A Relaxing Weekend At Home

Sorry I haven't been blogging much. This past week was full of drama and stress! Nothing to do with COVID-19, thank goodness. It had to do with my pets!

First crazy thing that happened was last Friday, my cat Queso fall off my neighbour's roof into their yard. When I first picked him up, it appeared his back was broken. His back legs weren't working at all and he was in a lot of pain. But by the time we got to see a vet (that's a whole other story), he was fine. It was so weird! He came out of the cat carrier at the vet's and ran to hide under a table. I was shocked! The vet examined him and said that maybe he had dislocated his hip but it had popped back in. She gave him so pain killers and sent us home. We scheduled a follow-up appointment for Monday morning.

Queso relaxing at home after his ordeal. He is a big boy. He weighs 12.4 pounds!

 Which leads to the second bit of drama. On Monday as I was taking Queso to the vet, three of my dogs escaped! Gus, Honey-Bear, and Moo-Moo got out of the gate and raced off down the road. I knew that I couldn't catch them because they always think it's such a fun game to have me come after them, so I just got in a tuc-tuc and took Queso to the vet.

When I got back from the vet's office, Gus and Honey-Bear were waiting at the gate to be let back inside. But Moo-Moo was not with them!! I figured maybe she got distracted by something or someone and she would come home soon. But she never did!

For the next FOUR days, Bert and I searched the town over and over. Bert biked up and down all the streets, up to the bridge and down to the Lake. I walked until my thighs chafed, calling out and whistling while people stared at the crazy gringa. I posted Moo-Moo's picture in all the Facebook groups for Panajachel and tagged all my friends to share. But no one had seen my Moo. 😟

I was a freaking MESS. I cried all day every day. I was so mad at myself for not catching her when she first escaped. But at the time, I was more worried about Queso and his weird disappearing paralysis, so I just figured the dogs would come back and it would all be fine.

By Thursday night, I was losing hope. A friend suggested that I make paper posters and offer a reward. Another friend graciously allowed me to use her phone number so she could answer the calls in Spanish. I prepared the posters but it was after curfew so I was waiting until the next day to find a shop to print them out. I shared the virtual poster on all the Facebook groups again.

Friday morning my friend called me. Someone had seen the poster online and said that there was a white & black dog hiding in their workshop. It had been there for days but it was too scared to come out. I got directions and rushed out with my leash in my hand.

I arrived at the shop, a metalworking place I was familiar with, and the guy led me to the back. Under a weird piece of machinery, a dirty Moo-Moo peeked out with fearful eyes. OMG it's her!! She was so terrified, she was shaking, but when she realized it was me and we were going home, she started jumping all over with her happy smile. The guy laughed and took our picture. I gave him a reward of Q300 -- basically all that I had in my purse -- because I was so happy!! (Q300 is about $55 Canadian or $40 American. WORTH IT!)

The picture of Moo-Moo that I used in my missing posters.
She is just the best dog! She is the only dog that I consider "mine".
All the others are available for adoption, but not my Moo!

Which brings me to the title of my post -- a relaxing weekend at home. It's not only relaxing because all of my fur babies are safe and healthy but because we really have no choice about staying home. Ha ha!

The cases of COVID-19 in Guatemala have been ramping up quickly, which is actually the normal course of this disease, but our President kinda panicked. He is actually a doctor so he's taking the pandemic very seriously.

Anyway, on late Thursday night, he decided to lock down the country. We already have very strict rules here but he ramped it up by saying that NO stores could be open this weekend, except local tiendas. People could only go out from 8 am to 11 am. And also people couldn't use any sort of vehicles to go anyway; they had to walk.

So basically, we had 3 hours in the morning to walk to our local cornerstore, buy anything we needed, then we had to get home. CRAZY!

Someone posted this on Twitter! The lockdown rule said "no transportation with neither two nor four wheels."
Well, horses don't have wheels!! 

The prez also said that next week would be more restrictions and then the weekend after that would be full lockdown 24 hours. The schedule was so confusing that people were making charts to help understand when we could go and where.

"New Presidential Decrees"

Of course, the new lockdown measures created a storm of controversy ... online. People ranted all over Facebook. Conspiracy theories and insults at the President and ridiculous "what if" scenarios. Armchair fanatics typed their fingers raw with their doomsday predictions and negativity.

But in reality, people just dealt with it. There was some food buying panic in the city, but here in Panajachel, people just put on their masks, walked to the tienda, bought their beans and rice, stopped for tortillas from the ladies who will never ever never cease making them, no matter what happens, and then everyone went home to spend time with their families, listen to music, do some gardening, play with their dogs, and wait for the President's weekly address tonight at 7pm.

So that's my update for this week. I'm lucky that my online work has started up again and I have money coming in. I am grateful that I even have some extra to donate to the local people who aren't as lucky. More on that in a future post!

Take care, faithful readers. As we say in Guatemala, Juntos Saldremos Adelante! Together we will get ahead. 😊

Are We Animal Actor Agents Now?

Two more of our dogs were in a commercial for Ruff on the Road dog apparel. Chunk, the chubby black puppy, and Snoopy, the medium blonde dog, stole the show in this video about doggie bandanas.

