On the streets

Mendoza is actually in a desert, but no one would ever know with the abundance of trees in the city. Every tree in Mendoza was planted and cared for by someone. Let the love grow! 

The irrigation system that we can thank for the water and life in the city are the Acequias! 

acequia: (uh-sey-kyuh)  irrigation ditch; technology adopted from the Spaniards 

I remember the name because if someone fell in one of these highly dangerous ditches running along every street, they would have a large @$$-ache-ia!

Another characteristic of the streets in Mendoza are the trash cans. In the US, we take our trash out once a week. Here they collect trash everyday except Sunday. The trash cans are tiny and sit on top of the counters! It threw me off just a little bit. I thought perhaps they use less trash than we do in the US. The congestion of the city makes sense to demand more trash pick up. Baskets for trash pickup outside are raised above the ground and attached to trees. 

I think one benefit of elevated trash bins are to keep trash out of the grips of stray dogs. 

There are stray dogs EVERYWHERE here in Mendoza! It is not uncommon to see one sleeping half in the street on the busiest streets downtown. Or to find one one drinking out of the acequias and then follow you at least a few blocks. They are like beggers; never look them in the eyes or they will follow you all the way home. And you are the one left with a guilty conscious! They don't neuter dogs here, nor do they have a pound to pick up stray dogs. The product: lots of stray dogs without homes who still reproduce. 

The stray dog conundrum reminds me of a similar problem my Spanish professor was venting about the other day. The President Cristina Kirchner has created some social programs, one in which she gives a stipend per child to parents. This, according to my professor, encourages young girls to have more and more children, because they will receive more stipends. However, in somewhat the same light as not neutering dogs, abortions are illegal in Mendoza. So... the problem: too many dogs and too many babies; and solution: take away control over number of births...? My teacher proposed the problem lay in Cristina's stipend for head counts in a family. However, the root of the problem may very well be that these young girls have had control of their bodies taken away from them when they lost the right to choose to carry through with a birth or choose abortion. Would the government not save money if they paid for a girl's one time abortion instead of a stipend for that child every month? I am not saying what I would do with my baby either way, if I found myself pregnant and in a bad situation. However, I am saying that that every girl/woman deserves the right to choose what to do with her body and the rest of her life. And many other people would benefit from giving the individual control over themselves instead of a few trying to control many.

Anyway back to dogs, my host aunt's dog disappeared yesterday. Her name was Frida, and she was only a couple months old. If you leave the second door open to our yard, Frida could crawl through the bars of the door that actually locks. We close both doors every time. However, some how Frida slipped out and we have been leaving the second door open for her every day now. 

Pobrecita! 

Missing puppy!

She was the most playful pup I have ever seen. So cute! I lived with her for less than 3 weeks and I already miss her. Come back to us Frida!