August 2015

I have noticed on Facebook that there is a campaign in the United States to clear all of the dog shelters. This is close to my heart since I was a volunteer at Arlington Animal Shelter in Texas. So, I urge everyone to do their part and find a new best friend that may actually rescue you.  Turns out this a world wide problem.  Click and enjoy the music  Take A Chance on Me from Mama Mia. I hope you will listen to the the music which is one of my all time favorites and my theme song for dog rescue. .

Cotacachi Amici Cannis Neuter Clinic

A few weekend’s ago in Cotachachi and surrounding communities hosted a  non-surgical neuter sterilization clinic which this time was held for the male dogs.  A total of 82 male dogs where sterilized which will make a huge difference.  Recently, another clinic provided sterilization for the female dogs. So, this time is was the boy’s turn.  It was a simple procedure and the male dogs were given a light tranquilizer followed by  general anesthesia.  Then a substance was injected into their scrotum which would render them sterile. Each dog received a small tattoo near their scrotum that local vets would recognize indicating the dogs were sterilized. What the group realized was that a lot more education was needed since the owners of the dogs did not think the male dogs were part of the problem . After all they did not see the results of the puppies. So, there was not any cultural or religious reluctance involved  it was simply more education. The volunteers sat with the dogs as they recovered from anesthesia.

A special shout out of thanks to Heather and Phillip Steyn, DVM from Colorado who brought all the drugs from the United States as well as the local vet’s and volunteers that participated.

I had volunteered to help but turns out that Bill did more than I did since since I had a leg injury. Here he is pictured with a pit bull recovering from anesthesia with two young boys that were the owners. Apparently, they had owned the dog for just three weeks. But here they were trying to wake up this sleeping giant by pulling his tail and blowing in his ears.

All turned out well and all three were soon on their way. Kudos to Bill since we are afraid of pit bulls after he and our little Cavalier King Charles Spaniels were attacked in Arlington by this breed.

So now, it was Texas and Dallas’ turn to be spayed. Yesterday we took all five dogs to Dr. Lara in Ibarra. Our three Cavalier King Charles Spaniel’s for their yearly immunizations plus grooming. The two pups for spaying. We were surprised that the spaying cost was  $150 each which seems more like the cost back in the States. We decided that taking all five dogs to Ibarra is just to much! So next time we are going to use the new vet Dr. Richardo Rodriguez, Happy Animals, Cotacachi for Kitty, Texas and Dallas. The poor pups just to stressed going for a ride in the car. Plus Dr. Rodriquez will make house calls. We used him when Lucy ate a chocolate bar. He was at our house within twenty minutes and charged us $20.

Dallas was not feeling herself this morning after her surgery and wanted to stay in her dog house.  But both are now up and bouncing around and just ate their first post op surgery breakfast.

July 4th Celebration

Yes, the expat’s celebrate the 4th of July in Ecuador! A nice gathering of a few of the neighbors and good food.

Yikes!!! We furnished the hot dogs but why on earth did the cook prepared them to look like grande Ecuadorian worms? Guess he wanted everyone to eat his hamburgers instead.

Another Parade! It is always a surprise.

What is a bodega?

The bodgea is like a storage building and home to our washer and dryer as well other items we had for storage but oh so small. The bodega backed up to one of our bathrooms. Suddenly, the bathroom wall was wet and the stucco coming off. So the workers investigated and turned out we had three water leaks in the wall  that finally ended up to be eight. Since they had to tear down the wall to make the repairs we decided now was the time to enlarge a new one and has ended up to be a man cave for Bill. So the 4 week project turned into  10 weeks. All this occurred during Inti Ramyi Celebration! Whenever there is a holiday celebration the workers do not show up. If you live in Ecuador this is a general expectation and we understand.  During this time I did not have access to my washer and dryer! I used the community center washer and hung the clothes out on our clothesline. The community center washer was so dirty and only had cold water so I hated using it. Plus it took me all day. Kudos to my neighbor Dian that came to my rescue and letting me start to use hers.

I ended up repairing the stucco plaster in our bathroom!

After updating this blog I realize I have so much more to post but it will all have to wait until next time!

So many folks ask us how we like Ecuador. The Ecuadorians are welcoming and  have patience. But who you have to watch out for is the Expats. One of my pet peeve’s are Expats that want to make the community into a little United States. They have packed their emotional baggage with a  hurry up attitude, health problems  and really should find another place to live. We are guests in this beautiful country and should not inflict our stress, timelines and attitudes on the locals! It made me sad that some of the Expats fired workers simply because they did not show up to work during the  Inti Raymi Celebration. Cotacachi is a small town and I guess they never think that everyone is someway related to each other. So when you fire a worker you are firing someone’s uncle, brother or sister. There  are some Expats that contract workers and then when it is completed refuse to pay stating it did not meet their expectations. Well it is Ecuador and these folks are trying to support their family. On an average they make about $400 a month. I think this is where the term Ugly American came from but not all the Expats are American and some come from other counties. So I guess it should be coined Ugly Gringo or Expat.   Enough said!

Hugs to family and friends!

  Texas Annie Ecuador