Fungi - Bosque Santa Lúcia - Santarém - Pará

Testing Pixelmator

Stolen transformers produce energy elsewhere

The new power-line pole on the left is a replacement for the one broken in half during a storm last week.  The second pole is an older one, which has housed several transformers in recent times, all which have been stolen by criminals wanting to make quick profits.  The last one was installed by Celpa less than a week ago.  I have some doubts about their installing other one, given the financial loss from these occurrences.  Sad for the Bosque because we depend on electricity for lights and water.

Rain, at last!

Distances

Distances from Bosque Santa Lúcia - Santarém - Pará - Brasil

Going my way?

Dusty days

Wild flowers on Planalto Santareno

Planalto

Morning glories

Nightjar nest

Wild Flower

Galls on yellow

Roadside Flowers

Yellows

Roadside Flowers

Dust

Dust everywhere this time of the year, especially near dirt roads, as in the case of Bosque Santa Lúcia. Spot doesn't seem to concerned about the weather.

A ways down the road

Distances from Bosque Santa Lúcia to some destinations in Brazil.

Muddy road

Last Wednesday we were scheduled to receive three busloads of passengers from the cruise ship, Royal Princess. Unfortunately, it rained the night before leaving a layer of mud that was impossible to pass over. Normally this wouldn't have happened, but some politician decided to help us out by running a patrol over the road. The loose dirt hadn't been compacted by traffic, thus the mud following the rain. I got stuck in my car. Actually, I didn't get stuck. The rear wheels locked up because of the accumulated mud in the area around the tires. My Fiat wheels up front were turning, but the rear wheels were simply dragging. About an hour later two of the tour buses entered the dirt road, only to get stuck about half way to the Bosque. An emergency bus was sent in. It got stuck too. Finally, the tour was canceled and the passengers walked back to the highway, in the mud. Every vehicle entering the road got stuck. The road was open the next day because the sun had dried up the mud and some traffic had compacted it down. Image, a truck being towed into a wide spot in the road.

Runoff

Proper drainage seems to be the secret to avoid erosion and giant mud holes. The runoff seen in the attached image is coming from the Santarem-Cuiaba Highway and it's heading in the direction of Bosque Santa Lucia. For a couple of years it ended up in a mud hole that became the size of a football field. My readers will remember that I named it "Lake Maria" in honor of our mayor, whose government did nothing to better the access in this part of the region. Thanks to the voluntary services of a neighbor on the highway and his bulldozer, we were able to bury Lake Maria in February of this year, thus opening up access to the Bosque again. The runoff from BR-163 hasn't changed, but at least it's not accumulating on the dirt road.