Our Daily Constitution

I think that we are adapting fairly well although there are still some lessons to be learned along the road to assimilation.

One lesson: DON'T GO WALKING AFTER A DOWNPOUR!

There are no sidewalks in Roca Azul; there are cobblestone roads hemmed in by some sort of grass/weed areas on either side. When it rains, as it did last night, due to the uneven nature of the roads, you are going to get some fairly significant puddles which eventually give way to some amazing mud holes.

This afternoon at about four we loaded up the dogs, two in strollers and two walking, and we set out for our daily walk in the park. We decided to take the long way, walking several streets out of our way, so that we all would get maximum exercise.

About a block from home there is a fenced yard that holds in four barking, Husky like dogs. We usually avoid that place because these animals are big enough and strong enough to jump the fence if they take a notion to, but today we were in one of those “devil may care” frames of mind and ignoring all reason we walked past the Husky yard and as predicted the Husky look-a-likes came snarling and charging at the fence. In our haste to put some distance between them and us we managed to drag our two walking dogs through a couple of healthy mud puddles and at the same time nearly swamped the strollers.

Ordinarily there is not a lot of traffic in Roca Azul; but today for some reason it seemed that there were at least a dozen cars or trucks that passed us as we headed for the entrance to the park. Each time a vehicle passed we would do our best to get off of the road and onto the grass border but it wasn’t long before we realized that as the volume of mud on our shoes and on the wheels of the strollers increased, our traction decreased and it wasn’t long before we were really having to put some muscle into the job of getting the strollers on the grass verge, not to mention the work out we were getting trying to pull our feet from the suction grip that the mud had on our shoes.

By the time we reached the park Cath’s black clogs looked like platforms with pontoons while my own tennis shoes resembled those patio tiles that are shaped like feet and they weighed about the same. Oh well, the park has interlocking stone and a lovely walkway and recognizing that the mud was sure to dry and fall away, we pressed on.

Did I mention that the park has these wonderful pine trees? I don’t know what they are but the needles are soft and about twelve inches long and the walkways have piles of these needles that have been shed by the trees plus millions of miniature pinecones.

At some point I noticed that Lizzie was limping due to a build up of little pine cones between her toes. They were jammed in there pretty good with the mud but I managed to pick them out and at the same time remove the pine needles that had attached themselves to the back of her heels and were following her like streamers from bicycle handles.

Eventually we left the park to walk back home through the mud holes. In front of our house and to the right, we have a Guava tree (everyone here seems to have at least one) that drops a ton of fruit on a daily basis. Guavas look like green apples and are about the same size as golf balls but unlike green apples, Guava has the resistance of bananas so when you step on them (something that is unavoidable) they tend to slide you sideways.

Today the Guava that didn’t squash under foot, simply attached themselves in whole form to the mud, the pine needles and the cones. When we got in the dogs all needed foot baths and it took Cath an hour in the driveway to hose the clay off of the carriage wheels. As for our shoes: we are not likely to be wearing them again as they seem to have turned into adobe bird’s nests.