The Weekenders: Coba, Mexico

 COBA, COBA, COBA 

You know how some weekends just hit different? Like the perfect mix of adventure, activity and relaxation. Coba was it!

Nothing more I love than hitting the open road... and getting snacks. Am I hungry, goodness no. Do I feel the impulse to constantly munch, heck yes. Shoutout to the dang good roadside tortas as we passed through Tulum, but the real MVP and source of entertainment along the way was picking up a piping HOT, HOT TAMALE! I don't know the science behind it, but that molten pocket of stewed meat (?) and gravy (likely bean mash) held its heat like nothing I've ever experienced...and I've eaten my share of pizza pops. But the most curious thing was the sweet senorita just grabbing that shit off the fire with her bare hands.

ANYWAY. 

We rolled into Coba at sunset and despite some pretty lofty weekend plans, immediately proclaimed we weren't leaving the little slice of paradise we'd come upon. It was beautiful, quiet, lakeside, there were palms trees and a breeze. Tropical haven. Before even checking-in, we decided to take in the sunset at the lakeside gazebo, where Little J. aptly inquired, "Why is no one swimming in this lake?" Why indeed. Well after almost no investigation, turns out we got ourselves into a crocodile situation. Guys, we note the warning signs--- We talk about the jaguar crossing, heed the menacing moose signs, even slow down in hopes of seeing a turtle cross the damn road, and we rarely see what might be about. But walking along the lake and actually seeing a 12 ft crocodile just chilling, flashbacks/cautionary tales of Rescue 911 circa 1994 came flooding back. No way were we getting Captain Hook'ed on this vacation. 

OK.

Next day, we grabbed a quick coffee and morning taco and made our way to the Archeological Zone to tour the Mayan ruins. Thought to have been in existence since 50 BC, there's evidence of ancient Mayan civilization in and around Coba everywhere (our hotel even had a roped-off pile of rocks that dated back). The archeological zone is about 26km², and there are five main sites/groups of structures that have been uncovered, which include temples, ball courts, tunnels and chambers. With a couple of them standing 40+metres and nestled into the jungle, it was very Jumanji. If archeology is your thing, checkout this website which gives all the details and pictures of each of the sites https://www.themayanruinswebsite.com/coba.

Our child crushes electrolytes.

As commonly done, we had wanted to bike around the ruins, but there was no option for a baby jump seat. Not one to give-up, Tyler caught a good laugh when he asked if he could just rent a tricycle-taxi and do the chauffeuring himself. After much debate and best efforts, Tyler was sidelined and had to be carted around. I've never seen someone doing nothing, look so forlorn and envious of a guy pushing around a family in 40 degree heat. Tyler loves to pedal. In all, the tricycle ride was about two hrs, and Baby J just kept shouting "It's better than I thought it would be!" So mixed reviews from this family. I personally loved it. Smaller than the better known Chichen Itza, Coba was the best option for us given the time of year (bloody surface of the sun) and time in our lives (don't give an eff-about-history toddler era). We toodled back to the hotel in time for lunch, a nap and swim...and yah, it was a pretty nice little Saturday. 

Hotel Kaab Coba bringing the jungle vibes

THEN.

As per our Saturday afternoon at the pool, we had met a family with a little guy just our size, and on Sunday we all piled in the fam-mobile, and hit the underground caverns (because that's just what you do after a few Modelos). So cenotes are large, freshwater sinkholes found all over the Yucatan Peninsula. Sacred to the Mayans, these were the water sources for the ancient Mayan civilizations, and represented the strong connection to the natural world. For us, these are revered magical caverns, other worldly holes in the ground. Being away from the coast, and it coming into rainy season in Mexico, we had the underworld-cenotes all to ourselves, which was such a cool, slightly eerie experience. Kudos to Tyler for being our trusty sherpa (I feel like I've said this 100x before-- but seriously, Tyler has carried this child to the top of mountains and to the depths of the earth), getting Baby J down the slippery cavernous steps NBD. Kudos to Baby J for hanging with the bats in near darkness. Kudos to the water wings which kept our baby afloat in the 30 metre glaring abyss. This was so cool. 

Cenote Choo-Ha

Cenote Multum Ha

Besides being alone in the caves and swimming in the clear blue water of the underworld, one of the biggest highlights of the day were the flocks of butterflies we found outside the cenotes. Watching two little boys frolic in clouds of yellow butterflies might be one of the purest moments of delights I have ever seen. My heart 💗

SO.

If you're going to the Mayan Riviera, hit up Coba--- and if you feel so able, go under your own steam. Being away from the tourist centres and in nature in all its cold blue, deep green and fluttery magic is just so so good for the ch'ulel.

