Took to the River Miele today and walked along the shore. Crossed it on foot and spent time walking along the path by the houses. The children were beautiful as always and fun to photograph. Found a little girl who made a sled out of tree fronts – so simple, yet so natural. These kids don’t have the toys the American kids have – they manufacture their own fun. It probably makes them more inventive and better able to utilize only the resources they absolutely need. Took pictures of women washing clothes in the river. For most of them it is a daily occurrence. Enjoyed making conversation with them. Then came upon an incredible Man -photographically – he was on horseback crossing the river – looked like something out of biblical times and had the best expressions. Back at where we parked the car a couple of men drove the big transit bus into the water to, we think, clean it. It was disturbing to see one of them sweep all of the garbage out of the bus and right into the river. We also weren’t sure if he was changing their oil in the water or not – too far away to see.. But either way too environmentally destructive – but it’s the way of things here. As one of the group and I were talking down the path to the car a little girl we had met came running up to us with a bag of bananas and said they were for us. Just a gift from the people. Talk about people to people interaction! After the river experience a couple of us went walking in town down by the beach with the black sand. Encountered a lovely woman on the way and stopped to talk and take her photograph. Also encountered children – little boys who really wanted their picture taken. She talked with a fisherman too who showed us a catch of shrimp he had hauled in from the bay. There was also a bucket of crabs and we asked if they were for eating and were told no, for bait The one main, Leo, told us that he wouldn’t eat the crabs from this water – you have to go farther out along the ocean itself to get crab that you can eat. Suspect it is because of pollution. We saw a lot of pollution along the beach – lots and lots of plastic.
