Friday, July 29, 2011

Dugout Canoes in Costa Rica

According to a slide show on the Washington Post, a group called "Bikes for the World" is collecting used bicyles (bear with me here; I'm not off-topic) in the Washington, DC, area and shipping them to Costa Rica, where, it appears, they're sold to adults and/or donated to kids. The fees that they charge adults -- up to $60, plus finance charges -- seem outrageous, and I really question what this "charity" is about. (I can buy a brand new adult bike at WalMart for about $60 - not a very good one, but new.) But the slideshow (once you get past the obnoxious Cisco video clip) features a few photos of some fine dugout canoes, still evidently used very functionally by indigenous people in Costa Rica.

2 comments:

  1. Thanks for the link to the dugout shots. OT but I do wonder how people manage in their world countries for tyres and puncture repairs. My children's bikes were always getting punctured but when I rode a bike as a kid years ago a puncture was a rarity and the repair took, unlike more recent experiences.

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  2. Edwin,
    I'd guess that tire (tyre) repair kits are readily available in third-world countries where bikes are an important form of transport. If not, just cut up a thoroughly dead inner tube for the patch material. As for the adhesive... slash a rubber tree?

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