Bert jokes that it's great to have dogs that pay for their own vet bills. The money the doggies made for their participation went directly to Chunk's vaccination series. Good job, boys!

Shop Ruff on the Road collars, leashes, beds, bags, and bandanas HERE⇒ https://www.ruffontheroad.com/ 

Sugar High On a Friday Night

My life is so thrilling. My Friday night is staying home playing video games and overdosing on sugar!! 

Amongst the junk food I bought at La Torre grocery store today, on a whim I bought this ginormous bottle of POP. Can you guess what the flavor is? Soda Shampan...champagne! Champagne cola is kind of a unique flavor in the Carribean and Latin America. It tastes sort of like cream soda. This one is not bad but a little weak. I realized belatedly that it has aspartame which gives it a yucky aftertaste. Oh well.

That's a lotta pop.

Another strange find in the store today, Fruit of the Forest Oreos. I can't really say they taste like much at all. I mostly taste the chocolate cookie part but I guess the purple filling tastes like...tangy sugar. Not raspberry or blackberry or anything.

Fruit of the Forest Oreos

Just in case you need more sugar for breakfast, Guatemala is obsessed with horrible sugary cereals. It was fun at first, but it's getting kind of tiresome now. I mean do you really need marshmallows in your chocolate rice krispies? I would love to have some nice lightly sweetened LIFE cereal or some brown sugar Mini-Wheats.

Chocolate Rice Krispies with Marshmallows

Poor Bert is subsisting on Cream of Wheat, yogurt, bananas, and pudding. He's getting his teeth fixed, which basically means he's getting most of them pulled out. He's had four done already. After they're all done being pulled, he will get fitted for partial dentures. Ack, that sounds like such an old man thing, doesn't it? Ha ha!
For reference, getting a tooth pulled (extraction) costs Q150 each. That's roughly $26 Canadian or $20 U.S. dollars. Pretty cheap!

Heart of Wheat -- the closest to Cream of Wheat we've found here.

Look at that face! 😍

Bert is being comforted in his dental pain by a new puppy. Yes, we know. Not another dog! Well, he wasn't supposed to stay but he's just so darn cute! His name is Chunk! He's about three-and-a-half months old and he already weighs almost 20 pounds. He is a big boy. His coat is super shiny and black with brown undertones. He is very handsome and laid back and adorable.

So life is pretty normal. Nice and warm here, a bit cloudy in the evenings but no rain.
It's pretty quiet in town because we're in that peaceful time between Christmas and Easter. A few months of calm and then tourists will come pouring back in.

I hope you're all well and enjoying life wherever you are. Peace out from Guatemala!

Big Boy Is a Star!

A short while ago, a lovely Canadian woman named Jess posted in a Facebook group that she was looking for a dog to do a commercial. Of course, I jumped all over that and sent her a tonne of photos of all the doggies. Jess and her husband, Greg, came to our house and met our pack of lunatic puppies and we all agreed that Big Boy would be the best dog for the job because he is big, handsome, and well trained.

Bert posted on Facebook: "Well, it is about time one of my fury freeloaders got a job. Big Boy is going to be in a video ad for a nice couple that I met here that have a pet business in the U.S. They work with local artisans here making collars, leashes, and other accessories. So proud of my Big Boy! The money he makes will go towards helping other street dogs! (like he used to be)"

At 6am on a Sunday morning, Bert and Big Boy went across town to meet everybody -- Livvy the photographer, Jess & Greg, and two human actors.

They filmed in front of some random person's house because it had a nice doorway.

In the picture above, you can see that Hank (our former dog who voluntarily returned to the streets) decided to come along and hang about with the team! Bert said that Hank was Big Boy's "entourage". LOL!

Bert commented: "Big Boy taking 5 because he is such a diva."

Big Boy had a bit of a crush on his co-star.

It took 3 hours of filming to make this 1-minute commercial but I think it turned out great!
Congratulations, Big Boy, on your first job!

If you'd like to check out the lovely collars and dog accessories, click here --> RUFF ON THE ROAD

Dog Rescue in Panajachel, Guatemala

If you've been following my expat adventures, you'll know that from the first day I set foot in Guatemala I have been helping street dogs and cats. It's tough work. No matter how many you help, there are always more and more and more. It's easy to become burned out and flat broke! But I can't stop, won't stop! 😊

Because Guatemala as a country is just starting to enforce animal welfare laws and create governmental organizations to address these issues, many small charities have been operating for years here on their own. These NGOs have different views on how best to assist street dogs and cats but they all were formed with the intention to do what's best for the animals.

Today I'd like to give a shout-out to Guatemala Hope for the Animals, which operates in Panajachel and around Lake Atitlan. They have a shelter which houses many dogs and cats available for adoption. They also assist with street dog injuries, which is so important here. If a dog gets hit by a car, no one helps it! People will literally walk right by a dog with a broken leg or one bleeding from the neck. Many Guatemalans love animals but their own lives are so hard and they are struggling with poverty themselves, they know they cannot spare anything for a dog. Luckily there are charities like Hope for the Animals that can step in and help -- with a bit of emergency fundraising to offset costs, of course.

