Gratitude, Grace & Gumption: What I learned from my cats about living in Guatemala

Osa is the grey kitty in the back, Belle is the 15 yr old tortie

We are coming up on our 90 day mark here in Guatemala, and we are starting to feel a little more at home. It is funny that while we were considering this move, one of our greatest concerns was the comfort, safety and happiness of our cats Belle and Osa.

Now, to be fair, Belle was not great on the trip down so we had reason to worry. We actually got her kitty xanax because of her attitude towards travel. And sometime, right about the day or two before we arrived, I got the dosage and timing just perfect. Oh well, I'll remember for the return trip.

On the eve of our milestone, I thought it would be fun to reflect on what I've learned from our cats about how to truly enjoy our time here in Guatemala.

Your People Make it Your Home

As worried as we were about the cats, they settled in almost the same day we arrived. They enjoyed exploring the place and finding all the cool, high spots where they could view their new kingdom and also the dark hiding spots where they could disappear when they wanted.

But soon enough, they were as relaxed as they had been at home. Belle sleeping and purring on Ken's chest every chance she got and Osa cuddling at my feet as I slept. As long as we were around, their world was as it should be.

Enjoy the View
It is amazing to me how little our cats can do during the course of the day. Our flat has one entire side that is all windows looking out onto our beautiful lake. Just in front of the windows, Ken created a sort of cat ladder/tree/lounge out of our plastic moving boxes that carried our stuff here.

The cats spend so much time on that thing, especially Belle. She loves to hang out on the top rung of the tree, surveying the lake and volcanoes, watching the boats go by throughout the day. Osa is more likely to be a little bit of a daredevil, jumping directly onto the narrow 6 inch window sill that serves as the base for the sliding windows. Luckily, Ken also had an idea for that space - a series of bungee cords that act as a "kitty safety line" just in case one of them loses their balance or overestimates a jump onto the sill.

Notice the bungee safety line?

No wonder she's happy...that's catnip on the blanket

Bugs are Afraid of Us
When we were here at the lake last summer and I posted about the bugs we were running into, I felt really bad afterwards because all anyone seemed to remember about our amazing trip was how many spiders we saw. Now, don't get me wrong, you will run into more bugs here, period. But they were no where near the amount we saw in Costa Rica and quite honestly are on the whole less toxic then those we ran into in Tucson. We have come to a certain peace with them this trip, but that's another post.

This time around we brought our secret weapon...Osa. So the odd thing about this is that is truly was a secret, especially to us! Osa is such a scaredy cat when it comes to going outside or running into a dog (even the least intimidating one on the planet, Jack who is Ken's parent's dog.) So her behavior here was completely unexpected.

Instead of running away from the ants, moths, spiders, lizards or even scorpions, Osa is a boss. She prances around this place just wishing some sad bug would show it's face. Night time is her favorite time, she is on high alert, studying the walls, floors and ceiling for any movement at all. She loves to hang out near the bug zapper, hoping to grab one before it hurls itself into the blue light.

One night she was in bed with me while I was reading and she kept staring over my head. This went on for about a half an hour before it occurred to me that I ought to pay attention. Sure enough, there was a scorpion on the light fixture over my head. It was nearly impossible to see and it took me a while to spot it because it wasn't very large and it was dark on a dark fixture. I was soooo grateful for her that night!

Osa has a protocol. If it is a smaller bug like a fly, mosquito, or moth, she is generally pretty silent as she stalks and then eats the unlucky creature. Anything larger than that, and she is more excited about the potential for play, chirping and jumping and swatting the poor thing around. That usually alerts us to the situation and allows us to remove it if it might harm her.

The only problem with her method is the eating at night. She prefers to bring the bug close to me while she eats and one night that involved a poor spider that wasn't quite dead. Needless to say, it was still a shock when I woke up to the chirping and then chewing sounds of Osa near my head while she enjoyed the thing.

Scary hunter pose

A Smile/Purr Crosses Language Barriers
As part of the rental of our place, we have a couple women who come in twice a week to clean. They are always plenty nice, even when we don't really understand each other, but it was the cats who really bridged the language gap for us. Once they saw our cats and interacted with them a little bit, we were okay in their book.

The same concept goes when I am out on the road between our place and town. I'm not great at Spanish yet, and sometimes the people I run into don't even speak Spanish. The one thing that we all do here in Guatemala is say hello or some version of it. We also smile and nod when we say it.

Maybe I'm overly sentimental and naive, but I feel really comfortable in place where that is important to people...as long as my cats are here too.