SWA Peru Mission 2015: Dogs of Peru--another mini education post

As we know, Peruvians don't keep guinea pigs as pets. What they do have though, are dogs. But, in Peru, even the dogs are different than American dogs. They are allowed to wander the streets, everywhere. We saw many packs of dogs throughout our travels. In Cusco, Chacabamba, and Aguas Calientes it was all the same thing. Dogs wandering the streets everywhere. We saw them eating from garbage waste a few times. We saw one that had a disabled paw. But, we didn't see any that looked neglected. They were well fed, clean, and healthy. Abbi was almost as enamored with the dogs as she was with the children. She eventually asked the kids about their dogs and they could tell you their names and which family they belonged with. I think it was Navidad who told us they come in at night and they all go home. They don't bark, either. Just like Peru babies don't cry, Peru dogs don't bark. They just happily visit with people and move on to the next stop. We didn't see them fight or growl either. They are more in their natural environment, living as packs and roaming free. The biggest dog we saw was a Rottweiler in Cusco and we saw one German Sheppard, but the majority of the dogs we saw were mutts and around 15-25 pound dogs. I think the big pure bread dogs were a status symbol because the GS was on a leash, as was a Great Dane in AG. None of the other dogs were leashed.

A Cusco Dog and the only one we noticed indoors. Isn't he beautiful?

We eventually asked about cats. We had seen hundreds of dogs, but not until Aguas Calientes did we see a cat, and it was only one! Navidad said cats are kept indoors in Peru. That's why we hadn't seen any in Cusco or Chacabamba.

Abbi in the courtyard at Aguas Calientes. She had to stop to pet the dog.

I saw the ugliest dog I have ever seen in Aguas Calientes. It looked like a hairless dog and also appeared to be on steroids. Abbi and Mackenzie thought it was cute. They need to reevaluate his pictures.

Tell me this isn't an ugly dog! Part wiener, part hairless, part muscle man.

During our mother/daughter dinner, Abbi made some new friends. We ordered quesadillas and enchiladas. They were both pretty horrible. And it was the most expensive meal we had ate during our entire trip ($53 USD!--for cheese and tortillas!) They were so unsavory that we actually decided to feed it to some of the street dogs. One friendly little guy that had been hanging out at Abbi's feet for the entire meal turned into four dogs, all hungry for a little sample. They ate the majority of our meal. Then, we looked up and saw Mackenzie and Rhonda dining just a restaurant away. We rejoined them and headed for bed and a big day in the morning.