true life planet

I´m finally here in Panama, but before I start writing all about my newest adventures, I owe an entry to Simon.

Simon was my constant companion when I was in Guatemala. You could say he was a dog, but he was so much more to me. Having left my dog behind in the States to go on this trip, I was especially vulnerable to his charms.

He was a brownish dog, with a liver colored nose, of medium build, and only about a year old.

From the moment we laid eyes on each other, we were in love. He was at my door every morning, waiting for his oatmeal…and hung out all day, waiting for a scratch behind the ears or one of Dina Minas tamales.

When I first met Simon, he was a bit unruly, like an out of control teenager-he jumped up on you with the intent of knocking you down! Slowly, over time, he began to listen to commands(but still only when he felt like it!) and eventually would come in the front door and lie on his special blanket.

The funny part about his name was that it is spelled ¨Simon¨, but pronounced like ¨Semen¨. It was hard bnot to crack up when I had to call out his name across the milpa, ¨Semen,Semen!¨

Simon had some special skills as well-he could smell a plate of tamales from the minute he nudged my metal door open. Once he detected where they were hidden, he could adeptly steal one with out anyone noticing, and take it outside, where he would delicately peel off the husk to get at the maiz inside. He also had amazing empathy for crying children, and his face would soften when he heard a child cry-then he would go over to the child and nudge them til they laughed.

My favorite story about Simon is when a strange dog came into my house one night. It was a large boxer and very dangerous. All the dogs where I lived were terribly underfed, and I´m sure when it saw me it panicked, probably only wanting food, not a person to deal with! The dog came at me, and bit me on the ankle-I yelled out, and in that moment Simon arrived, and chased the other dog away. From that point on, he kept all other dogs away from my house.

So Simon, this entry is for you. Thanks for all long walks together in the forest, thanks for sharing my oatmeal with me in the morning, thanks for comforting me at all the right times.

To see photos of Simon, go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/truelifeplanet/
He´s the brown dog with the yellow eyes.

gg

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This entry was posted on Friday, February 1st, 2008 at 3:02 pm and is filed under 1. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.