Facing the mountain
Marie-France Dion had never done post-secondary education. Her dyslexia and bad grades had convinced her that she had no place in school. Hers was in the retail business, she believed. “I became a manager, but I always had the impression that I was missing something, that I was going in circles in my career,” she confides on the phone. She did think about going back to the school benches, but every time her doubts caught up with her. Who is going to pay for the house? Would I be up to it? At 34, the mountain in front of her seemed too high. “I was discouraged. That same year my partner and I planned a trip to Scotland. On the day of departure, I had difficulty packing, ”recalls the young woman.
They have never been keen on hiking, but there, Marie-France feels the call of the mountains. She doesn’t know why, but she listens to him. The couple set out to conquer Mount Ben Lawers. Six and a half hours of ascent, sore legs and intense fatigue do not overcome Marie-France Dion, determined to make it to the top. Up there, she looks, overwhelmed, at the world of possibilities beneath her feet.
“It was not the highest mountain in the world, but it was more than enough to make me understand that with a lot of perseverance and determination, you can do anything,” she breathes.
And in fact, on her return from her trip, she resigned from her job and enrolled in university in human resources management. A full-time student, she completes her baccalaureate as she climbed this mountain, one step at a time – and with excellent grades!
No hablo español
PHOTO PROVIDED BY YVES LAURIN
Yves Laurin, on the left, and his group of friends in Machu Picchu
In 2012, Yves Laurin and a group of friends decided to get back in shape. Eight months of preparation later, they fly to Peru, where they will climb Machu Picchu. The ascent is magnificent, unforgettable. Only downside: the language barrier. “I felt really illiterate and helpless not to make myself understood and especially not to be able to decipher any conversations that I would have liked so much to have with the population,” he recalls.
Back here, he makes a promise to learn Spanish. Why ? “For the simple pleasure of learning a new language. »Yves Laurin equips himself with a linguistic arsenal: teaching cassettes, Latin music CDs, films, evening classes, and even an immersive stay in Chile, Argentina and Uruguay. Despite his efforts, his learning does not evolve fast enough for his taste. In 2017, he turned to social media to find a private teacher. Her name is Elena. Fresh from Colombia, laughing eyes. You might imagine what happened next: after two months of private lessons, they fell in love and have been in a union ever since. Yves Laurin confirms it to us, love is the best way to learn a foreign language. Today he dreams in Spanish.
Hardware failure
PHOTO PROVIDED BY ÉRIC BERTRAND
A sunset in Thailand
Eric Bertrand had it all. A paying job, a beautiful house with an inground pool… Success in its North American definition. “At one point, I felt it was all empty. I lacked benchmarks in the material happiness that I had achieved, ”he says. At the start of his forties, in full separation, he leaves everything behind and embarks on a solo trip to Thailand, then to Laos. He had planned to leave for a month, he stayed there for three.
There, Eric Bertrand learns a new rhythm of life. “In Buddhist philosophy, you evaluate your life based on the good deeds you do and not on the mountain of money in your bank account. ”
The only luxury that matters is time. What was sorely lacking in Quebec. Returning from his trip, he exchanged his house for a modest cabin in the woods. In their yard, his little daughters tame salamanders and pick blueberries. In the spring, they make maple syrup. “I no longer run after a material success”, he confides to us. And yet his life has never been so rich.
The power of beauty
PHOTO PROVIDED BY SERGE GOULET
A scene captured from life in Varanasi, India
When he climbed Mount Sinai, in Egypt, Serge Goulet did not believe he saw a more beautiful picture of his life. Yet ten years later, the impossible has come true. The Biblical Mountain has been upgraded. It was in March 2017. Serge Goulet and his wife went to Varanasi (Benares), India, a sacred city on the edge of the holy waters of the Ganges. According to the Hindu religion, dying in Varanasi allows you to free yourself from the cycle of reincarnations. Thus, at nightfall, the city lights up with a thousand funeral pyres, and the air is filled with the songs of the Brahmins.
From his small boat, Serge Goulet witnesses the scene he describes as “the most intense and overwhelming experience” he has ever lived.
At dawn, women draped in flamboyant saris bathe in the Ganges, imbibing its purifying power. “The sun had just come out of the horizon and was shining on them. In such a small space, to see so many colors, I was dazzled. I’ve never seen anything like it, ”describes the traveler. Years later, he says he’s still upset by the beauty of the moment, which has never been dethroned. ” Oh no ! I don’t think I’m going to experience anything more exceptional. It seems totally impossible and improbable to me. ”
The great adventure
PHOTO PROVIDED BY DOMINIQUE BORDELEAU
Dominique Bordeleau on board Aventura
In 1993, Dominique Bordeleau’s curiosity was piqued by an advertisement in The Press. Man seeks companion to sailboat in the West Indies. Here, she who loves to be on the water… “I only had one session left for my baccalaureate and I was thinking about my future. I was ready for the adventure. I was ready to meet someone, ”she sums up. Without thinking more about it, the young woman jumps on a plane to join “Denis” on Aventura, small 46 foot ketch. With no experience in navigation, she takes care of the household, the social and the stoves. Because Aventura was not just a pleasure sailboat, it also welcomed tourists, who spent a few days on board to enjoy the emerald Caribbean Sea.
“I didn’t cook a lot. I had made photocopies of recipes before leaving and brought them on the boat. To my surprise the customers were happy and I myself found what I was cooking to be good! »After five months of snorkeling, unforgettable encounters and the sky as far as the eye can see, Dominique returns to dry land. She did not become a peerless sailor or a seasoned cook, but her life was changed nonetheless. On Aventura, she learned to trust herself, to overcome her fears and to live from day to day, as daily life on the water calls it. And thirty years later, this unique adventure still follows her: “I moved last year to Pointe-Claire to have a view of the water. I watch the sailboats and it fills me with well-being. “