Battling The Heat

 I have never much minded the heat in the Florida Keys though the last time I went home I felt it a lot more than I used to so I guess I am no longer adapted to life in the tropics.

It was a warm damp night by the lake but we set up our fabs, opened the doors and windows only to be awoken at four in the morning but some horrendous deep grunting from the forest. Something had annoyed our primate neighbors and the monkeys started howling and grunting in the dark. I asked Layne what she thought it was and she just elbowed me and told me to go back to sleep as she couldn’t hear anything. Rosie, our Brazilian overlanding neighbor saved my sanity by confirming what I heard but Layne pretended not to hear. It was a lovely sunny morning promising much heat.

We decided it was a good time to swim and cool off while we consider whether or not to stay another night. We got in the water and sure enough some pink river dolphin showed up but they never got close. I went up to GANNET2 to try to get a picture with my telephoto from above but all I got was Layne swimming. There really was a pod of pink Amazon River dolphin out there. 

I worried about Rusty and the heat but just to prove me wrong he went out and started sunbathing under the blazing sun. Webb thinks I’m overly worried about him and now I find they are ganging up on me. 

The plan was to have lunch at the restaurant but they had no fish, they don’t allow dogs on the patio and Layne made ham and pickle sandwiches before we packed and said goodbye to our neighbors and cranked the air conditioning. 104 degrees and excessive humidity  was our portion. Rosie and Paolo planned to sorbs a couple more nights before going north to Venezuela.

It was a nice spot and with clean toilets and cold showers for free it was easy to hang out. It was just too hot and the shaded areas under the trees were wet and marshy and too soft for our vehicles to park.

The dam built in 1989 creating Lake Balbina. 

A bit exposed to the sun here:

We saw some brightly colored birds but the only familiar ones were the splendid red macaws flying across the lake. It was a great spot to hang out. 

The road back to the main highway 50 miles away seemed to vanish under our wheels a lot faster than it had driving out to the lake. There is a weird checkpoint near the dam where they took our license plate number and wrote down my name when we cave and went. Some sort of security precaution I suppose.

And then we were out in the wilderness driving back to Highway 174. The road to the dam needs maintenance but it is quite a sophisticated highway of its own. 

Brazil Rodavia (highway) 174 is a straight shot north through jungle and ranch land. 

We didn’t drive far  as Layne found a hotel in short order with a pool and a $40 air conditioned room and $10 fir Rusty so we stopped at three, unloaded GANNET2 and left Rusty sleeping on the tile in our room while we went for a swim.

It’s a family room with bunks for the kids, a large not air conditioned sitting area and a deck put back overlooking fruit orchard. After a swim and with the sun starting to set it’s a nice spot to put your feet up and read (or write a blog).

The individual parking spaces are a bit too small for a 21foot Promaster so we parked near the restaurant after unloading our overnight gear and of course Rusty’s bed. If he has his bed in a room he is much more relaxed  for some reason even if he wants to lie on the cold tiles. 

And dinner was fish and salad, lovely fresh greenery on our plates.