PICA PICA

Javi and I recently got ourselves a nasty case of poison ivy, or “pica-pica” (itch-itch) as the Hondurans call it. At the moment we are both quite miserable, constantly dosing ourselves in calamine lotion and staying heavily sedated on Benadryl.

I thought poison ivy was only a bane of the Northern Hemisphere, but it is alive and well here in the tropics.

However, HOW we came into contact with the vile plant was WELL worth our current suffering. We saw monkeys, in the wild, and got to talk with them! (well, communicate)

We traveled to Danli (near the Nicaraguan border) this past weekend to spend time with some friends who live there. Annie and Luke set us up on a fabulous trip to head into the mountains with a friend of theirs, a man who owns a coffee farm and a 100+ year old hacienda. We watched as he washed his coffee and we got to ask him all kinds of questions about growing coffee. He would later go on to sell his coffee that day for about $120 for two hundred pound sacks, still wet. ($.60 a pound) It sure does get a lot more expensive by the time you buy a cup at starbucks! Food for thought when you read one of their "fair trade" brochures they hand out at their coffee shops.

Anyway, Rene (the owner) led us through the mountain side (literally straight up the side) to a spot where we could find monkeys. He left to go back to work and we stayed and had a great time interacting with the monkeys.

I took a video as Javi was “talking” with one of the bigger males:




On the way down we got a bit off track and had to end up climbing down the mountain side through vines and jungle thicket. And that is where we found pica-pica, I’m sure.

Honduran Street Dogs….pobrecitos!

I have heard that pets are often a reflection of the economic status of the place they live, and I think there is a lot of truth in that. For instance – American dogs are generally a happy, healthy bunch. I’ve seen quite a few overweight dogs and some get the royal treatment in many ways. There are dogs who get better health care than some Hondurans do! I even read the other day that some rich lady in Connecticut recently bequeathed to her dog her entire fortune of $12 million.

Well, no such luck would fall on a dog here in Honduras. I’ve seen some that seem to live in a pretty good situation, but I’ve seen MANY that have it pretty rough.

Take this guy for instance…..

I know what you are thinking. Is this even a dog? This guy has no hair and barely enough energy to drag his bony body around the block that he lives on. While I was taking his picture, I was warned to stay away due to all his diseases from a man sitting nearby in a wheel chair. But when I was talking to him, his wrinkled ears perked up and he did a little head tilt. Poor, poor dog. We walk past him everyday on the way to work so I’ve decided I will bring him scraps when I can.

There are lots of dogs always digging in the trash, trying to find a bite to eat. Some are mama dogs who look so malnourished you wonder what kind of milk they are giving to their pups. (…with what appears to be "utters" practically dragging on the ground.) Others are very scraggly beasts with so many fleas, you can see them swarming from a distance.

They almost always run at a "trot" around town, always seeming to go in a particular direction. I always think that is interesting and wonder where they are going with such purpose.

Sometimes you will see a female in heat running away from a pack of 2 – 10 dogs on her tail. In some of the poorer, smaller towns around here, you will often see two dogs "stuck together" (if you get my drift)….which is a very disturbing sight all in its own.

Here are two dogs, "after the fact" (note tongues hanging low). No one wants to see the actual act so and I was fortuante to have missed it myself, so I'm glad we were all spared that!

Here is your usual subject. He exemplifies the classic street dog look - long ears, skinny body, ratty hair.

And here is one lucky dog who happened to be adopted by a dog loving peace corps volunteer!

She is sweet but how quickly they get spoiled!