Road Base

I find this very interesting.  Not many roads here are paved, so during the dry season they blow away and during the rainy season they wash away.  Most streets and roads are filled with ruts and potholes and you always have to watch where you step or where your taxi swerves.

When the ruts and holes are serious enough, someone comes along with a load of  what I’ll call “road base” for lack of another name–it’s just big bad stuff that comes from who knows where–junk piles?  constructions sites?  garbage heaps?  These truck loads are dumped in the roads to fill the holes.  The idea is that people will drive over it enough to break it down into something that will fill the holes and not wash away.

Here’s how it looks after a fresh dump-load.  Notice the toilet is here too!  Our taxi driver didn’t see a large irrigation stand pipe at the end of this dumped pile, and he accidentally drove over it, which high-centered the back tires.  We had to get out and help lift the car off.  I’m curious to see this street again in a few month’s time.