Todays ride took us up and down a river valley as the road followed the contours of the hillside carved by the river. After a long hot day and and even longer hot night I stayed kept it mellow, and in the last hour found a renewed strength. How can you feel sorry for yourself when kids are so cute?
The road crossed and recrossed the river and its’ tributaries; each bridge on the new road was paralleled by an older, abandoned bridge from the days when the road was dirt. These old bridges were now being take by the forest, and were covered with plants. 
The forest was still all around us, but it reminded me of Hawaii—lush, but not overwhelming. We arrived in Qunice Mil in time for lunch at a local restaurant; I ate the fish today. After lunch a very steep, very rocky dirt road took us into the trees; about 200 yards further we passed through a stuccoed entry gate to the very pretty lodge called La Casona. It was built in the forties by an Italian woman. From the photos in the dining room we could see that she was a pilot, and seemed to be surrounded by men. Who was she? What brought her here? What motivated her to build this beautiful compound? We’ll never know.