Road Trips: Icefields Parkway

The Icefields Parkway from Lake Louise up to Jasper is one of the world's most scenic stretches of road. Aptly named for all the glaciers & icefields, the big Rocky Mountain views, sparkling rivers and lakes along the route, it was difficult for us to make any sort of meaningful headway. Continuously stopping for incredible vistas, icy lake dips, hikes and paddles it took us five days to drive 200kms. We could have easily taken longer---this stretch of highway is spectacular!

Waterfowl Lake: Just 40km from Lake Louise, I think this was our least productive driving day of the entire three-month trip. We drove past the lake, became enamored, did a quick U-ie, and ended up staying three nights in the campground. While there, we hiked into Chephren Lake, watched J. fearlessly frolic in the glacial lake and... realized we were out of diapers. Without backtracking to Lake Louise (and TBH there were no nappies there either), the only option was for Tyler to bike the 40 km to the nearby-ish Saskatchewan Crossing to hope that the gas station sold diapers---Spoiler: They did not. Which in hindsight was a blessing, because it forced us to move on. We'd still probably be parked somewhere in the mountains if there was an outpost with a steady supply of pull-ups out there.

Columbia Icefields: A very cool spot for a number of reasons. First being, it's ice, it's so cool it's frozen (whomp whomp). So this icefield once covered all of Canada and when you're driving along this stretch of highway it is amazing to see the massive shelves of ice clinging to the mountain peaks. The Athabasca Glacier is accessible by road and path and is a pretty neat stop. As you are driving towards the glacier there are sign posts along the road marking where the glacier was in different years. The distance and rate at which the glacier is receding is incredible. Since it's hard to capture the magnitude of the area, let me rely on the old '88 CAA guidebook to paint the picture. So in 1988 CAA promised me that we'd be marveling at a glacier that spanned about 300km². That's a big ice cube. Now the glacier is a mere 7km². SEVEN SQUARE KILOMETRES. As we were wandering around the area, someone cheerfully said "Oh, you'll have to visit again in 10 years when your baby can appreciate it" Ha! There won't be enough ice left in 10 years for a snow cone. I joke, but this shit seriously keeps me up at night.

Camping outside of Jasper, we knew we were leaving the mountains behind us for the foreseeable future. It was suddenly dry and hot...and notably flatter. Feeling the bittersweetness of the evening, sad to be putting our west coast life in the rearview mirror, but also so excited for the road ahead. We grilled up our Alberta beef and felt pretty darn lucky for the days, past, present and future.

The Maple Files 🍁

Is there anything more Canadian than maple syrup? 

I have been so excited about this sweet little venture. Everyday we tromp around in the woods, snowshoeing around from tree to tree, checking our buckets, and spending boatloads of time outside. Despite being little saplings in the maple syrup world, I wholeheartedly loved every part of it....perhaps we've found our calling?

Turns out making maple syrup is pretty easy, as long as you've got some minimal equipment, time and maple trees. We've gleaned some tricks and tips from seasoned maplers, and used tapmytrees.com to answer all our maple Q's. Let me break it down;

Tap: For the sap to flow, the nights need to be cold (below 0ºC) and the days need to be warm (above 0ºC). So on the first signs of warmer weather, we strapped on the baby and our snowshoes and headed into the woods to tap some trees. Turns out it's a lot harder to identify maple trees when there are no leaves, something we had never really thought about before. We did poke a few holes in a few innocent ash and oak trees before we found those sweet sugee trees. There is really no second guessing them, as as soon as you drill a hole, the sap starts dripping! Instantly gratifying. So we drilled a few holes, tapped in a some spigots and hung our buckets. Hot tapping tips;

• Tap the trees on the southside---We all like to feel the sun on our faces in the spring.
• Don't tap the trees too early (We tapped early, and then there was another cold snap, so had to re-drill the holes again a couple weeks later)
• If you don't have enough spigots, you can use a sumac reed--this one is yet to be confirmed, and also very impressive. Tip given from a woodsman who's way out of our league.

Collect: Perhaps the most satisfying step. It's like checking the mailbox, anticipating how much or little sap flowed through the day from each tree. Each day after collecting the sap, we poured the tree pee into big buckets that chilled in nature's refrigerator, until it was time to boil ie: the four foot snowbank outside our doorstep. Fun fact- Sap is like milk, needs to be kept cold and used within seven days or it too will go sour.

Boil #1: As mentioned we had tapped a bit early in the season. Initially we had collected about 40 litres, and then temps dropped and the sap stopped flowing. While not constituting a huge amount of sap, we were still eager to see the process through. We brought our sap reserves inside, filtered it to get the forest bits out and boiled 'er down. The ratio of sap to maple syrup is high. It takes about 40 litres to make 1 litre of syrup. So yah, we got about one leet of the sweet stuff on our first boil.

