I Live in a Zoo

“I cannot even imagine where I would be today were it not for that handful of friends who have given me a heart full of joy. Let's face it, friends make life a lot more fun.” -Charles R. Swindoll

For most of my life, I have had fish. When I was in elementary school we took a couple fish from our friend’s pond and put them in a tank in our living room. They lived until I was in high school. Throughout college I had fish, transporting them back and forth between Minnesota and Michigan in Nalgene bottles. In grad school, my boyfriend had fish…

Now, in Libertad, I don’t have fish. I was thinking that fish would be nice. I mean, they are so easy to take care of, they are cute, and they do not take up much time. However, fish are not what ended up living in my house.

The first animal that I noticed sharing quarters with me was George. I don’t really know how it started, but every time I see a little lizard I say, “Oh, hola George!” It makes the kids laugh. I am pretty sure they think George is the word for lizard in English. I’ve done it so much, that now I greet the lizards even when the kids are not playing in the house.

Then one night when I was washing the dishes, I picked up my bowl and what comes scuttling out? A cockroach. I wasn’t really surprised and I killed it with my flip flop. Then in the shower, one scuttled over my foot. That one got away. I do not give the cockroaches names.

The next animal to enter into my house came in through the ceiling. I was lying in bed (in the back room, my “I’m not sleeping but I want to rest” room) watching a movie on my computer and I saw it peeking out from where the roof meets the wall: a mouse. The little guy then proceeded to crawl down the wall, like Spiderman. I was impressed. I did not know that mice could do that. However, when he reached the ground and went under the bed, I decided it was time to switch rooms and hop in my sleeping bed.

The next morning I got out of bed and was walking toward the kitchen when something fell from my hair, hit my shoulder, and landed on the floor. I looked at my feet to see a cockroach crawling away. I immediately smacked it to death with my sandal and turned around just in time to see a mouse crawling out of my room. When I went back to make my bed, I noticed mouse poop by my pillow. I decided that that was enough of that: having these little buggers in my bed with me is not a welcome experience.

I decided that I should get a cat.

However, I did not get a cat.

One day, two of my little buds showed up on my step with a pigeon. They were so adorable in how insistent they were that I keep the pigeon and their promises to come twice a day to feed it (which they have fulfilled) that I accepted the gift. I named the pigeon Kevin, like the bird in Up.

“Kevin’s a girl!?”

Best line.

Anyway, everyone here thinks I named her after a guy who is a part of the Community Council.

A couple days later, the boys returned with another pigeon. I really didn’t feel like I needed another bird, but they convinced me that Kevin needed company. So Daniel arrived. Unfortunately, Daniel escaped pretty quickly. No fear though, he was immediately replaced with another pigeon (yet to be named). Originally I kept them tied up in the back bathroom, but now they’re pretty used to being in my house and so they don’t try to escape. I still try to keep them in the bathroom because, let’s be honest, birds poop a lot.

The kiddos come over every morning and every afternoon to feed Kevin and give him water (the second one is older so he eats by himself). We sit on the porch and make sure they are well fed and the boys talk about which parts of Kevin they are going to eat when we cook him. They mostly do it to get a reaction out of me (because there is no way I am letting them cook Kevin), but it is something that people do here: eat pigeon. Apparently it is tasty. 

  

So now I have many Georges, cockroaches, mice, and pigeons.

I think in the future I’d like to stick with fish.