north of the border!

I've had an amazing, crazy couple of days in Vancouver with Mayra, which must be recorded for posterity's sake. Whoever Posterity is....

We had an easy time finding our way to the hostel. We paid $6 for parking and were sent out exploring because the hostel's computers had crashed and they couldn't check us in right away. We walked down the street and found a mall and a hidden vintage clothing store. Very stylish. Lunch was provided by a semi-skeezy but overall satisfying Chinese food restaurant which was wedged between two exotic sex toys store. The adventure begins! Upon returning to the hostel, we found our room and took a nap, tired out from our strenuous trek across the border. We woke up and took the first of many drives around the city. We looped around Stanley Park, asking tons of strangers to take tons of pictures. It was really beautiful to be on the water at sunset. That night, we met our first friends in the hostel, who were Mexican (a bonus for Mayra)... we planned to meet up the next night. Our roommates Monday night were two older Australian ladies with cute accents. One was a minister, a fact she wouldn't have revealed to us except I mentioned that I went to Mexico on a mission trip. She hides the truth about her profession, both in Australia and in fairly liberal Vancouver, where she and her sister-in-law were vacationing. It was kind of weird to sleep with two strangers on the next bunk over, but this - combined with the drunken ruckus upstairs and outside our door - reminded me of dorm life and comforted by this strange sense of familiarity , I fell right to sleep.

On Tuesday Mayra and I walked to Chinatown, had lunch at McDonald's and walked back to Chinatown to see a garden. Then we took a bus to Granville Island, which was kind of like Pike Place Market except cleaner and bigger. We devoured some much needed ice cream, which was surprisingly difficult to track down, and then figured out how to take the bus back to the hostel. After this adventure, and another nap, we drove to Commercial Drive and Broadway, which actually reminded me of Capitol Hill's Broadway. We came back because we were supposed to meet the Mexicans, but they never showed. The next day, they said they came to meet us, but I know they didn't because I was waiting in the lobby. It's all for the better, because Mayra and I decided afterwards that they were irresponsible and sketchy. Instead, we got slightly dressed up to go explore the city at night, and ended up at Starbucks until they kicked us out at eleven. We had sweet drinks and great conversation. I got to explain the difference between "would" and "wood" and how to use the word "rather." When we had to leave, we walked through a park with a fountain and decided to eat breakfast there in our pajamas at 7 the next morning. We walked the streets until 12, trying to avoid the prostitutes who, even as I avoided them, broke my heart. I felt ashamed to be viewing the city as a tourist. When we finally returned to our room, we met our new roommate for the night - her name was Yosune, and she (divine coincedence) was also from Mexico. She was supposed to have met her friend at the airport when she flew in, but he wasn't there. She took a taxi to his apartment and waited five hours, but he never showed up - and she cried when she was kicked out of the building, and eventually ended up in our room. Needless to say, she was distraught. It was miraculous, though, because God provided her with someone to speak Spanish with (Mayra) and food (just our granola bars, but they were better than nothing) and a promise of a car to find her friend in the morning. I couldn't believe how God had worked it out. So we all went to bed happy, I think, and exhausted.

We woke up the next morning at 10am... not quite in time for our park breakfast, but at least we were rested. We got ready, checked out of the hostel, and headed out for a no-so-nutritious Burger King breakfast. We then drove to the Embassy building and headed for the eleventh floor, where the Mexican consulate was located, in order to track down Yosune's mysteriously absent friend at work. He had a good excuse for not picking her up, and a lovely, strong, booming voice besides, so we decided he'd be okay to drive us all to my car to get Yosune's stuff. Just as they pulled away from us, and Mayra and I were about to leave Vancouver, my car key broke in half. Just completely in half. The end, thankfully, fell to the ground instead of getting stuck in the door. Mayra and I just looked at each other in disbelief. "Time for an adventure!" we said, and smiled nervously... the rest of this four hour adventure can best be explained using numbers.

Unforseen expenses:
$2 for a phone call to AAA Roadside Assistance
$3 for a postcard and souvenier, and the directional help of two friendly (and bored) employees at a gift store in the mall
$4.50 for bus fare to make our way completely across town to find a locksmith who graciously offered to charge us far less than our first estimate of $75. This expense was miraculously paid by God, who knew I was coming to the end of my emotional rope, and through a merciful fellow traveler who heard of our plight when I was begging the coffee shop lady to exchange American dollars for Canadian coins. This man gave us what turned out to be exact fare for the bus, and refused my money in return. I cried.
$10 for a new key
$40 for a parking ticket left on my car, under a sign reading "No parking between 3pm and 6pm"
The experience of a lifetime, and more adventure and trouble than I could imagine, only two and a half hours from home... priceless. *you must have known that was coming....* ;)