Birthdays, Baths and Babies!!

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Birthdays

James's aunts (who are twins) had their birthday on the 23rd. Tia Gloria and Tia Tita had a birthday tea (in Chile the evening meal is either called Te or Once and is typically a light meal accompanied by tea) on their actual birthday, and then we celebrated again on sunday after the usual family lunch. And of course Yaya made one of her very tasty pineapple cream cakes!

Baths

Anna was in serious need of a bath and a haircut, so this week I took her to a clinic that does tick and flea baths and grooming! She also got some new jackets to keep her warm at night and I took her to the vet to get the rest of her vaccines. She needs a lot of training but its still very much the lovable little puppy I left!

There is definitely a different view of dogs here, and training and vet visits are not necessarily always top priority. It can be very frustrating for me at times because as you all know I am an animal lover who has a hard time seeing suffering or maltreatment. I do understand that putting food on

the table and getting your own children to the doctor comes before caring for pets, and I have seen many cases here where the pets are loved and truly cared for to the best of the owners ability (even if that might not be the level of care I'd like to see). However there are a lot of people who have a very different mindset, the people that see streetdogs as useless trash and treat them as such. There are certainly people who try to do something about the street dogs (the vet I take Anna to does occasional spay and neuter events that are free and open to any dog that can be brought in). But I really think that it's the mindset of the public that needs some work... The streetdogs aren't some trash that isn't our problem; they are innocent creatures doing their best to survive after we people have carelessly let them come into this hard existence.

Babies

On a happier note: A couple weeks ago my classmate Camila (Barbi) welcomed her son Joaquin into the world!! I went on thursday with my friend Rocio to see mom and baby in the hospital and

both were doing well. And then last week on Wednesday the 29th Rocio had a beautiful baby boy named Amaro. Unfortunately he was born on the day I left for La Serena so I didn't get to meet him in person for a week (so those pictures will be coming in the entry after La Serena!).

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Photos

mmmm cachitos!
Cachitos are little horn-shaped little pastries filled with manjar (chilean dulce de leche... like caramel) that are very tasty!

Yaya and Gary
(on their way out to an award ceremony for Gary's class that I unfortunately couldn't go to)

Comments

[Laura]

Anna
Oh, wow... I always thought she had tan fur!