Morning of the friendly Germans

This morning, I awoke to the rustling of bags and conversation in German.

I am presently staying in an 8-bunk, dorm style room, which I shared last night with one Canadian (from Ontario, I think) and three Germans on holiday from University. I'm saddened, though, as this is to be their last day before flying back. They all seemed like nice guys. They also were giving away stuff that they didn't want to take with them. This included a nice fabric bag, some bottled water, and bear spray.

After checking the ingredients, I discovered that bear spray is essentially MACE with a bear on the can. Hence the can's advice to aim for the eyes, then run.

Now, why did I think it advisable to take the bear spray? Because in British Columbia, bears are a pest species. Back in St. Louis it was deer and rabbits, here it's bears. In fact, when I was in Pemberton, the family I was staying with advised me to make sure I was making noise if I was walking back late, as it would scare the bears away. The bears had been coming up to the house and stealing apples off the tree. My host told the story that he had been in the tree one day, picking apples, when he noticed that there was a bear cub in the tree with him.

And I will only be going to more isolated pockets of BC, inclining me to think that I haven't heard my last bear warning. And who knows what kind it will be. Apparently the most common kind are relatively harmless black bears, but some people talk of seeing grizzlies. Unlikely? Sure. Would I buy bear spray? No, of course not. Am I going to turn it down when offered? Also no. Besides, it probably works on muggers too. Also, since it's apparently just capsaicin (the active ingredient in chili peppers) maybe I'll just use it to spice up some of the blander food I come across.