Moments we love

To get straight to the point: Winnipeg doesn't offer much. You can tell the city is struggling, with its many vacant buildings and the complaints of the locals.

This is quite unfortunate, as Winnipeggers, like all Canadians, are open and friendly people. The bus drivers deserve special mention here: They wait for you if you're running after the bus, they let you get off between two stops, they hold off on driving until elderly passengers find a seat, they accelerate sharply if a fellow passenger is about to miss their connecting bus, and they let homeless people board for free. Here are two highlights of kindness and thoughtfulness: Once, the bus stopped at a stop where a blind man was standing. The driver leaned out and called to the blind man to let him know which bus was arriving so he wouldn't have to ask. We personally benefitted from another example. At the ticket counter, we had them calculate what would be cheaper for six bus rides: two 24-hour tickets or a 10-ride pass plus two single tickets. The friendly staff quickly found a solution: it would be cheapest if we took a 10-ride pass and he would gift us two single tickets. Done! A huge thank you to the staff of public transportation in Winnipeg!!!

In terms of beauty, Winnipeg offers the Assiniboine Park with its flowers and statues alongside its name. The Museum of Human Rights is highly praised and is said to be very interesting. To our great regret, we weren't able to visit it.

But as always, the encounters with people are the best part of such a trip. We were waiting in our private accommodation, which also housed a family from Peru, for the rain to stop. The Peruvian woman cooked for her family... and quite naturally for us as well. Thus, we were invited to a bean-meat dish with salad by a very nice family and, despite several language barriers, understood each other very well! Then a new, quite talkative guest came in, introducing himself as Donald (name changed). He was originally from Vancouver, had worked abroad in development aid for several years, and afterwards found it hard to establish himself in Vancouver. So, he moved to Manitoba and now teaches First Nation children. It's really a pity that we're leaving today; otherwise, he would have been able to show us a reserve. It's a shame, but the encounters with him and the family were beautiful and valuable. And these are exactly the moments on the journey that we love so much.