Christmas 2017

It was a busy year for us with lots of travel, to South America, to Mexico twice, to the US, to Halifax, and within BC. And most importantly, we had quality family time, and continued to enjoy good health.

We started off the year by travelling to Colombia. An amazing country, maybe the friendliest people I've ever met, certainly the most helpful, that's for sure.

We started off with a week near Santa Marta on the Caribbean Coast.

On our hotel balcony with Christa, our friend and travelling companion


An active beach in Santa Marta

Then we travelled inland. 

The city of Medellin from the top floor of our hotel

One of the attractions in Medellin

From the mirador in Villa de Leyva, a town not too far from Bogota

We arrived home at the end of January, and then went out to Ucluelet on the West Coast of the Island.

A close up shot or sea lions from my paddle board

My sister Doreen joined us for the weekend

We weren't home for long before we headed off to Bucerias, Mexico, for a great time with our good friends Mitch and Shari.

I'm the Outings Chair for the Harbour City Photography Club, and at the end of March we visited Riefel Bird Sanctuary in Ladner. 

We were treated to a show by these sandhill cranes.

 As well as photography, another hobby of mine is studying Spanish, and I have lessons, usually twice a week, via Skype with a teacher from Mexico. 

Then, we were home for a couple of weeks before off we went to Halifax where we joined my son Jan and his family for the Easter weekend at Oak Island Resort.

kids enjoying the swings

Mary-Ellen and Jan, with Kieran, Donovan, and Malcolm

Later in April, I competed in the Comox Valley Snow to Surf Race. 

Paddling with my friend David in the Snow to Surf Race. 

 At the beginning of May I headed to Toronto to visit my friend Mark Melymick and his family.. 

This time when I returned home I stayed put for a while, and went on some local hikes. 

Wesley Ridge in May, and yes, that's snow!



Meares Island in May

And in early June, Susann joined me and some friends for a hike to Keeha Bay on the west coast of the Island.

Susann on the "trail" to Keeha Bay

Our campfire at Keeha Bay.

In June, Susann and I went with or friend Judy to Port Renfrew, and enjoyed some "wet" coast weather.

Huge trees in Avatar Grove.

And at the end of June I returned to the Hesquiat Peninsula, the site of my 2013 plane crash. 

We enjoyed some beautiful beach hiking,

and much better weather for our return flight this time!

Later in July, we went on a boat trip in the central coast. We flew over from Port Hardy in an amphibian plane, landing near Calvert Island, south of Bella Bella. 

                                                 Chica wasn't too sure about it.

The plane taking off after dropping us off. We were met by our friends David and Evelyn, and boated to the Bastion City, our home for the next 10 days.

 

Later in August, we went to Saskatoon, and my sister Doreen met us at the airport. 

When we returned home, Susann's sister Christin and her daughter Emmelin visited us.

 

Susann and Emmelin enjoying Invermere Beach in north Nanaimo. 

Chica's favourite place in the whole world!

We celebrated Emmelin's birthday at our cabin at Horne Lake

.

The lake was enshrouded in eerie smoke from mainland forest fires

Our little piece of paradise

In ways, living where we live in Nanaimo is like living in the country, as attested to by these deer near our house last August. 

In September, we packed up the tent trailer and headed down the west coast, getting almost to the California border. Some amazing scenery!

Those men were actually fishing from the top of that cliff!

Chica and I also enjoyed paddle boarding several times. 

In late September, I took another ramble in Strathcona Park with the Island Mountain Ramblers.

Beautiful fall colours in McKenzie Meadows

I was home for a few weeks and did some work in our garden.

Our park-like back yard.

Then at the end of October I went to Pátzcuarro, in central México. I stayed with a lovely couple, Coti and Eliseo, 

 

and studied Spanish. 

My primary reason for going there, though, was to photograph the Night of the Dead. I went on a tour, and we went to three different graveyards, arriving home at 4:30 in the morning! Tiring, but an amazing experience. 

They believe that the souls of the deceased return on the night of November 1st, and many people gather in the cemeteries, bringing food and drink for their departed relatives. As you can see, it's a joyous occasion!

Revellers in the first graveyard. 

