If my eyes were cameras

Driving along the shore at the airport strip the other day we passed a man walking along the sidewalk with his nose in a book. He had the more serene smile on his face, like that was his favorite thing to do in all the world. Not only was he smiling from ear to ear, his head was also weaving from side to side, as if in agreement with what he was reading. We chuckled because it would only be a matter of time before he slammed into a post or tripped over a broken piece of sidewalk - because he was so engrossed in the book he wasn't paying the slightest attention to where his feet were going.

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Driving along the east shore yesterday, a tourist had set up his chair in the sand and settled in to enjoy the sun and surf. A stray dog sat in front of him, just looking at him...as if to say "well, I'm here now, we can start to eat any time". The look of expectancy on the dog's face was priceless.

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Near misses: a dog dashed across the busy airport strip, narrowly missed getting hit by a taxi. The owners were on the other side, they didn't even blink an eye.

Two dogs darted across the road after something in the bushes along the east coast. The second swerved at the last minute to avoid getting hit, then joined his companion over in the bushes. The dog never blinked an eye, he doesn't know how close he was to death just for the sake of an iguana.

As I sat on the cart waiting for Miguel to buy tamales at the roadside stand, a small cat ran across the road in front of me. I closed my eyes, not wanting to watch - but it made it across.

We always stop when an iguana is too close to the side of the road and is pondering crossing. We shoo it away with a purse, a bag, or a cap, saving its life to that moment anyway. The number of smushed iguana bodies on the roads tells me the iguanas are going to do what they're going to do once we're not there to scare them back to safety. But we try.


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Yesterday Miguel and Loco were parked at a corner on Av Juarez waiting for me to change money. As I approached the cart I noticed Miguel was talking to a woman, and when I arrived she introduced herself. One of my regular blog readers and commenters - K from Michigan. She had spotted our dog, and went up to Miguel and asked if that was Loco. Yup, she recognized him from his pictures. Loco lapped up the attention, of course. Great eye, K - was very nice to meet you!