Last night we went on a walk in the park that is across the street from us -
Parque Portugal. There are a lot of joggers and bikers doing laps in and around the park all day long. I joined them yesterday morning and had a nice hour long walk (with a little bit of jogging and walking lunges). I didn't see any playground on my tour. Corey had promised Abi he would take her to the park, so he came home from work a little early and off we went on a walk. We went in the main entrance. There were a few birds in cages. Not exactly Tracy Aviary or Liberty Park, but we'll take what we can get.
The kids had visions of something like the parks at our home. I told them that I had explored the area a little in the morning and didn't see a playground. And they were forbidden from getting off the dirt path - no playing on the grass here ~ there are signs around the park warning about ticks, yuck. Continuing our exploration - little swan themed paddle boats. Cute.
There's a big pirate boat and a train too. We didn't see either of those running, so we'll have to come back again. I bet this looks just like the Amazon forest here behind you. The kids don't want to go brave the dangers that look there, so we thought we'd take a picture here of the forest behind them and call it good.
Continuing our walk. We saw a lot of stray cats, and well as a sign that said "It is a crime to abandon pets in public areas" ~ I guess no one listens. We hadn't seen any stray dogs here like in Costa Rica or Chile, but yes, lots of cats.
Corey had one goal for our outing - to see a
capybara. He had heard that they were at the park there, cause they live near water, and the park has a lake. After a half hour into our walk, and after seeing a dozen stray cats, it was getting dark and so we were looking for an exit to start making our way home, when lo and behold - what is that animal crossing the path?
It looked like a little hippo or something. That's it! That's a capybara, kids! Well what do you know, we saw one.
Capybaras are the world's largest rodents. But don't get close, they are the reason that there are ticks here.
That was as close as I was willing to go, I didn't want to go on the grass or by the plants either, just not worth the risk, so these photos will have to suffice. We are just glad that ticks don't fly like mosquitoes. We've all had lots of mosquito bites. Need to get some repellent at the store. If I can find a store. We're going to go on a hunt for a store today. But we made it out of the park without any ticks. Bad ticks.
Then at the west exit/entrance, there was a little exercise area that had a bunch of low resistance contraptions for adults. The kids thought they should be able to play on them too. Kinda funny. So we stayed there a few minutes.
Ok, has everyone had a turn? No, alright, one more...
Are we done now? Ok, let's go. We had a long walk home. Abi never wants to walk again. Natalie slept through the first half of the park, getting a ride in the stroller, so she had energy to walk with Corey the mile home. (Probably a mile)
She was so cute, I tried to get a picture of her letting her fingers bounce across the chain link fence as she walked, but to no avail. Still, she is such a cutie.
The humid air keeps her hair constantly curly in the back, Mel and I love it.
Lots of joggers still going by, we almost got run over by a biker as we crossed the road, and we learned about another difference between here and the US - pedestrians do not have the right of way. Cars do not stop for pedestrians.
As we crossed the street to go back home, the kids crossed with Corey but I wasn't paying attention, so I waited for a chance, and I was crossing on a pedestrian walkway (a pregnant woman carrying a baby in her arms) and I watched for a gap between cars and went, and wow, the car coming our way that was a small distance away sure came in a hurry, zooming past us at full speed. Yikes. Grateful for a gate around our home and the locks on it, don't want the kids to accidentally wander out into the road here. It would be game over.
We finishing the walk home - passing by lots of tall cement walls, gravel side walks, and jungle grass.
So there was our family outing last night, it was a good adventure.
