Chivo

March 26, 2011

I got a baby sheep.

It’s a long story but the to sum it up:

My uncle bought two sheep several months ago. One of them was slaughtered for Christmas and a few months later the neighbor dog, King, killed the other. Then two weeks ago he bought three more sheep. A mommy and two babies. This morning King killed one of the babies in our backyard. My uncle happened to be drunk when he found out and got really upset and had the mommy sheep slaughtered in anger. He also wanted to kill the baby sheep. I talked to him and made him feel guilty enough to give me the sheep as a gift. I promised I would take good care of it.

Surprisingly, it wasn’t one of those ‘crazy gringa’ moments when all of the Hondurans look at me and say, “What the heck does the gringa want to do?” Several family members said they were so sad that he wanted to kill the baby and that they were glad I convinced him out of it.

So now I have my puppy, Pongo, and a baby sheep that we call Chivo, pronounced Cheevoh (which means goat in Spanish).

I made a pen for the baby sheep so King doesn’t kill him and each day I’ll need to pay a local kid to go out and bring me fresh foliage for it to eat. Unfortunately, Peace Corps doesn’t pay me enough to maintain a zoo in the backyard. So donations to the baby sheep fund are welcome!

Chivo and I.

Chivo tied up behind the house. I would prefer that he wander around free but it’s too dangerous with King close by so we tied him up with the puppy collar and leash the first night and built him a pen the next morning.

And just case it was cute:

Pongo and Capuyo napping. Capuyo and Pongo have become friends. During the day they play together and nip at each other’s fleas. And every night they sleep outside cuddled together. Adorable!