Newsletter: Ecuador Dogs Fri, 12 Feb 1999
Velomad
We've been in Ecuador for 2 months now & whilst it's a wonderful
country we both preferred Colombia. As Richard says 'the coffee was
better there!'. The truth be told, whilst we haven't had any bad
experiences ourselves (yet!), we've heard of tons of stories of
robberies & assaults. On our 3rd day in the country 2 girls who were
staying in the same place as us were robbed & raped. Colombia - for all
it's bad press seems to have a far safer record - and almost every
tourist we met there couldn't understand why so many people fear
visiting the country (that's you Dr Love!) in Colombia.
However the dogs here are something else. Richard's now caught up
with my record of 3 bites. I now recall with fury that the BA clinic in
London was adamant that I didn't need a rabies jab when I visited
them insisting that cycling in Latin American countries was a real
hazard regarding dog bites. Of course I think in reality, detecting the
rabies symptom in Richard would be pretty evident as he's pretty laid
back most of the time. Regarding me it's a different matter as many
people have implied over my lifetime that I act half rabid at the best
of times!
It seems that every Ecuadorian has at least one dog. In the cities
they're locked up in small gardens (if they're lucky!), in the
countryside they're mostly kept on long leashes. None of the poor
creatures ever seem to be taken for walks. In the rural areas they run
free in order that they can protect the cows, goats & llamas etc -
but none are trained & totally ignore their owners as they chase us
snarling down the roads. The morning we entered Ecuador we met a
cyclist who had just changed his tyre having had a dog rip a great hole
in his previous one. I sympathised with him a few weeks later when
having had an exhausting day climbing a 4200m pass on a foul dirt road,
my chain having broken 7 times (Richard's too 3 times), having fallen
off my bike & injured my knee & then cycling through the cloud forest
for 5 miles (this means you can't see sod all - yep it's all cloud
surprisingly enough!). Just as the rain started I got attacked by 2
dogs - 1 of which grabbed my back tyre & pulled me off the bike.
I went nuts trying for the 1st time to actually hit them with the rocks
lying around. Normally I just chuck a few rocks in the general
direction without the intent to hit - just scare off but that day I'd
had enough! There is a legend that says when Pedro de Candia entered
Tumbes (Peru), the elders unleashed in his path a lion & tiger kept for
the King Huaina Capac. Instead of tearing him to pieces they curled at
his feet & allowed him to stroke their heads. Consequently the elders
mistook him for the son of the sun god & greeted him with hospitality.
Ecclesiastes ix 4 states that ´a living dog is better than a dead
lion´. Needless to say we feel bound to disagree!
At the moment we're in Baños & have treated ourselves to some
thermal hot baths. These are the 1st hot baths (actually the only
bath!) we've had since entering Latin America (with the exception of
those we had back in London when we returned). The only off-putting
thing was the local's habit of spitting & blowing their noses into
the pools!
Ciao for Now
<| <|
| |
|O o |O o
OO /\._ OO /\._
(_)|7(_) (_)|>(_)
Stani & Richard