Companionship….

July 10th, 2009 by Jessica Marshall

Wednesday was probably the best reminder why I majored in Zoology and love animals so much. The first reminder was at work yesterday while taking pictures after my shift. I went into the pen where the 2 Capuries (I think that’s right, they are like warthogs) were. They (2 hembras or girls) greeted me with their wet, sloppy noses sniffing for food while I took a few shots. Then after giving them a few rubs through their coarse hair they stood next to each other in opposite directions and started rubbing on each other. It was adorable, I’m not sure if they were hugging, rubbing scents on each other, or showing off for me. I was so intrigued by how they communicated something to each other in such a silly, but simple way. The second incident was on our way home from Quiz Night (like Trivia night in the US – see Heather’s entry called the ‘Spitting Llamas’ = same journal address, but type in hsilvernail instead of my name). Before we went to the bar, Heather and I met a new friend she made in Spanish class, Heidi. We met at this giant fountain near the bar. We were greeted by one of the hundreds of stray dogs I’ve seen since being here. Heidi, kicked an empty water bottle and the dog thought she wanted to play and began jumping around us. After a couple rubs, she followed us halfway to the bar. When we had left (about 2 or 3 hours later) we walked half a block with Heidi until she could catch a taxi back to her house and we had planned on walking the rest of the way home. About a quarter of the way home from the bar, the dog that was near the fountain randomly appeared. There were some other dogs around so we just assumed they we all digging through trash and such together. Then she began to follow us. We thought it was a coincidence that she was heading in the same direction because we were walking down one of the busiest streets in Cuzco. As we got about halfway home she was still walking in front of us. She would stop anytime we stopped, chased a few taxis if we fell behind, and left trash if we got too far ahead. This whole time Heather and I had not touched or called her, besides the times before we went into the bar. As we turned down our alley to get to house we couldn’t believe she escorted us home from the bar. We entered through our gate and she stood there waiting for us to come back. We tried to ‘pull the band-aid quick’ and walk quickly towards our house so we didn’t have to see her adorable face waiting at the gate. As we turned the corner out of her sight, she barked as if crying for us to come back. We’re not sure if it was because we miss our dogs so much or were so touched by the whole situation, but her barks brought us to tears. As I sat in bed I thought of her and how 1 moment that couldn’t have lasted longer than 5 minutes made this dog remember who we were hours later. How she escorted us all the way home – a 20 minute walk from the bar. How she was just looking for a companion and must have known if Heather and I lived here with no dogs, we probably would’ve taken her in that night. To this day I am amazed at how simple, but unique animals are, especially mammals. Whether a herd, colony, etc. they live such open lives compared to us, each one of them looking for a type of companionship. I’m not sure where our escort canine is today, but hope she finds the companionship she was looking for that night. – Jess