2nd Mountain Trip

On Wednesday we went to the mountains with my Dad. We had a great trip and I think he really enjoyed it! We stayed at Ramiro's this time, so we had some comfy beds and a little more space. I lost my voice though, since I have a cold, and on the way up I tried to explain everything to dad. I talk too much. Anyway, he was really interested in everything, and tried talking to everyone, and loved the coffee!

 Leyla wanted to walk by herself!

 When we got there we had to give the bulls some vaccines and vitamins. They had been waiting for us all morning, and by the time we got there, they had given up on us and re-released them! So, we were only able to give the shots to some other families' cows.

 Dad enjoyed watching the process!

 Leyla too, she loves cows so she wanted to get in and help. She even picked up a stick and was yelling "Shoo!" and hitting the ground!

 Thursday morning, we woke up and got ready to head up the mountain again to vaccinate OUR cows and to show dad the property. I had the worst scare of my life that morning. I gave Leyla a banana and left her sitting in the chair, then went to check on my dad (who was still asleep) and let him know the plan for the day. When I went back to check on Leyla, she was gone. Marcos and Ramiro were sitting there and said she had been by the gate, and must've gone around the corner. 

We looked and she was nowhere around or inside the house. They all started running out and asking the neighbors if she was at their house, but nobody had her! The first thing we did was check the fishponds, which scared me to death, because there have been at least 2 cases of children drowning that I know of. I just stared in the pond, asking, where is she? where is she? By that point I was on the verge of crying. Then I went to look by the river and heard them yelling, aqui esta! aqui esta!

Apparently, she had been by the gate with a little boy, and when the little boy left, she tried to follow him. Nobody thought she could open the gate, but she did. And she left it closed, so nobody knew she had gone out. The little boy didn't notice she was following him. She had gone walking by herself and barefoot up the road after him. When they found her she was walking back; but she must have gotten pretty far because from where we were standing, we looked up and down the road and couldn't see her - she had gone up the hill and was on the other side!

I started crying and the poor thing looked at me and didn't understand, so she started crying too. I was just praying and praying that we would find her and was so scared when she didn't turn up just around the house! I never leave her alone, and everyone tells me, oh she'll be fine, sit down and rest - and what happens the one time I leave her for more than a minute? And with all those people around? She managed to wander off. I can't take my eyes off of her for even a minute!! She was lost for a good 10-15 minutes (I don't know really, but it felt like a lifetime). I am so thankful we found her and she was fine but my goodness, that was not a good way to start my day!

 

 Our 32 bulls/cows in the pasture.

 WE SAW A SNAKE! We were walking along and it slithered away into the trees. We looked it up later and found out it is NOT poisonous. We had fun being scared, though. Marcos decided to kill it and they all (including dad) started throwing sticks at it trying to hit it in the head or throw it on the ground, but it slithered away too fast and we lost it.

This it one of the "bridges" we had to cross, and Leyla was giggling because someone was jumping up and down on it. I tried to capture her sweet smile :)

Last story - when we were giving our bulls their shots, I was trying to help Marcos finish faster. We all got the bulls in the corral and I sat down on one of the posts. I didn't know the wood at that post was rotten. Dilcia, one of the girls helping, came up and must have tapped the wood or tried to climb up, because all of the sudden I was falling....I remember I had one leg on either side of the wood, for better balance, so when the board fell, I couldn't jump forward and safe myself! I grapped onto Dilcia, but she didn't much cushion my fall - I fell hard on my left thigh/hip. All I could think as I was falling was, oh dear, I'm going to fall in cow poop!! haha. I have a huge softball size bruise on my leg and it HURTS. Otherwise I'm fine, but goodness....what a trip!