5C's Que Pasa

We had last seen the dog Monday morning.  No site–ting at all on Tuesday.  In fact we did not see her until late Wednesday afternoon.

Carnival Cruise ship coming in early morning.

As we walk the beach each day we see a large variety of aquatic life.  As the tide comes in or recedes the starfish are often turned upside down.  You can see its tentacles moving about.

If you wish to see how a starfish actually moves about, click here for a less than one minute educational moment.

So Colin is constantly turning them over so that they do not dry out and die.  Once they are turned over you can actually see their arms reach down to the sand.

If the tide is still going out he will often move them closer to the water.  That bag on his right shoulder holds water and kibble and two containers to fill for the dog to eat out of.

Tuesday  morning we left a bucket full of fresh water and a container of kibble near where we thought we saw her walk up and off the beach the day prior.

The area we chose had a lot of dog footprints in the area.

Tuesday sunset.

We walked early Wednesday morning but did not see her.  However half of the kibble was gone.  We added more fresh water to the bucket and topped up the kibble.  However we could not be sure that it was actually her that was eating the kibble as there are many other beach dogs out there.

Half the kibble was gone.

After attending a celebration of life for a fellow RVer Wednesday afternoon we finally saw the dog again.  The next chapter tomorrow….

We were now traveling with a bit of food and water. We had our second encounter in the morning, Monday, January 8th.  At this point I only had tortillas with me (which today in real time is what she  appears to prefer but is not the healthiest for her.)  We did buy dog kibble later in the day last Monday.

She did recognize us and was happy to see us as well as to eat the rest of the tortillas.  She looks so thin in these photos.

That is a bit of tortilla sticking out of her mouth.

Such a sweet girl. I do think that she looks like a Princess.

So after she ate and drank our water she headed down to the restaurant while we kept walking up the beach.  We came upon someone we have known here for a few years ( Casa Flor ) and asked about the dog.  He knew nothing about her but was willing to keep an eye out and offer her food.  As we spoke she came back towards us ( the restaurant was empty that early in the morning and there was no one to beg food from ) and when we crouched down in a welcome pose she came right up to us.  I could tell she was still hungry but we had no food left.  The fellow on the beach managed to get us in contact with his lady friend who brought us some dog kibble and water.  However the dog was very wary of this new male stranger and kept her tail between her legs.

We were surprised to see her eat kibble which most beach dogs refuse. She was that hungry.

She ate and ate and drank.  We talked with these folks and they agreed to keep an eye out for her and to feed her when she came near their place.   Once she was full she took off toward her pups.  We followed for a bit but could not go all the way as I had an appointment back at the RV to do an injection.  We were able to see where she went up into the plantation.  I was happy as I knew that she had a full stomach that morning.

Just off the cruise ship for the day and this is what they are enjoying about being on the beach!

The start of a great show by Mother Nature.

Fishermen putting our their net.  Note the sailboat on the left.

A change in color.

Another great day here on the Isla.

Did not post yesterday due to being very busy between trying to feed our girl, having a massage and attending a celebration of life ceremony.

It was suggested by long time blog reader Don that I call our beach dog “Princess” alluding to some wording I used in describing her behavior.  Usually I just call her honey but I will try out Princess.  I did not see her at all on Tuesday and not until end of day yesterday, Wednesday.  Details  and photos soon.  Also saw her this afternoon.

We were in town today visiting with  friends and doing some errands including getting my iPhone set up with a Mexican Telcel SIM card.  There were several issues with getting it set up so in the end we had to spend 180 pesos ( $11.67 CAD ) to go the the Telcel office via taxis ( round trip ) and get it sorted out.  What I thought was the package I was getting turned out to be no longer available so I had to start all over at the beginning.  So once again I am behind on emails and blog posts.  I did learn that the unlimited calls within the US and Canada only lasted for 30 days once we actually left Mexico and could only be restarted once back in Mexico.  So I now have unlimited calls to and from Mexico, US and Canada including texts, messenger etc and 1500mb of data for 300 pesos/$19.44CAD/$15.54USD for 30days.  After thirty days I will downgrade to 200 pesos per month which only includes 1000mb as well as unlimited everything else, but is good for 33 days 🙄

Just about sunset tonight I realized that I really needed to track my banking as I had made three ATM withdrawals that I had not added to my cheque book.  That led me to paying some credit card bills and discovering that our CIBC Visa had been compromised with a $338.25 charge to our credit card in Calgary, Alberta on January 3rd  for a car rental while we were here in Mazatlan at the time.  I was on the phone for close to 90 minutes  ( yeah for the free phone call on a good connection as opposed to using Magicjack on the RV park internet ) getting it sorted out.  It may take up to 60 days before that amount is refunded to us.

