Brand new beginnings

When last we heard from the intrepid travelling duo, they were heading home for a fleeting visit. We now join the pair back on South American soil, a little weary, a bit shaken, but still intact...

Cathy and I had psyched ourselves up to be be ready for the grilling from Canadian Immigration and Citizenship (CIC) regarding my application for Canadian residency, a process that has taken over two years of planning, applying and waiting. Leaving Canada while the application was pending was not the problem, as someone from Immigration Canada said, "We are not a prison." Being allowed back in was the issue. US proved more difficult to transit through than my re-entry into Canada. In the States I was photographed and fingerprinted. At Vancouver International Airport I was welcomed back to Canada. Phew! In!

Waiting for the CIC office in Nanaimo to open after lunch, we ran through the tough questions that they might throw at us: Where do you live? What do you do? Um... Even though I want permission to live in Canada I would have to say that we are homeless and jobless. Can you let us in, please? There were some questions to answer, but fortunately my answer made me look really good. "Have you been arrested since applying for residency?" "No, I haven't." A little verification of details, few stamps and some signatures and it was "You are now a Resident of Canada. Congratulations." Fifteen minutes of paperwork after a bit of flying and that was it!

Cathy and her brand new resident then travelled north up Vancouver Island to Parksville to meet Emily, a week-old citizen of Canada and a recent arrival to Earth. Born on the last day of August, 2006 to proud parents Christine and Colin Dunn (wedding picture), Emily is an astoundingly beautiful baby. It was a moment of magic to see her for the first time. Over the next few days we got to see her grow a teeny bit and watched Christine and Colin develop into being her mum and dad.

It was a brief visit back to Vancouver, but in those few days we packed in quality time with visits with cousin Robert (Hotel chez Robert is always a treat), Aunt Thelma, dad and Marielle, and a small party with Christa and Grant, Kevin and Lewisa and little Jasper (who's getting bigger each time we see him).

Back on American Airlines for a few flights across the States (with an extra one thrown in thanks to weather diverting us to refuel in Oklahoma) and a little bit of running to make the connections. We made it back to Lima, Peru as expected, but our luggage wasn't as swift. Two extra days in Lima were called for, but it was something like bonus time (unless you smelled us without a change of clothes for a bit over 48 hours). If there's some sort of devine balance with our luck with flying then the positive aspect was seeing the Dalai Lama at Vancouver Airport.

Not changing travel clothes is something of a theme. We have just completed an 18 hour bus journey from Lima to Tunbes, a small border town on the edge of Peru/Ecuador. The bus we could handle, but the small taxi ride to the frontier was something else!

Getting in a shared taxi with an Ecuadorian father and daughter, we were driven to the dusty, bustling Peru/Ecuador border. There was a little bit of confusion and after a bit of arguing and some assurances from the driver and his assistant we were driven along some back streets. We had been warned by the taxi driver that it was a dangerous area and to exercise vigilance. It turned out that the driver was delivering us into something less than safekeeping. Delivery was to an obviously armed Peruvian policeman standing at a barrier who told the Ecuadorian father up front to pay him US$20 to pass beyond and for 'our security'. The driver and policeman were double-talking their own swindles: safety and security were not delivered by either. It was a brief but tense moment and it just reinforced both our instincts to not trust border areas and doubly for taxi drivers at frontier towns.

Ecuador! Otavalo Market, The Equator, Devils Nose, Galapagos Islands and other marvels are ahead.

Location: Miraflores, Lima, Peru