Sunday - Animal Rights March!

There was an animal rights march today, put on by Fernando and Erica. Three of us went, wearing our “Los Animals me Importan” t-shirts. We were glad to see a very large crowd at the meeting spot and felt honored to be asked to hold the first banner in the march.



I understand that Fernando might have asked us because it would look good to the media to see a few gringos and gringas involved, but he might also have asked us in gratitude for what we did this past week. Either way, I don’t care – I was honored and enjoyed it. We marched over 2 hours and then ended at Lovalo Papal, which is where Fernando’s clinic is (and where I spent three days spaying / neutering). We crowded on the stairs in the Oval and the media took photos of the huge crowd.

During the march, I spotted some interesting animals! I have never seen these creatures at a march before:











After the march, we hopped a cab to a local flea market to try to finally see the shopping and local Peruvian wares. We stayed there for about 45 minutes before hopping another cab back to the shelter. I hadn’t seen the shelter since I was there on Tuesday and had heard that a lot of progress was made. I was absolutely blown away by what I saw when I walked in. The fences were up, the gates attached, the room finished and the roof competed. It was a different place, and the dogs were not in such a huge frenzy when someone new arrived. I think the gate system helped a lot. And, all the dogs now wear collars with their names.









I spent a little while saying good-bye to the dogs before we got back into a cab and headed back to the hostel to shower, pack and head to the airport.

Off to Lima I go for a day and a half. Won’t be much time there, but enough to see a different part of Peru. I've been told that Lima is not very fun or beautiful. I want to see for myself, and, if it's true, I suspect I won't want to go back. So I decided to see an old city - at least for 36 hours - on my way home. Am excited to relax a bit.