Saturday, October 13, 2012

Tucuma by Bicycle!


Saturday October 13, 2012

Good day!  Planning on taking full advantage of the day off, I slept in as late as I could, enjoyed a leisurely breakfast in our open air restaurant and had my coffee on my front step as I sewed up a couple torn beltloops in my jeans. I got ready to go fishing with my amigo and biked over to his  hotel but he had left me a  note cancelling so I kept right on pedalling the 12 kms to Tucuma.


I always regret that I can't put scents and sounds on my blog.  You must imagine a long stretch of road, the sound of crickets chirping and bull frogs croaking. Cars and motorcycles come along every few seconds and to survive a bicycle trek here, one must take to the dirt "bike lane" on the sides of the roads or get hit, especially when oncoming traffic forces the traffic in your lane even closer to you! Given the heat, you smell the sweet sickening smell of dead animals before you see them and often, on corners and at the crest of a hill, there is a representative sample of the whole food chain flat as pancakes, as carnivores cleaning up the road kill become road kill themselves.  Today I saw what was either a large black cat, or a young black panther dead on the highway.











Fransa always greets me with a smile at the market!


Brazil Nuts. I bought a bag ($5 Reals ($2.50 can)
 
 
 
Tyical bar in this area... includes lazy dog sleeping on the verandah!
 
Yours Truly!
Myth Buster!
 Tonight's agenda included a classic science experiment that I have been thinking about ever since I got here. All my life I have been told that the water spirals one way north of the equator, and the other way south of the equator.  I improvised a plug for my bathroom sink, filled it up with water and sprinkled a few leaves of Yerba Mate in so I could see which way it spiraled when I pulled the plug. Just to ensure that I was scientifially accurate, I did the experiement three times and I am able to report that it spirals counter-clockwise. Now, if I could only remember if it goes clockwise up north. I believe it does! (Somebody help me!)