Remote BC

Just finishing up my first week in a super rural remote First Nations village, Bella Bella, along the pacific coast of British Columbia. It's on a small island that actually faces east towards the mainland of BC but between the two land masses is a pristine ocean channel through which fishing boats, whales, kayaks and the occasional ship traverse.

The town's most prominent guests are its ravens, crows and bald eagles. On any given day, I can count a handful of any of the above either soaring high in the air, perched on a tall post or tall tree branch or flying low above the rooftops. I've never seen this many bald eagles in my life. On Sunday, when I think some fishing boats came in, I saw at least four bald eagles circling above. They're basically the pigeons of this town. Haha.

A pleasant custom I learned on arrival is you wave or greet anyone with whom you cross on the road. It doesn't matter if you're driving a vehicle or going a walk, a friendly wave is the norm, regardless of familiarity. It adds an extra element of openness and courtesy. Anonymity is not likely around here.

The band store is where people get any sort of groceries. It's not cheap to import anything so while I was looking to maybe have a half pint of blueberries today, I'm also not keen on paying $6 for it. It hurts paying $6 for a 1 L bottle of milk too. Unfortunately, the cheapest things in the store are canned or preserved meals, candies, sodas and junk food. Good luck making an affordable salad or snacking on fresh fruits for very long. Trying to bake an apple crisp would probably set somebody back at least $20 on the apples alone.

The people here are pleasant and actively interested in who you are, which makes the transition easier. They want to know your name and where you're from. It's been a week and I've stuffed myself full from two gracious dinner invitations.

I've spent an afternoon kayaking on the calm waters, watching the soaring birds of prey look like circling specs over certain areas of forests. You gotta wonder what kind of prey they're stalking. I'd love to catch one of them in the act of swooping down to catch a mouse or fish.

On a run, looking west of the town are rolling hills of coniferous trees as far as I could see. Of course, the rolling hills meant my pace was getting destroyed on that run, haha.

I hope to check out some hiking trails this week if the weather clears up, and of course more kayaking. What I would give to see a whale while I'm on the water...