Goats

After scouring the country these past two months, Steve finally found his prize: Good quality milking goats. A broker of sorts spent a few days gathering a herd of 13 goats and Steve took the 1 hr trip down to Cuidad Dario to check them out. For the most part they looked good, two were already milking and most were pregnant, so Steve bought the lot (you can only buy lots of animals here). The man offered to bring the goats up to the communities for a small fee, to which Steve readily accepted (he wasn't about to load 13 goats into the back of our Jeep!)

The man called the night before and said he would be leaving at dawn (around 5 am) from Dario, and would meet Steve at the entrance to Matagalpa. So we got up around 5 and awaited the phone call to say he had arrived. 6 am came and went. 7 am came and went. Around 8 am, Steve called to see what was up. The man said a goat had gotten caught in the fence and died, and then he had some engine trouble on the way up and was awaiting parts. I wanted to throw up my hands in exasperation but just shook my head. Such is life here.

20 minutes later he called to say he had arrived. We hurried out the door and met up with him. After checking out the goats and paying up, we headed over to get into the Jeep to show him the way when he casually mentioned that he and his buddies hadn't eaten yet and were going to grab some grub. What happened to leaving at dawn, I thought? This is so typical for Nicaragua...I just chuckled.

An hour later, we are off! Dropping off the first goat. Vicente walked an hour to pick up his goat and the people waiting at the local bus stop stared in fascination. Goats are hard to come by in Nicaragua. Here, pigs and meat sheep are the major animals.


Maria Concepcion holds the rope to her first milking goat...she seemed a bit hesitant, but a big smile lit her face when Steve grabbed the goat's teat and a spray of milk came out!


Ah...after a long day of bumping and rocking down dusty roads...heading home.


Click on the link at right to see more pictures.