A beefed up police presence for "Los Muertos." 

On my way back home, I stopped to visit my brother Ron in Texas. It's always good to see him, but this time my visit was tempered by the recent death of his wife Beth after a lengthy illness. 

Ron on his ranch with 2 of his 7 dogs (and 8 cats, 2 horses, and 2 donkeys)

.

Ron's ranch house with the full moon rising. 

Susann, meanwhile, headed to México for the first two weeks of December with her friend Christa and my sister Doreen.

And while Susann was in México, I went to Saskatoon to visit Mom and friends.

 
Mom and I heading to a Christmas concert. 

And to finish off our travelling for the year we headed down to Victoria just before Christmas. 
We had lunch with Lali, my fellow plain crash survivor.

And then went to my cousin Wendy's house for the weekend. 

On Saturday, Susann and Wendy went shopping and I went to the museum and took Chica for a walk around the downtown harbour. Victoria sure is a beautiful city!



And that's about it for the year. Whew! It makes me tired thinking of all the travelling I've done this year!

La noche de los muertos

Our first graveyard in Uranden

A tour until 4:30 A.M.! Where else but in Mexico for the Night of the Dead Tour with Animeche Tours?

We left the town of Pátzcuaro in central México at 9 p.m., and en route to our first stop our guide Jaime told us of the history of the celebration and regaled us with song.

Jaime leading us in a singalong en route to our first cemetery. 

In Pátzcuaro, as in some other locations in México, the "day" of the dead, is more like a "week" of the dead. It pre-dates the Spanish colonization of the country, and was adopted into the Catholic Religion to coincide with All Saints Day on November 1st. Traditions connected with the holiday include building private altars called ofrendas, honouring the deceased using calveras (skulls), aztec marigolds, and the favourite foods and beverages of the departed, and visiting graves with these as gifts. Visitors also leave possessions of the deceased at the graves (Wikipedia).  It is believed that the souls of the deceased return at this time and the survivors celebrate their return.

We first went to the town of Uranden, and after a traditional meal we were treated to traditional dances. The dancers had lightening fast feet!

Many people, even if they aren't performing, paint their faces, starting several days before the
Day of the Dead, much like people in Canada dress up for Halloween. I especially like these two with their smart-phones; quite a contrast with the traditional dancers.

We then watched some pescadores with their fishing nets and boats perform a show, a representation of the traditional way in which some indigenous people still fish for small sardines using the butterfly nets. In season they get up before the sun and use the artificial light of the torches to attract the fish.

Next we travelled to Arocutín to visit our first (of three!) graveyards. This was a larger cemetery than the others and there was more room to maneuver.

What struck me was that the people weren't sad or sombre; many of them were laughing even.

I was trying to discretely take a photo of this family, but they saw me and smiled for the camera. 

A more somber looking lady. 

By now, it's about 3 a.m., and they don't look very tired!

Some of the offerings for the souls of the loved ones.

These boys, though, couldn't last the night.

While marigolds are the dominant flower, there are others.

Whereas children here ask for candy, there they ask for money. His jack-o-lantern probably represents a calvera (skull).

There was a lot of traffic getting from Arocutín to Iguatzio, and so we didn't have as much time at the last two graveyards, and since I was taking photos, I didn't get very far in either of these cemeteries. And then we had a long bus ride back to Pátzcuaro, and I had a fifteen minute walk home. I stopped first at an Oxxo (corner store), thinking a beer would be good to put me to sleep, but they had the beer fridges barred off (and all the next day) so I had to make do with a liquid yogurt. By the time I got to bed it was 5 a.m. (and two days later I was up at 5 a.m. to catch an early bus to the airport). My body had quite a time adjusting!

Camera settings:

Auto ISO, with a max of 6400. (And often I needed 6400.)
Shutter priority
Aperture - usually as wide open as I could, from 4-5.6, but sometimes, if there wasn't much movement in the scene and I wanted more depth of field, at f/11
SS - usually slower than 1/10 of a sec.
I did bracket all the shots (3 images for each), and usually HDR'd them when editing.  
I used a tripod, usually set low, not only to get low angle shots, but because it was easier to move around with it