[Cyclefrance]

I know that when you take one of these holidays you are in a semi-sealed environment, but the staff seemed genuinely friendly and happy - I'm not sure that you could maintain that indefinitely if you weren't genuinely that way inclined, and most of the employees we met and talked to had been with the resort since it opened (they live in the surrounding countryside anyway and know each other since childhood).

You could venture outside, by taxi, by bus, on foot and even... well take a look at the photo below - what could you expect from mje? I jut had to dig one out, didn't I, and a real plus to get the wife on one as well!

Once outside, the landscape was as poor-looking as anywhere else we had seen so far. Dilapidated houses and shacks with no lighting, decor or furniture of any merit. Whole familes amounting to 15 or so people would occupy a small single dwelling. But there was still this balance that was hard to disturb. Yes, the people wished for more opportunity, particularly to travel, but set against this was the concern that values they cherished would disappear with change - the return of a drug culture, crime (no drive-by shootings or drug related killings here), a return to an under-privileged class (some we met believed that a situation could arise with change that could leave them far worse off than they currently are).

Not very often I encounter a couple of large bulls pulling a 'harrow' (made out of old truck tyres) when I'm pedalling away, either. The bikes were something else, as well. I'm not sure what held them together, and mine needed no bell or other form of warning sound as a means to let pedestrians n]know I was approaching as every turn of the pedal was accompanied by a rather worrying grating sound...