Bye bye blue bridge

The Johnson St bridge, or as it had become known, the Blue Bridge (guess what colour it is), was a long standing Victoria icon.  A few years ago it was assessed to have reached its expiry date and after a lot of wrangling, delays and cost overruns a new bridge was completed this spring.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnson_Street_Bridge  

Removing the old bridge was another engineering feat.  Over many weeks, the it was separated from the rest of the structure, lifted on to a barge by a huge crane, named the Dynamic Beast

 Slowly, slowly the bridge is lowered on to the barge.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HA6ENW6Iuw0  

and floated away.

Public works and the eagle next door

Victoria has been criticized for years for not having sewage treatment facilities.  There is primary treatment (screening) but essentially we were spewing raw sewage into the Strait of Juan de Fuca.  Only recently has Victoria been mandated to build a treatment system.  Part of this system will entail pumping sewage from one part of town to another, under the harbour to another treatment facility.  (More info: http://www.timescolonist.com/islander/all-about-the-sewage-pipe-that-will-run-under-victoria-harbour-1.23205174)  So they built a pipeline that is:  "1.1 metres in diameter and 940 metres long, made up of 78 sections, each 12.2 metres in length. It is made of steel with a polyurethane liner. It has a combined weight of 615,300 kilograms."

 You can see the rollers the pipe passes over

Then, over the period of about three days, they drag this pipe through a tunnel that had been drilled under the harbour.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4_urO-tinc

 Watch the pipe move!

Quite the engineering accomplishment.  The project took a long time to complete and the pipe created a barrier through the neighbourhood for many weeks.  

Fortunately I was in Mexico for most of it but was glad to get in on this last stage.

 The last bit gets rammed into the tunnel.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-ENc2uUAt8

And then, one day, for something completely different, there was the eagle on the roof next door

Victoria - Discovery Island

It actually felt nice getting back to the Northwest from Mexico where it had gotten pretty hot.  It was quite mild and felt refreshing when I landed and stayed that way for the next few days, long enough to lull me into a false sense of security. Then the other shoe dropped, the clouds rolled in, the temperature dropped and it rained.  But that was April and now it's almost June and as I write, the weather has been great for a while.  I've gotten in a couple of kayak trips to Discovery Island, just an hour's paddle from Victoria, and my favourite day paddle.  It's a beautiful little island, part of a cluster of islands just across the channel from Oak Bay.  

Part of it is Provincial Park with camping, another part is First Nations and a small chunk belongs to the Feds and there's a decommissioned lighthouse there.  

 Views around Discovery Island

An interesting feature of the island is that there is a resident wolf.  No one knows exactly how it got there but it's been living there for five or so years now.  The First Nations band that owns part of the island believe that the wolf is the spirit of their chief who died around the time the wolf showed up.  As a result, they have closed off their part of the island and prohibit even landing.  But there are plenty of other places to land on the park side and quite a nice campground.  Wildlife abounds: eagles, otters, sea lions, seals, herons, orcas, dolphins, numerous waterfowl species, and so.  

I once found myself in the middle of a little group of orcas while kayaking out there.  Quite thrilling!!  

Paddling off into the sunset

 

Mexico 2018 - The end

 As an indication of how unsatisfying Guanajuato was to us we made a plan to  visit to San Miguel de Allende (SMA).  I've visited there many times over the years, had some wonderful times but each time I went, I enjoyed it less and resolved not to go again, a resolve I did not keep, obviously.  It is a beautiful little city with lots of history and art but has become overrun by wealthy Americans and Canadians to the extent that it's no longer pleasant to visit.  But to get a respite from the crowds and noise of Guanajuato and for a change of pace, visit we did.  And we picked a very hot day to do so as it turned out, well over 30c. I took few pictures but here they are: 

 Heron rookery in the middle of town

 As part of our weekly Wednesday hiking group excursion, we explored a new area, the town of Santa Ana, a short bus ride from Guanajuato.  It's a cute small village in the mountains with a nice reservoir that we hiked around.  

 I'll leave you with some beautiful blooms, the jacaranda trees that put our their lovely lavender flowers in the spring and the bougainvillea that is always blooming here.

 
 And so, that's it for Mexico 2018.  Stay tuned for Wanderings closer to home.

Mexico 2018 - Return to Guanajuato

Here are some random photos from around Guanajuato.  There are no end of photogenic subjects.  

Hiking in the mountains around Guanajuato

The graffiti tour

The University of Guanajuato Ballet Folklorico performance.

The popular festivity of “El Día de la Flores” (Day of the Flowers) has its origins as part of the celebration of “Viernes de Dolores” (Friday of sorrows). On this date the people set up altars in honor of the Virgin Mary of Sorrows.

These are little pots of wheat grass were sown two weeks previously, they signify that Jesus and Mary don't want us to be hungry.

This is the fountain in Plaza Mexiamora, the little plaza just below Casa Bertha.  It was being renovated when I arrived and after a few weeks, for the first time since I've been coming here, water actually flowed.  It flowed (dribbled) for a few hours and that was it.  It didn't flow again while I was there. 

Mexico 2018 - Museo Rafael Coronel cont

The tour continues of the Museo Rafael Coronel.  Masks are next up, just a small sample of the many thousands.

And a few of the many archaeological artifacts

 
For more of the building, the masks and archeological artifacts: https://bicycle.smugmug.com/organize/Travel/Rafael-Coronel

Here are a couple more sculptures: 

This museum was the high point of our visit to Zacatecas, though much of the art that we saw elsewhere was exceptional as well.  It was as much about the building itself as the art that it contained.  

A surprise for us was how quiet all of the museums were, very few visitors, at least at that time. The streets were bustling but our hotel was very quiet as well and we noticed that a lot of businesses were closed.  And this was a weekend.  We were told that at holidays it picks up considerably but this particular weekend was very quiet. Fine with us.  As well, we only saw one other obviously foreign couple.  Soon we would be back in vibrant little Guanajuato, though and there would be no shortage of foreign visitors.