the river

On a rare Saturday afternoon off....what better place is there to go to for a picnic on a hot and muggy day…. than the riverside? The beaches along the ocean are great but for a change of pace we decided to do like the locals and go to the river instead. Take the road through Maranatha, go past the Nest of Love school in villa Emmanuel and keep going for what seems like forever….but in reality it took us one hour to reach our destination. The river was wide and shallow enough to wade through but too deep to drive through….or so we thought…. even though the road continued on the other side.

It was a beautiful scenic spot to relax with a good book or take a nap but in reality we discovered there was a lot of activity in this place. We chatted with a local farmer & his 6 year old son who came on horseback…while the dad rinsed and filled his milk cans repeatedly to provide water for his animals the young boy enjoyed his swim.

Then around the corner we were amazed to see a tractor being driven down the river bed which eventually crossed over to the other side.

Another farmer came from the opposite shore….along with his cows for a drink….and then a family arrived in a pickup truck. They drove it right into the water so they could refill their load of water barrels. After the work was done….they jumped into the water for a swim to cool off and a shampoo while they were there.

Probably the most amazing thing we saw later on was when two men arrived on a motorcycle, dismounted…took off their pants and strung them around their necks….proceeded to cross the river in their underwear carrying the motorcycle….then after reaching the opposite shore….one put his pants back on and continued on his way while the other one walked back across to where he had come from.

Needless to say….I didn’t get too much reading done….but it was an interesting afternoon nonetheless.

It was now time to leave so we could return home before dark….down the winding and bumpy road through the hills once again. For those of you who have been to villa Esperanza….it was just like that experience on the back of Rob’s truck…..but for a whole hour. We were curious if this road would show up on the map so we googled it…. and discovered that it was and we went a grand total of 10 miles each way….so according to my math skills, this means we averaged 10 mph.

Kathy….this is the road Uncle John took you down last year on his bike….you guys were so close to it but unfortunately you decided to turn around just a bit too soon.

 This is the end of my story but the moral is…..I will never complain about the bad roads in Canada ever again. Nothing can beat this one…..but the scenery was absolutely fantastic as were the people we met. We love this country and their laidback social culture.