Walk, run or drive to the beach?

We are still at our beach house, and now that the truck is fixed (applause!!), the main decision we need to make every day is “shall we walk, run or drive to the beach?”.

The destination is the same but the composition of the party is not.

- When we drive to the beach, there is a chance that Carmen and Tobias will join and our 2 “porteño[1]” Border collies who are 9 and 4 years old will come too, following the truck running along sandy paths for 3 km.

- Running to the beach is something Alex and I would only do very early in the morning, when Carmen and Tobias as still asleep and even if they are awake, if we ask if they will join they would stare at us with that teenager look meaning “have you completely lost your mind? Do you really think that I would put effort so early in the day in something so useless with YOU TWO?” The porteño dogs on the other hand will be delighted to join as it is a much more relaxed run than behind the car, and we will also have the pleasure of the company of Carla, one of the 2 beach dogs, who is probably about 14 years old but can still handle run-speed, especially ours!

Cielo, the other beach dog, a stray Border collie who appeared years ago, will typically not join when she sees our running shoes but….

- If we walk to the beach, i.e. are not wearing fluorescent sports clothes and shoes, Cielo will honor us with her presence. She is at least 16 years old and still knows enough to determine what she can handle and what she can’t.

- The stray Border collie cat never follows us: it prefers to stay around the house when it appears:)

As a side note, the truck has a few new parts which need to be broken in. Until they are, every time we turn it off we need to wait 30 minutes before we start it again, meaning we need to stay on the beach for at least that time which is not always easy: it can be very windy, the sun may be too strong or there are mosquitoes – no decision is simple!

And speaking of simple decisions, with the new variant of the Covid virus racing through Brazil and through Manaos in particular (in addition of course to the UK and South Africa), we are thinking of delaying our departure for at least one month. Those of you who have expressed concern about our plans will probably be happy to hear that. We are currently considering our options (one of them being to “ferry” through Brazil, stopping only for Avgas and rest) and I will report back as soon as we have a plan. I am soooo happy that my 8 years in Argentina have taught me to be more resilient, creative and flexible, the latter being further enhanced by the regular “yoga with Adriene” sessions during lock-down. (for more info on resilient argentines and yoga, you can check my posts of July 8th and June 11th).

Zennnnnnn...

[1] Porteño means from Buenos Aires, eg. Buenos Aires residents have a recognizable porteño accent when they speak