Use the links above to see more photos.

We first travel upriver from the dock area. This is the ritzy section of town. We pass large, beautiful, colorful, two-story houses with docks, boats, lawns, pools, even a tennis court -- all sitting high above the waterline. The houses are lined with people applauding and throwing flowers into the water as the barge passes.

It's a different story on the downstream side. Small, half-finished cinder block and corrugated steel houses, lying low to the water and always in danger of flooding. The residents there too, throw kisses and flowers. The Virgin blesses them all.