Daily Life Blog Post - Animals!

This is the first of many (hopefully) editions featuring aspects of daily life here in Guatemala... in writing these, I hope to share funny things, ironic things, and things I admire and I want to share them not as a form of judgment... in ANY way... but in a form of telling a story... 
with that being said...  here's information about animals!

Animals have an interesting significance in this world.  

Like animals in the states, they are very prized possessions… usually.  However, unlike the States, they are more often than not pets… Toby would not survive here.

More often than not, animals are for work.  I’ll tell you a few of the more entertaining tales of working animals…

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              - The goat ladies.  They walk through the city streets with two or three goats on leashes and Styrofoam cups.  For a few Quetzales, you can get yourself a cup of fresh squeezed goat milk for breakfast.  (No, I haven’t tried this yet… I really like my orange juice)

-             - The chicken.  A photo says a thousand words... this was in the bakery

He was tied to the side of the highway

·                    - The daily migration of livestock.  Goats, cows, pigs… they are moved every day from one location to another.  During the time of our middle-aged woman’s basketball club, we would have to pause our games a few times to allow the cows to cross the courts.  I presume that they were milked and were then being moved to “Mystery Grass A” to be tied to a tether and chow down all day so they can stay fat and meaty. When not working, you can find animals tethered all around this world.  Many mornings I will step out of the house only to find a cow grazing in our front yard.  No, we don’t have cows, but evidently any patch of grassy goodness is game for them to eat.  Animals are tethered anywhere you can think of… along the highway, on a hillside, next to a soccer field… it’s all fair game.

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                             - Guard dogs.   They are ferocious, fierce, and live on the roofs.  Some of them are also incredibly stupid.  Take, for instance, the dog who lives outside my window and has fallen off the roof many times.  One time, I’m pretty sure he landed in the pilla (glorified large sink) because when I made my way to the roof to check out the situation, he was running around the yard, stressed out and very wet.

aren't they fierce?

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                         - Breeding dogs.  I’m not sure why you need more dogs in this world, but evidently there is a need and people breed these little beasts.  Our family is an example of that… our dog, Princesa, is obnoxious.  She is the reason for the nightly rule of “NO PERROS ON MI CAMA!” and now, there are more of her.  She conveniently gave birth to four puppies while my family was in Peten and I was here alone with little strange creatures that neither Princesa nor I knew how to care for.  After running from tienda to tienda in the neighborhood searching for a box and asking the neighbor for some help, I got them all in the box and then we headed for the laundry room.  She took one out and proceeded to try to give it a new home under the washing machine.  After an extensive barricade constructed by cardboard, egg cartons, and laundry baskets, I think the situation is contained until the family gets home.

Yep.  the babies were born under the motorcycle

Area of containment

They're bigger!  And live under the car...

Then, there are the animals that are not prized possessions. These animals include the stray dogs in the streets that ferociously bark at you until you bend over like you’re about to pick up a rock and then they run away.  My favorite of these is the large 3-legged German Shepherd (Pastor Alemanian in Spanish) who barks obnoxiously and starts to hobbly chase you every time you leave the neighborhood but pays absolutely no attention when you enter.  These animals are also known for obnoxiously barking, pooping in the areas where I’m going to step in the future, and being very inappropriate during the times where nature calls for making new puppies. 

There are also the stray cats.  They lead lives even more interesting than stray dogs.  In the cities, the cats live on the roofs (for the most part) while the dogs live in the streets.  This cuts out the notoriety factors one and two (running from rocks and pooping in inconvenient places), but notoriety factor number three (inappropriate multiplication of the breed) is significantly worse.  They do it on the tin roof above your head.   The small size of a cat is also convenient for house break-ins because the majority of houses have at least one broken window.  A cat inside a cat-free house is quite a scare when you’re paranoid of fleas and walking around the corner.

I saw a stray lamb the other day as well.  He lives in a field of garbage. I haven’t come to any conclusions about that cute little fellow…  Maybe the topic of a future sermon?