Today we visited the Head-Smashed-in-Buffalo-Jump and
interpretative centre. We thought it
would be just a lookout with a few signs.
How wrong we were. It was an
incredibly well-designed museum and our guide was a First Nations fellow called
Little Leaf (I thought it was Little Leap!).
We learnt so much and not only had a greater appreciation but a deeper understanding
of the culture. Elizabeth asked about
why is that First Nations have a different attitude towards using the land and
natural resources compared to the west. He thanked our group afterwards for
asking grown up questions. The
concept was to herd buffalo over the 200 metre cliff to their deaths. It sounds easy but their techniques were very
sophisticated indeed.
Apparently the local Blackfoot women were happy to marry the
first Europeans who came through, because it gave them access to cooking pots,
knives, axes which made their lives so much easier. In their culture women
could divorce. Although they had to leave all his items outside the tepee, she
kept everything else for the maintenance of the family. Essentially they were reverse trophy wives,
where they keep the trophies. Fair enough.
We saw Red Rock Canyon which was a small stream flowing through
red shale, nice but nothing to write home about – although I just did. Perhaps
Red Rock Ditch. Apparently upstream it’s more impressive.
We arrived at Waterton a picturesque village by the shores of
a lake which is part of the world’s first peace park in 1932 and a UNESCO
site. About 10% is in Canada and the
rest is in Montana. The border between the two countries is cleared of
vegetation and is the longest undefended border in the world.
Our room is on the lakeside and looks like a 40s or 50’s
hotel, rustic but nice. We went to dinner at the Lakeside Chophouse and had
nice meals and we met some lovely people, mainly from NSW. I had a Bear Hump beer which was interesting.
The one thing that has surprised is how late the sun sets - 9.38 pm and it is
not even summer yet. Here is the cruise boat we take tomorrow with Mt Vimy in the background. The battle of Vimy in 1917 has the same significance for the Canadians as Gallipoli has for Australia.
Pick the odd one out.
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