Reflections on week one
Ricardo wrote such a newsy email, that I thought it should be posted. These are his words:
We have already settled down in our house which is a somehow modern, fully-furnished bungalow of about 900 SQ ft, consisting of two bedrooms and a small deck. We have cable TV (satellite, some 30 channels and free movies), good telephone services, hot water and heating. The internet access is dial up, but at the school there is wireless broadband available and we both have laptops. It is a good walk from home to the school and we don’t have any transportation. But today we got the school truck (a Ford F-150 4X4).


People in town move, during the summer, in Honda four-wheelers (must be over 100 of these) and there are several pick-up trucks (probably around 30 of those). The streets are sandy; it is whitish sand with a high content of clay. The surroundings and streets are not particularly dirty or clean. The natives know this is their land, no doubts about that. However, they don’t keep it to high standards of cleanliness, which I found a little disappointing since I had studied about their love for and harmony with nature. The reality reminded me of certain “barrios” in Buenos Aires, New York or San Pablo. Papers, plastic bottles, cardboard boxes flying around… I recognize I am a bit of a stickler for clean and organized places but one gets used to it fast.


Almost every family has a boat, normally a Lund with a 20-30 hp engine or a canoe. The Wunnumin First Nations Band consists of about 110 families and a total of 570 people (about 500 of stable population). If you look it up in the internet, be aware that the name is written with single m informally and with double mm for mapping and official communications. There is a modern health centre with two nurse practitioners, and there are no doctors in town. But a nurse practitioner in Canada is almost as good (some people would say even better) than a doctor. They will fly you to Sioux Lookout if needed, by air ambulance; a Dentist comes to town every month. Street dogs are usually big huskies (sled dogs). Other wildlife around includes flies, mosquitoes, huge crows, different types of birds (loonies, ducks, etc), few black bears, beavers, wolves and moose. They tell me the fishing is great, but I haven’t had a chance to try it.

I find the locals a bit dry at first contact; they investigate and measure you up, in silence. They seem to have a great sense of humor. Over here silence is comfortable and if there is no reason is not broken as a rule. No one spends much time in small talk at all. Here, as a rule, no empty promises are made. If someone doesn’t know the answer to a question the answer is a plain: “I don’t know”. Greetings are a simple nod of the head, meaning “I see you”. No goodbyes are used: “I’ll see you” is used instead, or you just calmly go about your business when you’re done. Some people, especially kids, drop by your house and expect to just enter and visit. No previous phone calls. The people environment reminds me of villages out in the country in Argentina. These folks here are much like the gauchos in the pampas. This is a dry area so there is no alcohol anywhere, homes or stores.

Food is horribly expensive, I estimate (for two people and a cat) about $1,200 a month. There is one store in town (see above), so not much competition takes place; also, remember everything comes by air. Yep, this is a fly-in community: the pastor, the doctor, the dentist all arrive by air. The weather is not picnic either, so far we have been lucky, no ‘white- knuckle’ flights, but we’ve been told it gets dicey. During the winter there is one road open as the lake freezes, but it is not for the faint-of-heart, and there are no gas stations and no CAA to assist you if you run into trouble. There is one police officer in town and his assistant. I met with the Chief of the Band, Archie W. We looked at each other in silence for about 5 minutes as he was busy at his computer, then he said “I will see you some other time”, I left hoping that was a good sign.

Carol has started at school with great energy and things are getting done fast. She has developed a style that projects a firm and professional yet friendly predisposition. She doesn’t have an easy job: there is vandalism and there are disciplinary problems. Most kids don’t have a clear picture of self or their future. They do speak their language (Oji-Cree or Ashininimowiin) all the time, and this is a beautiful captivating tongue, which Carol and I intend to learn. The informal network here works incredibly fast [“pueblo chico, infierno grande” or “small town, big hell”]. Carol was at the radio station delivering a message to the community and I went to the post office where five boxes with some of our belongings had arrived. They already knew my name, I offered my drivers’ license to id myself and the young lady at the counter said “Ricardo Pickering… right? Isn’t your wife the new principal? Hence, no need for id. Anyways, you must be getting the picture. These are rough surroundings yet it seems these proud people of the Nishinawbe-Aski Nations don’t waste time in speculations or pleasantries. So far, we feel reasonably accepted, are reasonably safe and live reasonably comfortable. I had the chance to talk to over a dozen youngsters from grades 5 to 10 and I find them reserved, not overly respectful but again not too disrespectful, and coping as well as they can with their socio-economic realities. They are not accepted as equals by the rest of Canadian society (the “whites” or Christians) and, accordingly, they don’t expect much. They are proud and calm people without too much expectation for the future. But the government of Canada assistance is not shy. It is as if the Canadian authorities recognized the shortcomings taken place during the negotiations of the treaties in 1877 (treaty 9 in this neck of the woods) and they had offered loans, welfare and assistance almost to generosity levels. Still, life is hard and there are some suicides, recently a 21 year old boy passed away in this unfortunate way. If Carol and I can do anything about it, and with the help of teachers and others the youngsters would slowly get a brighter appreciation of the possibilities the future offers in what I’m convinced is one of the best five countries in the world. They would also get the clear message that us (and I know you would too) accept them as equals, with no strings attached. Well, I have written enough for this one.

