Spays and Neuters and Ancient Ruins

  Cocoyoc, Central Mexico and Gulf Coast, Mexico
Thursday, January 15, 2009

A FEW THINGS THAT WE LEARNED THIS WEEK: 
-We don't know Spanish nearly as well as we thought we did.  Unfortunately, we can ask a question with excellent grammar, such that the listener appears confident that we are fluent in Spanish... but then we can't even come close to understanding the answer!
-Always check your bed for scorpions...no kidding, (we never found one but we heard stories...)
-Always carry small bills and change.  Apparently paying for a pack of gum with a 200 peso bill is frowned upon.
-If it seems like you are walking in the wrong direction, you probably are. 

UPDATES:
-Chad received confirmation that both of us will be volunteering in Malawi on a water supply project through AWWA in early July.  Maureen and Don will now meet us in South Africa in mid July.

INTERESTING FACT:
-One dog and its offspring can produce up to 9 816 puppies in 7 years!  One cat and its offspring can produce up to 13 088 kittens in 7 years!  SPAY AND NEUTER YOUR PETS!!!!

                                                        RAINING CATS AND DOGS
On the veterinary side of things, this week was a shocking eye opener for me.  I volunteered with AMAC (Friends of Cualta's Animals), a non-profit organization trying to reduce the numbers of street dogs and cats, and improve their quality of life.   The number of stray animals in Mexico is astounding, and they seem to appear in packs on every street corner.  They are usually undernourished, parasite ridden, and often injured, and they pose a significant health risk to themselves and to humans around them.  Each month, Mexico City and surrounding area ALONE euthanizes a horrifying estimated 20 000 dogs!!!  And this is a drop in the bucket compared to the numbers euthanized in the rest of Mexico, or those that die or are cruelly killed or poisoned.  
Organizations like AMAC work with little money, and try to make a difference by holding free or donation-only spay and neuter clinics as often as possible.  Still, they struggle to convince local people of the importance of bringing their animals in for the surgery. 

Steph and Alexandra spaying

   The hardest part for me was adjusting to the conditions under which I was expected to work.  It was a far cry from my ritzy North Vancouver clinic.  Alexandra was my mentor, she is a veterinarian who works for AMAC and has done thousands and thousands of surgeries, she estimates 125 spays and neuter per month for the last 22 years!  When I told her of my usual protocols for surgery, what with IV fluids, ET tubes, gas anesthetics, ECG and BP monitors, pulse ox, sterile surgery packs, sterile gowns and gloves etc etc, she laughed and laughed and laughed.  Then she banged the portable lamp that was used to light the surgeries and stated that this was the AMAC monitor!  Then she laughed some more.  They do an incredible job of functioning with little or no money!  Everything that can possibly be cleaned and reused is, including surgical gloves, suture material, scalpel blades, and syringes.  The drugs used are the cheapest possible.  

Animals recovering from surgery

   Here's how it works.  It is a mobile clinic, and will travel to any town that has a few animals to sterilize.  Tables are set up anywhere there is space, indoor/outdoor, light/no light, wherever, with incredible speed and organization thanks to Nancy. Owners bring their animals down and sit and wait, sometimes even watching the surgery, until the animal is finished, at which time the scoop it up and take it home, still asleep (as they will for the next 6-12 hours with the drugs used!!).   Dogs are sedated with Xylazine (rarely used in small animals in Canada), and induced with pentobarbital IV...yes the same drug we use solely to euthanize animals in Canada, just at half the dose.  Scary.   Cats get just a single large dose of xlyazine/ketamine IM.  Then, you only have a certain amount of time to get the surgery done, so the pressure is on!  In three days, I did more spays and neuters than I do in three months back home, well over 20.  And these are not healthy animals, they are skinny, mangy, anemic , malnourished and suffer from parasitism and erlichia among many other things.   I got fast at my surgeries, learned a lot about technique from Alexandra, and you should see how small my incisions were by the end!   

Chad really interested in helping Steph

  All the while, Chad was my trusty assistant, doing an excellent job restraining animals, clipping and surgically prepping the animals, and taking them to recovery.  On his first day, he tried to occupy himself during my surgery by practicing his Spanish to one of the workers.  He mentioned later that he got mixed results with the words he was trying to say, I laughed and suggested that perhaps that he should not test out his Spanish on the deaf employee who lip reads!...Kudos to that guy for even understanding half of Chad's mumbles!  


Thanks to Daniela, who runs AMAC, for giving us our own little cottage for the week and being so incredibly kind to us.  She has a huge heart and works tirelessly.  I wish there were more people like her...keep up the good work Daniela!  I hope that I can arrange for more donations to be sent to her and others like here when I get home, there is a long list of things that they need. 





                                                       "GROUSE GRIND" EN MEXICO

Pyramid way way up, top just right of center

  We spent a day off of terrorizing the local fauna by traveling to the nearby city of Tepotzlan.  A local at the end of our street, when we asked how to get there, literally pushed us onto a rickety bus and told the bus driver what to do with us.  No problemo! 

Reward at the top of the hike

We shopped the local market and then opted for the recommended "hike" up to see a pyramid.  It was remarkably similar to Vancouver's Grouse Grind...except at 3000 feet elevation and in 25 degree scotching sun and way cooler.   The pyramid at the top was incredible though, and the view priceless, well worth the sore legs, blisters and a little dehydration. 

Chad at top of Tepotzlan

 Finding the bus home was... an adventure.  Lets just say 1.5 hours of walking, 3 times in the wrong direction, including the desolate Mexican countryside jumping over piles of dung and dodging rogue horses...and a bus has never looked that good!  We'll get the hang of it, I hope...






                                                              "THE CHIEF" EN MEXICO

Chaleat Zingo Venue for clinic

While I slaved away spaying animals the next day, Chad took his sore legs on another hike, this one remarkably similar to Squamish's "The Chief"...except also way cooler.  The Centro de Chaleat Zingo hike incorporated ancient ruins that were just now being excavated, and huge rock carvings from 800BC that they suspected to have fallen off the mountain side, and were found scattered in farmers fields.  According to the local archaeologist, this is suspected to the oldest archaeological site in Mexico...and it is now a well know tourist site!

View from top of Centro de Chaleat Zingo

Ancient stone carving

Ancient stone carving in cow field