Crossing Canada

Carnaval Itajuba, Brazil

February 6, 2005

Approaching Sioux Lookout on Via Rail's "The Canadian". I left Ottawa on Friday by train for Toronto where I met my friends Christa and Matt. Left Toronto yesterday morning and last night was my first of two I'll spend riding west towards Kamloops, British Columbia. One hour out of Toronto found us in wilderness. Most of the way since then has been through beautiful Canadian Shield, filled with tranquil lakes, scrubby pines, and granite outcrops. There's about 2cm of new snow everywhere, but the lakes are not yet frozen. I woke up early and went to the Vista Dome to watch the dawn. It turned out that I got there about 90 minutes early but it was nice to be alone and quiet. The first glimpses of misty lakes was well worth it.

I had the rather expensive breakfast in the dining car and met a wheat farmer called Roger from a bit west of of Winnipeg. He farms on both sides of this track and has seen a lot of change in his career. His wheat used to go Thunder Bay, Ontario, for shipping (through Hudson Bay) to Europe. Now it goes west for shipment from the west coast to Iran. What he's noticed about the actual railway going through his farm is that it now carries mostly containers instead of mostly wheat cars.

I'm very happy with my decision to bring Lappy along after all. Who was I trying to fool when I thought of leaving her behind? Last night I watched "Contempt" by Jean-Luc Godard and now I've got my iTunes on shuffle and I feel very well equipped. I'm not quite sure when I'll be able to upload this - I had a few minutes of wireless connectivity when we were stopped at Washago, Ontario but this wasn't ready then. If I not sooner then I'll upload at my hotel in Kamloops tomorrow night.