Canadian Rocky Mountains

In May 2008 my husband and I went to Canada for the first time. I had re-discovered a photo that had enchanted me years before: Lake Louise - and my dream was to row in its blue waters.

We went directly to Vancouver, a city with which we had imediate and total affinity. After a week we took a train - The Canadian - for a two-day trip to Jasper, a tiny and pretty city, surrounded by snow-covered mountains. Since there is not public transportation to Banff, we rented a car to traverl the 280 km on the famous Icefields Higway that connects Jasper National park to Banff National Park. We rented a very confortable car equipped with speed control - which is very important when the speed limit is 70Km/h the most of the time . It permits the driver not to worry about exceeding the limit.

The road is really wonderful, all surrounded by the Rocky Mountains, adorned with creeks and rivers, scented trees and… the bears. It was also very calm and with very few cars - what made the journey a relaxing experience. It was wonderful to see my husband’s eyes, green and serene like an ocean in a calm day. By chance I had with me a CD we like very much – Conan the Barbarian soundtrack - its orquestrated music was as imponent as the landscape around us. As it was still the begining of Spring we thought we wouldn’t see snowfall anymore, but suddenly I saw small things flying like fairies beating on the car’s windscreen - and we entered a strong snowing area. The snowflakes were small and bright, and the landscape’s wightness was like a dream. It was a perfect trip, a true meditation!

And speaking of eyes, at a certain point of the road where there was an agglomerate of spruce trees , we saw from a distance a man walking between them. Some meters ahead we decided to stop at a hostel near the road. We went in, but nobody was there. After a while the man we had seen previously arrived – we recognized him by his clothes – and he came to talk to us. He was the Inn owner or the responsible. He introduced himself and when he shook our hands, he looked at us in a very intense, deep and calm way, direct in the eyes. It was a wonderful gaze as if our eyes were immersed in a placid lake. When we left, we talked about that look that reflects the scented woods, singing of birds and his lonely walks through the woods.

Eyes that reflect an intense inner life and inner peace, are really very rare.

That reminds me one fact happened to Yogananda, reported in his book Autobiography of a Yogi. He tells us that he was travelling through the Indian countryside and heard about a very evolved yogi that lived in a cabin in the jungle. Yogananda goes to visit him, and becomes very impressed with his eyes. According to him they were “eyes tha do not search anymore”.

We arrived at Banff in approximately five hours, that seemed only minutes. We saw a frozen water fall, a bear crossing the road, and a grizzly sow with her little cub.

Banff is a small, clean and beautiful city, also surrounded by giant mountains. We stayed at the Juniper, a wonderful hotel surrounded by spruce trees just outside the city, separated from it by a viaduct over the highway. Below the view from the hotel restaurant window.

As for canoeing at Lake Louise… I found the lake still completely frozen. It was very funny, unexpected, and frustrating. But it’s OK. It’s a great excuse to come back again.