Oh faithful followers of the Africa blog! How can I even pretend to be able to give you even a smidgeon of what came of the winter of 2007-2008...the voodoo rites, the cockroaches and scorpions and the joy and pain of public transportation. It was full of drama and romance and adventure wasn't it, over there in some far off land that nobody had ever even heard of.
But over the past week I've realized that not only do I not know anything about Labrador, but nobody does. Who goes to Labrador? Who would ever go there and why? Who even knows that the official name of the province of Newfoundland IS actually Newfoundland and Labrador? Because it's not on its own and it's certainly not Newfoundland. It's $850 away from St. John's, to be more precise. Who's ever heard of Labrador City? Ok that's an easy one, along with Churchill Falls (right?) but what about Rigolet? Northwest River? Goose Bay? Sheshatshiu? Do you know who the Innu people are? What does it mean if you're offered beaver to eat? If you wanted to drive to Labrador, how long would it take, and how would you get there? How many chances do you have to get food and gas on the roughly 600km of mostly unpaved road between the St. Lawrence and Labrador City?
Sometimes we know more about the world out there than the world right here. One of the reasons I travel is to understand my own country better. Labrador sounds like a strange place full of miners and ex-military and troubled Native reserves and tiny, remote coastal Inuit communities. How different was Benin from what you imagined? Maybe Labrador will be a similar surprise.
Guess the only way to know is to "changer d'air" and follow the blog up to the north...
My co-worker drew a picture on my Manulife Financial employee benefits booklet. It had a cartoonish image of Ottawa on the left and Sheshatshiu on the right, with a road in between. That's all it is really. Just a change of air.
