Tuesday, November 20, 2012

At the corral

The young calves are separated from their mamas in the afternoon, so that the mamas can build up their milk supply until they are milked in the morning.
 
The calves line up to eat the grass in the corral.
 All the kids want to go for a ride on the little pygmy horse.
 
 Elmer took Azalea out into the fields where apparently she asked to have this poor little guy run at full speed. I'm kind of glad that I wasn't there to watch my babe run like that bare back. Apparently she wanted to keep doing it over and over.
 
 Tigo's turn.
 
Azalea gets a saddle and gets to ride around the corral on her own. Granted this horse was so perfect in size and temperament, she did pretty amazing on controlling this guy.
 
Azalea and Lola. 
So the kids wouldn't wake up for the 4am morning milking, but they still said they wanted a go at it.
 
 Thing is, this was a little baby cow, and there was no milk. Fondling of cow teats.
 
Abuelo and Elmer watching the crazy people of mine.
 
 Is that a cow? Um yes, actually it is a cow. Normally you people don't ride cows you say. Yeah, that's pretty accurate. Maybe it's early training for the bull riding.... No, I'm not going to encourage that.
 
In the end, salty, sweaty hands make a little boy feel loved.
 
What's next?

La Finca Familia / The Family Farm

On the road to the farm, the cemetery is to the left and Abuelo's corral is to the right.
 
 We waited for the cows to come down from the upper fields. Abuelo's farm helper and my nephew Hery, went to round up the cows.
 
 
 They get pretty excited to come down. They are trained to know that they will get salt, a special treat. So they are excited to come.
 
 
Hery slowly riding down to see us. 
 
I thought for sure it was burro or a donkey that he was riding.
 
 But it was just a tiny little horse, full grown, and fit for a little boy.
 
 
And here, the separation of the mamas and the babies begin. The babies are brought to the corral for the night so they won't drink their mama's milk until the morning after they are milked for sale and share.

Monday, November 19, 2012

Setenta

Abuelo's 70th birthday was celebrated early during our trip. Coincidentally, the birthday of November 12th, is the same as my mom's. A cow was slaughtered before we arrived. We missed it this time around. Lola and Azalea switched their vegetarians and carnivores statuses this time around. Since we missed the slaughter (phew) Lola is still eating meat, and Azalea still with out.
 
 Yes that is a reflexion of a mariachi singing in the background.
 
 Looks serious, doesn't it?
 
Abuelito y Tigo
 
 Sopa de la Abuela
 
 So many preperations.

 

 
 Quatro Hermanos
 
 
 
 There's a small resemblence.

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Los Animalitos de El Salvador

 
Only a small sampling of the creatures that we came across in our most recent adventure. These are from both the mountains and the coastal regions.
 
Beautiful yellow finch.
 
 These funky chickens had no feathers around their neck. It is a common breed in El Salvador. No, it wasn't disease, though I did ask "are you sure?" more than once. There were also chickens with plenty of neck plumes.
 
Do you see the baby chick sitting on it's mama's back. So sweet.
 
I don't know what's on the other side of this window, but it's gotta be something good. This iguana came and went out of this window all week long.
 
 Oh this poor little lizard was caught by Azalea. He had no chance.
 
 No, she didn't actually eat it. But she had a lot of fun pretending like she was going to.
 
 The only reason this sign tells you not to drink the water is because it was outside a hotel. You can pretty much confirm that all water you see is not drinkable... even if it comes out of a tap.
 
 I almost stepped on these things walking down the street. Tails of lizards that were lined up and left in the street. Fresh pulls as you can see from the bright red on the black and grey tail.
 
 A little crab found by the ocean.
 
 You can't tell from this picture, but this horse was one of the tiniest full grown horses I've ever seen. Is there such thing as a pygmy horse? This would be it.
 
 Vacas, vacas y mas vacas.
Cows are everywhere.
 
 Yes, and they were getting intimate with Tigo and his salty skin.
 
Vultures, circling everywhere. But it was a little creepy with them waiting outside the cemetery.
 
 
 Turkeys.
 
A little tiny hermit crab, that made Azalea cry like the end of the world when he crawled out of his shell and died. So sad.
 
I almost forgot to post a picture of a stray dog wandering the streets. There are so many of these everywhere, that they are almost unremarkable in their presence. Oh the dogs there give me such a different view of the canine world. Wild and domestic at the same time. But that is how El Salvador is. Domestically wild, and living on the brink.