chocolate is the essence of life

OK, that's gonna be a long one...

but i decided to summorize it in the attached letter...

well, this Bill (Canadian-Indian, head of his tribe developement company) took me to Dease Lake, where he was staying.
he said he might be able to arrange a place for me with his friends, so waited for him next to the local restaurant (there are 2, but everyone go to that one).

later he came with his friends, and i understood that i haven't got the place... but he offered me to take a shower in his room!
so i did, and than i joined them to supper (and his friends insisted on paying my bill!)

i found a place to pitch my tent, right besides a bunch of bicycle riders who were doing their way from the US (i don't remember where exactly) to Anchorage! ~100 km a day. And they were very friendly, and one of them told me how much he appreciate Israel for being what it is and for being such an ally.

anyway, next day i wanted to go to Telegraph creek - a nearby place, where there are Tahltan (Bill's native "tribe") villages and the place itself should be very nice. i was suppose to catch a ride with Bill's friend, that meant to go there around noon.

so i wasn't sure what am i going to do the whole morning, but than i met Colby and Gregory - two adorable twins of ~5 years old (and i do mean it - i don't say it just because Elizabeth - their mom will probably read it), so i had a good time playing with them "catch" (MESIROT), and fooling around.

oh, and there was also an amusing-sad situation... Elizabeth was working in the garden at the entrance of the police station when suddenly she went like "holly crab", stood up, told the twins to back away and not to touch anything, and went inside the station. after a minute, she got out with a policeman, and he picked up a used bullet from the ground. he said it's probably from the 4th of July parade. can you imagine someone in Israel getting excited from a used bullet? or a policeman that will actually come to see what it's all about? well, it was amusing for half a minute, but than i realised this should be normal. and not what we have...

well, back to my day - this friend of Bill didn't go, but Bill decided to go himself...
we picked up another guy. Curtis, who turned out to be the biggest chief of the Tahltan nation! (though he was very bright colored, and look much like an European). and apparently, they have elections for this post (and Curtis was to reelect after a few days, but we didn't know that back than), and you don't have to be a Tahltan to be the chief and indeed, one of the candidates wasn't a Tahltan (though Curtis is a Tahltan ).

This was absolutely interesting! the place was very beautiful, and the people were very nice, and i heard a few Tahltan stories, and had a very good time.
It was also the beginning of the salmon run, so they were all fishing salmons - quite wasted on me, being vegeterian, but it was still very interesting...

and before we went back, they were both tired, so Curtis taught Bill "rock, paper, scissors" and this big chief and the respected 62-years-old company-president just played it for couple of minutes to see who will drive back!! it was so amusing!

and on the way back, when i was reaching for some more trail-mix (peanuts, raisins, faked M&Ms etc.) they said "Grizzly", and by the time i lifted my head he was gone :(

The next day i had no luck catching a ride to a trail head Curtis told me about (a place i was surly to see Caribou), and than i had bad luck trying to catch a ride north. in the end i had dinner with Curtis, another Tahltan chief and some BC officials, which quite interesting too - local politics...
and during the meal, the nice restaurant owner (Zhora, the restaurant being mama Z's) fixed me up with some truck driver that was to set out at midnight and take me to my next destination - Whitehorse...
i went to Elizabeth and the twins, to hear some news, and read a little.

the truck driver, Don, was a really nice person, and it turned out that he visits Israel every other year (with his church). By the way, he's about to quit working as a truck driver and start mining for gold! he has a claim that was estimated by experts to have 100,000,000$ worth of gold... oh, and he and some friends of his are praying for Israel's sake...

well, Whitehorse was nice (there was a local festival there) but not too exciting, and i stayed for 2 days, till i took the bus to Skagway - Alaska!
at last i got to Alaska!
the bus driver was an interesting guy - born in England, hitchhiked all the way from Kabul to London when he was 17!

anyway, in Skagway i camped near a nice lake called Lower Dewey lake, and hiked a little (Sturggil's landing and the amazing Upper Dewey lake) and than I did the Chilcoot pass trail.
It was a nice 4 days trail, and i met some very nice people, and saw some very neat views (alpine tarns, snowy summits, lot of water and trees etc.), but i missed the high light of the trail - the views from the pass itself. as often happens, the summit was inside a cloud :(
but I'm not complaining - it was a good hike, if somewhat expensive (the permit costs 45$US and you need transportation).

i thought about going from there to Juneau, hike a little, and than take a ferry to Whittier (near Anchorage), but Juneau was very rainy (as it often is) and the ferry to Whittier is 240$, so i decided to go by ground...

well, after another day in Skagway, I hit the road again. it took me 2 relaxed days to get through Canada to Fairbanks, Alaska, where i am now.

all the rides were quite interesting, but especially the last one - a guy from Wisconsin, that owned a small business and when his kids grew and left the house, he sold it and became a truck driver for 3 years. during that time he became a teacher, and now he's on his way to teach the natives in some island in the west of Alaska. He took me the long and beautiful way (and even insisted on buying me dinner) from Haynes Junc. to Fairbanks (~900 KM), and we even so 5 moos and a black bear on the way. He wanted to travel a little in the area, but his father died yesterday's morning, so he went to the airport to try and find a flight home :(

So, I'm really in Alaska now!!! (Skagway felt more like Canada for some reason)

Bottom line - so far so good.
i got meet very kind and very interesting people, i got see amazing views "of surpassed beauty" and i didn't have too much trouble with the mosquitoes...

well, what have we learnt so far?
- Canada is very beautiful and has a lot to offer
- there are nice nice people everywhere. it's just that in some places it's easier to meet them
- when you're hitchhiking - if wait enough time, you get bored...
- the best rides come with either food or a shower - already included in the prices
- if you don't cook rice they you should - it tastes bad.
- when fat, huge, bulky Americans go to a supermarket, even when they just got off the cruise boat where they stuff you to death, are looking for M&M, chocolate bars and stuff like that
- you snooze, you loose. especially when it comes to grizzlies...
- chocolate is the essence of life. i prefer ice cream every day. and I'll go for a good lasagna (I'd say excellent, but I'm vegetarian...) instead of chocolate when i need to choose. but still - chocolate is the essence of life.

have fun, and i hope that the 2 soldiers we'll be returned soon and we'll have cease-fire...