Life is simple but good!

A small update about my life here in Canada, I guess the pictures say it all!
We did 2 more hikes, the first upto the hidden Temple Lake. It's a climb up, not even on a real trail, but you end up at a small lake surrounded by high peaks.
The next day we walked up to Mirror Lake and a teehouse above Lake Louise, where we had a nice lunch. It's a small hut, where they serve fresch baked bread and teebiscuits. The people who work and live there are even more cut off of the world then we are, no running water, no electricity and no phones or internet, crazy, but the other side of the story is that they earn a lot more money then we do. After that break we walked further up to a lookout called the big beehive (because the rock looks like a beehive), where we had a surreal view over Lake Louise, which has a milky blue colour and the smaller mirror lake which is totally different. The walk ended with a refreshing swim in Lake Louise, just jumped in with my clothes on.
It were another 2 satisfying days off and now we're back to work. Talking of which, we got some good news as well: we got a pay raise of 1 dollar, jiepi!! I guess they really like team housekeeping :-)
It's been very busy last week, which is good for my pay, because it allows me to do some extra hours. I got my first pay check as well from the first 2 weeks, it's not to bad, but a lot less then what I'm used to in Belgium. Off course I'm in the rockies and my accommodation isn't expensive at all, so can't really complain.
The weather is also very good, even a bit to warm for me, today we had 30 degrees which makes the work even harder. The rooms are so hot and no airconditioning, well it's a good work out. Luckely we got a new member on team housekeeping, a Japanese guy joined us yesterday, something unexpected. To cool down after work I sometimes go for a swim in the pool, but that causes some whinging from the guests who catch me swimming and they're not allowed:-) although I don't think they would like the pool if they would know what I found in the water, a death mouse, very hygenic hey but to late for me.
The evenings go by playing pool, jenga or twister :-), playing softball, volleyball or badminton or just end up in the bar.

West Louise Lodge

I've made a picture of the Lodge where I'm working and living, so you can have an idea how it looks like. It's already quiet old, so it doesn't look that fabulous, but I guess it's one of the cheapest places where you can stay here in the neighbourhood and with a car accesable to all the good spots. If you click on this title you'll get a link to the Lake Louise area.



P.O. Box 9, Lake Louise, Alberta - Canada TOL 1EO Tel: 0012503436311 (in emergencies or if you call late at night I might be able to talk on the phone :-) )


Along the transcanadian Highway, there's also the traintracks that crosses the Rockie Mountains. It's pretty amazing to see huge trains passing by at a very slow paste, because of the bears that might be on the track. They told me that there's a lookout where you can see the train going into a tunnel to cross the mountain and when the first wagon comes out of the tunnel you can still see the back end of the train entering the mountain.

I added another picture of the view you have of the lookout behind our Lodge, it's a good hour climb, but defenitely worth it.

Another picture on a walk along the train tracks with some girls from work, 2 Australian and one Canadian and with a beer spray! The girl on the right is my housekeeping partner :-)

And to keep the staff happy out here the managers organise some party's with free food and free beer. Like this monday we had a barbecue and pool party. The Lodge actually has a pool, but because it's not cleaned yet the guest can't use it, so a private party in the pool isn't a problem :-) After a nice dinner, a homemade malteser icecream slice, a swim in the pool with blow up boots and a volleyball, a sauna, we ended up with a dive in Wapta Lake outside our door. It's glacier water but still wasn't that cold at last time, good refreshment.

(Representation: Australia, New Zealand, Scotland but actually lives here)

The Rockies Rock!

I had my first taste of the gorgeous ice lakes and the hiking trails here at Lake Louise. My first 2 days off have already come to an end, unfortunately, but there were great.
A collegue and I went first on a hike, called saddleback trail, which took us all the way up above Lake Louise. We had a great view over the ski hill from Lake Louise and the wide expanding Rockie Mountains.


It also made me realise that my body really needs some more exercise :-) hopefully I'll get to that.
After the hike we drove to the famous Morain Lake, 10km away from Lake Louise. It's a skyblue lake surrounded by the mountains.


It looked so tempted to jump in and off course that's what we did. The swim lastet about 30 seconds and was literly breathtaking, freezing cold. It was a hot day anyway so it cooled us down for a while and after an hour our clothes dried already. Before we drove back to the Lodge we took the gondola up the ski hill and had again an amazing view.
All this probably sounds really laim if you just read it, but it's just undescribable.

My second day I first had to go into Banff (about an hour drive) to do some groceries. You really have to stock up because you can go shopping just once a week and you always have to pay to get there as well. So with food for about 150 dollars (it's a lot more expensive then in any other shop outside the Rockies) I hope to get around for a while.
It was another gorgeous day so we walked up to a lookout right above the Lodge. Luckely I found another victim to join me, because they don't recommend going alone on a walk.

Conclusion: astonishing views, beautiful lakes, wildlife and a sunburn :-) (my body really needs some more vitamins E, although eating carrots defenitely doesn't help either)

Working Holiday!

My working part finally has started. After a long 24 hours journey on the plane and bus, I arrived in the beautiful place called Lake Louise, it was actually the next morning that I saw the astonishing view I have outside my window, because I arrived in the middle of the night.


So now I’m living at the lodge where I work on the boarder between Alberta and British Columbia, in the middle of the Rockie Mountains, 15 minutes away from the town Lake Louise. It’s a bit more isolated then I first expected, but at least I don’t have to pay much for my accommodation. It’s a really expensive area and if you just want to travel around here you need to win the lotto. A night in the hostel is already 40 dollars and I checked for the prices in the winter, to ski for one day it’s about 70 dollars, so without friends or a job it’s not payable for a poor Belgium girl :-)
I haven’t seen much from the area yet, I started working the first day I arrived until this Thursday, 9 to 5.30pm shifts in team housekeeping. Our team actually consists out of 2 people, an Australian girl and me, woehoe. Two people for the whole hotel, which has about 30 rooms, is not really enough. It’s pretty exhausting and after one week I’m already an expert in making up beds and cleaning up bathrooms. I haven’t cleaned this much in my own place and I probably never will either, definitely after this work.
It’s nice though it keeps me busy and in the evenings we just hang around, playing silly games, watch television or if we’re allowed to go out (that means if someone wants to drive us to the town) everybody goes crazy. Most of the crew is from Australia or New Zealand, some Canadians and then there’s me, but everybody’s really nice and we’re having fun.
The managers are really doing their best to keep us happy, because apparently a lot of people left before I came here, which is also a bit understandable. The pay is lousy, without a car you’re stuck, we go for groceries once a week (which is still expensive if I compare to the east coast of Canada), no high speed internet connection, just dial up over the phone line which is really slow and only can be used after 11pm, no sell phone connection (or a small signal just enough to send a message), … but I’m not complaining, at least not anymore. The pay is everywhere the same, you don’t have to come here to earn a lot of money, we’re lucky with the accommodation prices and our team is great. On my days off I will cruise around a bit and hope to see more of the Canadian Rockies and it’s wildlife. Up till now I’ve seen a black bear walking aside the road and heaps of ground squirrels just outside my door (with small babies, cute but noisy, they squeak whole day long). When you go out for a hike, you’ve to take bear spray with you and you’re actually not allowed to walk alone. Black bears didn’t scare me that much but grizzly’s do.
Anyway tomorrow I'll have my first day off and up for a hike in the mountains, I'll try to keep this updated but pictures have to wait till I get to a high speed internet location because here it takes hours.