Bugs, bugs and more bugs

Buenas tardes from TS. We have been super busy over the past few days. We have all had a bit of a touch of some respiratory issues here....lots of colourful things living in our lungs i think...which makes the climbs at this elevation somewhat difficult. It makes the flea and bed bug bites seem less of an issue...although Roberto, like last yuear, seems to have the right blood type for the fleas!

Last week we spent 3 days in San Martin, another community about an hour away. It was an interesting experience for us. We were billeted two by two with local families. Our sleeps were not always great as we often had cannons going off at 5 am (religious celebrations ???), roosters crowing starting at 2 am (where are their watches?), dog fights all through the night and fellow roommates who snored loud. The families were gracious and welcoming to us and opened their homes and fed us well. The dogs in San martin were very different than those in Todos Santos. They were very untrusting of people and uninhibited...which was somewhat dangerous and less than relaxing at times. They were also very very thin....which reminds me of the importance of the dump here in Todos Santos and the small slaughter facilities as very important sources of nutrition for the roaming dogs. We only saw a couple dogs out of the many that were in decent body condition. And the puppies were in exceedingly poor condition....a bad combination of intestinal parasites and malnutrition. We were glad to be able to help out there a bit and will see what next year brings. It was a tiring three days for us and we were glad to get back to the simple comforts (??) of Todos Santos.

We started our spays yesterday and i think have done about 8 or ten. It is soooo cold in the morning that we are having to wait until 9 am before the room is warm enough to even consider opening up an abdomen. They are going well so far and we have just two more days of it left. Tomorrow is the grand VWB-VSF fiesta for the kids. Big Dr Roberto has his Scooby Doo costume and a play is planned for the children to discuss responsible pet ownership with the kids as well as proper dog handling and how to avoid dog bites. Plus there awill also be a bit of an english lesson. We are expecting about 200 kids and of course snacks will be provided! It should be great.

Well i must sign off now. It is great being here and seeing so many familiar faces. What has been striking for me is how many return clients we are seeing with their dogs....and most of the males have been castrated by us. All seem to be in good health and are in good body condition. It is wonderful to be able to continue our talk with the clients about parasite control and nutrition. We have figured out that it takes roughly 2 tortillas/kg of dog to have a decent body condition....that means about 30 tortillas for the average size dog here....which would keep the tortilla maker of the family very busy! Most dog receive just 10 tortillas a day...which means they must scavenge the rest off the street. Our talks on nutrition have probably helped these dogs the most.

Adios amigos! kate