The day of Chula
Having left the dreary winter of Canada in November 2008, we headed south through the USA and into Mexico. We had been in Mexico since March and it was now May 2009. We had both decided on a new adventure and sold our house and all its contents, bought a motor home and headed south. Now into May, we ended up in a town called Catemaco in the province of Veracruz and were staying in an RV park there in a picturesque spot near Lake Catemaco. We knew we were going to be there a while as we were planning on getting our FM3’s, which meant a lot of paperwork! We had our two miniature schnauzers, Dudley and Heidi with us, who had endured the long travels and many pee stops!
As is known, Mexico is inundated with stray dogs and cats and being a total animal fanatic, this was very heartbreaking to me seeing all the sad sights of these poor defenseless creatures without the basic needs of water, food and shelter. One day soon after our arrival I ventured out for a walk with Dudley and Heidi in an attempt to get some exercise and a change of scene only to find several street dogs following us. I decided to abandon this idea and head back before I ended up with these canines running wild in the RV Park we had just settled in, not to mention the disgust of the resident guard dog that prided himself on being the sole dog over his domain. Not long after I walked down this street once again, only this time dog less and passed a typical local Mexican casa with a few sparsely feathered chickens and a tethered dog in what they would have called their front yard. The family living there turned out to be very friendly and humble as I tried to talk to them in my non existent Spanish. Over their rickety fence I then saw two tiny puppies hiding behind a make shift rain shelter, extremely thin and trying to play with their mum, who just wasn’t interested and obviously was fed up with tending to her offspring. The father of these two adorable pups then showed up having been surveying the town running in between the hectic bustle of traffic, which horrified me. He was a handsome guy with gentle qualities and the look somewhat of a beagle. The mum was smaller, short legged and longer haired and for some reason was not allowed the run of the streets.
Having now visited this poor Mexican family for several days offering chicken feed and dog food, including “huesos por perros” from the local butcher next door, the husband and father of this unassuming family very pleasantly gestured whether I would take these puppies and give them a home. At that moment my husband looked slightly horrified and tried explaining that we already had two dogs in a rather cramped 34 foot motor home and that we couldn’t possibly take on another. So when I came back to the RV Park the next day with puppy (Chula) in hand, he eventually succumbed to the idea of three dogs being OK! Well, how could I possibly leave her there? We subsequently found out that the other sibling also found a home.
When we left this quaint town of Catemaco I was still visiting the family and offering dog food to Chula’s mum and dad. Sadly the day before we left Catemaco on our onward journey to the Yukatan I stopped by this house once again with a bag of dog food only to find out that Chula’s dad had been tragically hit by a car and killed the day before. This was devastating and to this day I think of him. My one saving grace is that had it not been for him there wouldn’t be my Chula, who incidentally has turned out to be the most affectionate and loyal puppy one could wish for, albeit for her cheekiness and of course those naughty puppy traits, which I also love.
This post was submitted by Rosalind Humphrey.
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She’s adorable!! More pictures of Chula please!!!