Duncan, B.C., Thursday, July 10

Yesterday I took the ferry from the Sunshine Coast back to the Lower Mainland, and then another ferry over to Nanaimo on Vancouver Island. I shared the first ferry ride with some friends of Emily's who had also stayed at Paul's, Roma and her two children Tristan and Mathom.

Steve and Christine picked me up at the ferry terminal in Nanaimo, and took me to their place in Duncan. We had a nice barbecue in their beautiful back yard, and enjoyed catching up. I also got to meet Minnie. Minnie decided that she likes me (but I suspect she likes everybody, pretty much).

Today Steve is off and Christine has to work, but we met for lunch at the River Walk Café. It's part of the Quw'utsun' cultural and conference center, run by the Cowichin nation. We had a guided tour of the cultural center and saw lots of totems and had their meanings explained, watched them cooking salmon over a wood fire, and then had a delicious lunch of native fried bread, pan-fried oysters, buffalo, and venison. (My venison chile was particularly tasty.)

Duncan will be the host of the North American Native Games later on this month, and they are gearing up for a really big event. It's too bad I'm going to miss it!

More later. Tomorrow, Steve and Christine both have off, so we are planning on staying up late and playing games. Woo-hoo!