Boil #2&#3: Fast forward a couple weeks, the temps had hit a stride and the sap was consistently flowing. We collected and saved our sap through the week, and did a couple boils outside over the fire, which was very time consuming (10+ hours) but so nourishing. To be outside in the fresh air all day long is really what fills our sap buckets to the brim. Throw in the big simmering pot of fireside butter chicken that Ty stewed, and it really doesn't get any better! 

Consume: What's on the menu? Something drizzled with maple syrup. After boiling down and filtering again to get any fire bits out, we are left with a bunch of the sweet amber sauce that Baby J lovingly calls "sugee syrup". Yes, a time consuming project but so satisfying to make something from scratch and to spend time outside each day among our tree friends. Can't recommend it enough---if you've got a maple tree in your yard, give 'er a tap!

Facts & Figures: 

Tress tapped: 7

Sap collected: ≈ 300 litres

Maple syrup yield: ≈ 5 litres

Stacks of pancakes devoured: I'd rather not say

2023 Book Share

In 2022 I read one book a month and wrote a little blurb about each book. I loved chatting with people about the books I was reading at that moment and time, and was often able to exchange good titles with great people. 

This year (2023) I'd like to combine my love for books, connection and appreciation for secondhand gifts. If you are interested in a book that I've read, let me know. I'll pop it in the mail for you (also, public libraries are super cool too). 

K, love you, bye-bye.

January - Five Little Indians by Michelle Good

This book follows the lifelong and generational damage the residential school system in Canada inflicted upon five innocent First Nations children. This shit is messed up at every level and evokes an array of ill-feelings --- sadness, anger and bewilderment to name a few. How does one carry on in the aftermath of such injustice? It's a wonder anyone can and the resilience of the characters had me pulling for them.

I cried for the children, for their parents and for every moment of love and security, for every family, childhood and community experience that was taken and lost. Things that I am lucky enough to be experiencing with my own child and understand this it is both a right, and a privilege to do so. 

The book is largely set in Vancouver--- describes settings I am so familiar with. Right down to the description of the white carefree girls on Kits Beach in juxtaposition to the post-institutional total displacement felt by the characters. It made me think a lot about acknowledging others feelings and experiences --- even when it's awkward or uncomfortable.

I know there are a lot of different narratives about First Nations culture in our country. This book is a must-read to foster perspective and to personify and understand the magnitude of the trauma left in the wake of residential schools. If you're like me, and did not receive any sort of formal education regarding the legacy of the residential school system, ignorance is no longer bliss. If you're thinking this is a bit too heavy of a pick, I implore you to take your time and read anyway. We can't look away. 

February - The Strangers by Katherena Vermette 

The Strangers are both people who don't really know each other, and are ironically part of the same family, the Strangers family. [It's only confusing for about a minute.] This book mainly chronicles the lives of four women in the Strangers family, spanning generations and an array of life experiences. Not limited to unplanned pregnancies, abandonment, incarceration, mental illness, racism, addiction and abuse, these women have endured, and through it all continue to seek familial connection and cultural belonging.

I let this book percolate for awhile after I finished it (I read it in Feb. and now it's mid-March). I wasn't sure if I liked it or not. Turns out I'm going to go with lukewarm. Although I didn't love all the characters (which I think is probably the point), do I ever love letting the ideas and actions of a character simmer in my mind, and eventually leave me with a gained perspective or understanding. The Stranger women were not dealt easy hands, and generationally the trauma takes its toll.

March - The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell 

The Family Upstairs is just that. A story about two families who come to live together (one being on the second floor) in the most dysfunctional ways. With some changing timelines, there are some elements of mystery to this book, but most of all it is the bizarre ways in which the characters and their relationships evolve that kept me captivated. 

The way the plot snowballs into a quickly out-of-control situation is both fantastical and fascinating...and weirdly plausible? I wondered more than once if this was based on a true story (it's not...I've just watched too many cult documentaries on the 'Flix). I loved/hated how suggestable the characters were and just wanted to shake them, with my internal voice consistently yelling "RUN". There are characters in this book that evoke strong emotions all over the spectrum -- Ones you want to love and hug, others you want to push down the stairs. Basically it's a roller coaster from start to finish and I was strapped in for the ride! 

April - From the Ashes by Jesse Thistle 

May - The Widow by Fiona Barton 

Jeanie, the widow is a real mystery. Her husband on the other hand is definitely a gaslighting real piece of feces who no one mourns (except maybe his Mother...and even that seems out of obligation). 

