royal visitors

Stingless bees moved into our compost bin made from old tires!  According to Wikipedia, the Mayan word for this bee is Xunan kab, literally meaning "royal lady".  We've set aside 2 of the tires and they've settled in nicely.  After witnessing neighbors burn a wild hive a few years ago, we're feeling especially happy to host them.

We've been busy the last few weeks... Otto is nearly recovered from tendon surgery.  He went on his first walk in 2 months and had no problems! 
Surgery is done on the second of Rita's ears; her recovery is going well, though it is gruesome.  We hope this gives her some relief from her constant ear infections.
This was shaping up to be a happy update, lots of progress and a new adventure on the horizon -a perfect time to have the reality of life here become painfully obvious.

Strays are everywhere; we do what we can to help people who want to have their dogs (or strays) sterilized.  Last week Sean took 4 to the city, 3 to be spayed and one neutered.  I had hoped to have good news to report; instead, two of these dogs are dead from poison.  They were both the sweet, lovely, dogs of a fisherman who does a lot for strays.  A fair amount of time and energy went into making everything happen, and to have them killed by someone, just because they could, is heartbreaking.  This isn't the first or even second time his recently spayed dogs have been poisoned. 

I'd intended to let you in on our plans, but we're both crushed and I'm in no mood to promote Celestun.  Beach front encroachment and denuding goes unchecked, wild bird trapping is common, the plunder for profit of endangered sea turtle eggs is not unknown.  The common and haphazard use of poison (we've found piles of dead dogs dumped in the woods and seen more than one neighbor spraying weed killer on the beach) is distressing.  For a town that relies so heavily on eco-tourism, there is shit-all interest in the actual environment; maybe people won't miss the birds and turtles, but they'll care when the money disappears.  Humanity shoots itself in the foot, but not before annihilating everything else that moves.