Kittens

Back home, I have a wonderful, large, gray cat that is the laziest and cutest, and I love him. He’s always lying somewhere around the house, often sleeping in the most adorable positions with his paws over his face or on his back, stomach exposed. He’s super friendly and great company. We also just got a puppy the week before I left for Costa Rica, which was awesome but sad since I only got to spend less than a week with this precious 11-week old black lab. I’m so excited to spend a month with her with I get back, because my family has wanted a dog for years. I have a soft spot for cute animals.

In Costa Rica, there are tons of stray dogs, as we observed pretty soon after we got here. You have to get used to not paying attention to the prettiest dogs when they come up to you, because as much as you may want to pet them, they will follow you relentlessly if you give them the smallest bit of attention. One of the first things we learned here is the quick, short, “Tshhh!” to get rid of stray dogs, which works surprisingly well on most of them. If that doesn’t work, all you have to do is bend down to get a rock to throw near them to scare them away, and usually the dog will recognize this motion before you can even grab a rock, and run away. They’re used to not being treated well, so they know when they aren’t wanted.

We have a cat in my host family, and my host-mom told me they only have her to catch and eat rats. She is not allowed in the house (a succinct Tsh! or Salga! will do), and is not paid any attention (but she is super affectionate, as I’ve discovered). About a month ago she had babies; I had no idea she was even pregnant! There are four cute, adorable kittens, which I’ve been watching grow older. When they were two days old, they were tiny and couldn’t open their eyes and had the highest pitched little mew. Two weeks ago, their eyes were beginning to open, and they were taking wobbly steps, but trying. Now, they can walk pretty well and improve everyday because they practice so much. They are playing with each other and yawning and stretching and doing all the typical cat things that are so adorable.

The other morning, the mom and a baby came to the back mudroom and were lying down outside the back door. Kevin and I were watching them in silence. Then, Daniela, (who has made clear her opinion of gatos, she doesn’t like them either), saw the mom and the baby and looks at me and ask, pretty accusatorily, “Por qué lo hiso?” (Why did you do that?) She knows that I’m in love with them. I said, “What? I didn’t.” The kittens can walk now; they don’t need my aid to get to the back room. She gives me a face and proceeds to kick the mom to shoo her away. The mom flees, and the baby is left there, not knowing what to do. Daniela starts to kick the baby too, and I say, “Daniela, no!” and Kevin is telling her the same thing, and grabs her shirt to try and pull her away. She keeps kicking the poor thing, and I try to pull her back, and she vehemently yells NO and continues, this time a little more committed. It was when the helpless kitten literally started rolling that I blocked her and grabbed the kitten to put him back in the shed where they sleep. I understand that the cat is only here to catch rats, that she (and her babies) aren’t allowed in the house, but this was crossing the line for me. I was so mad at Daniela, and I thought I was going to cry. When I picked him up and put him back, the little guy was cowering and shaking with his tail in between his legs. And I know of course that me telling her to stop only egged her on more. It was just an upsetting experience that I hope won’t happen again. These are the things I think I’ve learned from that: Younger children (like Kevin) are fascinated by these kinds of things, like baby animals. Children a bit older and smarter (like Daniela) like to test you and if you tell them not to do something, they will only be likely to do it more.

On a happier note, the constant rain has finally stopped and we had a beautiful day of no rain last week before returning to our regular sunny morning, rainy afternoon weather pattern. Yesterday we started with rain in the morning, and then ended with no rain and an incredible sunset. The prettiest and brightest colors spread across sky, constantly changing. It was beautiful. Today, I’m super excited for our semi Halloween celebration, we are making books and watching American football, doing Acro yoga, and ordering pizza, all at Fran’s tree house!