Here are two puppies that are currently looking for homes either here in Guatemala or possibly the States or Canada.

Adorable Guatemalan street puppy for adoption.

Cutie pie puppy available for adoption in Guatemala

 Please take a moment to "like" their Facebook page here -- Guatemala Hope for the Animals. Liking their page creates more awareness!
If you can afford to donate, instructions for PayPal or bank transfer are on their page. Even a small donation can go a long way to helping street dogs and cats here in Guatemala. Food is cheap! And they always need to buy things like bleach, newspapers, blankets, dewormer medicine, and of course toys to amuse the doggies and kitties. 😀
They will soon be setting up an Instagram account to share more pictures. I will try to remember to edit this page later and link it for you all. Cheers!

Thank You For Your Kind Words

I want to thank all the nice people who commented or wrote to me privately to tell me that they support me and that they know the only thing I care about is the animals. I know that my last post was heavy stuff. But actually, I feel relieved that I could finally tell my side.

The hardest part has been the evil people. I can't even comprehend how some people can come up with the mean things they say. Where do they find these evil thoughts? How do they justify the horrible things they say? How do they live with themselves? I mean, I could never have imagined the malicious gossip, the lies, the personal attacks. I never once thought to invent evil things to say about another person. I stick to the facts. Yes, I'm obviously an emotional person, but wouldn't you be, considering what has happened?

The worst evil thing people are saying is that these three innocent dogs died because I am a bad mother. I'm starting to cry right now just typing that. What a horrible thing to say.

Imagine this scenario, if you will.
You are a poor mother living in the slums of Detroit (or wherever). You have five children. You and your husband both work but your jobs barely pay for the necessities. This month, you chose to buy groceries for your family rather than pay the electric bill.
Then one of your daughters gets sick. You think it's just a cold, so you spend a bit of money on medicine. But she doesn't get better, she gets worse. So you take her to the free walk-in clinic. There, the overworked doctor says he wants to keep your daughter overnight. You comply and go home, leaving your daughter at the hospital.
The next day, no one calls to tell you how your daughter is doing. By late afternoon, you are so worried that you walk the mile over to the clinic to ask. The doctor says, "Oh, she just has an infection. Give her these pills and she will be fine." The nurse brings your daughter to you...in a wheelchair. She is not better, she is worse! She can't walk. She looks at you with sad, hopeful eyes.
The nurse gives you a bill for $600. It says, "Treatment". Nothing else. You pay it, knowing that you will have to make excuses (again) to your landlord for not having the rent money. You pick up your daughter and carry her to a taxi and go home.
At home, you put your daughter in bed and give her favorite meal: grilled cheese. She eats a bit but she is so sleepy. You get her to take her pills. You kiss your child goodnight and tell her you love her.
In the morning, your daughter is dead.

Who would you blame?
The mother? For not having a clean house?
Or the doctor, for not LOOKING at your daughter and seeing how sick she was?

Would you fight?
Would you fight for your dead child even when people told you that you could go to prison for it?

And what if this happened THREE TIMES?

The unfairness of this situation is almost unbearable. I try to tell myself that I did what I could. I didn't really expect to win against the vet. But I had to try. And I had to set a precedent. Perhaps no one else had the courage to say something. Perhaps just by making a formal complaint, I have scared the vet enough that he will make changes.

My dogs are gone. My spirit is badly damaged. I don't know if I will stay in Guatemala or move somewhere else or even go home to Canada. I am still just trying to get thru it one day at a time.

But one thing has brought light into my life. Or rather three things.
Yesterday while walking home from seeing a friend, I found three abandoned kittens on the river road. I did not hesitate. Not for one millisecond. Bert stood back and watched with knowing eyes as I gathered the three tiny balls of fluff into my arms.

This is who I am. I am an animal rescuer. 

Three little kitty babies!

I'm Going to Go To Prison For This and I Don't Care

People are a bunch of assholes.

Sahara and BabyPup and Venus died last year.

I filed a denuncia (a formal complaint) against the vet, Dr. Isael Estrada, of Clinica San Martin in Panajachel, with the Colegio de Médicos Veterinarios y Zootecnistas de Guatemala. My filing said that I believed he was negligent in diagnosing and treating these three dogs, which led to their deaths.

I haven't been permitted to talk about it. I honorably stood by this rule when others spoke badly of me on  Facebook, when people sent me panicky private messages, when people approached me in person on the street. I didn't say anything in public to protect the privacy of the case.

But tonight I received the ruling and it shocked me.

It wasn't that the College sided with Dr. Isael Estrada and dismissed my case. I expected that to happen. I expected Dr. Isael Estrada to twist the facts to protect himself. I expected the College to support their vet and their reputation, and to reject the words of some unknown woman.

What shocked me is that Selaine D'Ambrosi of the AYUDA charity that I have so selflessly supported for four years LIED to the tribunal.

