of women who chose to have their babies at home, or in the bush. What a choice.
Walking down the main drag was not what I expected. Hardly heard English being spoken at all. Like a melding pot. I wondered, a little forlornly, if their rooms had black mold and smelly sock syndrome......................
Didn't need any cleaning at the Botanical Gardens. Just the real dirt at this place.Soooo low key, soooo relaxed. Honour system , any time of day, it never closed. Great place to sit and have coffee, read a book, debate the properties of manure on the artichokes growing by the entrance. Ahhhh.......great dirt.
Speaking of which......never saw anything quite as ahhhhhhh, as Long Beach. Definitely could live on that beach, with all the sand pipers. That means I'd have to become a surfer. Watched the surfers congregate in the ocean, waiting for that perfect wave. Just floating with the kelp, everything so right-eousss..... I wouldn't have to worry about mold....great sand.
But for now, it's time to be one with the bugs........have another day of mold to tolerate.....sniff, sniff.........
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