Monday, August 06, 2007



The Camel

The camel has a single hump;
The dromedary, two;
Or else the other way around.
I'm never sure. Are you?

Primrose Path, 1935
Odgen Nash


Not far from the Buchanan Dam Lake, in the Texas Hill Country, where my friend Howard Houston lives with his wife Lynne and dog Yogi we met up with this out of context animal.



Before the making of the Isthmus of Panama, camels roamed in an early North America. Thus I have found out that the presence of the camel is not all that out of context.



When North America was joined to South America the camels drifted south and evolved into llamas, guanacos, alpacas and vicuñas.



While riding a calesa, a horse driven buggy in Mérida, Rosemary asked me for the Spanish equivalent of a highway lane divider. It immediately made me think of the Texan camel as the word in Spanish, camellón, is intimately related to the animal.