Quick tip for deciding what`s important:

The mass of an object is conversely proportionate to it`s value, or so says my back.

Well, I kid. So far my tent is the heaviest and probably most important thing I`ve got on my back, plus I feel way less like a poser walking around looking I literally do have my world on my back.

I`ve been caping in Charlevoix with an old work colleague (well, old as in former) and now I`m in Quebec city. Tonight I fly to the Magdalen Islands where I finally called and got a place to stay for the night. Yay leaving stuff till the last minute!

Right now I`m staying with a wonderful girl I met at a wedding I attended for and with my beau in Montreal recently, though I`m the big winner because she`s really looking after me. We`re staying at her place north of the city on a beautiful lake and I`m feeling very lucky with internet access and a bed and so-on. The camping in Charlevoix had two notable events: one, the first night it rained an impressive 5.5 cm in ten stright hours (my tent kept me dry, which is more than I can say for my coat or clothes, which I`m now re-thinking, thank YOU Trailhead) and we hiked up a lovely mountain for some truly beautiful vistas of the surrounding area. The wind at the summit reminded me of Iceland, where you get pushed around not entirely where you planned to go! It was beautiful though, and well worth the walk up. Mind you it wasn`t such a bad walk as a 6 month pregnant woman also made it most of the way up with us, so there you have it. I`m slightly more athletic than a third trimester woman! yesssssss.

I never got around to gathering my quarters to buy a shower at 50 cents per 4 minutes, so I`m heinously overdue. Shall I see how long I goÉ Nah, it`s no good. My hair has hit that natural gel stage andI`m sure everyone`s just being polite about the smell...I have a lovely chance here so that`s good, but honestly who`s ever heard of a campground without a lake or a river or something! Is this a too much info situationÉ I`m imaging some friends of mine laughing, my parents cringing, and maybe a little awkwardness. Sorry :)

I should also mention that I haven`t quite figured out the French keyboard where the question mark has been replaced by É so that`s why I`ve got that going on. The rest of the typos are all mne, though :)

Well, I haven`t truly been alone on my trip yet, that starts with my flight tonight, though I have felt a little bit lonely. I guess it`s the same every time you flip to a new chapter in your life and make some changes, so fair enough. I`m quite happy to finally officially be on the road though. In the short time I`ve been away, I have made even more refinements to my gear, though I`m not sure how I`ll go about making these ideas happen. I want to replace some clothes with the same in lighter and quick dry, but to I dump what I have or mail it home question mark. heh. Maybe I`ll just suck it up and be fine, we`ll see. It`s ironic now thatI think of how I wanted to save money and just bring what I have when I`m now considering still buying new stuff and then shipping myold stuff back. That;s me, captain ecnomical!

Speaking of money, the day I left I finally bought the cell phone I promised my parents I would. I left it to the last second, I guess knowing that I was about to get eviscerated by Telus. Anyways, I`m the proud owner of a flip phone, who I`ve named Costleigh. She had $75 of credit put on her as a bonus when I bought her, which will last me about 2 hours on the phone. After that I embark in the elaborate system of keeping her topped up, based on a system of punishing consequences if I don`t, to the tune of about 2 times the cost per minute. I think. The fine print on the box reads like a choose your own adventure, where most of the ending are the oops, the dragon ate you, apply $50 to your phone and receive nothing`or some such thing. So we`ll see. But I figured out how to change her wallpaper to martinis and have it read `como estas chica`when I turn her on!

So that`s clearly working out just fine. Tonight it`s to the islandswhere I can`t wait to hit the beach and maybe rent a bike for a bit. I think I will buy a Hostelling International Membership to get the hostel discounts, but also the discounts on food, bike rentals and stuff all over the place. It`s apparently good for 2 years and it`ll get me a deal on a polar bear adventure in churchill later on. So that will be excellent, I hope.

From now on I`m hoping to have something to say in each new place, but that may be asking a lot, we`ll see. I hope all of you are well. Thanks for stopping by. To all on my pals in the government, I have been speaking lots of French and I think I am improving very much! I have learned lots of new words, the most impressive so far being bucolique. Anyways, I`m functioning fine and am happy to bethe only anglophone, so I get to learn ots. And possibly I say fewer awkward things, or at least am oblivious to it all :)

Talk to you guys as soon as I can!
xoxo
m