Rainy Day In Oiapoque

 Of course we made a mess of it but we went into town to get our hair cut. Good plan but we left it a bit late so Rosie could clean our room while we kept an eye on Rusty and by the time he could stay in the room and we could leave it was lunchtime.

Lorenzo the hotel owner recommended the place and we ordered fish. Layne had hers fried in what was a light batter,

…with a side of beans and manioc flour, that yellow powder which tastes of nothing but grit, which Brazilians love on their food. 

We got a menu in French which is easier for me to read than Dutch or even Portuguese as I learned French in school starting when I was seven and I have kept it up. And we got a cooler for our bottle of beer  which I thought was cool the first time I saw it in Manaus and I still do:

By the time we finished our $22 lunch and collected our to-go box with our leftovers for dinner it was …raining. 

Actually it belted down and we sat and looked at the market across the street, our goal. 

Layne said let’s go but I said let’s not. I figured the rain would ease up. 

So near yet so far under the downpour:

Finally it let up enough so we got across the street from our lunch stop without getting soaked. Below our new favorite diner:

Inside Layne went looking for milk and papaya and also found broccoli I stood outside and watched the town. 

Then I went to the edge of the Oiapoque River and enjoyed my camera on the northern edge of Brazil. 

They call this the top end of Brazil even though there is more Brazil north of Guyana toward Venezuela.

It’s just another version of the not really Southernmost Point in Key West so who cares if it really is the northernmost point of Brazil? That is France across the water, a fact that still blows my minds: 

Even though we have come from there I find it an odd feature of life in this town. It puts me in mind of the US Mexico border, a similar convergence of cultures. 

The bridge opened in early 2017 but only after Brazil paid France their half of the costs according to locals here. From 2011 to 2017  the French kept it closed and vehicles had to cross the river by car ferry. It seems like around here it’s always something. 

Oh and Brazil shuts down for afternoon lunch breaks so we couldn’t find an open barbershop after our own extended lunch. Oh well, mañana as they might say in Portuguese…

Main Street: 

With a Promaster:

The road south, one day, soon…