Beautiful people, beautiful scenery

The weather has taken a turn for the better. With highs of 20°C this past week and nearing 30° for the next week, it feels like spring was skipped and summer has arrived. Over the past 48 hours the buds on the trees have started to open and right now there is an explosion of light-green leaves starkly contrasted against the dark-green of the spruce trees and the rocky snow-caps of the mountains. It’s a gorgeous thing to witness and I am privileged to have this epically beautiful experience.

From what I understand, the weather is particularly different up here this year. The winter was longer, colder and harder, and spring has arrived later than normal. Abnormal weather is the trend around the world these days and it is becoming increasingly more difficult to predict. You ought to leave your house prepared for 20-degree shifts in temperature and be ready for drought or floods and severe storms. It boggles the mind that there are still people who deny that climate change is real when I can clearly detect shifts in weather patterns within my short life. Though, this is a subject for a different post.

The pace of life is much slower here in the North, and people seem to be friendlier for it. It’s reminiscent of my experience in Guatemala, in that when you walk down the street you say hello to folks you encounter and they actually respond with a smile and a greeting. That doesn’t happen so frequently back home. People also go out of their way to help you out. I am routinely offered guided tours of the wilderness, receive invites to join a group of friends for the weekend adventures and am given suggestions about the best way to go for a canoe trip down the Yukon river. I have seldom, as of yet, accepted any of these offers but am keeping a detailed mental list and plan to take full advantage of people’s kindness. Hopefully, I can appropriately reciprocate their unselfish helpfulness. 

On that note, I highly recommend to anyone who is disillusioned about the state of humanity to take a trip to a different place and relish in the kindness of strangers. Go to a developing country, somewhere more economically sound or a place just a few hours away from home, it is a beautiful thing to be warmly welcomed into a place that is a little strange. It strengthens the soul and makes the heart happy. I am living proof that you don’t need a lot of money to make this happen, you just can’t be risk-adverse or be shy about asking for help.