Animals Gone Wild Series I : A Gringa, Two Hondurans, A Stick, and A Pit Bull

I will never forget my first experience here in Honduras with stray animals.......wild dogs. There are many of them here - almost everywhere you go.

One of my first days here, we wanted to go outdoors and get some exercise. Honduras is not very safe, and as a result, the only place we can go walking is in restricted neighborhoods with guards who know everyone entering and leaving the neighborhood. Walquiria is the lady I live with and she invited me to go walking with her and her friend Mrs. Tome.

As we walked, a few stray dogs would slightly appear and then run away further into the neighborhood. Upon seeing this, Walquiria expressed her strong hate, and even fear towards dogs. Many times she would try to look as far down the street as she could, just to make sure there were no dogs walking by.
As a joke, Mrs. Tome found a large stick that was almost as tall as I am (I am 5'3). It looked very similar to a shepard's staff and Mrs. Tome started carrying it with her, just in case she needed to "protect" Walquiria from the wild dogs. Little did she know, her "staff" would actually come in handy.

We were deep in conversation when I heard Walquiria scream as loud as she could. She threw her latino arms in the air and ran behind me yelling words I did not yet know in Spanish. She squeezed  me tight and threw my body in front of hers.
At this time, I still did not know what was happening, but when I looked up, I realized two large pit bulls were charging after us from the trees nearby. They were growling furiously and were at top speed.

I stood there just staring at the dogs due to shock and not really knowing what else to do. Just as one of the dogs was coming close to us, I see this stick fly in the air and hit one of the pit bulls on the head. Here comes Mrs. Tome with her large staff, smacking the dogs and yelling, "In the name of Jesus, Go Away!!!!"
I could not help but laugh in the midst of the gravity of the situation.  Just the strength in which Mrs. Tome said these words would make anyone be taken aback. However, her tenacity worked.
With the help of her large stick, eventually the dogs did run off, leaving me in bewilderment with a petrified Honduran woman hiding behind me, and poor Mrs. Tome, exhausted from her great fight.