"4.- Que la Señora Selaine d'Ambrosi, Socio Fundador, Presidente y Directora de Ayuda para la Salud de Perros y Gatos (programa de bienestar de los animales sin fines de,lucro del Lago de Atitlán), hace constar que la [redacted] fue voluntaria de AYUDA como un cuidador de casa, sin embargo, la [redacted] fue despedida por negligencia y las condiciones precarias en las cuales tenía a los animales". "

English: 4.- That Mrs. Selaine d'Ambrosi, Founding Partner, President and Director of Help for the Health of Dogs and Cats (non-profit animal welfare program of Lake Atitlan), states that [redacted] volunteered for AYUDA as a foster parent, however, [redacted] was fired for negligence and the precarious conditions in which she had the animals. "

This is so untrue and so hurtful. They "fired" me after I had told them I wanted to file a denuncia against Dr. Isael Estrada. Selaine's husband, Harold William, sent me this message:

Dr. Isael represents Ayuda and Ayuda represents Dr. Isael.

Based on this support structure of 9+ years, the Ayuda board of directors unanimously voted to discontinue services to you.  The puppies that were brought into Thursday's clinic are the end.  Unfortunately, and even though we believe that he is not involved with your malicious actions, this same discontinuance of services applies to Rob through your relationship with him.

As a courtesy to Dr. Isael, he has been advised of your intentions in order to prepare himself...

Both he and others have been advised of slanderous remarks you have made about him and his practice.

As a courtesy to you for appreciation of past services in support of Ayuda, I am informing you that slander is taken very seriously in Guatemala.  It is punishable by prison.  Especially in the case of an extranjero non-resident attempting to jeopardize the credibility and livelihood of a Guatemalan professional and his family. 

Your call, but we hope that no more of your frivolous and attacking remarks reaches any of our ears. 

I am advising you of these things as both an officer and co-founder of Ayuda Para La Salud de Perros y Gatos.

I told them that I was filing the denuncia as a personal complaint and I wasn't involving AYUDA. Harold replied:

If you really have all these professionals who confirm that your accusations are TRUE based solely on your anecdotal information then go for it!..However, even if he was found to be guilty of your charges it does not change the fact that your public accusations are slanderous.  Which by the way, Dr. Isael has been made aware of through his own resources (including his competition) and is now considering taking formal actions against you.

Even though he would not take you back if you walked into his practice and apologized to him and his staff, given the state of things, it would seem proactive and wise to do so anyway in hopes to head off your having to go to court to defend yourself.  The case would have nothing whatsoever to do with his professionalism.  It would be about his witnesses testifying that they heard you saying explicitly damaging things about him.

And by the way, in any case which you still might want to file against him about his practices, consider this.  Besides the Pana Muni, the University, dozens of interns who have worked under him (i.e., Walter), and surely hundreds of witnesses who would be willing to stand up for him in court, the animals in question all came through your home and lived in conditions which even you have admitted were not suitable environments for the for-profit/shelter/personal (hoarding?) in which those animals took ill.

I/we do not want to see or get involved in any of this or see you get hurt.  But you threw the first stone, kept throwing them, and now he's pissed.  Hopefully, for your own sake, you have enough sense to at least attempt to make amends.  I hope you'll think seriously about this.  There's just no way you can otherwise win.

So Selaine lied to the Tribunal of Honor by saying that they "fired" me because my house was a pigsty. In reality, they shunned me because I told them I was filing a denuncia and they were scared and angry. They didn't care about the dogs. They cared only for their reputations, their egos, and their statistics. ("Look at us, we're so great, we saved 100 dogs this year.")

Also, please note that Harold readily admits to spreading the news that I was going to file a denuncia, including telling the vet  "and others". The ironic thing is that they were threatening ME with persecution for slander, yet I had told next to no one, and here is Harold blabbing his mouth off and probably causing more damage to the vet's reputation than I ever did. Un-fucking-believable.

Anyway, the tone and accusations of these and other messages that were sent to me really shook me up. (My poor sister can attest to that!) Many people advised me to not proceed. I was really scared. I didn't file the denuncia for many months, trying to put it out of my mind.

But it was eating at my soul. Every time I stepped onto my porch, I remember Sahara lying there dead. Every time I scrolled thru my pictures, I saw sweet BabyPup. Every time I petted Velvet, I was reminded that I had failed to save her sister, Venus.

So in February, I completed the documents and with a sad but firm heart mailed the denuncia to the College of Veterinarians.

I did it because I needed to know that I had fought for Sahara, BabyPup, and Venus. They were beautiful, innocent dogs and they didn't deserve their horrible deaths. I was responsible for them. They were my dogs. When they got sick, I took them to a vet that people told me was good. But I soon learned differently.

Those are the photos that I attached to the denuncia. Here is the link to the other files. 

https://bit.ly/2Wg7Qr0

The files are mostly in Spanish, but I have included my notes in English. The translation to the denuncia is not word for word, of course. I won't repeat all the details here, for brevity's sake, but I will amend with some thoughts.

I must say this: Dr. Isael Estrada Atz is a fine surgeon. He has performed hundreds upon hundreds of spay/neuter surgeries at AYUDA's low-cost clinics at Lake Atitlan. No one can fault his surgery techniques or rate of success. The service he is doing for AYUDA is incredibly valuable. I never wanted to shut down his practice. I only wanted to incite change. I wanted his superiors to visit his office (which they never did) and give him suggestions as to how to improve so more beloved pets didn't die.

