My new pets... well, kind of mine.

We were asked to do some posts along the way that were directed a bit more towards kids... this way kids in some Sunday Schools would have a way to relate to our life here. So, I hope that this one is of interest to them.

Animals... there are so many different animals all over the place, and I know that I am very far from seeing all of them. I'll start off with our "pets". I used to joke that one of the ways in which Craig got me to agree to come was because I would be able to get a dog. (This is just a joke... it is clearly NOT the reason we came, and neither did Craig have to force/convince me to come here...). The house in which we are staying actually does have between 3 and 5 dogs depending on how you count "ownership" of a dog... and these dogs are actually kind of shared between multiple houses. There are 5 dogs that kind of live in the space between Diego and Jo's house and Kenny & Claudia's house (we're living in the second one of the two). Their primary purpose is security because they bark if anything moves around the outside of the building. KC was telling me that in a lot of ways Bolivians' views on pets are quite different from ours... generally people don't have pets because they want something to keep them company but because they serve a purpse, ie. security or killing big spiders/lizards/mice. Also, these dogs can never come into the house because they are, well, very dirty (some people let their dogs into their house... but ours don't come in). They run around all day in the bush and play around horses and roll in who knows what. They are fed by giving them the left overs of absolutely everything and they sleep generally on the patio near the house.

And I have a favourite... his name is Cable. He is apparently the newest addition... he just showed up one day with a Cable around his neck, hence his name. The first picture below is of him... he is kind of like a dachshund, and I've always wanted a dachshund, so I think that's way I love him the most. Then there is Tota and Kitty (mother and daughter -- one of them is the second picture below, but I don't know which one is which most of the time, as they look the exact same). We generally feed these three... the other two are generally big bullies (Arturo and Sam -- not pictured) who steal food from the other three and jump up on you with their muddy paws and ruin your clothes. Arturo was also eating KC's chickens and he bites the other dogs.

And yes... KC has chickens (third picture down)... she has what I think is a lot and she sells the eggs. Sometimes when they fight, or when one is attacked by a bat, she has to bring one into the bathroom and let it live there for awhile so that it can heal. So... sometimes you have to go to the toilet with a chicken staring at you. Kind of creepy... You can't get emotionally attached to the chickens though, so no naming them, because they can be quite mean to each other and leave you emotionally scarred.

KC also has a cat named Baddy which lives in the house. I have to say, not being the biggest cat fan before now, that Baddy and I have a great relationship (fourth picture down). She loves to kill any frog, fly, lizard or anything else that gets into the house. Apparently, there are a variety of lizards here that have a way of dropping their tails off when trying to distract an attacker. It is not odd to see a dead lizard with a missing tail around the place (okay, I don't know if you want to tell that one to the kids).

There is a park nearby which would be similar to a petting zoo back home. Instead of goats, sheep and such they have ostriches, deer, alligaters, a boar and a tapir. You can also pay money to go in and see an anaconda, but we have not done this yet. I did watch the baby ostrich walk right up to a couple on a park bench that were getting, well, very friendly. The baby was very interested in their activities. The alligaters, thankfully, are fenced off with the boar, tapir and loads of turtles. Apparently, you can find wild ostriches at the side of the road here in some places.

Generally we have to be careful of tarantulas, snakes and scorpions in and around where we live. We always wear shoes in the house and put towels/blankets in front of doors so they can´t creep in under the door. I haven't seen any tarantulas or scorpions yet (not that I am eager), but I have seen a couple snakes... though only dead ones.

For those of you that know me... I am not a spider person at all... and seriously, I believe, by God's grace they don't really bother me that much anymore. You just have to get used to insects of all kinds here because they are definitely not going away. Well... I hope the pictures and animal stories will make this place a little bit more real to some kids. Let us know if you have any ideas of subjects of more children-orientated posts.