in face, we’ve been here for a week already! our bohemian days in sayulita already seem so far away. there is so much to write its hard to know where to start, so i’ll just stick with the basics – our journey up here was as smooth as can be. i didn’t know there were direct flights from sayulita to vancouver and had booked a flight that took us through dallas. america has this silly law that requires passengers to collect and re-check their luggage even if you are just in transit, so i was dreading having to deal with all of our bags… but as it turns out american airlines has a deal with the government that lets them bypass that law! not sure why this isn’t standard procedure, but in any case it was a big relief 🙂 the only annoying thing was that we had to wait two hours at vancouver airport to get our visas, but that was about the worst part.

we spent our first five days at casa macmello, this charming little cottage tucked away in the host’s backyard. it was a nice cosy place to land and also quite a central place from where to get our bearings. vancouver is big, and i’m still adjusting to the amount of energy it takes just to get navigate from one place to another. at least the public transport is pretty stellar, especially the train system.

sunny weather greeted us and lasted for a good four or five days. we were bracing ourselves for rain and grey, but it seems like we brought a little bit of mexico with us. it was the perfect opportunity to check out stanley park, which apparently is the largest urban park in the world! its pretty surreal to be in this gorgeous forest and see high rise condos packed on the other side of the shore.

brenda and i were very excited to find good coffee, but unfortunately we have been pretty disappointed so far. we’ve tried the chains (blenz, cafe artigiano) as well as the local cafes but none of them have really caught our attention… have we turned into coffee snobs?!

nayou went bowling for the first time as well! we got a lane in the “glow-in-the-dark” section of the building 🙂

now we have settled into what will be our home for the next six months. we found a sublet on craigslist and its just starting to feel like home now. its got two bedrooms, a good sized backyard and stays nice and warm. its a little far from the city for my liking, but instead we get to be right on the water and enjoy lots of fresh air. we’re in the market for a car so once we have wheels it will be much easier for brenda and nayou to get around.

i’ve been back at work for three days. its definitely a weird feeling being away from brenda and nayou all day, and only getting to see them briefly in the evenings for a hang out. imageworks has a full-on training week for me which has been very helpful. their workflows and pipeline are very mature and i am excited to be working on some cool technology there! i suppose we’ll all get used to this new routine, but i do wish i could see more of my lovely family during the week!

brenda and nayou went to vancouver’s famous science world today. nayou really liked it, especially some of the science demonstrations he saw. they joined as members, so i think the two of them will be visiting a lot!

well thats about all i have in me for today. got to go get some shut eye before another early wake up tomorrow! my mexican sleep-ins are another thing i miss, for sure!