Bona Vista is a major historical location in North America. At a northeastern tip of a peninsula off of Newfoundland, John Cabot and crew landed landed to discover what we now know as Canada. In 1497, while on the sea in the ship 'Matthew,' he spotted a rugged coastline. Doug and I poked around a bit, curious about a formation known as the 'Dungeon.' While fighting a harsh moment of drizzle and high winds, we captured with our eyes an aspect of the creator's domain. The winds were strong and an umbrella's efforts were all in vain.
At North Atlantic College, I had gone to visit a friend from the last pilgrimage in 2003. Pat Marshall is the college counselor. He introduced me to the staff and then we chatted about life, retirement and renunciation. As a Catholic he expressed a strong admiration for Francis of Assisi.
Dinner was at the Jala residence in Clarenville. The cooking was phenomenal like that of Subuddhi, the head of our ashram in Toronto. Dr. Jala booked a nice room for us in a motel in St. John's. This was an act of seva (or service) to the 'men of the cloth' as they often say here out east.
Incidentally, we do become charmed by linguistic sayings here as well as accents which are strongly Irish. Newfoundland is a very beautiful and unique place. It almost feels like we are in a different country.
The day ended after brief walking (due to nasty weather) at the home of an old acquaintance, a student of yoga. Rather influential people of the island, from the education and legal professions were the other guests there. After meal time, one of the guests had an attack which compelled the host to call 911. At the table, the guest went into a deep state of being, almost unconscious. We thought we lost him. Life is so fragile. At midnight we shut our eyelids, and took rest before the final day on the road to complete the pilgrimage this time around.
17 kms
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