Goata get a hold of myself (so bad)

As of this morning, I own a goat and he looks like this:


I know I was all confident in my last post that he’d be here within like 48 hours or whatever, but this is Guatemala and nothing ever goes to plan.

(I recently heard some great advice – “you can start enjoying your time in Guatemala once you rid yourself of any expectations. Just go with the flow and you’ll be much happier than if you had a schedule ”)

As you can see, he’s already pretty big, which is ok because that’ll mean more goat stew later on. I’m hoping that he likes to eat ☺

I also know I was supposed to get a baby goat, but that one got sold and so I went to this butcher with no front teeth who acts as the local goat guru and he lined me up with a replacement. So here’s my new pet (?):


He’s kinda cute, right? I think he’s pretty cool looking at the very least, although a bit feisty (definitely gotta watch out for those horns>

The twist here is that I don’t have space for him at my house, so my bottle school counterpart Don Miguel will keep him in his yard. I’m fairly confident that this arrangement will work out, as the village only has 52 families and pretty much everyone knows:

A: Me
B: the fact that I own a goat
C: and that I’m working to bring the community a school

So there’s the gratitude factor, which I hope will go a long way towards keeping my goat safe. Furthermore, I’ve made it common knowledge that I intend to turn him into a big community feast in about 6 months, so I’m hoping it’s in everyone’s interest to keep him fed for the future. Also, the kids like him!


I found the neighborhood kids checking him out when I finished helping with the bottle school this afternoon, so I let them take him out for a walk. “Just make sure to put him back in his pen when the rains start,” I told them.

Ok - most important part of this post - my goat still doesn’t have a name! What should I call him???