It is now 9:25PM and we have yet to have dinner.  I have also been doing some nursing activities these past 10 days.  One person paid me, as a thank you, 200 pesos to use for dog food 😀

A very quick snapshot of the sunset tonight.

Hope to get caught up soon, as we are leaving on a road trip January 22nd.  Just might have to do more than one post per day to catch up.  Meanwhile between doing my nursing thing, finding and feeding the dog or just leaving food out for her along the beach, visiting with friends ( and more visits to come ), walking the beach every day and trying to keep my garden alive I am rather busy.  Haven’t had time to read a book in over a week but I am not complaining ( Colin does find time to play his guitar each day and helps me as much as he can but I am the one dealing with the minute details, etc ).  Plus I haven’t even started researching our trip to Europe in May.  Life is invigorating rather than dull and repetitive.  We had to turn down two dinner invitations tonight.  Mind you those come along very very rarely but we can only manage one outing per day.  We had a great time with friends today and a post is coming on that as well as more on our girl.  She is amazingly smart.

By the way I am looking for someone to water our garden two or three times while we are away 😎

We had seen a certain dog on the beach since just before Christmas.  It was apparent that she was weak and hungry.  The two times that we saw her she was so far away from the RV parks that there was nothing we could do for her as we had no food nor water.  Once she came out of the coconut plantation in the middle of nowhere and she tried to follow us but was so weak that she had to stop every 15 steps of so and lay down to rest.  Hours later I saw her begging for food from the tourists at the restaurant next to us, a very long walk for her.  I felt so very bad for her.  Then we never saw her for almost 10 days.  Hard to say the exact dates as I was not noting the amount of time passing.

It was obvious that she was either pregnant or had recently given birth.  I was too upset the first few times I saw her to really check her out. Perhaps she had been pregnant then.  I was overwhelmed with how weak she was but what could I do.  I am not sure but now suspect that perhaps in the time we had not seen her that she had given birth.

So just a few days ago, Sunday the 7th, we happened to meet up with friends and walked the beach together.  On the way back we saw the dog.  They had seen her a few times also.  So we were almost back to where we lived when we saw her and she was ahead of us and looking for a handout at the restaurant but they had no clients yet.  We talked about getting her something to eat as she walked off towards RV2 where it looked like she entered the park in search of food.  We had no dog food but Grant suggested even just feeding her tortillas would be good as it would give her calories.  So Colin headed home to get those and some water.  Our friends carried on back to their place and said they would pick up some dog food for another day.  Meanwhile I followed Colin home and we came back to the beach to find her.  Turns out that she was approaching RV1.  We beckoned to her and she willingly followed us.

There are many many beach dogs and many are homeless.  Many RVers do not like them coming around and chase them off, sometimes very aggressively.  They don’t want dogs coming in and marking their furniture or doing their business in their sites.  I understand all that but this one is special.  She is a starving mother.  But I am not allowed to help her here or keep food out for her.

So last Sunday she quietly followed me to a table in front of the restaurant away from the RV park and near the beach. No one else was around.  We had water and tortillas.  I fed her small pieces of tortillas all the while wishing I had something more nourishing.

She ate like a princess, so very polite and dainty.

She patiently waited as I prepared the next piece. Her eyes never left my hands.  She had 3 small bites then drank a lot of water, then back to eating.  She was starving but so very polite.

A beautiful dog.  Clean, no smell, no bugs or ticks and the whitest teeth.  Grant thought that she wasn’t more than a year old.  Likely the male beach dogs got her at her first heat.  She isn’t more than a pup herself.

About 6 or 7 bites in, I petted her head and she immediately stopped chewing and closed her eyes and almost sighed.  She was craving love and attention.  I continued to give her pets and rubs.  It was almost like she had an owner or perhaps she still does.  Perhaps they do not have the money to feed her.  She seemed to be used to people who cared about her.  Did she belong to someone long ago?  Was she lost?  My mind never stopped with the possibilities.

She stood at first to eat but as I kept feeding her and petting her she sat and relaxed.  Remember this dog is emaciated and starving but would stop eating just to get some love.  Despite being so very hungry she remained polite and waited for me to offer her a bite.  She never ever tried to grab the food.

I flipped up my hat so I could see her better.  At this point her tail never stopped wagging.

She decided that she had had enough to eat.  It took 5.5 tortillas and all the water we had.  She then lay down and totally relaxed.  Then after two or three minutes she simply got up and trotted away.

Later that evening…

My thoughts were on the dog the rest of the day.  I hoped that she had had enough food to feed her and her babies.

Indeed a different day on the Isla.

There is more to the story of this lovely sweet girl.  And no we are not going to adopt her.  She is a free spirit of the beach and this is where she belongs as she likely was born on this beach as were her pups. We will do the best we can for her over the next while.  Stay tuned…….