Putting Make-Up on a City

We were amazed to see how this car was towed sideways.
In the background you can see the new road started
that comes down to the pool.

This month our city will hold the national independence day celebration.  It’s amazing to see the preparations going on for this big event.  They call this “beautification” the same word for putting on make-up.  The preparations started way back in the Spring and crept along at a snail’s pace until they came to a halt in the summer (we heard they ran out of money).  Things looked pretty bleak for a couple months, because there were a few new roads started and a few walls being re-done, but nothing very impressive at all compared to the city that hosted it last year (which we pass on the bus ride to the capital).  

Many of these little vendor shops are gone now

Then suddenly in Sept. things sprung to life again (as the politicians released more money), and the whole main road that runs through the city has been turned into a boulevard with several new roundabouts, solar powered street lights, and bricked sidewalks.  All the small stores of tin or thatching that were clumped this way and that along the road are gone (hopefully given some assistance to be moved into the new more-permanent colonnaded shop buildings).  An old road that runs south out of town was also majorly upgraded into what may turn out to be a highway (our pool is off that road, so we can’t wait for the construction to be done), and the other end may bring a paved road only a few blocks from our house.  There are a few other major building projects like an outdoor theater, which when finished (they only have another week or so) will make our city start to feel much more like the big city that it is, instead of an awkwardly overgrown town.  We’ll let you know how the two weeks of celebrations and sporting competitions go once we have a chance to experience it!

-- El Padre