I ha(t/v)e Fleas

As most of you probably know, I worked far too long in a pet store before I left. It was during this time I realized that I do not really like animals. I love my dogs, and fish are nice, but I would rather eat a rat than own one. In some ways, I was really hoping to go to Ecuador where Guinea pigs are a traditional food, and people keeping them as pets are considered to be slightly off. While I was there I found one product to be a little strange: Frontline, and all the other monthly flea medications. With such strict animal control laws in the US, most dogs are not around other dogs and very rarely get fleas. I have had dogs my entire life and only twice can I recount a dog getting fleas. This lead me to believe that people who buy these monthly treatments at $200 for a year supply are somewhere between crazy and paranoid. Now, I look back and feel confused for a completely different reason.

For the very first time I have a dog that is not allowed to sleep on the bed with me, since we own a very small bed and a fairly large dog. Her proper "bed" is a couple of pillows in the corner of the room blocked in on the other sides by the bed and a piece of plywood. For months, this has been a great solution with a couple exceptions. Exception number 1. She thinks that being so close to the bed, means she really should be on the bed, and when she wakes up during the night she jumps on it. Though, to be technical, she rarely jumps on the bed. She actually jumps on me, since she sleeps on my side of the bed. This means 2 or 3 times a night, I wake up to a 35 pound dog stepping on my face, chest, or gut. Even I cannot sleep through that. Exception number 2. When the dog would fit in an oversized bucket, she would wake both parents up when she needed to go outside and potty. Now she may wake us both, but she concentrates on annoying me. That means every late night bathroom trip is my problem. (Newly discovered) Exception 3. Bugs. Dogs are loved here in Honduras, but in a very different way than I grew up with. Most people "own" a dog that they don't give food nor water and wanders through the street 100% of the time. Our neighbors are an exception. They love dogs in the "American" way and have 1 indoor dog and 2 outdoor dogs. One of their outdoor dogs was previously a street dog, that they adopted, and he likes to occasionally cruise the town. Our neighbors are also great, since they dog-sit for us anytime we have a meeting, but this means every parasite in the street eventually winds up in my house. This means when my dog came home with fleas last week I had a problem. With the dog sleeping alongside the bed, and since I didn’t have something to kill the buggers with, I learned that fleas are vacationers. They will get tired of the same old dog to chew on, hop up on the bed, give me a taste, decide that the dog really was where they belonged, and promptly return home.

So, frontline, good stuff. But what I don’t understand about frontline now is the cost. In the US a 3-month supply ran between $40 and $60, an average of $50. A similar supply here costs $18. Now, we know very well that the reason Human drugs are cheaper outside the States depends on a couple items, like Canada subsidizing their drugs, or looser regulations in Mexico. Now what confuses me is: do these things apply to dog drugs too? No normal Honduran is going to buy this stuff, so why change the price? It is only going to be people with too much money buying the product, and here, I actually need it, so why do I only pay 40% of the price here? I don’t get it, but I am happy.

Besides having fleas, I’ve kept pretty busy. While we were gone, we missed a civic education workshop, but we like the program and we are going to do it anyways. This week we finally got a schedule down so we can start that in 2 new communities. The high school we were already working with is about finished up and now we are working on scheduling the final presentations. The first experience was really good, so we are hoping for similar results in the other 2 areas. One of our schools requires a 30 minutes bus ride and a 45 minute walk, which I plan on recounting to my children one day. “When I was 24, I had to travel an hour and fifteen minutes to do a class, 45 minutes on foot, uphill both ways, and I did it because I wanted to. No one had to tell me to, I offered to do it and I loved it. So shut up and go to school.” This is why I don’t have kids.

Alice came back just in time for our “environmental fair” and the whole thing turned out pretty good. The day started and seemed very focused on the environment, with art made from recycled products everywhere and one young lady showing off her dress made from empty bags of chips. We definitely drew attention to ourselves. Next year I hope we talk a little more about the environment, but this year’s success made next year likely. The afternoon was entertaining. I don’t know how it relates to the environment, but we had a fair number of dancers come and show off, which got a huge crowd. I’ve got pictures of the art, but not the dancing. I liked the art better anyhow.

Sooner than later I am going to put up the website for a group I work with a lot. The next 2 days people have agreed to help me get everything straight. Once the Spanish version is up, I am going to do an English version. Then I am going to focus on a website for an artist.

My next major project I am hoping to do is form a tourism comittee, but I need support from some key people. If they agree to work together, I am going to do a website for them. If they don't agree, I'm gonna do something else.