Parlez-vous Québécois?
This summer, I had the privilege of benefiting from the Travel, Study and Research Grant which is offered generously every year to teachers at AIS. I cannot begin to share with you my gratitude. My overall goal was to discover an area of the world that was unknown to me but where they speak my language. Québec seemed like the place to go.
I landed in Toronto after a short flight from Atlanta. I only spent a day visiting the city, but I could have spent a month! I hired a car to head towards Montréal, where I thought I would definitely encounter some familiar verbs.
When you travel by car to unknown places, Mapquest is quite helpful. Little did I know that Montréal had about three huge festivals going on at my time of arrival. The Jazz Festival, the Carribbean Festival and the "Juste Pour Rire" had transformed Montréal into a full blown outdoor party! All Mapquest recommendations were blocked off, evidently! I did manage however to find the B&B. To my surprise, the owner was an English speaker. Lindsey was most helpful in guiding me around the city and bringing to my table very interesting cultural tidbits as well as delicious food. She is a bass player for the Montréal Symphonic Orchestra and has the most fantastic taste in music.
At Lindsey's table, I discovered the most haunting Canadian artist my ears would encounter. I say "Canadian" as, although Lhasa De Sela was born in the U.S. of Mexican and Jewish descent, she has lived in Québec for most of her life. Canadians claim her as their own, even though she sings in French, Spanish and English. She is a little bit like Montréal felt to me: minority English-speaking, minority-French speaking and majority everything else!
Montréal is such a diverse city, I could have spent another month on the "Plateau", strolling down St. Denis all the way to the "Vieille Ville." But I had a long road ahead of me and so I set out for the mouth of the St. Laurent River.
I arrived at Baie-Ste-Catherine, knowing the place would feel like the end of the earth...and it did. Kilometers of road with nothing but trees, rocks, and water. I chose this small town (more like a village or hamlet) because it is located at the meeting of three regions within the Province of Québec: Charlevoix, Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean, and Manicouagan. This strategic place would most certainly position me for many discoveries.
Objective number one, meet some real Québecois! The first evening, I ventured out to the "Pointe Noire," a shore area known for observation of the Belugas. I quickly realized why it was called "Noire"—the waters of the St Laurent river and the Fjord Saguenay are so clear and so deep where they meet that they turn a shade of blue so deep it is almost black. When night falls, it is hard to distinguish water from sky, if not for the stars.
Patience will bring about the most interesting sight at Pointe Noire—in the midst of darkness, slowly and gracefully appears in front of your eyes one of the most magical ballets of mother nature. A pack of white whales gliding gently through the cold waters is a sight no camera could ever capture, mixed as it is with the sounds of the waves caressing the rocks, the Belugas' calls, the smells of the hundreds of flowers in bloom, and the winds from the great river blowing on your face and bringing the taste of salt to your lips. I knew then that for a week my camera would not be of great use, as this area would be a feast for all five senses.
I hiked every possible trail in the parks surrounding the waters of the fjord and every time returned to a welcoming "gîte" and the promised breakfast after a restful night. My hosts Diane and Chantal have a way of bringing together whoever stays at their house in a most convivial atmosphere. At their table, I discovered that a lot of Québecois take their vacations in this province and they describe with pride something interesting about their beautiful homeland.
I took some time to explore not only the dirt trails but also the waters of the region. I paired up with a professor from the Chicoutimi University, David, to navigate the St Laurent and the Saguenay fjord, aboard a sea kayak. After seeing the belugas, I was eager to meet the bigger whales of the area. Being close to the waters seemed like a good plan.
It was paddling under the best conditions: the quiet of the waters, the beauty of the sights and the sun shining. All was perfect... until I heard a yell, like a scene from the Titanic, along the lines of "Marine mammal, right ahead: safety position, now!"
There was a whale lurking underneath our frail boats and the only way to be somewhat safe, should it decide to come and say "Hi," was to grip all boats of the party and hold on tight. The danger was "only" to be turned over in the chilling 3-degree-Celsius waters, but somehow being in the water with "Orca" seemed very threatening to my naïve self (no, the common rorqual does not eat people!).
Before we could manage to get all four kayaks together, I spotted the scariest sight of my trip. A few yards away from the tip of my paddle, this huge black and glistening mass started emerging from the waters. It kept gliding on the surface until its dark curved and pointy fin was in full sight, then proceeded to disappear under the surface again. The guide reassured us that we had seen only a third of its total length!
Let me assure you, when you spend the money on a kayak expedition, you definitely want to see those animals so talked about in the region. Yet, when it was right there by my side, with all its massive presence, I felt that one encounter was quite enough and that if all my other observations were to be terrestrial, I would not feel cheated at all!
We finished the trip at the beach of Tadoussac, where I had the chance to sit a couple of nights at the "Père Coquart", a café where Québecois singers/songwriters unveil their talents. Their music is always a fine recipe of unique French words, Celtic tunes and folk rhythms.
Leaving Baie-Ste-Catherine, the Gîte de la Chute, Diane and her breakfasts, the region and its inhabitants, was an experience of its own. It had been a long time and many travels, since I felt like I did the day I left the Charlevoix region. I was like a kindergartner being called off the playground to go back inside, or a first grader when it is time to leave the pool to dry off and get dressed: I felt like crying and that day I swore I would be back.
I drove back down the St Laurent through the "Route du Fleuve," a magnificent drive, stopping in all the art studios I could find. I arrived in Québec city, this time in the midst of a "Festival d'été," a meeting point for music artists from all over the world, with music ranging from electro-rap to island tunes, from chanson française to alternative rock.
The next day, I bought a set of carved wood musical spoons, so that the next time I come to Quebec, I shall join the band! Later, I took some time from the city to visit the Ile d'Orléans, a haven for connoisseurs of regional products such as produce, delicatessen foods, maple goodies and wines. The people of the island will take you on a gastronomic history tour, from the first French people to today's farmers, although the Old World's influence is still very present throughout the island.
I finished my trip with a bit of Ontario in an area where the St Laurent starts its descent to the Atlantic ocean. This beautiful piece of world is known as the Thousand Islands. Again, I could have used another month of travel, the same way I felt for each of the stops I made during my journey.
The country has left a lasting impression on me. Of course, landscapes, culture and sights always bring one to appreciate newly discovered regions of our planet. However, although this sounds like a cliché, it is the people who made the difference: those who shared their province so passionately, those who welcomed generously, those who sang beautifully and those who spoke my language in such a colorful way!