Heavy Into Rice and Beans

Here we are in the second day of our clinics. So far so good. As in January, we have the good fortune of having an excellent team. Great technical skills, a laid-back approach to being in a foreign land and a good sense of humour. Oh- and of course the ability to eat rice and beans and various carbohydrates without complaint...and not too much gi upset as yet...although to be honest we do have one team member who now considers Immodium a very good friend. But of course, we have only been here a few days, and do have a number to go....we´ll see how everyone is next week.

I arrived here on sunday, a day later than the rest of the team. My flight was uneventful and I somehow managed to get all my supplies and anesthetic drugs here without any complaint from anyone at any borders or the airlines. And I was only a little bit concerned with my Esterisol getting broken as it got tossed on top of the chicken bus for the 2 hour bumpy ride into Todos Santos. The term ´bumpy´is abit of an understatement...it is more like a 2 hour kidney bruising, nauseating carnival ride in an old school bus that was not made for the giants of Canada. My knees were bruised and locked by the time I got to TS.

The team seemed to adjust to life in Todos Santos very quickly and had taken Sunday to not only get the surgical packs and supplies in order, but to take some time to hike up the mountain a bit. The rugged, hilly terrain is challenging to function in...it is sort of like being on a stepper all the time. A fantastic crash course in getting in shape quickly. The first few days are always hard here...but usually by day 3 or 4 it is easier to breath and the hills don´t seem so bad.

This is my third time here in Todos Santos. It is always nice to come back here. The people are so friendly and they always remember us. It is also great to see dogs who we have become attached to still alive and doing well. I love seeing Nosey come running up to us as if we are long lost family members. In reality I am sure she just sees us as tourists with tortillas in our pockets! And my other good friend Betty who I came to know last May: how do these dogs survive here??

Yesterday our clinic was in Los Pablos, today it is in Che Cruz. We have seen about 40 dogs so far today and I think we saw about 55 yesterday. We are vaccinating and chemically sterilizing male dogs at the moment and are booking spay appointments for the weekend. We have seen many of the dogs we castrated last year. They seem to be doing well and it is great to see the pride in the people when they bring in their dog with their vaccine certificate from January and we tell them they are doing a great job.

well - i will sign off for now. Have to go to the farmacia to see what meds I can get for a dog and then back to the clinic. Beunos tardes.