So as details of their marriage and former lives are revealed by investigative reporter Kate, it's hard to keep it straight. Is Jeanie a victim? Is she just as twisted as her husband? Do we believe anything she says? I can say for sure, she's certainly manipulative and will keep you guessing.

Was this the best book I've read, no. But it was certainly entertaining, and what I would class as a strong cottage read. With the added bonus of a second 'Investigator-Kate' novel called The Child which follows the same formula, author Fiona Barton's got you covered for those lazy dockside afternoons (as you might be able to tell, I'm really into non-pensive thriller fiction at the moment).

June - Watching You by Lisa Jewell

Picked this one up at a thrift store, as I enjoyed reading The Family Upstairs (March's read), also by Lisa Jewell. This book is about a murder that's happened in an upscale neighbourhood in England. The chapters flip-flop between pre-murder and post-murder timelines (I think you find out there's been a murder in the second chapter so not a major spoiler). From there, characters develop and basically everyone is a suspect, and have valid reasons for wanting the victim dead...or so it's framed in such a way. 

The author does a great job to steer the reader in multiple directions throughout the book. Both Ty and I came to a point in the book where everything we thought was dissembled, and had us doubting ourselves as to perhaps we just missed important details, made assumptions or read the text wrong. Either way, it lead to a satisfying twisty realization.

Along with solving the murder mystery, there's a lot of other unsavory goings-on in the neighbourhood that weirdly just get swept under the rug once the truth is revealed, or maybe it all pales in comparison to the murder? I dunno---Ty read the book too, and afterwards was like "So *so-and-so* wasn't the murderer, but we still don't think they're cool, right?" Guys, it's really hard to write about a murder mystery without giving it away, but no, we don't think they're cool.  

July - The Other Mrs by Mary Kubica 

This book was so full of twists and turns, I ripped through the last half of the book (in the most antisocial of ways). Similarly to Watching You, (June's read) in this book you find out very early on that there's been a murder, and that basically every character evolves into a suspect.

Without giving too much away, this book is set on a somewhat remote island off the coast of Maine. Feeling general uneasiness within her family unit, and generally unwelcomed by her community, Sadie is permanently unnerved. Her feelings of paranoia only deepen when she finds out that one of her neighbours has been murdered in their home. Now Sadie not only feels suspicious of everyone and everything, she also feels unsafe within her own home. And as the island becomes more isolated due to the progressing winter, we've got ourselves a Shutter Island situation. 

Again, the twists and turns as Sadie works through the murder mystery are pretty captivating.  Definitely a good read if you are a fan of the thriller genre and are looking for something easy and engaging to read this summer.

August - The Push by Ashley Audrain

The number of times I think about this book while at the playground...

This book held space for every emotion related to navigating the earliest (and later) days of motherhood---The good, bad and the very ugly, all the feelings and dark inner dialogue was there. It also delved into the ways in which Mother's feelings/actions/emotions are perceived by different members of family and society in general. Let's just get over the judgement, and acknowledge that everyone's just doing the best they can. 

So as new Mama Blythe goes through it, she is made to feel inadequate and to question every gut feeling she is experiencing. It was a heartbreaker to read. Add in some good fictional twists and turns, and this book was a really unique read, complete with a monumental moment of vindication. You'll love and hate it. 

September - Snow Road Station by Elizabeth Hay

Ok, so you remember how we discovered that making maple syrup is so good for so many reason? Well, turns out we're not the only ones. 

I was given this book while I waded through some pretty dark days of grief. It turned out the characters were also in transformative periods in their lives--All meeting at Snow Road Station amidst maple season. Long conversations around the fires, tromping through the woods and seeing the sap through served as the backdrop for healing. 

Although not a remedy for my grief, this story was so relatable in that spending time in nature and making maple syrup allowed space for tough feelings to be aired in the solace of the late winter sunshine. 

Also, fun that we have since happened upon the actual Snow Station Road, as it's in our neck of the woods--A great contextually Canadian read!

October

November

December - Greenwood by Michael Christie

I won't stop and can't stop talking about this book. Best book I've read...ever? That seems like too bold of a statement, but I'm certainly dancing around it. 

This book starts in the not-too-far post-apocalyptic future, on a what would-be a Gulf Island off the west coast of Canada-- Typically I'm not into the hypothetical catastrophic disaster genre...But this book got me hooked from the get-go! Following generations of Greenwoods and their intricate and diverse connections to forestry and nature, this family line takes twists and turns from Canadian coast to coast. 

I love the boldness of the characters, making decisions so true to themselves, and so bold they change the course of family history. Stuff that makes you want to scream 'NO!', but also sit back and think 'But I get it'.  

You guys, I'm being super vague, but just trust me on this. Take a couple days, clear your schedule and dive right into this piece of fictional gold.