I always imagined Canada having crystal clear skies and the air smelling of crisp leaves and Maple Syrup! I pictured the busy city streets filled with little shops on both sides, people riding bikes in bike lanes to commute alongside vehicles, and tall buildings surrounded by mountain views. Man, was I so wrong!
The 20-hour road trip from my hometown to Toronto, Ontario Canada was extremely long! We began our travels at 4 am. The skies were pitch black with dimly lit lights casting a glow on the streets and the only sounds were of our tires across the pavement that seemed to echo in the silence of our town. Once we had passed the sleeping neighborhoods, the road fell dark. Our headlights beamed a path that stretched across the long roads that fell between fields of corn and grass. As I sat in the back of the 7-passenger cargo van, I felt the sways from the wind as it blew the vehicle ever so gently, as if rocking us in a cradle. The road seemed to narrow as my eyes stayed awake and followed the path shown by the headlights. Hours started to pass and the sun began to peak slightly over the road until eventually, the sky glowed ambers of orange, pink, and gold. My eyes continued to burn as I watched the road lengthen and the occasional bird float high in the midwest sky.
Each mile felt like ten as we furthered along our journey. We eventually stopped at a small zoo to stretch our feet and feed our bellies. When we got out of the van, my feet were unsteady, and couldn’t remember how it felt to touch the Earth; my body ached and cracked with each step as it tried to stretch. As we stood by the gates, we waited for a zookeeper who took us behind the scenes, where we met a Rhino. As she called him over, he ran gracefully over. His gray skin was thick but soft, weathered and strong. And his beautiful brown eyes were shadowed by his thick curly eyelashes, the kind of eyelashes that most girls have always dreamed of having. He was a beautiful, personable, gentle giant who was no stranger to fame. After spending some time with this big guy, we walked the rest of the zoo and got lunch before resuming our drive. It was a quick walk, but my feet thanked me for the time spent outside of the van.
As we continued our journey, the streets started to fill up with other vehicles. The road kept stretching and the sun started to dim a bit more. Before hitting the border between Michigan and Canada, the trees started to shift into fall colors, vibrant reds, oranges, golds, and yellows colored on either side of the roads in the distance. Leaves painted the ground the same colors.
The road kept winding and eventually, we crossed onto a long bridge. I could see some mountainlike shadows past the waters that vanished once we finished crossing the bridge. The road led to several tiny pay stations and check stations. Stern-faced border patrol officers shot off questions in a way that made me shutter and nervous despite not having anything to hide. The intensity came as a surprise, but alas most of my knowledge of this kind of situation came from watching movies and we all know how unrealistic movies tend to be. After successfully crossing the border, the roads seemed to keep stretching like Laffy taffy being stretched from end to end, making the journey appear to last forever. The final hour is always the longest, it’s then that time likes to tick a little slower, making every moment last. It felt as though I had lived many lifetimes in that van.
The road began to swirl and multicolored buildings with glowing lights of red, orange, purple, blue, turquoise, green, yellow, and pink started to wrap around every edge, hugging each weave and sway. The city people were alive and dancing. A friend helped walk their intoxicated friend across the road. Screens exploded with colors, advertising or displaying artistic visuals. Buildings squished each other into tall, narrow, lines that gathered on all sides of the roads. The air smelt musty and of thick mary jane. The iconic Toronto sign glowed amid the night.
After arriving, my body decided it needed to check into the hotel and rest. The next day, I explored a bit of the city with some friends and new acquaintances. The air felt less bitter across my face than the air from home. The pigeons in Toronto were unusual and all unique and beautiful in shades of gray and brown with hues of purples, blues, whites, and copper. As we went deeper into the city, the cramped modern buildings started to share space with older buildings. Each old building was an artistic masterpiece. The tall gray medieval church building was guarded by gargoyles on all edges of the building. Their faces grimaced and their sharp, narrowed eyes looked into each soul of the people as they passed, judging each individual that stopped the gawk. As I walked the busy streets of Toronto, every sidewalk square was occupied. I passed individuals who have felt the heartaches of the world, whose shoes were worn and clothes tattered. A woman screamed at the large group of people who passed her as she sat on the ground, leaning up against a building. She began to rock on the ground with her arms near her head as the frightened group began to quicken the pace.
In the next few days, I visited the Toronto Zoo. The environment seemed completely different despite being in the same city. The trees that surrounded the roads that led to the zoo were maple trees whose leaves had turned the fall colors of red, orange, gold, and yellow, just as my mind had fabricated. The air smelled like nature and coffee and the air was a bit chilly that day and began to cool as the sun went down. The zoo’s lights started to glow as I began the futuristic journey through Terra Lumina. Their future was beautiful and connected to my own hopes and dreams for the world. Lights danced across the ground and in the air as it told stories of a unified Earth, free of mass extinctions. Music and drums played in the background as we walked through the lit-up stories until we walked back through the glowing rings into our present.
A few days later, we took the same road to the zoo and viewed the zoo in daylight. The animals, much like our own, showed their individual identities. The male white lion’s mane blew in the wind as he stood at the top of a grassy rock and whimpered roars of helplessness to his people. His beauty was outlined by the orange glow from the sun. In one of the large rainforest buildings, Orangutans curled up together on a hammock as they peaked through holes to watch the people that passed by. The building was warm and filled with plants that created an ecosystem intertwining along the path and mesh barriers. The giraffes walked in the distance in a large field, their blackened tongues gripping and grabbing food as they appeared to have a derpy smile on their face.
When I really started to look at Toronto, I started to realize that despite being a much larger city than my own home, it’s not all that different. I realized that we all have these similarities despite being from different cultures and countries. It’s weird how you start to build connections between something that seems so foreign or unusual.