The Clinica Veterinaria San Martin office in Panajachel is inadequate for housing animals overnight. The animals are kept in a separate garage where no one can monitor them. Dr. Isael Estrada does not perform even the simplest of diagnostic tests, eg. Parvo SNAP tests, to confirm his diagnoses. He is rarely at the clinic in Pana because he has another office in Sololá, and because he spends many days helping AYUDA. Often when an owner goes to pick up their pet, he is not even present to talk to them. His staff in Pana are poorly trained, or not trained at all. There are no medical records kept to indicate what treatments have been given, if the animals are eating and how much, or if the IV fluids are being absorbed properly. (See my notes about Venus and her kinked IV. She basically died of complications due to long-term dehydration and starvation.)

I am not the only one who has noticed the poor care animals receive at his office.

Below is a link to a blog post from a few years ago about Shanti, a street dog rescued by a woman who was visiting Lake Atitlan. I personally wrote to her and she confirmed that it was Dr. Isael Estrada who treated her dog. At that time, there was no office in Pana, only in Sololá.

https://joyandjourney.com/the-best-souvenir-ever-i-adopted-a-street-dog-in-guatemala/

In her email, she wrote: 

"I really thought what happened to Shanti was a one-time thing/a mistake otherwise I would have contacted the animal rescue group. I was just happy to get him home."

I have heard other sad stories. In fact, a member of the Board of Directors of AYUDA had a dog who had to stay overnight at Clinica San Martin. When my friend went to pick up the dog, the poor thing was cowering in a crate in the garage, covered in urine and feces. He washed the dog before letting the owner see him that way.

My life has been hell here the past few months. I have had panic attacks. I didn't leave the house for two weeks, relying on "Bert" to get me groceries. When I did finally venture out, I walked with my head down, terrified to see someone who will accost me in public. I took back roads to avoid people. I wore plain clothing to not draw attention to myself. Sometimes I would turn around before getting to my destination, overcome with tears. Sometimes, I would walk out of the store crying, unable to finish shopping because my overwrought mind was endlessly repeating horrible scenarios of being approached by spiteful former friends.

Not only have I had to deal with the deaths of three foster dogs in two months, but I also had to deal with malicious gossip and "shit talk", as my friend aptly called it. I have tried to remind myself that no one cares what jerks say anyway. I have tried to maintain my ideals and my integrity. 

But I am SO FUCKING DONE. 

In Guatemala, you can go to prison for slander. That may be the case here. I am not permitted to say bad things about anyone in public. They can sue me. 

SO BE IT.

I am quite possibly the most honest person you will ever meet, and one of the most virtuous. (Outside of those religious folks!) Do you know that I have never done drugs? NEVER. I don't even smoke marijuana, which is rampant here. And I drink alcohol maybe once a month with friends. 

I have a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Guelph where I majored in Zoology, the study of animals. I worked as an Animal Control Officer with the Humane Society in Guelph shortly after graduation, but couldn't handle the euthanasias, so I quit and went to work for a no-kill rescue organization.

I buy dog food before I buy human food.

I feed my pets before I even make myself a coffee in the morning.

And every day, multiple times, I touch the head of every pet in my house and look in their sweet eyes and talk to them and give them love & attention.

I don't have children. I never wanted them. Animals have been my passion for as long as I remember. Helping animals is my reason for living. 

I want to write more but this is already very long. Please comment with any questions you have and I will try to answer. 

Thank you to my friends and family who have stuck by me, who listened while I wailed, who have offered advice and comfort. I'm sorry for the stress I have caused you. I don't know what I'm going to do next. Oh, wait. Yes, I do. I'm going to go pet Queso and Rui and Moo-Moo and Honey-Bear and Velvet. Good night.

Queso & Rui, my kitty boys. Guatemalan rescues!

My Moo-Moo. Love this dog. She is always so happy! She was from a litter of puppies that I rescued early last year. Her brothers and sisters were adopted but I had to keep her, she was too cute to give up!

Honey-Bear! She and her mother were picked up by AYUDA at the market in Panajachel. Her mother was released after her spay surgery. I decided to keep Honey to socialize her so she could be adopted. She is ready to go for anyone that needs a sweet, quiet, beautiful dog.

Miss Velvet! Her sister, Venus, was one of the dogs that died. Velvet's other sister, Violet, was adopted. Venus is smart and adorable and looking for a forever home.

Cats Are Better Than Dogs -- Sorry Not Sorry

Our foster kittens are one month old! They are freaking ADORABLE. And so easy. The mother cat, Summer, takes care of them so well. Kittens are way easier to have than puppies, that's for sure, especially when they have their own mother and I don't have to wake up every two hours to bottle feed them, like I did with Noodles.

How cute is he??? 😍

We are overloaded with foster dogs right now. It's difficult to find homes for adult dogs, especially females. Guatemalans prefer males and prefer puppies. We explain that the females are sterilized and won't go into heat or have babies, but it's still a hard sell. We will keep trying!

Cinder is super smart and loving. She is our newest foster doggie.
(But not for long. We're getting another tomorrow!)

Sassy is so energetic and people-focused. She wants someone to love!

Snowflake is the sweetest, more lovable puppers! Her brother was adopted but she is still with us. Why?? She's so cute!

