We left the Viking house early in the morning for breakfast in La Sarre's Tim Hortons. Then we continued west to Cochrane in Ontario. On the picture on the right you can see Francis, Patrick and Bill Pomper as they leave the Viking house to load the Tuckamor van. As you can see, there were meters of the snow in La Sarre at this time of the year. |
Once we reached Cochrane, we had some time to explore the town. I went out with Anita and Kevin. Here you can see me with Kevin at Cochrane's "Statue of Liberty". The name of the bear is Chimo. |
| We then loaded all our gear into the famous Polar Bear Express, and left for Onakawana. We played a famous Slovak game called Lorum. I have to confess, I lost. Had we played for our valueables, I would have lost all my gear. The only thing I can say on my defense - Kevin would have lost even his underwear! The star of the game was Pierre (not shown on this picture). The guy has a gift for the game. He can smell cards from far away and is able to learn any new game in seconds. |
You can see Pierre on this picture on the left. Once the train got closer to Onakawana, we moved to the baggage car to get all our gear once the train stopped. At Onakawana, there were four Cree waiting for us: Philip, Clarence, Bill and Logan. On the right side you can see us at Onakawana camp after train left. |
This is our camp on Onakawana River. As you can see, Bill Pollock & Richard brought along a portable washroom, with a nice red colour. It was very pleasant to use it! |
| Cree provided us with their traditional food. You can
see the menu. One of the Cree customs (way of life) is never to grow the animal for the meat. They consider it as disrespect to animal and the Creator. Animals must be hunted or trapped. After they are killed, the Cree symbolically give thanks to the animals for giving up their lives to feed the the man. On the left you can see Anita being served by Philip. On the right side it's me, Bill Pollock, Foxie and Philip after we washed the dishes. |
This is the picture from inside the prospector tent. Every evening, after the darkness fell, we had a lesson by Philip about the Cree life, customs, beliefs, history, presence and future, about the injustice which was done to them by white men. On the very left you can see the face of another Cree, Clarence Trapper. |
