Paparazzi at a river bed BBQ

Sunday afternoon I joined some friends at a BBQ in a river bed. Yes, in a river bed. The town calls this large ditch a river, but really it’s a wide rocky area with a tiny stream running through it (see the cars in the "river bed" in the picture on the left & notice the water in the picture on the right?). They built big bridges over the “river” and people grill out in the shade of the bridges. Children swim in the stream, but I waded in it & could see oil floating on top. At one point, I stood talking with a Japanese woman and a beach ball from a neighboring party rolled into me so I picked it up and threw it back to the guy who came to retrieve it. He put out his hand to shake mine & introduced himself. With his very limited English, he started a conversation & when I looked at his friends a moment later, I saw a multitude of cell phone cameras pointed at us. Realizing that I’d been set up, I played along & gave the very Japanese peace sign and smiled at the “paparazzi!