Honey-Bear is quiet and independent and has legs for miles! Ha ha! She is a beautiful young dog and I hope she can find the perfect home..

If anyone would like to help with the cost of food and medications for all these doggies, please head over to AYUDA's page here and make a donation. We have gratefully accepted donations of dog food from several friends in the community, so a big THANK YOU goes out to them! 😊

Computer Troubles

Hey, faithful readers. Just updating everyone on my computer nightmare! My hard drive died on Friday. Heavens to Murgatroyd it has been CRAZY trying to get everything back. I am so lucky to have NJP as my geek-on-call. He drove around town and found me a new hard drive, which is a minor miracle as Panajachel is such a small place. I got a 500 GB hard drive for Q450, about $78 Canadian or $60 U.S. I could have got a bigger one for the same price if I had time and energy to get to the city, but I needed to get back online STAT!

Yep, it done broke. :(

So now I'm reinstalling everything -- Chrome, Word, paint.net, all my work programs -- and also working on trying to recover some files from the wrecked hard drive. I've had some success with PhotoRec...and then the power went out this morning and I don't know if I've lost all my progress or not. *sigh* 😕

It's finding stuff, so that's good. Not sure how to deal with it all, but I'll figure it out.

One thing that gave me some peace of mind in the middle of this mess is knowing that all my best pictures are on this blog. How cool is that? 😄 I also had quite a few important files saved on OneDrive, Google Drive, and Dropbox. They all give a bit of free storage and I'm too cheap to buy professional versions or upgrade, so I spread out my files to those three apps.

For now, my live webcam of Lake Atitlan will be offline. As I've mentioned previously, the Internet here is none too fast, so I'm using all my bandwidth to reinstall and upgrade and such. No time for webcams! I will get it back online as soon as I can.

In other news, my multi-species household (ha!) is doing well. The kittens are a week old today and cuter than anything. We have way too many dogs here so I'm trying to get it together enough to advertise the foster-doggies for adoption. Things will start to calm down in a few days when some doggies go back to their owners who are returning from vacations. Bert has started up with his mosaics again and we're also looking into doing new types of art.

The orange triplets, one week old. They are so freaking adorable.

Seven doggies! They were all having a blast playing and wresting outside.
Sassy, Cinder, Honey, and Luna are all up for adoption and will hopefully find new homes very soon.

I've got to get back to my computer madness. Wish me luck!

Misericordia

Misericordia is Spanish for "mercy". I had to look it up.
Fue un acto de misericordia. It was an act of mercy.

I'm sitting here eating mashed potatoes -- my comfort food -- and trying to figure out what to say. Here is the best I can come up with.

Guatemala will break your heart. 

If you are sensitive to the sufferings of people, children, and animals, your heart will swell and break many times over in Guatemala. There will be moments of joy and moments of grief. There will be times you will rage at the skies. There will be times you will repeat over and over to yourself, "I am so blessed."

And you will want to tell everyone. You will start a blog (hee hee!) or a webcast or a podcast or a YouTube channel or just post incessantly on your Facebook feed or Instagram or SnapChat. If you are anything like me, you won't be able to keep quiet.

I am posting some photos of a dog below that may be hard for some people to look at.
I'm sorry. I don't mean to upset anyone.
Or maybe I do mean to. It's like those commercials on television of the starving African children with swollen bellies and flies crawling on their faces. It is meant to shock. It is meant to trigger guilt. It is meant to incite people to donate money to appease that guilt. It is meant to provoke change.

I have to add this picture so that my feed doesn't show a graphic image to readers.

Bert is psychic. He knew something was going to happen today. When we left the house to walk to the market, he was noticeably nervous. He said, "Something always happens when we go out." I reassured him that we were just going to go buy fruits & veggies and then scoot back home for a relaxing afternoon.

Then I saw the dog. He was lying on the sidewalk near the market. People were stepping around him, ignoring him, or perhaps glancing down in disgust and pity then quickly moving on.

The first words out of my mouth when I saw this fella in the distance were, "Uh-oh."

I approached slowly, talking in a calm but cheerful voice. I pulled out my camera to snap some pics, holding it at my side without even looking thru the lens, so I could use my eyes to assess the situation. 

His hip bones and spine were jutting from his flesh. His entire other side was scabs from mange and wounds.

The dog allowed me to approach him, his tail thumping twice on the ground as I gently patted his head. Flies and fleas were crawling all over him. His fur was coarse. He stunk. Blood oozed from crevices in his dry skin.
I knew it wasn't looking good.
I called Selaine, founder and fearless leader of Ayuda Para la Salud de Perros y Gatos. She lived nearby and immediately walked over to see the dog and make a decision.

As I was standing next to the dog waiting, a lovely Mayan woman came by and gave the dog two small muffins. He gobbled them down. She spoke briefly to me in Spanish. Although I didn't understand all she said, I caught the word, pobrecito. (Poor thing.) I said to the lady, "Muchas gracias, seño. Muy amable." (Thank you very much, ma'am. Very kind.") Both of us put our hands to our hearts in the universal gesture of pain and sadness.

Look at that sweet innocent face!

