On August 7-8th, 2021, a group of 12 mostly first-time campers from around the world tried camping at Récréoparc in Ste-Catherine (on the South shore). The group hailed from pretty much every continent! Thank you sincerely to all of our participants, volunteers, helpers, donators, and to Parks Canada who lent us tents and led camping workshops.
First-time camper Ruben took the time to write down his experience: “I must confess that I was never attracted by nature, but since I arrived to Canada I noticed that outdoor activities are part of the Canadian culture, especially in summer time. As part of my integration, I decided to change many habits and try new things; like food, sports, and learning a new language.
I have never camped, and knowing that I would do it for the first time made me feel very excited. The Récréoparc, located in Saint-Catherine, is a beautiful place, with a lot of trees, some flowers and different animals. We learn how to build the tent and learned useful tricks on how to light a fire, one of the most useful things considering that I could spend up to 30 minutes lighting the coals at any barbecue gathering. We also discovered how smart the raccoons can be in finding food even when the tents are closed, and had the chance to interact with people from all over the world. Spending the night outdoors was one of the best experiences I have ever had. Next day morning we had breakfast and biked for around 20 minutes to the place where we would do the kayak. The experience was the cherry on the cake, we had a lot of fun, and at the end we took a bath on the shore enjoying the beautiful and sunny day. The day ended with a picnic in which we had time to talk and tell the best from our experience.”
Thank you Ruben and thank you group! We hope everyone gets many chances to keep on camping!
