Asakiyume mita

Do you remember I compared low-ish water in July 2022 with high-ish water in March 2023 for the little tributary that connects Letícia to the Amazon?

( Here the two photos are again, as a reminder )

September is a very low-water month, close to the lowest, if not the lowest. And here's what that same area looks like now:



Barely any water at all. The buildings on the left are the ones that were floating in the other two pictures.

(Photo from this Facebook page.)

I have so much in my head that the words pile up behind... my mouth? or my typing fingers? jostling to be first to come out. So before I try to say anything, I'll just share two clusters of photos, first an assortment of four I shared on Facebook (but you guys here get more context!)

( The Facebook Four )

And here is a lower-water, higher-water comparison. The first photo is one I took in July, when we went when the water was low, but not as low as it gets. The second is a photo in the same spot that I took this trip. I thought March was the highest-level time, but it turn out that's in April. So this is high--but not as high as it gets!

( lower and higher )

More to come ... and slowly slowly I will also be reading entries I've missed while away (though probably not all...)

When we lived in Japan (nigh on 30 years ago--yikes!), the signs at various trains stations, advertising businesses in the towns, were often hand-painted. A dentist's office, an ob-gyn, a grocery store, a florist, etc. Sometimes we'd see someone painting a new one.

I hear from my kids in Japan that now, as here in America, they're mainly printed.

But in Leticia they are still hand-painted. We rented bikes one day and passed this guy, just short of the airport, painting a new sign (I asked him if it was okay to take a picture; he said yes).



I've been painting signs myself, recently--first for a neighborhood picnic and this time for a movie night. Normally I like to use markers or cut-out letters on bright poster board, but I didn't have any bright poster board, and neither did the nearby supermarket, so I made do with paint on kraft paper. It would be better if the paint were black instead of white, but white was what I had:



It's not a very exciting presentation--it could be done better!--but I love the concentration and control involved in painting the letters. I'd love to know more about the guy painting the sign for the colchones (mattresses) shop. Do people hire someone professional to do this work, or does each company get one of their employees to do it? The signs are pretty good... I'm thinking it must be professional work. But how do you get to be one of the people doing the painting?

There were all kinds of paintings around--in buildings, on buildings, but I'll save those for another time and will close with a photo of a magnificent stormcloud over the Amazon, because--well!