We had an excellent meal. Barry got the chicken burritos, and I got the fish burritos. I'm afraid I'd order the same thing over and over and never even try anything else on the menu, they were that good. Yum! And the conversation was as good as the food. We feel like we've been friends with Robert and Maureen forever. Amazing what a chance meeting while riding our bikes in town can do. That's just one of the many great things about living here -- it's so easy to meet people because everyone is outdoors so much instead of holed up in their homes or cocooned in their cars.
On our way home we stopped at Super Buy South for groceries and met a nice couple, Mary and David, who said they read our blog, so recognized us. (Hi guys!) We've met a lot of friendly folks simply because we write this blog, and that's just one of the many pleasures of living here.
Near the airport, we also ran into our neighbor Jim, who had the Grand Caribe "mascot", a sweet mixed-breed dog some call Cannelo and others call Sammy, in a dog crate on the back of his Polaris. Sammy is very fearful of human touch but loves companionship, and will happily follow along on walks, play with Paisley, and lick my hand. He frequently sleeps on a rag rug on our veranda, and hangs out with us during the day a lot as well. We feed him whenever he indicates that he's hungry, and quite a few other Grand Caribe owners feed him too. As with most strays, he doesn't get any kind of regular vet care, since no one owns him and no one can touch him, yet he normally seems pretty healthy for a street dog. But in the past couple of days, he'd been crying out in pain when he would scratch one of his ears, so we knew he needed vet care sooner rather than later. It was heart-breaking to hear his cries and even woke me up once last night.
Without a crate or a vehicle, I wasn't sure what to do, other than call Saga Humane Society and hope that they could come up and somehow capture him and take him in for care. I had been planning to contact them today to find out what the options were, but then I didn't see Sammy in the morning, and I knew we'd be out a lot today, so I hadn't yet contacted them. Fortunately, Jim had also heard Sammy's cries and managed to get him into a crate (with quite a bit of difficulty) that he had for his dog Zeke. I was so relieved and thankful because I knew that Sammy would finally be getting the care he so desperately needed. So he is at San Pedro Animal Hospital and will have his vaccines, flea/tick treatment, and treatment for his ear. He is also being neutered, which was such good news, since there are so many unwanted and neglected dogs on Ambergris Caye, so more puppies are the last thing this island needs. Seeing Sammy with Jim and knowing he was going to be well taken care of was a real highlight on this excellent day!