The ferry from ..Vancouver.. to ..Vancouver Island.. is a big deal.  We got to the ferry terminal and found Starbucks and a food court so nice it topped ours ....Independence Mall Shopping Town Food Court.... experience by a mile.  I bought an OK! ....Canada.... magazine to learn what stars Canadians think about who, and a Nutella crepe with fresh blueberries and whipped cream which would have made me weep if only the whipped cream were real.

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The ferry was really fun when we were out on the deck with our picnic lunch and watching the scenery with me having to tie my skirt in a knot to keep my butt under cover.  But since the ride was two hours, at some point we had to go to the inner portion which was big and not windy and quickly felt like being in an airplane, including the part where Ezra kicks the seat in front of him and bites Josh’s arm out of sudden boredom.  

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We got off the ferry and drove for about two minutes to reach Yves & Maggie’s house, seated on the edge of ....Nanaimo....’s original downtown, which was rendered useless once Walmart came to the island.  Their house sits in the midst of industrial land on the waterfront which will surely be turned into condos before too long which a rail.  A colorful rundown and messy cottage with a trailer beside it, the house boasts a garden and patio spaces that make it all worthwhile.  A big square sand pit in the back houses a campfire and some breaking-down chairs and a grill that Yves cooked chicken on the first night until it ran out of propane and we had to finish it inside.  We ate at the picnic table after enjoying a cold one in the little tiki hut built of the shed that had 2 hammock chairs, snap peas curling around and a often-used bottle opener tied to the posts.   

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The first couple hours, we were both a bit nervous.  First off, we couldn’t exactly tell if French-accented Yves would become a mean drunk as the day wore on.  When Nico, the earnest 11-year-old son showed us our room, I thought we were in for it.  The upstairs was carpeted with that really thin office kind of carpet and there were two rooms – one of which served as a party space for 16-year-old Vincent when he was around, which was not often.  It was all scattered video games, dirty mattress on the floor and crumpled t-shirts.  Our room across the way was tattered and HOT, really hot, attic hot.  Nico and I pulled a twin mattress out of the party room and put it next to the double bed that had already been made up with presumably clean sheets.  I mentally gave Josh the twin, asked if there was another sheet around and went downstairs to try and forget I would have to sleep with my family in that room later. 

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As the night moved forward, everybody relaxed.  Ives became less a caricature of a drunken Frenchman and more an actual guy from ....Montreal.... with a big, boisterous laugh and a lot of good stories.  With Maggie’s help, he made a beautiful dinner of corn on the cob, half-grilled chicken, amazing vegetable macaroni and cheese and salad from the garden. 

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After dinner, they took us down the street to the reviving downtown where Maggie’s mom lives in the 5^th story of a condo that sits right on the water overlooking Protection and ....New Castle.. ..Islands.....  The water was busy on the night before the bathrub races, an event that a former mayor created to put ....Nanaimo.... on the map.  A lightening storm and fireworks display competed to make the night one of the most spectacular in my memory. 

The room cooled down to the point of bearable and the family had scrimped and saved and presented us with two fans to use so we did not die from the heat. The next morning, we woke up first and dove to get coffee for everyone at a Starbucks in one of many shopping plazas.  Apparently what’s good about living on an island like ....Nanaimo.... is that you can go swimming after you shop at Walmart.   Ives woke up in a surprisingly chipper mood and made a beautiful breakfast of eggs, bacon, bagels an..d freshly cured lox from the salmon cannery down the street. 

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After breakfast we set out on an all-day excursion to the uninhabited island of New Castle where we would have an exciting day of boating over on a tiny little row/ motor deathtrap of a boat, getting separated from each other - having to hike the island not knowing if the other had been eaten by a native animal.  Reunited, we all had lunch together at the Pavilion on a section of the island that reminded me of a ....New Hampshire.... summer camp on a lake.  We had a fine time looking at the plethora of starfish and sand dollars in the shallow lapping water,  The baby got her feet wet and Ez up to his waist, the tide out so that water was so shallow anything more would have been difficult. 

Josh and Ives and Nico took the boat back and left me with Maggie, Ez and Itzel to ride the ferry which would have been easy except it only takes 40 at a time and we kept missing it.  During one of our waits, Ezra and I got to swim for really in a little swimming space off the rocks in between to docks in the gaspingly-cold fresh feeling water. 

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Dinner was homemade pizza- the best I’ve ever had – though I can’t tell if it was because I was just so happy that the visit was turning out the way it did.  Maggie turned out to be a delightful conversationalist and really-well versed in American politics, current popular books and all things ....Nanaimo.... and many Canadian. 

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We didn’t die from the heat of our quarters, or get infected by a terrible fungus from the teenagers mess, or get in a drunken brawl with our host.  I did step on a nail in the basement, but it was only a prick and tetnus has not set in still.  We actually found ourselves sad to leave and did so only after sitting with Maggie and Nico and looking at wedding pictures and signing their Servas book and inviting Nico to come stay with us anytime he could ake his way across the country. 

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We drove through the rest of Nanaimo and into Lentzville, where we are finishing up a one night stay with the niece of our Vancouver hosts, specifically so Ezra could spend an evening playing with 6-year-old Jenna and apparently so I could team up with Karina and beat the pulp out of the men in a late-night game of Eurchre. 

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Today we are bound for ..Victoria.. for a well-deserved night in a 2.5 star hotel and tomorrow is back to the states for the ....Seattle.... portion of this great adventure.