Yesterday was a BAD day. Our Air BnB was a disaster. It was advertised as a rustic cabin, but it was disgusting. The whole house slanted. There were bugs everywhere, including in my bed. Almost everything was covered in spiderwebs and dust. There were two beds- one had clean sheets, but was in the bug-infested bedroom with no ventilation (there was no fan, and you couldn’t open the window because there were holes in the screen). The other bed was on the screened-in porch, which was nice and cool, but once again, there were bugs. And it felt dirty to me. So, I took the bedroom and Alex took the porch. He was such a good sport. He claimed to love sleeping out there.
On top of staying in a house of horrors, I am sick. It was finally bad enough yesterday morning that I admitted I need a doctor. So we went to a medical center in Amherst, Nova Scotia. The ladies there were so sweet! They told me they’d had someone from out of the county in the month before, and it cost that person $930. I didn’t want to pay that much just to get an antibiotic, so they started calling around, trying to find me a doctor or a walk-in clinic. Canadian healthcare is strange! All of the walk-in clinics opened at 4 or 5 in the afternoon, and our ferry was at 5:30. We also learned that my American doctor is not allowed to call in a prescription to a Canadian pharmacy. So, we had to just move on without seeing a doctor and hope that we could find someone in Newfoundland.
My friend Felicia is from Cape Breton Island, and we had about three hours to kill there, so we asked her what to do. She sent us to St. Anne’s Gaelic College, which we thought was kind of odd, but then we got there and there was a jam session happening with this famous Canadian musician, and it was so amazing! Alex told one of his Canadian friends that we saw Ashley MacIsaac, and his friend said, “He’s a national treasure!”
(I know this is sideways, but my phone wouldn’t let me flip it.)
We couldn’t believe our luck! We stayed for the whole concert. This guy was so talented, and there were other people with fiddles and he would start playing and they would join in if they knew the song. It was by far the best part of the day. Because then we ate dinner at this terrible place called Robin’s (there were not a lot of options in North Sydney, Nova Scotia) and Alex asked if it was locally-sourced food (because he lives in Portland) and the girl said they get it from the grocery store down the street.
Then it was time to get on the ferry, and it was so nice!
We had a really nice room with two bunk beds that was so clean, and there were bars and lounges and a theater and restaurants. We hung out in the lounge for a while, then came back to the room and watched HGTV. Alex watches HGTV the way other men watch sports. (“Why isn’t he wearing safety goggles? That’s way too much to pay for that house! What a terrible decision! The window sill is rotting?? Nooooooo!”) I told him most people watch HGTV because it’s relaxing. Apparently not for Alex.
But then, things went south. An announcement was made looking for a doctor, and then a little while later, it was announced that we had to go back to North Sydney (even though we were three hours into the trip). And then, things got really rough and I just had to lay in bed and concentrate on not throwing up. Maybe this was because we were going super fast? Alex did some investigating and found out someone had a stroke or a heart attack, so I really hope that person is all right.
But after all that, we actually both slept very well. Our ferry is due to arrive in a half hour, and I am so excited. Finally- Newfoundland!!!
Comments