The Dying Dog

Hey everybody,

Brittany here, writing today's blog- hence the creative title! I will fill you in on that story later. First- bridge update! As Dhara has alluded to in previous blogs, we have been having problems with one side of the abutment excavation because the ground is softer (and filled with water) which was something we had not foreseen. However, the men of the village did a suberb job of removing the "muck" from the excavation and filling it in with sand, rocks, and concrete to establish a firm base on which to pour concrete. Chelsea and I have decided that the men of San Jose Petacalapa are, in fact, the strongest people in the world because they can haul bags of the afformentioned materials across difficult terrain with ease.

On the other side of the river, we've started cutting and tying rebar. Things are really starting to come together, and the villagers as well as the EWB team are really excited about this. In fact, the men are taking an extra precaution to protect our equipment (and sparing us the trouble of hauling heavy stuff all the way back to the center of their village) by sending six volunteers to sleep near the site and watch over tools and materials. They insisted on this form of protection, which really shows how enthusiastic they are about making this bridge!

Anyway, here's the dog story. Yesterday while we were working, there were a lot of dogs around the site (they belong to the men, something you can recognize by the fact that they follow their owners around just as their American counterparts do). There was one dog who had the saddest face you ever did see, and he was incredibly skinny. He would slowly follow Chelsea around, and lay down near her when she stayed in the same place. We didnt call him dying dog in expectation of him dying, but moreso because of his lethargic and depressed demeanor. He was like the Eyyore of dogs. Today, he was not at the site. We were a little worried about him because he was so skinny (I even bought a can of pedigree to feed to him today). All day, we were hoping to see him so that we could feed him and be reassured that he had not, in some terrible and ironic way, actually died. On our way out of the village this evening, after worrying about him in the back of our minds all day, we saw him. He was lying in the street, looking lethargic as usual, and completely indifferent to the fact that a large vehicle was rolling inches past him. We shouted and cheered for the dying dog and his state of being alive. It made our day along with, you know, the bridge coming together and everything.

Well, I am not as succinct as Dhara but I hope I've entertained you! Time for bed- more manual labor under the hot Central American sun to come in the morning.

Brittany