Day 8 - I'm sorry in advance for having me as the writer (PS: Diego is a liar) - Celeste

Hi everyone this is Celeste with todays post. First we got up at 7 am (some of us didn’t get up till 7:20) for an 8 am departure. Breakfast was a schmorgasbord of leftovers (and new this morning - cereal and milk option). I believe I ate enough tiny apricots to feed a small village. 

Our first stop was a kayaking tour. It was a bit early in the morning so Kiera told the instructors that she was "from Keira" rather than Edmonton. We all had a little laugh; the instructor’s names were Jess and Lauren.  I was not nervous about tipping over in the boat (I say definitely not lying through my teeth). The kayaking itself was lovely; we had amazing views during low tide and saw much wildlife such as starfish, anemones, fried egg jellyfish, and bald eagles. Madeline was the first to spot a crab in the seaweed; Claire was envious, as she really wanted to see the crab as well but did eventually spot one herself. We had some trouble starting the trip with steering the boat and such but Caroline and Ashiya really had some trouble starting out, Caroline blamed the boat but we all know that really wasn’t the case. (Don’t worry she gave me permission to out it into the blog.) After some practice we all got a hang of the kayaks and were paddling like pros, Lauren was very impressed with us. 

After being out on the water we worked up quite an appetite, off we were to Tacofino. There was a mishap when ordering the food, when we got there they hadn’t even made it yet! But Crystal went up and talked to them and saved the day, and good thing too, we were getting hangry. Dealing with a bunch of hangry girls is a fate I would not wish upon my greatest enemy. We went around to shop while waiting for the tacos, but sadly there was only a store for children, a closed chocolate shop, and a surf shop were a towel costs as much as $60! Crystal tried finding a Tofino towel she has been searching for, but alas they did not have the design she wanted, off she went on the search once again. When the tacos were ready it was met with much excitement from us. In the best way possible some of us (Claire) absolutely tore through those tacos, it was beautiful yet terrifying to watch. She gave them an 11/10 and thanked the taco gods for this meal; she said it was easily in her top 10-taco list. For me personally I gave them a 6.5/10, I found it lacking and overhyped, not to mention that the hot sauce was not even spicy. I know this is a bit harsh but what kind of narrator would I be if I did not give my humble opinion? I wasn’t the only one who was not huge on the food; both Caroline and Ashiya were not fans either. They found it had too much cabbage and “purple stuff” (their words) and dug through to get the chicken, I don’t blame them, the chicken was pretty damn good. Everyone else absolutely loved the food, Madeline loved the raw Tuna taco, her description of it made me jealous I didn’t order it, there was also a little crow who was a gigantic fan of Caroline’s cabbage. 

After filling up on food we went to main street Tofino to shopping for an hour. While we were there, a small community gathering seemed to be happening in the park, there was many bouncy castles, I looked at those children with envy, it looked very fun and I love a good bounce. On Main Street we checked out many clothing and gift stores, where some girls found some really fun shirts, stickers, and magnets. I personally loved this little bookstore downtown called the Mermaids Hideaway; there I got Frankenstein, Dracula, and another book by two philosophers. 

After shopping around we went on a 45-minute car ride down to a hiking trail in Ucluelet. The ride was silent with the sound of sleeping teenage girls and an occasional radio with static. The trail was short but was filled with moderately steep hills (according to Caroline). The view at the end was very lovely, overlooking the ocean. I was more distracted about how bouncy the ground was, my mind still thinking about those castles. There was also a very cute older couple having lunch together on a bench. Claire found a snake and it was very cute. 

We were all pretty tired after the walk so Crystal told us that we could just look at the lighthouse and not have to the 2.5 k walk. Turns out there were no parking close to the lighthouse and we had to do the walk. We heard a horn for a while which turned out to be the foghorn (on a buoy) by the lighthouse, good thing too because I do not believe I would survive a Tsunami. We also saw a Helicopter; it was a very pretty red colour. On the walk I got a really bad blister on my toe and since we did not have a Band-Aid on us I decided it would a bright idea to use a leaf. I went through three of them before I second-guessed my decision, not my proudest moment I will say. Kiera and Elizabeth decided to take a little detour on a bog interpretive trail. I found a sign that said leatherback sea turtles lived near the lighthouse, on the episode of Diego where they talk about them they said they live in tropical climates, that kids a liar and I don’t know if I can trust that show again for animal facts. We almost got lost several times (leader edit: it was a LOOP trail that literally was self-described as "you can't get lost".  Nobody was lost =)  ) and after some yelling through the woods we found our way back to the parking lot, where we found an intoxicated man taking a nap beside the trash can, isn’t nature beautiful? 

We were all very tired and grouchy during the car ride back to the hostel, but after getting some food into us (hotdogs and vegetables, but in Madeline and Claire’s case a block of Brie cheese) we felt right as rain. Though unfortunately I cannot say the same for me, I was not feeling very good so when I went upstairs to read I passed out on my bunk, two hours later I woke up in a pool of drool and am now writing the blog post with very tired eyes. The others went to the beach (Sydney stayed behind to get some much needed r and r) while I was unconscious so I sadly cannot say very much about what happened there. When I asked (interrogated) Tara on what happened while I was asleep her words were “Running, jumping, water”, that beautifully detailed description doesn’t leave much to the imagination. 

I believe that sums up today now I am going to leave it here as I am tired and it is very late, we will see you all very soon.