Until recently we thought that the most dangerous thing we do here is cross the street. Pedestrians don't have the legal right of way and drivers see them as a nuisance best ignored or honked at. Since we arrived we've learned some relatively quiet routes to get to our most regular destinations but still, not a day goes by when I don't run into oncoming traffic in a way that would seem suicidal in the States but here is merely the only way to get to the other side.

We recently discovered that walking on the sidewalks can be just as dangerous. While I was in the Bay Area helping out a friend who had just adopted a baby and picking up documents that we needed for our visa, Mark and the kids had an adventure that they won't soon forget.

Here's Ailish to tell the story.

So we decided to look for a chili dog place because we weren't in the mood for lasagna (that was the food we had at the house). Anyway, we were walking and walking around our neighborhood looking for the place. We were giving up and just trying to go back home. And then we changed streets and we saw a dog. We were pretty confident. I knew that when we came to the dog I should walk around the grassy area to avoid it. But my dad was pretty confident so he walked right up to it and said "hi doggy" (that's what I heard, Liam heard "Hola perrito"). And the dog started to bark. I ran across the street and Liam climbed a fence. But my dad was so close to the dog he couldn't run. The next thing I heard was screaming and "the bippin dog just bit me" "Mordida, Sangre!". So then we walked home and we were all really scared. Then we went to our landlord's. And he totally came to the rescue. He cleaned up my dad's wounds. Then my dad, Susy, and Charly and I went in their big jeep to go deal with things. It is hard to explain what happened after that. But everything is completely fine now except we have a scary memory and I am more scared of dogs.

What happened next is that our landlord examined the dog and ascertained that it looked healthy (rabies can only be transmitted when the dog is noticeably sick). The owners of the dog ended up going with Mark to a local doctor and paying for some oral antibiotics. Mark and our landlord have since gone back to examine the dog over a period of ten days to confirm that it is still healthy. The dog has since been tied up as it has bitten some school children (it lives on a school campus).

The context of this incident is that on the outskirts of town there are dogs everywhere and many of them are very aggressive. After almost every bike ride Mark comes home with a story of being chased by a dog or dogs. We all assumed that if he ever got bitten it would be on a bike ride. We know someone to whom this happened and because he couldn't track down the dog he had to take the full course of rabies shots. It is quite painful, not to mention expensive.

Liam is the only one who saw the actual bite and it has left a lasting impression. He is very fearful of dogs now and makes decisons about his activities based on how many dogs he anticipates he will have to cross paths with. We have obtained pepper spray and almost always bring it with us now.

Mark mentioned Liam's fear to someone who does some kind of energy adjustment (Reiki). Ten dollars for an hour seems like a good deal to all of us so Liam is going to get his energy adjusted next week. We'll see if it makes any difference.

The kids have adjusted to school and even seem to be enjoying it. Although the school is not officially religous the majority of the students are Catholic. This morning the choir sang at the first communion of most the sixth grade students. Ailish is in the choir so we attended the event as well. Attached is a photo. Also attached are a couple of photos of the river across the street from us, some ruins we visited a few weeks ago called Ingapirca), and the dog that bit Mark.

I've begun volunteering at a women's shelter. When I was in college I did very similar work, providing childcare for the children of abused women. Here I do special projects with the kids. So far the work has been very rewarding as the kids are eager to particpate and very appreciative. I'm very interested in the cultural differences in childrearing that account for some of the differences I'm observing between the two groups of kids. If I have any profound insights I'll share them in a future post.

Sheilah