Consolons-nous de ne pas savoir les rapports qui peuvent être entre une araignée et l'anneau de Saturne, et continuons à examiner ce qui est à notre portée.
François-Marie Arouet dit VOLTAIRE


Day 38

am (Hot)

pm (Hot)

Rides = nil
Arrival = Vancouver
KM travelled = nil
$ spent = $15.00 (return trip, boat: Victoria-Vancouver)
Time passed on the road = 1 pm - 9 pm
km walked = 5

I was sitting on the ferry for Victoria when a young woman came and sat beside me. She was holding a square box with both hands as if she was carrying a live grenade or the heart relic of some unknown saint. It had chicken wire top, like a cage. She put the box on her lap and kept looking down at it. I extended my neck and I saw a big spider! "Is that a tarantula?" I said. "Yes it is," replied the woman. "It's a Chilean Fire Rose Tarantula and I call her Pinky. Would you like to touch her?" She lifted up the top and I slid my hand inside the box. Pinky was reddish brown with hairy legs and must have been at least 5 inches in diameter. I patted her back and she did not move. It was kind of a weird feeling. The young woman told me a few facts about her pet and then said, "I wanted a python but my mom did want any snakes in the house, so I had to settle for a tarantula."

I got off the boat in Victoria only to re-embark 10 minutes later to go back to Vancouver*, destination: the bus depot. I sold my one way ticket for Moncton to someone outside of the depot for $50.00 With the money, I got myself another ticket, for San Francisco. My bus was leaving at 6:30 am. I had the whole night to burn. On the street I met Rene and Otto, two guys from the Philippines. They invited me to join them at the Denny's Restaurant. There, Otto, who was quite a magician, kept us guessing where the coin was. Is it here? Is it there? No coin! He was also pulling silk scarves from his ears. They treated me to a fine club sandwich and unlimited amounts of coffee. We talked mostly about magic tricks but Otto did not want to reveal any of his secrets. They left around two with Otto pulling a long string out of his nose. I drank a few more cups of coffee before I decided to go for a walk around the block. Outside, I met a guy from Australia, anyway that is where he said that he was from. He was quite wasted and when he saw my mouth harp, he got really excited, "Oh man, this looks like a good harp, lend it to me. I gonna play you a tune man, I am the best harp player down under!." I was not too keen on letting him play my instrument but he was really insisting. As soon as he got a hold of it, he started to empty all of his saliva glands inside it. The music was not that great either. After what seem to be a long time, he said, "Hey man, this rocks!" He was obviously delighted by his performance. He extended his hand with the harmonica covered with saliva. It was dripping, and it was disgusting. I told him that he could keep it. To thank me he started to play again. I left and went to the Denny's for more coffee.


- Daniel

*I am quite puzzled by this. There is no explanation in my journal of why I went for Victoria, only to come back to Vancouver and I do not remember why I did that. August 3, 2004



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