down to the river

So the street to our complex dead ends at a river.  In a country with 1.3 billion people (give or take) and in a city with 13 million (or so), life on a dead end street is pretty much glorious.  GLORIOUS!

I haven't been down to the river in weeks, and honestly, there are days that it smells, and you can't get that close, and it's a tad less picturesque that many other rivers.... but Sunday afternoon I was reminded again: stinky or not, a river is a river, and I am so grateful to have it for a neighbor.

Our road dead ends at a river walk that overlooks the river and gives a pretty sweet view across the way.  The other side is mostly undeveloped, at least along this little section.

The "farmers" are hardly peasants :) Matt and I are both convinced they are our neighbors - basically squatting on available land!  Most of our neighbors are first-generation city dwellers, and I guess they can't pass up a good piece of dirt!

Still, the crops in the river bottoms do make for a pretty picture, don't they? 

It's fairly precarious to leave road-level and trudge down to the real riverside. 

And to give a little perspective on how densely populated this area is (despite the pics), you'll definitely want to take careful note of the picture below.  Dad took it from the 12th floor, looking towards the mountains in the distance.  Our apartment complex is the orange-reddish buildings in the direct foreground (you can't see our building).  The river runs directly (and I mean, directly) behind the concrete building under construction on the right side of the photo!

That's our version of 'down to the river'.  Grateful.