Another poingt of interest, the large red/yellow aircraft is from the Ministry of Natural Resources a water bomber, these aircraft are famous worldwide and can reload water by scooping it from a lake, then they mix it with fire retardant and spread it over the forest fires. Enjoy!

August 21, 2005

Preparing for the trip to Wunnumin Lake turned out to be ten days of non-stop packed activities, mostly errands of course. Canadianizing our car, checking teeth, medicals, storage and shipping became our modus operandi.

The anticipation of making the right choices in what to carry with us on the plane, what to ship, and what to store was the hardest. Imagine having to reduce your possessions to three bags!

Finally we were on our way, with Moopy firmly ensconced in his travelling bag. The trip was quite uneventful, Toronto to Thunder Bay, an hour delay and onto Sioux Lookout. The planes did get smaller the further we went.

We overnighted in SL, a good idea as it gave us the opportunity to set the clock back one hour and smooth into the new time frame. A good steak dinner helped too…

We began our Friday with a morning walk in the vicinity of the hotel, which provided some good sights of planes on floats and homes with lakefront views.

At noon we began the last leg of our journey, Sioux Lookout to Wunnumin. I was very happy to find out that two of my three bags were arriving with us; the third made it the following day.

Ricardo, Moopy and I got very busy as we arrived to the house; unpacking, cleaning, investigating and shopping somehow got all done. Initial challenges are slowly getting solved; you really begin to appreciate even the smallest of comforts. Hot water was my happiness on day two, still waiting for the phone….

The Wunnumin reserve has had a festival over at the arena and school field (Lydia Lois Beardy Memorial) for the past week, and Friday night held a display of fireworks as good as any big city ones. On Saturday Ricardo and I went to watch some baseball games, and were quite impressed when a Cessna Caravan over flew the school field dropping ‘scavenger money’ that could be redeemed at the kiosk. On Sunday another walk round the area, I mean literally round as we began in one direction and virtually did a 360. The lake was choppy, windy conditions prevailing. It feels like fall weather, the wind brings a bite from the lake, can’t wait for winter…..

Although we’ve only seen huge black crows, the wildlife in the area consists of moose, wolves, the occasional black bear, beavers, muskrats, ducks, and a variety of birds as well as plenty of fish: a virtual paradise for the anglers and hunters. My boss assures me that the wildlife doesn't come into town....he hasn't been in the school then!

The journey begins

Our return journey to Canada began after two hectic days of completing our packing, and loading the truck on August 1 and 2. Bless the dolly we bought at the beginning of the year! We (Ricardo, Moopy the cat and myself) were bent on leaving the second, so in spite of the time (8:30 pm) we fired up the caravan, and drove to Sacramento, CA with 130 miles for the odometer.
Day 2 found us rolling into Elko, NV after 417 miles, much better! We crossed the impressive salt flats, where I kept thinking it would be a great way to teach water evaporation.


Day 3 was our longest, 625 miles due to "no available accomodations"...We arrived at Rock Springs, WY where the receptionist at the Holiday Inn told me the whole town was booked. So we continued for another 100 miles to Rawlings, with the same results. By this time it was 10 pm and we were quite tired, but the idea of sleeping in the truck kept us going, singing all the tunes we could possibly remember to keep the driver awake! Even Moopy joined in the singing...Finally, another 100 miles later we arrived in Laramie, where we found the best accomodations: A place that said "Yes, we have a room". You can imagine we got a late start on day 4, yet managed to drive another 470 miles to York, NB.

By now, we had a good routine going: I read to Ricardo from his study books so he wouldn't fall behind, Ricardo drove, and Moopy slept. I think he had the best slice of the pie.

By day 6 we were old pro's, I even managed to do some jogging and laundry! After 410 miles, we stopped at Davenport, IA and had a great steak dinner. Day 7 got us to Toledo, OH after 400 miles. Until now we had been driving constantly on 80 East, here it changed to 90 East. By now we were starting to get excited: we were within one day driving distance! Day 8 was our last stretch, 300 miles crossing IN, NY and arriving in St. Catharines, Ontario at 5 pm. Our border crossing was quite painless, paperwork and stamps, but no opening boxes (we must look really honest!).

Today, Friday 12 was when we finally finished our long "to do" list, and now have a few days to catch our breath before we fly north on Thursday 18th. We, the three mousketeers are getting excited with our imminent adventure. The plan is to fly to Thunder Bay, from there to Sioux Lookout (yes, it actually took it's name from doing just that!- for defense purposes) and arrive in Wunnumin Lake on Friday 19th. Ricardo and I got happy to find a map that actually had the place....