As Selaine approached down the street, I could see the compassion and pity and sadness in her face. Se crouched near the dog to comfort him and examine him. The dog tried to move, his legs unable to coordinate, and he spun in a circle on the sidewalk. Selaine calmed him down and heaved a deep sigh. She picked up her phone and called the veterinarian, Dr. Isael Estrada at Clinica San Martin, who works with AYUDA. A flurry of Spanish and the decision was made. 

I quickly pulled Q10 from my purse and sent Bert to the nearest fried chicken cart. As we waited for a tuc-tuc, we fed the dog hot, delicious fried chicken. His tail wagged as he wolfed it down. I put half of the chicken in a baggie for the next step.

Bert and I coaxed the dog into a tuc-tuc. He stood on wobbly legs, his head poking out the side. This could possibly be his first ever tuc-tuc ride. He handled it like a champ. I decided he should be called Rocky, after the infamous small-town boxer who fought with his entire heart until the very end.

At the vet's office, Bert lifted Rocky out of the tuc-tuc and carried him inside. The vet and assistant were ready for us, faces solemn. 

Bert waited outside. I stayed with Rocky, feeding him the last of the fried chicken. He stood on the steel table, calm, stoic, trusting. The vet inserted the IV. I told Rocky he was a good boy, un buen perro, and he was going to be okay. The vet pushed a needle in. Tears flooded my eyes as Rocky sagged down, the vet and assistant moving him into a lying position. His eyes closed, his breathing slowed. Another needle. More tears.

I stayed with him until the end, repeating over and over, "You're a good boy. Buen perro. It's going to be okay. Good boy." 

Rocky took his last breath and was suffering no more.  

Rest in peace, Rocky. Descansa en paz.

Please donate if you can, and hug your dog today in memory of Rocky.

>>Click here to donate to Ayuda Para la Salud de Perros y Gatos.<<

A Wonderful Weekend in Monterrico

My older sister came to visit me in Panajachel this past week and we decided that we would do a weekend trip to the beach at Monterrico. The planning was a nightmare but in the end, it all worked out so well and we had a blast!
We were joined by Cheryl, our new friend from San Pedro, who had previously joined us on our adventure to Iximché.

Originally we had planned for a private shuttle with 6 to 8 people. We were quoted a price of Q2,200 total round trip. Unfortunately, life got in the way for many folks and it came down to just 3 of us. So we booked a variety of shared shuttles for our trip.

Price of a shared shuttle from Panajachel to Monterrico (brief stop in Antigua to change shuttles) = Q175 per person one way

We stayed at the lovely Hotel El Delfin, located right on the beach in Monterrico. We shared a room that had 2 full beds and air conditioning, with private bathroom and shower.

Hotel El Delfin, 1 private room, 3 people, A/C = Q750 total for 2 nights

I always do reviews on TripAdvisor, so pop over there and check out ratings and comments about the hotel. I never go anywhere without checking TripAdvisor first!

Ahhh, this is the life! The beach at El Delfin, Monterrico, Guatemala

At the hotel, we were given a wristband and all food and drinks were charged to our room. You didn't have to pay until checkout. A risky practice! You could easily rack up a huge bill and have a great time, only to realize you didn't have enough money to pay for it in the end. Some poor girls from Quebec discovered as they were checking out that their credit cards didn't work. They figured out a solution but that's a huge hunk of stress. Even if your bank says your card will work in Guatemala, it's not always guaranteed.

My brain is a bit befuddled and I'm not sure where to start so I think I will just upload the pictures and describe our adventures. Scroll down to the end if you want to know how I got from Monterrico back to Panajachel.

Reaching for the Pacific Ocean!

Black sand beach. Super hot on the feet! If you wanted to go in the ocean, you had to run between the shade and the water super quickly so your feet didn't scorch! 

The sound of the waves crashing was constant throughout the weekend. It was actually kinda soothing. There was always a nice breeze coming in, which helped to cool us off and dry our sweat!

Mmm drinks. Mojito on the left, two frozen margaritas on the right.

View of the hotel bar and lounging area from the beach. This is where we spent most of our time.

My sister and my friend checking out the ocean. It was steamy hot! My camera fogged up.

The pool. So wonderfully cool.

This was the property next door.

It seemed to me that about 50% of the properties along the beach were destroyed and/or closed. It was most noticeable at night when you could see little pockets of light and music and action in between pools of darkness. I guess a bad hurricane hit a few years ago and some properties didn't recover.

Horses for riding along the beach!

We found this board in the hotel AFTER we had booked our tours. 😕

We booked a mangrove tour for Q125 each. The board says Q75 to Q100. My sister and friend also did horseback riding for Q150 each. Board says Q100. Lesson learned. Either check for posted prices or negotiate!

Drink specials at the bar.

Bulletins near the reception. Beach cleanup was a nice touch.

There were tons of adorable dogs hanging around the hotels. They seemed happy and well-fed for the most part.

My footprints in the black sand at sunset.

The beach is soooooo long! Great sunsets every night. The black sand cools down and you can stroll along for miles.

There were mosquitos at night, so bring bug spray. The hotel put out these repellent coils all around the beach bar. There was also a mosquito net over the bed.

