Yesterday morning I went for a fairly long ride on the motorcycle. When all was said and done, I had put just over 50 kilometers on the bike. That's 31 miles. My motorcycle only has kilometers for speed and distance, so I'll be doing lots of conversions.
Anyway, to start out, I went out on the road I rode last weekend and followed it until I ran out of pavement. I stayed on the hardpack for just a little longer before turning around and heading back into town. Then, I rode on the old boulevard, past Mang Ying, past the Incessa pool and just kept going. I'd never been that far on that road before and it was just gorgeous. I started winding my way up a mountain and at one point pulled over to the shoulder to look. Breathtaking. Absolutely breathtaking. After riding a little bit further, I turned around and headed back toward town. Again. I was a bit hesitant to keep traveling on that road because since I don't know the road, I don't know where it leads and I don't know how safe it is. Later in the day when I was telling Sandi where I went, she told me that it gets even prettier and that it's safe to just keep going. Good. I'll try that another day.
So, after I got back to town, I headed out toward Siguatepeque. I wasn't going to go to Siguat, just in that direction. I ended up taking the road to Ajuterique. It was there that I saw something I've never, ever seen before. As I was driving, I saw what looked like a cow or bull ahead of me and on the side of the road. No big deal; I see those all the time. As I got closer, I realized that it was a bull. A dead bull. Standing. On three legs. Really. I didn't slow down too much as I passed it, because I knew that I'd be passing it on my return trip.
Further down the road, I passed a field of what I thought were cucumber vines. But then I thought that they might be pataste. No, they were cukes. Within a quarter mile, I passed a fenced in area where a cow was munching on a huge pile of discarded cucumbers. I guess that's what happens if the farmer can't sell all his produce. I hope the cukes don't effect that cow like they do me...
Back to the bull. You know, the dead one. Approaching it from the other side, I was able to slow down and actually pull over in front of it. It had obviously been dead for a while. Part of its snout had been eaten away, exposing the bone. It still had horns, but I could tell that the vultures had been picking away at it. Oh yeah, it only had three legs. One had been removed. No, I didn't get close enough to see if the leg had been cut off or eaten off. The whole thing was just pretty freaky. Actually, it was kind of surreal. It reminded me of TV shows or movies with scenes in the desert -- the ones where an animal skull or snake skin is used as some kind of a 'keep away' sign. Oh how I wished I had my camera with me. I took a picture with my phone, but don't think I can transfer it to here.
All in all, it was a great day. I was only out there for an hour and a half, but that was plenty of time to just think, ponder, muse and soak in the sunshine.
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