Oil Change Walk, Medicine Hat, Alberta
I had an hour to kill while I had my oil changed.
I had an hour to wait while I had my oil changed.
I had an hour to explore and move and get some fresh air and think while I had my oil changed.

Snowshoe Walk, Boulder, Montana
The snow is deep, the sky is blue, the sun is out, it’s a perfect day for a walk on snowshoes. The contours of the land are soft and shadowed under sparkling snow, and the pine covered hills rise up all around the valley. We followed paths made by humans and by deer, first heading face-first into a small but cold easterly breeze, then turning our backs to the wind and climbing the hill to the old concrete hotsprings catchment. There were tracks of birds and weasels and other creatures scattered across the snow. The surface of it with its small footprints and planes of light, and its organic shapes formed by wind and land, and the way it catches light and shadow. The patterns of nature are so beautiful, so un-human, often overlooked by our eyes looking for more human meaning in the landscape. 

Coulee Walk, Lethbridge, AB
It warmed up to minus fifteen during the week, but this weekend it was back to -30°C.  We bundled up and went out anyway. A sunny day, with that cold, hard, invigorating winter brightness. We walked a loop from Fort Whoop-Up on well-maintained trails. They seem to plow the park trails more than the streets or sidewalks in Lethbridge. A train passed over the trestle bridge 95 meters above our heads. The Oldman River was mostly frozen, but a couple dozen geese were huddled around a patch of open water, unmoving in the cold. You have to wonder why they didn't fly south when they had the chance.

It rained all day. But it's warm enough, so I went for a three hour walk in the rain. Isla Mujeres is only 7km long and less than 1km wide, and lies between the Gulf of México and the Caribbean Sea. The waves washing up on all sides, the saltwater lagoons in the interior, and the rain running down the rooftops and flooding the streets, all make it seem as if this island is only barely land. It belongs to the water.
I walked through the interior of my mid-island neighbourhood, spotting a kingfisher and a snowy egret in the lagoon. The poorer streets are in the middle of the island, and the contrast between poverty and casual luxury, which you find side by side in many parts of México, is shocking yet somehow normalized. Winding my way across the island, I walked along the east coast, which is rocky and unsafe for swimming. The taxi drivers kept honking at me to offer a ride. Why is the gringa loca walking in the rain? I happened upon the lovely Mango Cafe for lunch and a cappuccino, grateful for the friendly staff, hot food, and the chance to dry off for a bit before heading back.

Location: Isla Mujeres, Quintana Roo, México
Length: 5 km
Companions: None
Date: 12 February, 2019

Random Walk, Mérida, México
It wasn't a walk in any intentional sense, just going about my business today on foot as usual. Even in my short time here, I'm starting to run into people I know as I walk around town, including my new amigo Asunción. Pink houses are everywhere, even though Mérida is known as the white city. Nostalgia is beginning to creep into my days.

Location: Mérida, México
Length: 6 km
Companions: None
Date: 5 Febrero, 2019

Daily Walk, Mérida, México
Advice for the morning walk through Itzimná:  Stay on the shady side of the street. Watch out for big holes in the sidewalk, and low-hanging awnings and trees. Say buenos días to the people your pass. Make friends with the security guards. Take your time crossing Avenidas Pérez Ponce, Jose Diaz Bolio, and Circuito Colonias. Notice the street dogs who hang out in the vacant lot beside the business school with its garden of henequén. Don't fall off the sidewalk where the curb is knee-high. Keep to the streets where the white-winged doves are louder than the traffic.

Location: Colonia Itzimná, Mérida, México
Length: 2.5 km X 2
Companions: None
Date: 28 Enero, 2019

Uxmal, México
The only way to visit Uxmal is on foot. The restored Mayan city is well over 1,000 years old, and the tapir-nosed rain god, Chaac, watches with many eyes from most of the facades. There are macaws, tortoises, feathered serpents, and two-headed jaguars as well. And the living grackles, iguanas, big orange orioles, and a vulture on top of a pyramid. It's an amazing walk, with plenty of stairs.

Location: Uxmal, Yucatán, México
Length: 2 km
Companions: María, Elena, Ronaldo, Raúl, y los Migueles
Date: 26 January, 2019

Progreso, México
A stormy Sunday morning walk along the beach. It was unusually empty because of the wind and even a little rain. People were fishing from the small pier, and pelicans were begging for handouts. The long pier runs six and a half kilometers out into the Gulf of Mexico, a highway over the waves to get to the cruise ships and freighters that dock out there. I walked to the working side of the beach, where the fishing boats were hauled up and the seaweed hasn't been raked off the sand. "Hola, m'hija," a man greeted me, and I was happy to be called his daughter.

Location: Puerto Progreso, Yucatán, México
Length: 5 km
Companions: None
Date: 20 January, 2019

 Historic Centre of Mérida, Mexico
When I left the sun was throwing long shadows from the east, and when I returned, from the west. An all-day wander around the beautiful colonial Mexican city of Mérida. The city used to be a great Mayan city called T'hó, which was taken over by three Spanish men named Francisco de Montejo in 1542, and built over using enslaved Mayan labour and limestone.
As a foreigner, so far I stick mostly to the historic centre of town, the tourist areas. The beauty of it is partly from the sun. But then there's the colour, and the huge green trees, the centuries-old churches, the narrow crowded sidewalks, the hectic dirty market, breakdancers in the park, old mansions everywhere, the historic walking tour that was a part of my all-day walk, the craft vendors, the secret courtyards. I took lots of breaks, sitting in different plazas in the shade and resting my feet, just one among many enjoying the day and each other. The city is lively, lovely, but the air sounds and smells like traffic.

Location: Centro Histórico, Mérida, Yucatán, México
Length: 10 km
Companions: None
Date: 11 January, 2019

Night Walk, Toronto, Ontario
We had walked a lot already, roaming the city for hours at a time. After a late supper and wine at Aloette, we walked along Queen St. W. from Spadina to the skating rink at City Hall, and back to our hotel. The last walk of the day, a winter night in the city among the streetcars, pedestrians, towers and lights.

Location: Queen Street West, Toronto, Ontario
Length: 1.5 km
Companions: Tom
Date: 3 January, 2019