April 13th, 2012

Spanish Study Abroad: The Dogs of Honduras

By Guest Blogger Liz L., Spanish study abroad participant blogging from La Ceiba, Honduras

In every third world country I’ve visited, dogs have been a large part of life. Dogs guard houses, dogs offer companionship and sometimes, dogs even provide food. Honduras is no different – every house has at least one guard dog and at any given time one can find a dog or two roaming the nearby streets.

My house has three dogs. A rottweiler mix named Tequila and two small Dachshund-like dogs named Oscar and China. The dogs took to me instantly – I guess because I passed into the yard through the house instead of the gate. They never barked at me nor snapped. Two days after my arrival, Tequila gave birth to eleven puppies, and although she is a guard dog to be sure, she was calm enough that I could stroke her and her pups.

Of the three dogs, Oscar seems to be the smartest. He can easily climb over the fence in yard despite his diminuative size. Whenever I leave, Oscar comes with me – peforming a sort of double duty as we walk. He growls at imagined threats and barks whenever people walk near me. I worry about him on these walks. I tell him to go home or not to follow me, but he always stays with me. In a way, it´s nice to have a companion like Oscar. Language doesn´t matter with him, and when I´m feeling lonely or need a break from Spanish, I can go sit with him on the porch.

Oscar, and the other dogs too, are also good conversation starters with the family. The children like to talk about the dogs, especially the perritos (the puppies) and again, they´re transcultural. A few nights ago, two of the girls from the family invited me on a walk to a nearby store while we waited for dinner and, of course, Oscar followed us. The youngest girl laughed and shrieked as she chased after Oscar and he yipped and wagged her. We may be from different cultures, and Oscar may be another species, but no one needed any translations that evening.