A ephemeral moment for the eternity

by Carolina Damián Hernández (Mexico)

I didn't expect to find Canada

The Moon, although the same at every part of the Earth, speaks differently each time. Should I say that is different every moment? Physically speaking, it is, but we humans are not very precise at detecting those external signals. We are more aware of what we feel unless our curiosity is a remarkable personal trait, and we tend to identify the continuum of moments with a feeling which encapsulates them. However, that mild night of last July was for me an event suspended on time if that is possible to be imagined. Shining over the Canadian Rockies, the Moon was my best witness, and, maybe, my only companion on glimpsing the eternity. That day transcurred hurriedly. I arrived in Banff with my friends: an Australian, a Chinese and two Brazilians. I was the only Mexican in the group, but one of the three people with a Latin American perspective on life. Did this perspective influence the way I enjoyed my stay in Banff? It's very probable, but I was living in the astonishment. A sensation of floating invaded me. My friends and I had some places marked as part of our itinerary, but we were more open to being surprised by the place, and we were amazed! After leaving our luggage in a hotel in Canmore, we went back to Banff. Our first step was the hypnotizing transparency of Lake Minnewanka. The rain began to pour soon, the air turned cool and the clouds dense. The day threatened to become a dismal one, but the vitality of my friends propelled us to the next stopover: Tunnel Mountain. Unexpectedly, the sun decided to share its light more with us. The rain on the mountain began to evaporate and the steaming roads embraced the restless youngsters we were at those days on our trip to Alberta. As we didn't have too much time available to visit the Canadian Rockies, we went to other places in a rush. Again, the rain greeted us just when we were observing the grayish-blue glacial waters running in the river underneath the bridge that served us as overlook. Then we ran to downtown when, in the middle of the way, we read "Banff Upper Hot Springs" on a signal. Without hesitation, we headed for there. For me, the biggest excitement began when we reached the hot springs. A double rainbow sparkled in a sky blended of green, blue, gray and yellow reflections. And the celestial spectacle had just started. While on the hot springs, when I was swimming faced up, the light of the dusk covered the thermal waters, the pines, the rocky mountains, and the faces of my sweet friends. The Moon rose and danced with the sunlight. I felt like I would capture the moment forever. But the stay in the hot springs had to stop. The Canadian summer is sort of deceiving for people like me. The golden hour was almost at 10:00 p.m., not like in Mexico. We could lose our return transportation to Canmore. And that was what exactly happened. We received wrong information about the bus schedules we were interested in and we didn't have more information on transportation options. A little bit disillusioned, we thought it would be better to get dinner and investigate how to leave Banff safely and soon. After a sleepy conversation and meal, we managed to contact a local driver who agreed to get us to our hotel. It was meanwhile the wait time for the driver when I discovered one of the most splendid Moon landscapes of my life. The ivory light of the full Moon glowed on the Tunnel Mountain and the deserted streets of Banff shone like the fantastic scene of a fairytale. My gaze focused on the Moon, my head felt like floating and the time stopped. Korean and English voices woke me up from my enchantment. I tried to capture the beauty of the view, but I failed. My heart rate was high, then the photos were blurred. It was inevitable: a moment like that is only able to be remembered. Like the Cestrum nocturnum, the beauty of this view was ephemeral, but my unexpected great memory is set for eternity.