Let's Go On A Walk

This weekend was my first, of hopefully many, very active weekends. On Saturday, my host mom had told me about going to an animal shelter at 9AM on Sunday. So I woke up early on Sunday, and we headed for the animal shelter. I thought we were going to go meet their cousins, and then go to an animal shelter in town. Man, was I wrong!  And let me just say that I wore the wrong clothes for our activity. So we turned left from our house, which I have never done before. To go right is to go to other volunteer’s houses, the center of town, or to catch a camioneta. So we turned left, and went up a slight hill, and turned right onto a dirt path. Not too far along, we turned left onto a stone walkway, surrounded by bamboo on each side. Sounds great right? It was beautiful, but it was all-uphill. I am not sure of the distance, but it took us about 5 minutes to get to the top of the walkway. You could see all of Sumpango from the top. But hey, we weren’t even at the top yet. We climbed a couple tiny cobblestone hills, and then we reached the top. I was so out of breath it was pathetic. My host mom and dad were breathing a little heavily, but nowhere near what I was. We went down a large hill and waited for their cousins, and my fellow Volunteer, Saisha to come and meet us.

We waited a good 20 minutes, and then I saw this really tall gringo turn the corner, with some traditionally dressed women, and I knew they had finally arrived. So we set out on our adventure! We walked to a dirt road, which we took for about half a mile. We then turned right, onto a path surrounded by trees and bushes. I felt like I was really experiencing Guatemala. It was beautiful. We walked for about 5 to 10 minutes on that path, and then we reached Animal Aware.

Before we even got there, we heard loads and loads of barking. We opened the gate, and entered and heard even louder barking. We met this American woman who runs it. We saw many different fenced-in areas, with all of the dogs barking at us. We walked towards the entrance, and found more dogs fenced in. We then went inside the puppy and small dog fence. Oh My Gosh, it was amazing! They were all cuddly, sweet, and excited to see us! Next was the cat area, and we hung out with the cats! I found this one kitten that was so cute! I have decided that before the end of my training in Sumpango, I am going back to Animal Aware and getting a cat! Hasta Luego!!

My host mom and dad

The view from our walk

I tried to take photos!



Saishia and her host mom and my host mom