The rooms at El Delfin were simple but nice. We were only in them to sleep. The rest of our time was on the beach or out adventuring!

As I mentioned above, we booked a 5am boat tour of the mangrove swamp. We had to walk a bit across town to get to the boats. One lady in our group refused to get in the boat. I think she felt it was unsafe. She and her husband walked off. There were then I think 8 of us in the boat. It was flat-bottomed and pretty stable. No life jackets. The water is shallow in the swamp but still deep enough that you would have to be able to swim if the boat tipped. I couldn't imagine that it would though. The ride was slow and peaceful and our boat guide was good at his job.

Our boat guide, Erick, arriving with our canoe for the mangrove tour. 5am. UGH, so sleepy.

The mangrove tour was fun! Nothing too thrilling but tranquil and lots of scenery and birds.

Sunrise over the swamp.

Lots of Great Egrets all over the mangrove swamp. We got to watch them catch fish for breakfast.

Our guide had "bien ojos" -- good eyes. He spotted this wee crab up in a tree and pointed him out with his pole.

There are families who live in the swamp part-time. They sell fish at the market. Sometimes they have to move away because the waters rise up and flood their homes.

There is a car ferry that takes people from Monterrico to the highway that leads to Taxisco. I guess it's a long drive around. 

The official name of the Mangrove park is Biotopo Monterrico-Hawaii. There is a visitor's center somewhere but we didn't go. The river is called Canal de Chiquimulilla. Sometimes it is fresh water and sometimes salt, depending on the season. Our guide spoke mostly in Spanish but did have some English to explain things if we asked. I was translating as best I could for my sister and friend. I would recommend a tour of the mangroves for sure as it was very nice. There are not a lot of activities in Monterrico so it was nice to get out of the hotel and see stuff.

After the mangrove tour, we strolled back to the hotel for breakfast and relaxing. Monterrico is a small town. The main street is paved and has sidewalks and gardens and lots of shops. It was quite nice. The side roads are all black sand. I will say it again: it is SO HOT there! Do your activities in the morning or late afternoon, and save the midday for relaxing in the shade or in the pool.

My sister posing with the biggest inflatable unicorn I had ever seen!

My sister heading to the ocean for a splash.

Happy sleepy beach doggie.

Happy sleepy hotel kitty.

The road that runs along the beach behind the hotels.

I saw a lot of empty lots and abandoned buildings. Anyone wanna open a beach resort?? 😀

Free beautiful sunset included with every day!

This sad little girl wasn't really feeling like selling her wares.

The little girl and her mom walking thru the hotel.

I think the owner or manager of the hotel had a soft spot for the family selling the seashell items. He said they were not from Monterrico and that there were 7 children in the family. They sat in the shade of a palm tree at the ruined building next door and took turns carrying the baskets to sell their seashell crafts. The hotel allowed them to come and get water from the bar. I didn't have money the first few times they came by, so I made sure to get my purse on the last day so I could buy something from them.

It's an armadillo! So cute and will forever remind me of the fun times at Monterrico.

The stinky fruit! There was a tree growing at the side of the pool that was dropping rotten fruit. They REEKED so bad! I think it is a type of anonna. (Custard apple or soursop or something.)

There were ATV rentals but I think this fancy one was privately-owned. Also... doggies! :D

In the picture above, you can see the slack line just in front of the dune buggy. It was very popular with the younger crowd. Everyone had to try to walk it! If you don't know what I'm talking about, check out this short video on slacklining.

One of the big draws of Monterrico is turtles. They are only around in the winter though, so we missed them.
A great reason to plan a trip back!

The big archway above is the main public beach access. Right beyond it on the sand are ladies selling street food like 3xQ10 tacos, fried chicken, smoothies, etc. If you're trying to save money and want to try authentic Guatemalan food, walk down the beach a bit and eat there. The tacos were delish!

I've put several short videos up on YouTube. I took so many videos of the ocean, my camera ran out of batteries! The video below is of our tour thru the mangroves.

The three of us were all going separate ways at the end of this trip. We all shared a shuttle from Monterrico to Antigua on Sunday at 4pm, price of Q100. We had booked it beforehand with a tour agency. The board at the hotel said their shuttle price was Q70, so you may be able to save a few Q by booking with them instead.

We spend a nice night and half-day in Antigua, and then my sister took a shared shuttle to the airport, Cheryl took a different shuttle to San Pedro, and I got on a chicken bus to get to Panajachel.

Getting from Antigua to Panajachel by chicken bus:
From Antigua, the chicken bus went to Chimaltenango for Q5. It was about an hour. I was supposed to get off at the highway ramp, but I missed it and ended up down the street. I just asked which way for the bus to Los Encuentros and the bus driver pointed me up the road and said it was four blocks. Easy peasy.
From Chimal, I got a bus that was going right to Sololá for Q25. That was two hours, maybe a bit more. From there, the regular chicken bus for Q3 down to Pana. I'm getting rather experienced with this form of transportation!

"What are we doing today, Brain?"
"Same thing we do every day, Pinky. Try to pay the bills." 

Thanks for reading. I hope it was enjoyable and informative! Post any questions below and I'll try to answer as soon as I can.