Quinan tipi listed on Airbnb
Owner to provide Aboriginal overnight experience
“I want to find them a way to connect with Quinan,” he says.
On occasion, if he’s lucky and it’s a good year, he may be able to present his guests with a taste of eel.
“Some may squirm at it but I think it’s quite delicious,” he says. “I like to share. If I have a bit of spare wild game, well, any Quinaner will share their wild game.”
He says he may be able to provide ceremonies on request.
Muise says the late Peter Vacon, a guide who was once hired by Babe Ruth, was the first person to teach him about the woods.
“I couldn’t carry my own knapsack. His son was a wee bit older than me and he had to carry my knapsack that my loving mom had over-packed. That’s how it started,” he says.
Muise, who is known locally as Quinan Larry, acquired a guide licence in 1991 and, after that, a master guide licence.
Although he does more food gathering than hunting these days, the forest and Métis learnings remain important.
“It’s what’s instilled in your heart that will keep you ticking the longest,” he says.
Eko Raharjo, a friend of Muise’s, says for him the tipi is not only a peaceful shelter but also a time machine that transports him to the past and enables him to feel the glory, the happiness as well as the suffering of native people who had lived here for thousands of years.
“It’s also an art gallery with lots of beautiful artistical paintings of animal symbolism, which are mostly done by Larry,” Raharjo says. “And it is a laboratory as well, where you can learn to identify animal tracks.”
He says it’s the fire place in the centre of the tipi that he believes keep visitors warm physically and spiritually.