Los Animales de Guadalupe

Today is Saturday, and since the clinic is closed, we had time to help out with the animals.  Until today I had no idea how many animals there are to take care of here at the mission.

First, we started with helping out with the rabbits.  The nurse here, Amanda Anderson, is American but has been living here for about 15 years.  She used to be a missionary paid by the Catholic Church, but they ended their program in Ecuador -- and she wanted to stay.  So she now supports herself by raising animals and selling them,  She also just seems to have a soft spot in her heart for them.

There are also four nuns here -- the Hermanas (sisters) of Teresita.  They keep a bunch of animals, particularly chickens and cows, both for food and to sell.  (The Hermanas have been very kind to us, and they run inside to get a piece of fruit for the kids any time we walk by.  They also send over leftover desserts!  We baked them a loaf of banana bread in return, which they seemed to really enjoy.)

Today we had the important job of supervising (cuddling) the rabbits while Amanda cleaned out their cages.  The kids just could not have been happier.

Pregnant mama on the left, daddy on the right

Emmett with one of the little guys

Cuddling daddy rabbit

Good bunny

The Sisters' chicken coop

Chickens (brown) and guinea fowl (grey -- actually black with tiny white polka dots) in the enclosure.  Apparently the guinea fowl are quite territorial.   Rumor has it they chased off a skunk the other night that came in either to steal a chicken or some eggs.  

Emmett spreading coffee grounds in the drainage holes, to keep the frogs out of the pipes.  Apparently the acidity of the coffee grounds stings the frogs' feet, and keeps them away.

It keeps the frogs away, but evidently not the large rat who reportedly comes out of this drainage ditch at night.  

Amanda showing Emmett how to hold the daddy rabbit

Annalise thoroughly in love with the babies

Evidently this cute looking caterpillar is actually pretty nasty.  It leaves a trail of acid on your skin and stings you if you let it crawl on you, and it hurts for about an hour.  Not so cuddly.

Amanda also has a lovely, docile old horse named Aspen.  She is a 30 year old mare that was bought by another family who was here volunteering like us about 12 years ago, for their daughters to ride while they were here.  They then donated the horse to the mission when they left.  They were from Aspen, CO -- hence the horse's name.

Aspen let the kids cuddle her and ride on her while we walked her over to get water.  She loves bananas, though she won't eat apples or carrots.  Silly horse.
According to Amanda, she is also pregnant and will probably have her foal in 3-4 months -- so that should be fun and interesting.  Apparently she has already had 13 foals -- all boys!  Who knows, maybe #14 will be the girl she has been waiting for...

Annalise in her happy place

Getting water from the stream for the horse

Hugs for Aspen

Drinking a little handful of water at a time

Amanda also has an incubator in her apartment, and she should have some chicken eggs hatching today.  She also has quail, guinea hen, and goose eggs in there.  In a few weeks, she may well be lending us a small incubator so the kids can take care of some eggs and hatch them themselves.  It's really fun watching them be so engaged, and so interested in the animals -- it's something they just don't have much contact with at home in Tacoma.  There was a cow tied up near the entrance to the clinic this week, acting as a lawn mower.  Annalise said she had "never had a cow moo right next to me before!"  Annalise also had me download an app so she could do research on the animals.  It's that Montessori concept at work, of striking while the iron is hot and letting them cultivate what feels really interesting to them in the moment.  I'm sure we will be helping out a lot, and walking up the hill with bananas in hand to visit our new friend Aspen.